relax your large and small intestines...

k. ravishnankar, the yoga guru, has the answer for every ailment. shoving your thumbs into your armpits for five minutes right after you wake up will prevent your nose from running all day. if your left nostril is running, you should pinch the joint in your thumb for two minutes. drinking warm milk and honey puts you to sleep and breathing through alternating nostrils is rejuvinating.

i have been doing yoga for about the past month and am coming to love its demanding focus and cleansing abilities. following two hours of intense stretching and strengthening exercises, ravi leads us in a relaxation exercise which always reminds me of the magic school bus (you know, where they go into the blood stream in the bus...). he journeys through the periphery and inside of our bodies and asks us to relax each our body parts and organs. his voice alternates between a slow, monotone "relax your brain" to a fast, high "relax your brain cells." the hilarity of it all is typically a barrier to my relaxation, especially when he invites us to relax our smallandlargeintestines (you can guess that the intestines fall in the high, quick register). i don't think i'll be levitating off of the ground or curing my ailments via deep yogic breathing anytime soon. but i can't say that i don't love having a yoga master. apparently he is going to post some class pictures on his website. so check back for some sun salutation, utthita trikonasana (extended triangle pose) pictures of my friends and i as we struggly toward yogic enlightenment.