à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Zen
Note to Self: Everyone is Always Learning
After a recent Aikido class I indulged my sushi addiction at a restaurant that offers 50% off on weekends. With a pencil, I marked a few boxes on the nigiri menu and handed it to the server, a young, cacao skinned woman who looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine. While confirming … Continue reading
Am I “Turning Japanese”?
A thought recently hit me over the head: many of the things I do, practice and love are Japanese. These include the Konmari method of decluttering with its emphasis on simplicity and joy, my practice of Zen meditation, my ongoing lust for sushi, my habit of drinking green tea and, most importantly, my recent foray into Aikido. The thought … Continue reading
My Latest Feldenkrais Experiment? Taking a Yoga Class
In response to my recent article, Is Yoga My New Pork?!, a longtime reader and fellow Feldenkrais fan wrote, “I find it odd that yoga has moved from something you no longer do to revolting and hope you can learn to relax that perception.” Indeed, to put yoga into the bucket of “things I do not … Continue reading
Bill Cunningham, Spiritual Hero
“Money’s the cheapest thing. Liberty and freedom is the most expensive” – Bill Cunningham It’s hard to imagine not liking, or at least not appreciating, Bill Cunningham, the New York Times photographer and youthful soul who recently passed away at 87. His sheer joy in photographing people in Manhattan infected even me, whose interest in fashion and … Continue reading
Lost and Found
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. – Henry David Thoreau While walking in the woods in February, I spotted a few pairs of eye glasses propped on trail markers and, in one case, fancifully placed atop a huge mushroom. I snapped photos and wondered if their owners would spot them on subsequent … Continue reading
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