Last night, as I was removing the lid from a scorching-hot oven dish, I was stunned into slow time as the escaping steam engulfed the fingers on my right hand. By the time I got the glass lid down onto the counter and my hand under the coldwater tap, four fingers were badly burned. I was frightened. I felt the panic in my heartbeat and heard the little-girl whimpers escaping my lips. I wanted to cry; but it was as if the responses were coming from someone else. As soon as I...
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Today, as floodwaters sweep people’s lives away in some of the Earth’s most beautiful countries, my heart is swirling with sadness, concern and gratitude. In yesterday’s New York Times, a Reuters report showed the devastation of the Countries Hit by Widespread Flooding. More than a million people have been affected by the flooding, as hundreds of dams have burst under the pressure of La Nina’s heavy rains. Those images turned the already heartbreaking images of recent weeks...
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I have a theory. If we gave respectful attention to what we eat, not only would we eat differently, but our entire world would also be a different place. The Japanese use a word at the start of a meal the way the French might say, “Bon Appetit!” or Americans might say Grace. Itadakimasu honors all the hands that brought the food to the table, from the waiter who served it to the farmer who grew it. The literal meaning of the word is, “I take this life,” and it recognizes...
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Travel, yoga and Houston, Texas – three things I share with the subject of the front-page New York Times article last week on The Yoga Mogul, John Friend. Writer Mimi Swartz strikes a balanced pose on the yoga guru phenomenon inlaid in the economic buckle of America’s bible belt, my birthplace, and his “celebration of the heart” philosophy of yoga. I have not studied with Friend; but last month, thousands of miles from home, I did make a friend through yoga, whose name I do...
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This week, while I am visiting family in Houston Texas, Hurricane Alex is moving across the Gulf of Mexico toward Brownsville, where it is predicted to hit land around midnight tonight. Still hundreds of miles away from here, Alex began having his effect yesterday afternoon. Within minutes, the storm’s high winds had cracked open the blackened sky and filled the streets with water. Nature poured a drink into her glass and started stirring. Growing up in Houston, I have...
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