Guest guest Posted February 27, 2001 Report Share Posted February 27, 2001 Michael <br><br>Not having anything to do with yoga never stops me writing . . .<br><br>Had a look at your website piece - very nice. That's what I meant but I was too busy being excited at the prospect of caffeine and jetlag. Don't you hate it when someone says what you meant?<br><br>Enuff of teh ineednonumber is eloquent stuff pls. its going to my head and my ego is an absolute monster as it is. (Oh go on then just a bit more. .. . )<br><br>still, this week, after a four month lay off and a bunch of hatha classes im going to go to an ashtanga class. horray!!! ive been resting a partially herniated disc caused by aforesaid ego (last winter it was a mashed tendon) so lets all hope the penny is slowly sliding into place, ah that sould read dropping but that suggests im going to suddenly get the idea . . . and we all know that aint going to happen<br><br>anyway wish me luck this thursday. oh i love that one when you put your leg in the air (yeah i know i should either know the name or nip next door to get johns book but i cant be bothered) and your leg wobbles! LOTS! oh teh thought of all that perspiring and ujayi breath with twenty others. blimey i'm really excited now i think about it!<br><br>love + woof grrr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Alan,<br><br>Great post! I'm sure, someday you will write a book. But isn't "wierd" a very WEIRD word indeed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Er, yeah. The English spelling rule we are taught to chant at school is "I before E except after C". Except when it's weird.<br><br>This is according to the MS Word spell checker. I haven't checked it in a proper English dictionary, i.e. the Oxford. Oh, and that's another piece of American weirdness - the way they quote dictionaries other than the Oxford as if they could conceivably have any authority at all ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Why go to a dictionary that would spell color with a "u" and defense with a "c" (like I am going to jump over de fence!) Talk about weird!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Wow!! Alan, you are an eloquent writer as well as an inspiring photographer. What a well thought out reply, although I knew from your previous posts, you would give a good response. It is interesting how your mind works. I went to Godfrey Devourex Windfire Yoga retreat in Ibiza, Spain last year. It was my first time being in I suppose Europe or as close to Europe as I have ever been. I have been in Japan for a year as a Marine but never there. Anyway, what I loved is aside from having a great teacher in a wonderful place, is being around people from Russia, Sweden, England, Spain, and just about everywhere except the USA. I found myself telling stories about America and experiences there, expecting everyone to maybe be a little jealous or curious about all our "things". What I found out, is they not only were not jealous, but could really give a crap about America. They would talk of places in Europe I knew nothing of. At first I was a bit dumbfounded at how they could not care of "America", but then a light bulb turned on inside my head, and I got to see America and myself from a different view. I loved Europe. My eleven year old boy went with me, and we went to a beach. I put my head down to sleep, only to be awakened by my boy. Whispering "Dad, the girls have no tops on!" My first impulse was to put my hands in front of his eyes, (well my first impulse was to check everything out to see if he was right) but then again, I sort of just "let go" and saw myself from a different angle. Thats why I asked for your to explain your comment, I knew it would be a learning experience again for me to see myself from another side. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Nice try. But the Oxford does acknowledge the existence of the weird American dialect spellings - do Webster's or the AHD acknowledge the correct ones?<br><br>(I hope you don't think I mean this crap ... Although isn't it interesting that the greatest English language poet of them all in my humble opinion, TS Eliot, spent all his time trying to be and sound English as English as possible although he was American?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Sorry, Alan. But at my university library here I can consult just every American dictionary you can get out there, and I didn't find the spelling "wierd" in anyone of them. The word "wierd" simply doesn't exist, either in British or American English. Isn't this what happywanderer was trying to say? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Michael,<br><br>You're welcome, the prod to sit down and write something did me good.<br><br>Apart from the European cultural experience, how was Godfrey's place? What's he like as a teacher? I've thought about going to study with him some time - he always seems to say good & interesting things in his books and when he posts here (or used to). Have never been to Ibiza, but I was in Mallorca on a rock climbing trip a few years ago - a very beautiful island out of season when it isn't swarming with tourists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 I assumed he was just having some fun about the differences between British and American spelling. I'm sure "wierd" doesn't exist, although it looks right & conforms to the normal rules of English spelling, and therefore should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 The differences between American & British English are wierd...err...weird indeed, and English really isn't easy at all.<br><br>But I would like to thank you for your great post on the difference between American & European culture - it reflects much of what I think on this subject too. Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Alan, I had the time of my life. We slept in tents, ate organic food, had classes at 8:00 to 12:00 noon each day. We had no TV (and for an American that was tough!) shared a home on a mountain and lived in a sort of "commune". It appealed to my hippie ideal of myself. I especially liked Godfreys use of Zen in his teachings. That is what drew me to travel to Ibiza. Our meditations were long, although it never seemed long while doing it. He could put me in a place deeper than I thought possible. And I especially enjoyed getting up early and watching him do his practice before ours. That is what truely inspired me. To watch someone so accomplished doing his own practice. I knew from his book he was knowledgeable but what I did not know is he is one of those rare people you meet that "know". His teachings were instructional and had humor as well. I remember well the feeling of being so exhausted and hating the sound of him commanding us to do Trikonasana, until I was left just laughing uncontrolably at my exhaustion and my body just doing it anyway. I know this does not translate exactly what I am trying to say, but I left with a much better understanding, and my practice (which is what and why I went to him) is better because of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 I too was having a little fun. I am lucky to have the opportunity to spend a good deal of time in Canada, so I get experience the differences in the English language first hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 As if we were so beholden to the Brit's bloody language, which was rammed down our throats and the like gullets of other colonized folk, that we'd consult their 20 volume "authority" to tell us what's what. Arggh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 My problem with the US is the general feeling of lack of everyday freedom (really). I was in Hawaii and get this: I can't have my beer at a streetcorner, I can't have it in a park, I can't have it at the beach, I can't have it inside a car. How can that be?? All those beaches, a beautiful island and I can't appreciate it while sipping a beer!! Never in my life have I seen so many 'forbidden this/that' - signs in my life (the condola-station at Jackson Hole Wyoming probably holds the world record for stupid signs, they even beat the 'objects in mirror are farther than they appear to be' - sh#t). I bought a kick-board in Hawaii and tried it out of course - a friendly police officer told me after 5 minutes of riding that kickboard use is forbidden in Honolulu! This would be funny unless some US people had the attitude that their country is the 'most free on the planet'. Unreal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 America is a big place and the culture varies dramatically from the metro regions to somewhere like Alaska or remote Oregon. Is peace particular to a geographic zone or population? I think not. If one depends on the yoga community or anyone else for their happiness, eventually, the mood will swing. Yoga will sustain you in the Alps or the Sahara. <br><br>Enjoy the culture of your choice. Try Sri Lanka!<br><br>Yours in yoga... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2001 Report Share Posted February 28, 2001 Alan - there are 6 exceptions - use the mnemonic: neither leisured foreigner seized the weird height. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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