— Noted.

Yoga mat.

I’ve practiced yoga on and off since about 1998. I should be a lot better at it than I am, but here’s the thing about yoga. It reminds me a lot of the movie “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” and the apprentices who might spend a year trying to perfect cooking rice, before they are allowed to do anything else. There is not a single pose that is supposed to be without a challenge, meaning that there is no ease, no rest, and always some sort of focus and engagement. There is almost no finish. Take downward dog. It’s the classic yoga pose, one that I have come to find restful, and yet, yesterday in class, my teacher came and touched my ribs and told me to subtly shift my weight, changing the way I’ve been holding the pose for years.

Earlier this year, I decided to buy a new yoga mat. My brother gave me my last one, smartly designed with a creased grid. It folds perfectly and slides into its own bag, obscuring me from the mass of mat toting Brooklynites in my neighborhood.

Khataland YoFoMat – on amazon.

After doing some quick research, I decided to go with this eco-friendly mat from JadeYoga. I love this mat. I went with green, known for its effects of healing and renewal.

There aren’t many things that I can say I’ve dedicated so many years of my life to like my yoga practice. There’s never an end, and I am so thankful for that specifically.

From the words of Jiro Ono:
I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit. There is always a yearning to achieve more. I’ll continue to climb, trying to reach the top, but no one knows where the top is.