A Moment of Reflection (2)

Sony Xperia Z that reminds me of Cadbury
chocolate bars 

What can I/ anyone say about the latest phone releases (?!?) Nothing much really. Where I am people use either the iPhone (5S) or Samsung (Galaxy S4 or Note 3). How boring is that?!? Remember those days when Nokia (yes, Nokia ...) produced all these handsets with groovy designs? Now everything just looks the same. Not one to follow trends, I still use a Blackberry 9900 (yes, how trend-bucking is that, right?!), Sony Xperia Z and maybe either Nokia 8 or 7280 (yes!) or the DoCoMo F-02D (Japanese phone). Since I've just bought a T-Mobile (Sharp) Sidekick LX2009 on eBay (which I doubt will be here in time for Christmas ~ boo-hoo), I was thinking maybe I should now sell the DoCoMo and 7280 but neither have any market value (so will have to just, yeah, give it to the shop where I trade in my old phones). I might as well just keep them (but the problem with old phones is that once you shelve them away, they die...) 

Good news is, I've just recently changed the trackpad on my Blackberry and it totally fixed the (extremely) annoying problem it had: the cursor would go bonkers when the phone is exposed to direct sunlight (I used to refer to my 9900 as a vampire phone). Now I think/hope I can use it for another year or two before it retires. Well, who knows what fate awaits for Research in Motion (RIM) that manufactures the Blackberry... So, other than that, think I will continue to use these (six!!!) phones in the coming year.

(Update: the Sidekick LX 2009 - beautiful - just arrived so decided to let go of the DoCoMo and 7280 cos they have started to playing up ... so am down to four phones now ~ phew!!)

Patrick Creelman in
parivrtta janu sirsasana

Last night I actually dreamed that I could do this amazing leg-behind-head yoga pose ~ can't remember exactly which one (parivrtta janu sirsasana, perhaps?) ~ but yeah, exactly, only in my dreams!!! I have made much progress this year despite the fact I'd practised fewer hours. I've come to believe that, like most good things in life, too much of yoga is actually not that great for the body. I still remember I used to have this quite subtle knee pain during the first few years of my practice. My issue being that I have v tight hamstrings (thanks to all that cycling I did during my youth!) and equally tight hips that, when I tried to do certain poses (esp those that place A LOT of stress on the hips), instead of my hips taking the pressure (through rotation or any other pressure-releasing movements), my knees (!) end up taking ALL the strain ... But as I become a lot more mindful with my practice -- something that I cannot over emphasise when I share my yoga practice with my friends -- I realise there are poses that I simply cannot do and turn to modifications (something that yogi David Swenson had encouraged us to do -- even with Ashtanga). I also have managed to rein in that bouncy little monkey in my mind ... that brief (but wonderful) experience I had during a morning meditation session in Koh Samui this summer has been most inspiring.

And I think with all that I began to make progress. In the coming year, I'm hoping to take a 200-hour teacher training course. I think will see if yogi Patrick Creelman will be heading any programmes where I live cos I think he is one of the best and most recognised teachers in town (I'm getting used to his wild Canadian accent...) I think I'm now ready to take my practice to another level...