My Yogi's So Called Life

I'm gonna take a break from the "blog every day" prompts to talk about something that's a little difficult to admit:
I had a ton of preconceived notions about yogis. Even last year, I left Shoshoni thinking that you were only a successful yogi if you walked around all day saying nothing but chants and thinking only meditative thoughts. I was convinced that I was the only person in the world who did yoga and also enjoyed eating dessert, watching trashy TV, and who got frustrated at dial-up internet.

So today at breakfast, I was genuinely shocked when, after admitting to my Johnny Depp shrine at home, I heard Lindsey talk about having a photo collection in her room so vast, there wasn't a single white spot on her walls. Not only that, but Jared Leto shared part of the collection.

To which I jumped up and was all "ohmygoshmysocalledlife!"

I'm not entirely sure why I was shocked that people who lived in an ashram weren't totally isolated from the TV world. I'd heard enough conversations about iPhones and youtube videos that it shouldn't have been a big deal.

When you're in a setting when a certain practice is a prominent part of your day, it can sometimes feel like you have to censor what you can and can't say. It took me like six days to work up the courage to talk about Game of Thrones, and when I finally did, Emma responded with "oh yeah, I love that series!"

The "inner self" isn't this perfect mold of quiet and stillness and indifference towards cake and glitter. The whole point is to find the unique inner self, and to not let it be shushed by expectations. But you don't have to sacrifice every little part of your outer self. Like, talking about Jenna Marbles' latest video is not going to make you un-enlightened.

For a while, I thought in order to get anywhere spiritually, I could only enjoy yogic things. I was "punishing" myself for liking Johnny Depp and People magazine and pie.

But there's no point in shutting yourself down to experience spirituality; it's more opening yourself up.

Or at least that's what I tell myself when I want to watch more of The Riches.

Namaste and Cake.