Alchemy All Around

Have you ever noticed that words have a way of following you sometimes? I suppose it should come as no surprise that the words "alchemy" and "alignment" seem to pop up wherever I go, and have for the last month. Yes, the act of getting braces is a transformative experience that seeks to align one quite literally from the top down. A lofty ambition for oneself, but that's little consolation when I spent all day today dreaming about the biggest burger I could create in my head--and the biggest bite I could take. (So much for my vegetarian status for the last 2 years.) A lamburger: Brioche bun, ground lamb, fresh tomatoes, dilled pickles, a bit of lettuce, maybe a little red pepper catsup and some Israeli amba too. (That's pickled mango sauce, folks and it's damn good.)

Is this my alchemy? Is this how I'm transforming? When pushed to the brink, the first place I turn is the burger? The mother's milk of the Average American? Not nearly as lofty as I'd hoped. The New York Times says potbellies are in, so as soon as I get off this liquid diet and indulge in burgers of all stripes, we can all concentrate on my belly and not my teeth, right? Problems solved!

In July I went on a yoga retreat at the wonderful Kripalu in Lennox, MA, and the entire theme of the retreat was alchemy and alignment. Little did I know how much those words would follow me, in the weeks since, how they would come to land like angels on my shoulders and how I would come to physically embody them. The lovely Elena Brower taught me how to stand properly for the first time in my life--to literally let the tips of the ribs scoop up inside the chest to support the heart as the shoulders relax themselves down to create space in the body. I realize that one step beyond this is exactly what I have done by getting braces--to create the space for alchemy and alignment to occur in a part of my body without muscle, without a conduit between brain and willed movement. I never thought that braces could be yogic, but perhaps they are. Anything that allows us to shift from where we are, to the place we need to be is really all anyone ever wants, right?

Hmmm. Feeling a little better about this.

But I still crave the burger. And the ability to chew it.