A State of Mindfulness

What is this mindfulness thing? Am I doing it right? It’s not about having a mind that’s empty (mindless?), like the lovely yoga room above. It seems that mindfulness is the ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

I think I’m often there, now that I am here. There are so many things that I could be thinking about that just upset me, like walls and liars and the day-to-day minutiae that ordinarily clog my head.

But if I try very hard to stay away from the news, and only allow friends and “a few of my favorite things” to cross my mind, then I think I am getting closer to that state.

I float in the pool and hear the birds and the hypnotic background noise of a lovely lady in a sari sweeping the bougainvillea blossoms with her twig broom, as a groundskeeper carries a huge pile of palm fronds on his head. That’s all I see, that’s all I hear, and that’s all I think about.

Let the rest of the world take care of itself.

Don’s Treatment and Food Corner

Today was my last day of the rhythmic hot-water pouring treatment and the pummeling by dry pouches filled with special, unidentified medicinal herbs. I’m not sure exactly what treatments come next, but after this I’m game for anything.

While being beaten by the hot pouches, albeit mindfully, by my practiced therapists, I was able to assess which parts of my body jiggled the most. First, I discovered that the only parts that do not jiggle are the soles of my feet, the palms of my hands, my shin bones and my forehead. Second, there doesn’t seem to any further differentiation of a jiggle quotient from one section of my body to another. Apparently, any noticeable firm muscle tone seems to have just recently dissolved into jiggle. Could this be because I am fast approaching a milestone birthday and the warranty suddenly ran out?

This happened to me before. On the literal day of my 40^th birthday, I immediately needed reading glasses. And now on this imminent birthday, a complete loss of muscle tone! Or maybe it’s a punishment for eating too much Jell-O as a child in Ohio. “If you eat too much Jello, you’ll turn into Jell-O.”  Oops. How prophetic.

My other thought is that, after several days of supervised sessions teaching me how to relax all the muscles in my body, that the muscles are just really, really, really, really at rest and they are just expressing their restfulness in the guise of jiggle. I think I’ll go with that idea because otherwise all those years of yoga, Nautilus torture, Pilates, free-weight training, endless squats, kettle-ball flinging, and other forms of aspirational physical fitness pursuits have come to naught.

This, despite a very rigid diet plan. Notice the accompanying photos of the food Jo is permitted to eat because she’s on the “normal” menu and I’m on the restricted diet.

My food at last night’s dinner on the beach and today’s lunch:

Jo’s at the same meals:

(Jo interjects: My appetizer last night, for example, may look luscious, but two tiny pieces of grilled watermelon – no matter how carefully prepared – do not fill one up.)

Today I was allowed to eat a plate of papaya at breakfast. But I wasn’t permitted to eat it at the same sitting as eating my other breakfast choice, oatmeal cooked in coconut milk. I had to wait an hour between the fruit and the porridge.  Reportedly, the two foods eaten at the same time would upset the balance of the treatment.

Facing the facts revealed from the beating my body got with the heated pouches, I fear that the treatment I really really really need is liposuction.