I like to use a strap in leg extensions, especially in long-held Yin poses. The problem? Holding the strap gets tiring! Looping it around the fingers can hurt after a while, and even if you hold it around the meaty part of the hand, it still takes some muscle power.
The solution? Loop the strap around both wrists so that it holds itself in place. Start by making a loop. 
Take the bottom of the loop and lift it toward its center so as to make two smaller loops toward the bottom. 
Slide your hands through the small loops. 
Grasping the strap, loop it over your foot, so that your hands rest lightly on the strap and are held in place by it. 
Recline, extend, and relax!
Here’s a video where I walk through the process.
Retreat! Retreeeat!!!
Last week, I went to a 5 day silent retreat in Western Massachusetts with Josh Summers as part of my enrollment in the Summers School of Yin Yoga. I am still digesting the experience. When I was on the road home, my girlfriend asked “am I talking to Peter 2.0?” I said it was less like the difference between these two guys:
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and more like the difference between these two:
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In other words, while it was a significant event, it wasn’t a dramatic, life-changer for me. I didn’t come back and immediately quit my job, break up with my girlfriend, stop smoking, etc. (No, I haven’t started smoking, and therefore I haven’t stopped, either. (Nor have I stopped beating my wife.)) That said, there are subtle improvements, new tools and techniques, and knowledge was gained.
The retreat was in the vipassana style, although more relaxed in most ways. We woke every morning at 6AM, sat in meditation 6 times a day for 30 minutes, broken up by 30 minute walking meditation sessions, recollective journaling, meals, dharma talks, chores, and more reflection.
On the first night there, I felt intense pain between my shoulder blades. I first thought that this was caused by the 200 kettle bell swings I’d done two days prior in the morning Krav Maga practice. After downing painkillers and sleep aids, I slept it off and the next day it was fine. The next day, my teacher noted this sort of phenomenon was common, and he himself often experienced it. “Hah!” I thought to myself. “Already checked?that?box!” Little did I Know that my mind wasn’t done trying to torture me, because two days later, when the weather had finally cooled and the conditions were optimal for a run, it returned. This time, it came back on the right side, and manifested as a searing blade that stabbed with every step I took. I didn’t get 0.10 miles before I had to stop and try to massage the knot out against a telephone poll, which didn’t work. I sheepishly limped back to the retreat center and stewed, all the time repeating “this is pain, and it’s like this. This is pain, and it’s like this. his is pain, and it F***ING SUCKS!” After discussing this in a small group during our afternoon session, the pain vanished and I was again able to do a 2 mile run uphill with no pain.
Similarly, other pains manifested in almost all sitting sessions, normally in the knees and hips. Depending on how I sat, my whole right leg would fall asleep from the hip down to the toes. Over time, I ended up sitting in seiza, which proved to be most sustainable. In seiza, I was usually able to sit for around 25 minutes before discomfort began to settle in. Coincidentally, this is when the meditation sessions would usually start to “get good.” Go figure – the mindbody was trying to distract me just when the good stuff began. Huh.
So what is the “good stuff?” Apparently it’s different, yet similar, for everyone. In my experience, I feel more relaxed, calm, and able to focus after a good session. Other people report stories similar to dreams, conversations with family, friends, and coworkers, and lots of other stuff. If you’re interested in a number of different accounts, I recommend reading Jason Siff’s book, Unlearning Meditation.
The technique I usually used is best described in the aforementioned text, although I often reverted to tagging/noting, metta (loving kindness), and body scans when I felt the need to. As the week progressed, the sessions became easier, with the final session Sunday morning flying by with zero discomfort.
I’ve managed to wake up, caffeinate, and meditate every day since the retreat, and will continue to do so. I also plan to try doubling a normal sit time (to an hour) once a week. Wish me luck.
How I saved $8,000 by being nice
On March 27,?I made an offer on a new condominium across town. It was priced just on the edge of what I could afford, but the location is great, and I really love the unit, so I decided to stretch myself a bit and make an offer. Across town, there was another very attractive condo?with a lot of pluses going for it, and it was priced significantly lower. However, it was clearly my second choice.
I really wanted to hedge my bets by submitting offers on both units, just in case one would be rejected, because?given how competitive the Boston housing market is, this was a high likelihood. However, since both sellers?wanted offers to be submitted by Tuesday morning, I didn’t really have any wiggle room. Also, there was a chance that the?offer on my second?choice would be accepted before my first one, that I would have to accept their?deal to lock it in, and then have my offer on my first choice to be ?accepted, causing me to lose my deposit or be stuck with?my second choice. Not cool!
Rather than taking this risk, I decided to put my energy into my primary choice. ?I sharpened my pencil, calculated what I could afford, and made my offer, settling at?5% over asking price. ?Finally, I wrote a short letter of introduction. As I said to my real estate agent, it wasn’t my best work, but I hope to that it would make a difference. What I wrote is below:
Dear <Seller's Name>, I had the pleasure of visiting your condo yesterday during the open house, and I?m very interested in purchasing it. I love the layout and the location, and can easily see myself happily living there for some time ? especially if I have a private space to do my morning yoga routine in that awesome third floor space! I understand you would need to find suitable housing before you could depart. To help you with this, you could continue to live there through July - which should give you ample time to find your new home ? as long as my basic costs for the property (mortgage, taxes, insurance, and HOA fee) are covered. If there?s anything we can do to help come to a mutually-beneficial agreement, please let me know! Sincerely, Peter?Nikolaidis
Since?I had noticed that the seller practices yoga – as was evidenced by several yoga books throughout the condo, I decided to reference that, as I didn’t have much else by which to form a connection. Given how quickly the Boston real estate market moves, it’s not like I could say “let’s get together for coffee next week and go over what you want to get out of this transaction,” so I had to go with what little info I could gather. Also, since I the sale was contingent on the seller finding her own location, and I was not in a hurry to move, I decided to offer her an extended stay if she was not able to find housing prior to closing.
It worked! My agent called me ?in the afternoon to tell me that they had narrowed selection down to three offers, and that they wanted our “best and final.” This is a common tactic to squeeze a little more money out of the buyers, and why not? It works, doesn’t it? (Note, the last time I had bid on a condo, and ?was asked for my best and final, my response was “you already have it.”) I went back to the drawing board, sharpened my pencil? again,?and offered $2,000 more. ?Several hours crawled by?from that point. ?My agent called me back that evening to tell me that my offer had been accepted, even though someone else had offered $8,000 more than my final bid! ?I was told that the seller’s agent liked my agent the best, and that the seller really liked my letter of introduction.
The moral of the story is “pay attention,?communicate clearly, use every resource at your disposal, and be nice to people.”