And this is video of Iyengar’s teacher, the man who could be considered the father of modern yoga as the Western world has come to know it, Krisnamacharya. He’d be 50 years old here.

Here is some amazing video of B.K.S. Iyengar (thank you Life In the Yoga-Lane). How spectacular that we are able to look 70 years into the past and witness a great master in his early stages.

Click the picture for many more pictures.

I thought it’d be interesting to see who else was born Jakob’s birthday and turned up three pretty good ones: Chief Justice John Marshall, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Jim Henson.

And for fun, September 24th in some non-Gregorian calendar systems:

Hebrew 12 Tishri 5768 (a leap year with 383 days)

Islamic 12 Ramadan 1428 (a leap year)

Coptic 13 Tut 1724

Ethiopian 13 Maskaram 2000

Persian 2 Mehr 1386

Bahá’í Kamal the day of Sultan of the month of `Izzat of the year of Javab of Vahid 9 of Kull-i-Shay 1 (now that’s a mouthful)

Chinese Republic year 96, month 8, day 14 / Year cycle ding-hai, Month cycle ji-you, Day cycle xin-you

Chinese Zodiac Fire Pig

Hindu 7 Kanya 1929 S.E. (solar) or 13 Bhadrapada 2064 V.E. (lunar)

Mayan Long Count 12.19.14.12.5

Mayan Haab 13 Chen

Mayan Tzolkin 13 Chicchan

Aztec 12-Tititl (XVIII)

French Republican Decade I, Duodi de Vendemiaire, 216

Julian 11 September 2007

Roman Pridie Ides September

Unix 1190620080

Jakob Zygmunt Morris Kriger was born this morning at 7:48am,

weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces (3.7 kg) and measuring 20 ¾ inches (52.7 cm).

At little after 1am this morning, Dorota started regular contractions.

A little before 4am, we were at Roosevelt Hospital.

A little before 5am, we were in the room where she would give birth.

A little after 7am, she was fully dilated and wanting to push.

And at 7:48am, Jakob was born.

Dorota and Jakob are healthy and happy (as, of course, am I).

Many more pictures and more story will be posted soon,

but I wanted to share the good news and a smudgy cameraphone pic.

Standing in a wide-legged split . Feet an extension of the ground. Legs reaching like trees from there. Bend at the waist. Folding forward. Spine connecting tailbone to the crown of the skull. Feet want to peel away from the floor, want to follow my body forward. Inner thighs ignite to root the feet. Grounding. Folding. Crown of the head moves closer and closer to the bamboo block. Hands press into the floor, reassure the head. (without them, my body does not want to lower my head quite so far). Tightening in the abdomen. Backing out of the fold. Lengthening the spine. Folding again. Still tight. Repeat. Head brushes the block. Back out, lengthen, fold.

Crown of the head grounds on the block, joining the feet and hands in connection to the earth. Breath fills me awkwardly. Find a key to let the diaphragm be free. Steel cable hamstrings. Find a key to give them softness. Algae green ache between the back ribs. Find a key to be with the soreness. Intense burn in my adductor muscles. Another key. Differences between the right and left sides of my body. Another. Deep inside my left hip a knot of ropes limit the joint. Letting go. Wandering mind. Letting go.

Four years ago, my wide-legged split was not so wide and my forward fold was not so deep. Eyes searching the yoga studio to compare myself with my fellow yogis and judge myself lacking (ignoring that they had been practicing a long time and I had not). Mind full of doubt, thinking of the latest bout of depression or anger, remembering a happy moment from travelling, wondering about breakfast.

Daily practice over years.

Mindful of doubt, these days I wander less, see more. Awareness of the body in finer detail, awareness of the body in greater scope, awareness of how the mind responds to the body, where it wants to go and how to help it stay.

Awareness that there are many things I am not aware of.

One day, I may place my head on the floor without a block. One day, I may press my hands and crown into the floor and bring my legs up into a headstand. Some days I cannot do what I did the day before. Some days I can go further. It does not matter. On the best days, I gain insight into something new.

Postscript

The morning I wrote the first draft of this post, I bicycled to work and forgot my heavy chain lock (a necessity to safely park a bike in NYC). Since I couldn’t leave my bike on the street, I tried bringing it into the building, but the security guard said ‘no bikes allowed’; he directed me to a loading dock with a freight elevator. That elevator brought me to an area of the floor with suites for other offices. Another security guard directed me to a loading dock on the other side of the building. That freight elevator took me to a door that I couldn’t open with my keycard. Back down again and to a third loading dock. This is the one where you can actually lock your bike, but with no lock, I still needed to get upstairs. The security guard explained that the company office manager has a firm rule against bicycles in the office, but he understands the situation and bends the rules my way. Twenty minutes after arriving at the building, I’m finally at my desk.

No locks.
No keys.

Or, to say it in English, we speak Polish.

You can now view the site in either language by clicking on the flags at the top of the sidebar. Many thanks to Dorota for translating the site and to her parents for helping us translate the posts (those will be available in the next couple days). Please send us email and let us know how we can improve the Polish version of the site.

This is the cozy little womb that Dorota has lovingly crafted for Jakob. I thought I’d get some pictures before the baby arrives and the chaos begins. Click the picture to see a set of baby room photos (hosted at Flickr).

If you want to receive an email whenever Dorota or I add new posts, you can now subscribe or register with the site. You do not need to do both: subscription is less involved, you only provide your email address; registration creates an account on this blog which will allow you to post comments on the site when I eventually enable that feature.

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