Steve's Cog Theory of Inter-Personal Relationships

Lots of people I love and respect have awesome blogs.  They are successful “bloggers.”  I think it is a good way to make connections with people.  A good way to say things that people relate to.  Since I have decided to write about my journey (I accidentally typed journal) on a public platform I have let a tiny sliver of fear creep in.  What if people judge me?  Or worse what if people don’t ‘get’ what I am saying?  I figured something out.  It doesn't matter what I say or what I write.  People get what they get, however they get it.  I am learning how to let go of outcomes.  That doesn't mean I don’t plan stuff or even worry about stuff, I just plan with the idea that I have no idea how things will turn out.  It is a precipice I am standing on which is both exciting and terrifying.  And different.

My friend Steve has this thing, “Steve’s cog theory of inter-personal relationships.”  Steve says everyone operates like a ‘cog’ connected to each other and when one person does something the cog picks it up and carries it over to the next ‘cog’ causing this transfer of energy.  In case you were wondering, the picture above shows how cogs are hooked together.  My son’s fourth grade teacher told me last week that the world has the same amount of energy now as it did when it “began.”  It is just being transferred around like the bicycle that is operated by a student which lights the light bulbs attached to the bike wheels in her classroom.  Pretty deep for a Friday afternoon.

I have had a lot of thoughts since I have made the decision to carve out (realistically) 2 hours a day for the next 30 days to do something intentionally for myself.  Something means being accountable to myself and committing to go, unroll my mat, participate in yoga, and roll up mat, leave.  But let me say a few things about how I picked yoga.  You see, I am a karate student.  I will always be a karate student even without physically training ~ a fierce Ki (or Chi) and a big mouth go with me everywhere.  That’s just the way it is.  I practiced this “moving meditation” by kicking and screaming and pushing my body beyond its comfortable limits for fourteen years.  I made lifelong bonds with people (you know who you are).  I got up at 5:30 in the morning and did knuckle push-ups with some of the best martial artists around.  I am honored to be part of that group.  OSU. 

So, understandably when I took my first yoga class with my friends Carol and Nina in Baltimore I was left feeling….ripped off.  It makes me laugh now because I was one of those people who “get what they get” so I took very little from that class.  Years later, however, I entered into my local yoga studio, literally yards from my karate dojo.  I was hooked.  I felt NEW, fresh, rejuvenated, and like I had gotten a great work out.  My Shihan would even make fun of me and call me “yogi” if I dropped into the dojo after a yoga class.  But now he gets it.  He is as much a yogi as anybody.

This is a small town so all of our ‘cogs’ rub together frequently.  Sometimes I think the salt air causes them to jam up.  Yoga helps me wring out the stuff that jams my cogs.  It oils the stiff places and then at the end of the practice it gives me space to reflect (or sleep if I must).  It is Savasana or in karate Rei.  I’m stoked for the journey.  It will be fun to see how it turns out.