Dallas Sunday

Lunesta did the trick, as I managed a good 6-7 hours of sleep and was not that hungover the next day. Sunday was a rather low-key day as we hit Einstein Bagels for breakfast (I had the spinach, egg and cheese on challah; Ryan had the bagel with peanut butter, bananas and caramel sauce). Starbucks for my coffee; Grande Pike’s Red Eye (pike’s roast coffe with a shot of espresso added) with two packets of sugar in the raw and whole milk until it’s golden brown. .This drink has rapidly become the only think in my life I have ever been addicted to (except the X-files, Law and Order and House) and, I believe, I have corrupted Dave Kamin to this affect as well. The real problem is when you go from regular coffee as your standard with the occasional red-eye, to the red-eye as your standard with the occasional black eye (two extra shots of espresso). After this, we headed to the airport and I dropped Ryan off for his flight to Chicago. From there it was another trip to what I now believe to be the best gym in America, Equinox Dallas. Had a great run and brief ab workout followed by Hatha Flow Yoga.

CAUTION: the following couple of sentences are for Yogis only. The class was not bad, but I really did not care for the instructor. First, she played pop and r&b music during the class, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. I was not there for a dance or jazzercise class, so I view this music to be totally inappropriate for achieving the goal of focusing the mind, breath, body connection. Second, she did not have us go through a complete Vinyassa when transitioning the same poses from one side of the body to the other. Again, this is not the best method for honing in on your skills of constant transitioning and flow and concentration on the breath. Finally, she remarked at the beginning of the class that we would do 1:10 minutes of yoga and 5 minutes of meditation. My belief is that Yoga is intended to tire as much of the body as possible in order to achieve the highest degree of mental acuity and focus possible. In other words, the whole point of yoga is to bring you to a place where you can relax the mind and focus inward. 5 Minutes of meditation is not enough. I left after an hour. I know that’s probably not in keeping with flexibility of mind as well as body, but the class was just pissing me off too much.

After yoga, it was a nap on the couch and then room service. House salad with balsamic vinaigrette, grilled salmon with roasted broccoli and apple crème brule with a glass of 2% milk. All-in-all, and excellent room service meal. Then, to cap my Sunday night in Dallas, I watched Doubt. Great movie, I highly recommend it. I always love Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep was amazing. The ending was great too. There wasn’t much “doubt” in my mind as to the right decision for Meryl Streep, but it definitely made you think a little about distinguishing between the nature of reality and perception, and whether there is a difference sometimes at all?