Space for a Universe

I was reading about circles on the beach the other day in this book called A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe that was recommended to me by a couple of my other nerdy awesome yoga friends. Perhaps I knew intuitively at age 15 or whatever it was that important things in life would all boil down to geometry – literal, psychological, erotic and otherwise -- when I took on Mr. May freshman year for his tendency to allow his narcolepsy to take precedence over his instruction on the Pythagorean Theorem. So here I am, 20 years later, getting back to basics. . . and math is hot!

I hesitate to make a connection between the kind of system being discussed in this book and what people think of when they think of yoga, because there is lots of room for misinterpretation. . . but I’ll try not to be a control freak about clarity and will instead just focus on circles. David, one of my homeboys who has been developing and teaching his own yoga system for many years, was talking to me recently about ‘truing the wheel –‘ based on the idea that the body is its own collection of perfectly fitting parts and precise measurements – and that each person is contained within a sphere that we can’t see but from within which we navigate our lives. A compass or a clock are also good metaphors to understand this point. The idea is that by ‘truing your wheel’ on every level – making ourselves round by radiating out equally in every direction from the perfect center -- there is hope for greater resilience and a less bumpy ride. One could also simply strive for aligning with 12 or true north with the idea of finding the central axis of the sphere. However you visualize it, the idea is about balance. The ten-year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 -- an anniversary I was all too happy to experience in Italy -- has spurred a bit of conversation about religion and systems. The alternative to believing in a system is, I guess, to struggle to find meaning within what we call ‘free will.’ I’m not even sure free will actually exists – each of us crashing about in our own little spheres of reality, repeating cycles and riding along our bumpy roads.

There are more than 7000 nuraghe in Sardegna, a big beautiful island in the middle of the Mediterranean. Nuraghe are traditional round single towers that served as both dwellings and fortresses made of stones without mortar. Doug and I saw a bunch of them – or the remains of them -- as we meandered the beaches and winding highways of the Costa Smerelda. Circles are an economical use of space – which is news that apparently has yet to reach our great nation. It has, however, made it to various college campuses and hippie farm compounds where yurts and teepees decorate the landscape. Circles also provide protection – think about the circular shape of a cove giving shelter from the mistral winds, or the closing of a baby’s skull – the closing of the first sphere in life, and thus the point at which one soul begins to operate in this realm of circles and cycles. Today’s reading has been some dysfunctional family fiction, detailing several cycles of tragedy in a family in Nova Scotia in the early 20^th century.

On the topic of circles, cycles and repetition, I was also thinking about Google maps – which are something that Doug likes to use. He likes his IPhone in general, as you can see from his work as my personal paparazzo. Doug is older than I am but far more embracing of technology – an embrace of which I am often the beneficiary. Last year in Barcelona, he used one of his fancy little apps (has this really become a word?) to find me the perfect not-too-hip-but-hip-enough salon for some much needed maintenance of my unruly tresses. There are over 200 beaches on the island of Sardegna – I think we visited maybe seven or eight of them – and we used the aerial views in G.maps to guide our graceful careening toward them, top down, blasting some nouveau Italian renaissance music purchased in a gift shop in Castelsardo. Seeing everything from an aerial view and then experiencing things on a street level is a reminder of repetition. How many cafes and beach towns and old Italian men drinking mirto (a lovely herbal digestivo of Sardegna) and vacationing families and piazzas and beaches and tops of heads there are in the world. . . so many! It’s enough to make someone feel insignificant.

Speaking of the top of the head, I ran up to Capo Testa a couple of times at sunset – Doug is currently other-abled, due to a recent knee surgery, so stayed at our house in Santa Teresa and fashioned delicious meals with one perfectly functioning knee. Once again, I was the grateful beneficiary of his aptitude and artistry. Capo Testa is the northernmost point on the island, and from it, Corsica is clearly visible. The top of the head is covered in the same glowing pink wind-sculpted granite seen throughout the island. The light in Italy seems to caress these rough craggy slabs of earth as candlelight does a weary face. One feels the impulse to merge with the stones and spend her days staring out at the deeply, shamelessly blue water – the land alternately enclosing and being pulverized by it. Ahhhh – sweet dichotomy. . . no rest for we beginning constructors of the universe. How can we possibly make peace with all these oppositions? Just as surely and deftly as the ocean can pull you out to sea, it can cast your sorry ass right back up to shore.

Last night in Olbia, where I would begin my air journey this morning, an almost-full moon shone down upon me as I wandered classically romantic cobblestone streets. I was following the map to what I later realized was not an ‘x’ but the imprint of a wet ‘x’ drawn in ink by the lovely hosts at Il Giardino dei Folleti (The Garden of the Gnomes – no joke). Though I never reached my planned destination – I have learned to appreciate happenstance, -- I did sit in an idyllic little piazza with a bunch of other late-summer travelers and rounded out my Italian vacation with a perfect capricciosa and some grilled radicchio. The impressive framed unicorn puzzle that hung over my extremely comfortable bed seemed to signal nothing less than magic for the coming weeks and months -- contained in my sphere, truing my wheel, rounder by the day.