I’ve been thinking a lot recently. There’s been a good bit of upheaval and tension in my life, and lately I’m getting the impression that I’m not handling most of it altogether gracefully. I’ll not get into the sordid details, but suffice it to say that I’ve been better.

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I’ll deal with my issues in time. What I’ve been noticing, however, is that much of the root of my problem is mental. You see, I’m mildly crazy. I’ve lost most control over my mind and it runs away with me and gets irretrievably bogged down with thoughts I didn’t think. Or at least thoughts I didn’t think I thought.

Well, I’m back from my Mediterranean cruise – did you miss me? No, I didn’t think so….

My husband and I had a fabulous time and it was just what we needed to reconnect with each other. The ports of call were amazing and the cruise was over before we knew it. As I suspected, we ate our way through most of it but, that said, I managed to keep my weight down – thanks partly to yoga on board.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m realizing (further) the depth of my flexibility issue. It’s time for a new approach.

Here’s the problem: My flexibility is so poor that I can’t approximate even the simplest poses closely enough to improve them. The instructor says “Sit on the ground with your legs out.” I can do that. The instructor says “Now lean forward from the hips and grab your calves or toes or the soles of your feet.” I can’t do that. I succeed only in reaching my knees – the tops of my knees, to be exact. And that’s only because my arms cover the distance. I’m still sitting upright. During any yoga routine, I suffer this kind of flexibility problem on several different poses – actually, almost all of them.

Okay, so following up on my newest experience with “Neti Wash Plus,” after a whole week of using this, I am thrilled with the results.

I have consistently used it every evening during my shower, right before I retire. I’ve also occasionally used it in the morning when my sinuses have been extremely irritated by the early morning dust and pollens.

As you read this, I should be on my Mediterranean cruise, relaxing and having a great time with my husband.

A few weeks before leaving, I went to get my hair done so that I could at least look halfway decent during my holiday. While my hairdresser was cutting my hair, I noticed that she winced and grimaced a few times. When I asked her what was wrong, she said that her lower back was aching from standing all day.

Today I thought I’d DQ something different, to borrow a phrase from the beloved dairy chain. Circumstances conspired this week - what with helping three friends move on the same weekend - to make it exceedingly difficult to attend one of the Yin sessions at the studio. In my infinite cunning, however, I remembered my copy of The Gift of Yoga, YogaHub’s very first yoga DVD.

I admit it, when it was given to me, my interest and involvement with yoga was zero. I never got around to checking it out. For that I’m sorry to those of you whose blood and sweat went into producing it. I think you know who you are.

By the time you read this blog, my husband and I will be on our Mediterranean cruise – bliss.

But before even boarding the cruise ship, we have to contend with a nine-hour flight to Frankfurt and another two-hour one to Rome, where we’ll pick up our cruise. Ugh (to the flight, not the cruise).

I have come a long way from my fear of the Neti Pot or – in other words – “Nasal Cleansing.”

This time, when I arrived back in Los Angeles from Vancouver, the heat wave was still lingering. I had come from weather that was in the 60’s to 100 degrees. “Hot” was not quite the word I chose to use to describe the weather in L.A.!

So it finally happened. I got a response. It must have been yesterday that I found out. I got a call from my friend Gaston, a charmingly French-Canadian artist and animator. He was excited about something. That much I could tell. His Quebequois comes out quite significantly when he’s worked up, you see, so it took me a while to decipher the sudden cascade of rolling syllables. After an embarrassing third time through, I realized he was trying to tell me that he’d just received an acceptance email from the coordinator of the Commercial Animation program we both applied to.

Okay, I’m excited – and that’s putting it mildly!

This year, my husband and I will be celebrating our fifteenth wedding anniversary. Has it really been that long already? It seems just like yesterday, although my husband may beg to differ!

Anyway, we’ve decided to go all out and celebrate by going on a Mediterranean cruise – whoopee!