Yoga of the Afternoon

Things you see from your window: a woman wearing a hat and a very long dark visor completely covering her face. In fact, the visor must have extended six inches beyond her chin -- as long as a bee-keeper's veil, but looking more like the visor on a motorcycle helmut. Weird, in other words. Sinister. Instantly I thought of the fully veiled Death-like character with the mirror face in Meshes of the Afternoon, though this woman was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

She was delivering leaflets promoting Dahn Yoga. Who? What? It only took a few minutes to unearth its reputation. Of course, they say they aren't a cult. No, of course they aren't. Perhaps the woman outside my window was just keeping the sun off her face, too. On the other hand, a mask is a mask: it hides something.

The leaflet promises "yoga, tai-chi, meditation, breath work, energy training and brain education." This is different from regular education how? When I send my kids to school, I expect some brain education; their hearts, livers, lungs, etc. already know what to do. Elsewhere the leaflet uses the term brain respiration. Call me squeamish, but the idea, the image, of "brain respiration" doesn't set well with me.