After considering the question in my previous post, I decided that my bicycle tour of Europe feels too right to skip this year. So, instead, I have decided that my challenge will be to maintain my practice throughout the tour. This may take, will most likely take, some inventiveness at times. Finding a place to practice a wind instrument is sometimes a challenge, especially, in a city.
Just yesterday, I started questioning the timing of my planned cycle tour of Europe. The situation is that I am in a phase in my shakuhachi studies that I feel the need to put in a lot of practice every day. If I were on a cycling tour of Europe, this would be difficult and interfere with the easy attitude that I would like to have on such a tour.
I am considering plans that would take me to Japan as scheduled but instead of doing the round the world through Europe bit, just fly direct from Japan to the US and back on a separate ticket as I did a few years ago. The Oz- Japan section could be on Singapore Air and allow a stop over on the way back with a short trip to Orchard Hut in nothern India and Tapoban Commune near Kathmandu, Nepal.
I have a couple months to think it over. Hmmm….
Just in from the beach here, is a tea tree lake. When the tides get very high, the sand is washed away that separates the lake from the sea and an amber stream of tea tree oil infused water flows to the ocean. This week that happened and my mind clicked. I contracted a toenail fungus on my right foot many years ago. It has remained only on that foot. It spread beyond my toenail to the sole of my foot. Twenty odd years ago, my doctor gave my different external treatments that didn’t change it. So, he gave me an internal medicine that I was to take every day for six months. After four weeks, I was so ill that he took me off it. I totally screwed up my system and it wasn’t until I was treated by a herbalist that I stabilized again.
Tea tree oil is a natural anti fungal agent. I figure that a few minutes a day walking in this tea tree water won’t hurt and it maybe will help. I’ll let you know in a few months.
Cheers
I live only a block from the beach. Most of it is through a nature strip. I was wearing these clunky sandals to the beach and, then, taking them off to enjoy the sand. A couple weeks ago, I asked myself, “Why am I doing this?” My route to the beach is through a nature strip, a small park and a short path. It is mostly grass and dirt with a few short stretches of stony earth or gravel. So, I started to leave the sandals at home. Ah, the freedom.
I soon discovered other benefits than loosing the weight of the sandals. My feet soon became accustomed to the rough surfaces. Sure, there is a bit of discomfort when walking on gravel or stony ground, but, it isn’t that much. What’s great is that my I am feeling the bottoms of my feet as I walk. Also, the irregular surfaces are massaging my feet and causing them to flex in small ways that can only be good for them. I mean, why do we have so many bones in our feet if not to give them a wide range of flexibility?
This has become a real joy for me. I am also walking differently. My feet are coming down more evenly than when wearing shoes. You can see this especially when you watch barefoot runners as opposed to people running in shoes. I read that there was a study that showed that barefoot running allows your feet to transmit the quality of the surface better to the rest of your body and that your joints are better able to prepare for the jolts. They actually found that there was less wear on joints of bare foot runners than shod runners.
I will still use my clunky sandals and my shoes but I continue to go barefoot much of the time.
Spent the morning changing the ‘theme’ for my blog to get a different appearance. Figured out how to do a few things. Added some widgets, including a link to my flickr page.
The Jim Experience of Life 