Sanskrit and sewing and stuff

I bought a serger. I was going to go and get a demo on what kind of features to look for in sergers so I could buy one second hand cheap, but ended up walking out with one. I've come to know the lady who works in my local sewing machine shop - I bought my sewing machine from her, and I keep going in to buy thread and chat... and she demoed me some of their models... The cheapest one - that was on sale for half price - was actually just slightly more expensive than a used one would have been, so I ended up buying it on the spot. And it's lovely. It makes a comforting humming sound while serging and oh sweet lord it's fast...

I really had to tear myself away from mah new baby to run to my first Sanskrit class with Padma. Sanskrit is a fascinating language and by the end of this eight week course I should be able to read and write it in devanagari (the writing system). Use of language and culture are intertwined so heavily that to truly understand a culture one has to understand the language, and the other way around - in case of Sanskrit the culture is the human mind, as the language developed around philosophy and religion, as well as poetry, drama, scientific and technical texts. There are many words in Sanskrit that don't exist in English (or Finnish, or possibly any other language) that describe states of being and qualities of the mind... in many ways I consider the Sanskrit to be like background study for my yoga sutra studies.

From my sutra studies I have learned a completely different way of viewing myself and my mind... I feel that I am now so much better at dealing with the unsettling thoughts that creep in, so far there hasn't been a thought that haven't been able to analyze and understand after some meditation on it. It's pretty incredible - thoughts that would have previously crippled me for days or even months, I can now purify out of my mind in hours if I set my mind on it.

One's mind has the power both to paralyze or to completely set free... and in the end, it's your choice.