Category: Health & Wellness Monday

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An Intro to Chakras – Anahata

Above that, in the heart, is the charming lotus of the shining color of the bandhuka flower…It is known by its name of anahata, and is like the celestial wishing-tree, bestowing even more than what one desires…

Description of the Six Centres, Verse 22

Anahata – the heart chakra

When we want to demonstrate that something is meaningful or personal to us, we tend to spontaneously gesture to the center of our chest. Our atma (the essence of our true self) resides here in the anahata chakra, the heart center, much in the same way that the essence of an entire tree resides within one seed.

Anahata in Sanskrit means unhurt, unstruck, or unbeaten. The word is a “sound produced without touching two parts.” This refers to the concept of the sound of the celestial realm described in Vedic texts, the oldest known Hindu scriptures. Rather than two forces coming together in opposition, they co-exist without conflict, there is synergy and cooperation. We are able to experience things with a detached perspective, to “follow our heart,” to make decisions based on our higher self, not karma or emotions.

The location of anahata means that it affects not only the heart but the lungs, chest, arms, and hands. Having a blockage or imbalance in this chakra can manifest itself physically in respiratory or circulatory issues. Mental/behavioral symptoms may include co-dependence, manipulative behaviors, feeling unworthy, people pleasing, and/or antisocial behavior.

When anahata is activated and open, it is associated with love and compassion, charity to others and psychic healing. The more that the heart center opens, the more strongly and deeply we feel. This may reveal some past hurts, but by working through these feelings, we are able to let them go. Then we can access feelings of balance, calmness, and serenity and free ourselves from being bound to our emotions.

Although anahata is commonly represented by the color green these days, it has also been described as light blue, representing spirituality and unity, and symbolizing the purification resulting from the fire of manipura (think the blue center of a flame). The mandala for anahata is said to be surrounded by twelve red lotus petals.

In the middle of the mandala is a six-pointed star, formed by two intersecting triangles, highlighting the inner battle between spirituality and emotion. The center of the star is described as having a smoky color and containing a representation of a new moon, which relates to changeability we experience in this chakra.

The element for anahata is air. Think about how the heart is located within the region of the lungs and how closely the activities of the two organs are associated (for example, you might focus on breathing more slowly to calm your heart rate). Air symbolizes our connection to everything we encounter. It is also a force that has the ability to destroy (like a tornado) or can be utilized in a productive manner (like how the Bernoulli effect enables airplanes to fly).

Relating to the idea of air is the animal symbol for anahata, the black antelope. An antelope is fleet, shy, elusive, and graceful. For Jung the antelope symbolizes the efficiency and the lightness of our thoughts and feelings in the anahata chakra.

The seed syllable of anahata is “yam” which means to let go, to liberate, to give.

Jung describes anahata as the point that we become conscious of something which is not personal. We are able to separate ourselves from our emotions. Anahata serves as a bridge between lower and upper chakras, integrating the manifest with the spiritual. The first step in self-realization, recognizing one’s self in every living being – accessing the atma – happens in anahata.

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An Intro to Chakras – Manipura

Above it, and at the root of the navel, is the shining lotus of ten petals of the color of heavy-laden rainclouds…Meditate there on the region of fire, triangular in form and shining like the rising sun…

Description of the Six Centres – Verse 19

Manipura – the solar plexus chakra

We have now arrived at the third chakra, manipura.  This chakra is located in the area between the navel and the diaphragm (the solar plexus) and is considered the center of emotions.  Manipura translates to “lustrous gem” or “many precious jewels.”  The “jewels” found when this chakra is aligned include qualities such as clarity, self-confidence, bliss, self-assurance, knowledge, wisdom, and wellbeing.

Think about terms like “go with your gut,” or “having a gut feeling.” These are examples of the intuition and wisdom that can be found within manipura.  But if this chakra is not activated, we may not feel comfortable trusting out gut, or we may react to things emotionally or irrationally.  When manipura is blocked, symptoms can manifest in digestion issues as well as low self-esteem, difficulty making decisions, neediness, or aggressive, rigid, and controlling behavior.

The mandala of manipura is surrounded by ten petals that represent the ten pranas which control the supply of energy to the body.  Prana describes the concept of a universal energy that runs through all things (I guess we could call it “the force”). It also describes the way that energy is received and utilized in the body.

Within the mandala is the shape of an inverted triangle representing energy, growth, and development. The triangle is also the symbol for fire, the element of manipura. Fire has many interesting applications in this context.  In one sense, the fire of manipura is the digestive fire (agni) which acts as the furnace powering the body.  When the energy of this chakra is blocked, the fire causes aggression, passion, and restlessness. When it is activated the fire means purification and refinement, offering us the opportunity to free ourselves from bad qualities and habits.

The syllable associated with manipura is “ram” which also represents fire and purification by burning.  And then, the ram is the animal represented within the mandala (I just love when things are matchy-matchy).  For Jung, the significance of the ram is that it is a sacrificial animal. You have already overcome the worst danger, the danger of being drowned in unconsciousness by the makara of svadhisthana, you don’t need to fear the ram. Sacrificing the ram by activating this chakra is to sacrifice your passions and take control of your inner power.

The thing that I found most interesting about Jung’s interpretation of manipura was the was that he explained it as the rebirth following the symbolic death of svadhisthana.  He linked this chakra, the fire center, to the rebirth of the initiation rites of the ancient Egyptian sun cult, the Greek myth of Apollo, and Christian baptism. So manipura is where one becomes part of the divine substance, having an immortal soul.

Activating manipura only bring Kundalini to the mid-point of her journey to connecting with the universe, but it gives us access to a tremendous amount of personal power.  I’m looking forward to considering what the remaining chakras have in store for us.  I have a gut feeling that it is going to be something good.

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An Intro to Chakras – Svadhisthana

“He who meditates upon this stainless Lotus, which is named Svadhisthana, is freed immediately from all his enemies…and is like the sun illuminating the dense darkness of ignorance.”

Description of the Six Centres, Verse 18

Svadhisthana – the sacral chakra

The next chakra is svadhisthana, the sacral chakra. This is the chakra of emotions and creativity.  Within the body, svadhisthana is located in the region of the sacrum, where the spine connects to the pelvis.

When svadhisthana is not activated, we exist in a psychic state where we just want to live in a carefree and hedonistic way.  Wilhelm Hauer (a Tantric scholar and contemporary of Jung) described it as, “the life we live freely and thoughtlessly, just throwing ourselves into the stream of life and letting ourselves be carried, floating on to all that comes to us.”

In modern descriptions, svadhisthana is assigned the color orange, but in the traditional texts, the six petals of the mandala are described as being of a vermillion (bright red) color.  It is associated with the element of water, symbolized by the silver crescent moon within the mandala.

The animal contained within the mandala is a makara (crocodile or sea monster).  This is the only chakra whose mandala contains a scary animal.  To Jung the svadhisthana chakra contains the idea of a symbolic death complete with confronting the danger of being drowned or devoured by the makara.  He relates this not only to the act of baptism but also to the sun myth found in ancient cultures such as the Egyptians and the Greeks.  I found his equating the whole baptismal story to the sun myth very enlightening.  Here is how he explains it,

“…the sun in the afternoon is getting old and weak, and therefore he is drowned; he goes down into the western sea, travels underneath the waters (the night sea journey) and comes up in the morning reborn in the East.  So, one would call the second chakra, the chakra of baptism, or of rebirth, or of destruction – whatever the consensus of the baptism may be.”

– Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga

Jung’s interpretation is even more interesting if considered with regard to creativity.  Think about the fear that can accompany your desire to express yourself creatively.  For example, I have a lot of fear concerning writing these posts about chakras.  I have fear every time I get ready to start a new creative project. Is this going to be too hard?  Am I going to be able to make something good enough? Do I have what I need (either the experience or the materials) to complete this?  The fear keeps me from starting.  But at some point, I have to take a deep breath and dive in.  Face the monster and come out the other side with the satisfaction of knowing that the idea inside of me has been released into the world. 

Think about it like going for a swim in the ocean.  You can stand near the shore and keep getting pounded by the break or you can take a deep breath and dive in, and when you come out on the back side of the waves, you realize how much easier it was to act than to let your fear keep you stuck where you were.

Next week we will talk about manipura – where you arrive when you are reborn after your symbolic death.

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An Intro to Chakras – Muladhara

“By meditating thus on her who shines within the muladhara chakra, with the luster of ten million suns, a man becomes lord of speech and king among men, and an adept in all kinds of learning.  He becomes ever free from all diseases, and his inmost spirit becomes full of great gladness. Pure of disposition by his deep and musical words, he serves the foremost of the devas (divine beings).”

Description of the Six Centres, Verse 13

Muladhara – The Root Chakra

The first chakra, the lowest chakra, is muladhara – the root.  Think about it like you are sitting on the ground, cross-legged, like the guy in the picture.  You can feel your “sit” bones (the official name for these bones are the ischium) against the ground.  Muladhara is not in contact with the ground (also remember that it doesn’t physically exist) but energetically, it is creating a connection to the earth.  You are “grounded.”

For Jung all of the chakras are symbols, right?  So muladhara, being the root, is a symbolic representation of our conscious world, of our everyday existence.  The mandala of muladhara contains multiple symbols of earth: the yellow square symbolizes the four corners of this earth, the Sanskrit syllable “LAM” relates to the earth, and the elephant is the largest land animal.

The Chopra Center describes muladhara as the chakra that relates to the things that ground you and create stability for you in your daily life, things like food, water, and shelter.  These are also the elements of the first level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – the physiological needs.

For Maslow, the needs of one level must be met for an individual to have the motivation to pursue the elements of the next level much in the same way that Kundalini ascends sequentially as the chakras are activated and aligned.

According to Jung, we all exist within muladhara, although we may not be conscious of it.  What does that mean?  Here’s what I think it means: there was a period of time where I was existing in the world and going about my life, but in a very unconscious way.  I would go to work, come home late, go to bed and then wake up the next day and do it again.  I was “busy” and tended to react to things around me.  I was so busy doing that I didn’t take time for learning (research, reading, whatever) or physical activity, much less reflection.  I felt like things were happening to me.  I didn’t exist beyond being busy doing.  A Kundalini practitioner might say that I had a blockage in muladhara.

In Kundalini lingo, when muladhara is “activated” you become aware of yourself as an entity distinct from the world around you.  You become aware that things are happening around you, not to you. You have some psychical distance between yourself and your environment.  It is the first, baby step toward individuation, the attainment of self-realization that is the goal of Jungian psychology.  To me, another parallel of muladhara being activated, is this fundamental tenant of Stoic philosophy: you cannot control what happens, you can only control how you react. 

I realize that today’s post is a bit of a potpourri of philosophy, but I find the parallels fascinating.  Maybe it just reinforces Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious.

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An Intro to Chakras – Overview

Today I am going to give a quick overview of the six chakras and sahasrara (the crown chakra) and then beginning June 3rd (we’ll take Memorial Day off) will begin going through each chakra one at a time.

In last week’s post I mentioned that Kundalini sleeps at the base of the tailbone and that when the chakras are activated, she rises, ultimately reaching the crown of the head.  It follows that the chakras are discussed from the bottom up.

The mandala of each chakra contains several elements:

  • One central Sanskrit syllable (or mantra) at the center and a varying number of lotus petals around the perimeter, each containing the symbol of a Sanskrit syllable.
  • A geometric shape representing an element.
  • The representation of an animal.
  • The representation of deities.
  • Various colors.  There are different interpretations of the colors of the chakras.  In the older works (Serpent Power, Jung’s lectures, etc.) the colors are very complex (ex: within one mandala one part is vermillion, another part is a smoky color and the animal is black) but in our modern interpretations they have been simplified into basic rainbow colors.

Today I will explain the location of each chakra with relation to the physical body and give a few key components of the symbolism of each.

Muladhara – the root chakra

Muladhara is referred to as the root chakra as it grounds us to our physical reality.  Its location in the subtle body is near the base of the tailbone – Kundalini sleeps below muladhara.  The element of the chakra is earth (grounding, foundation, root).  The mandala of muladhara includes a yellow square (symbolizing earth), an elephant, the syllable lam, and is surrounded by four petals. 

Svadhisthana – the chakra of creativity

The next chakra, Svadhisthana is found in the region of the reproductive organs and is considered the chakra of creativity (consider the proximity to where life is created).  Its mandala has six petals.  An eight-petaled lotus inside the mandala with a white crescent moon symbolizes water.  The mandala also contains a sea monster (sometimes referred to as an alligator) and the syllable vam.  This chakra is associated with unconsciousness and emotion and is closely connected to muladhara.

Manipura – the solar plexus chakra

Above svadhisthana is the power chakra of manipura.  Manipura is located in the solar plexus region (above the navel but below the diaphragm).  Manipura means “lustrous gem” and this chakra is associated with the element of fire. The mandala is surrounded by ten petals and contains a triangle shape (representing fire) as well as both the syllable ram, and a representation of a ram.

Anahata – the heart chakra

The word translates to “unstruck” which relates to the sounds of the celestial realm where there are no hard sounds, as well as “pure” referring to the state we achieve when we are able to become detached by activating this chakra.  It is associated with balance, calmness, and serenity. The anahata mandala is surrounded by twelve petals.  Inside, it contains two triangles creating a six-pointed star, the syllable yam, and an antelope.  The element of this chakra is air.

Vishuddha – the throat chakra

Vishuddha chakra is located in the region of the thyroid gland.  Sixteen petals surround this chakra’s mandala and within it is a sky-blue, downward pointing triangle that contains a white circle (representation of the full moon), symbolizing the element ether.  The mandala also contains a white elephant and the syllable ham.  Stress caused by the fear of speaking up can affect this chakra.

Ajna – the third eye

Associated with the pineal gland, the ajna chakra serves as our link to the subconscious and the brahman (the ultimate reality underlying everything).  Activating this chakra connects a person to her intuition. The ajna mandala is surrounded by two petals.  The seed syllable contained within this mandala is om, the primordial sound and most sacred of all syllables.  There is no element connected with this chakra, because by this point corporeal reality has been transcended.

Bonus chakra content: Sahasrara – the crown chakra (thousand-petaled lotus)

Sahasrara is included in the Description of the Six Centres, and in some interpretations is referred to as the seventh chakra.  This is the point at which Kundalini connects to the energy of the universe and pure consciousness is achieved.  Sahasrara is described as a 1,000 petaled lotus flower.  The petals are arranged 20 rows of 50 petals, so all of the 50 syllables of Sanskrit are repeated 20 times.

In the coming weeks, I will go through each chakra in more detail and get into Jung’s interpretations of the symbols in terms of archetypes.  I’m also going to work on finding some images of the mandalas that I can share with you.

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An Intro to Chakras – Preface

I had this idea that I would do a whole Health & Wellness Monday series on the chakras.  The chakras are a concept from Kundalini yoga that pertain to a series of energy centers within the body.  My intention was to introduce the concept one week, then elucidate a different chakra every week. I liked the idea so much that I decided to use the same topic as the subject of a speech for my Toastmasters club.  That is how I went down the rabbit hole of chakra/Kundalini yoga research which has been fascinating and has also put me way behind on my writing schedule.  At some point, its time to stop researching and just get down to it, so here we go!

The first thing that I found was that there was a great deal of interest in this subject among all sorts of different people who I know.  One friend mentioned that he thought that there was something in the air that made this idea have a lot of resonance with people at this time (hold that thought, we’ll be coming back to it in a bit).

As I mentioned, the term chakra describes a series of energy centers within the Kundalini yoga paradigm.  Kundalini yoga is a branch of yoga that comes out of Tantric philosophy.  In some usages, Tantra and Kundalini are used interchangeably to describe the style of yoga practice; however, Tantra refers to an entire subset of the Hindu/Buddhist cannon.

It is a rich tradition, full of iconography and symbolism.  It is also complicated, and the classical Tantric texts are intentionally opaque.  I’m going to try to strip things down as much as possible without simplifying the concepts too far.  You’ll have to let me know how I do.

Kundalini an aspect of the goddess.  She exists within everyone in the form of a serpent that is coiled three and a half times at the base of the tailbone, asleep.  The object of Kundalini yoga is to “activate” the various energy centers (chakras), waking Kundalini and allowing her to rise through the body, ultimately connecting an individual’s consciousness to the universe.

In the course of conducting research for my speech, I re-read a book called The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga by C.G. Jung.  This book contains the transcription of a series of seminars that Jung gave on the subject of Kundalini yoga in 1932.  Jung had already established his ideas on the collective unconscious and archetypes and reading the ways that Jung relates the concepts and symbols of the chakras to universal themes gets really interesting and overwhelming.  One point though did feel like a sort of life-line, when the way that Jung was explaining the chakras related directly to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (even though Maslow was much later).  I’m really interested in exploring this idea more after laying the groundwork by spending some time considering each chakra, I hope you’ll bear with me.

I’m listing the sources from my research so far here, but I will also tag references in future posts.

Sources:

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Trailblazing Women

I recently attended an event hosted by The Society of Trojan Women.  The title of the presentation was Trailblazers: The First and the Few.  I decided to post about it on Health & Wellness Monday because I think that meeting new people and having shared, meaningful experiences is an important component of wellness and that being inspired is healthy.

It has been a long time since I have attended a USC alumni event and I was curious to see how it would be.  Somehow, I managed to seat myself at the table with the speakers for lunch.  Tara Campbell is the mayor of Yorba Linda (she’s 25 guys), Jennifer Grasso, an LAPD SWAT officer (the first woman to do this EVER), and Heather Rim, the senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer of international infrastructure firm, AECOM (Heather is a fellow Communication Management alumnae and Rebecca Weintraub fan club member).

They are all women with very impressive professional credentials.  What stood out for me was how genuine they all were about mentoring, supporting, and empowering other women.  It’s important! We have all had our run-ins with those women at the top who thought they needed to protect their place by keeping other women out.  Our lovely panelists had too.  It was heartening to hear their commitment to turning around to offer a hand up to the women coming behind them.

Carol Geffner, a professor at the USC Price School gave the keynote.  She presented on her current research project concerning women in executive roles in patriarchal industries.  Her research questions pertained to how women in these roles find and learn to use their authentic voice, especially in male-dominated settings.  Although she is still in data-collection mode, she talked about four attributes that are trending in her early findings: curiosity, self-efficacy, cognitive resilience, and intention.

Leading with curiosity is more about the questions, and less about the answers. This is the inclination to ask, reframe, and re-ask questions until there is a satisfactory answer.  It isn’t about being right, or protecting a decision, but about learning and trying new things until the best possible outcome is achieved.

Self-efficacy is the internal sense of being capable of mastering something.  It is different from self-confidence, not, “I can do that,” but “I can figure that out.”

The ability to externalize and problem solve rather than taking something personally and getting upset is what Carol means by cognitive resilience.  This concept is a major component of Stoic philosophy which I have been reading and thinking about a lot lately (more on that in a future post). For me, employing cognitive resilience is something that I have to consciously practice every day.

And by intention, Carol means keeping an eye on the prize, knowing and not losing site of the end goal.  I think this is the underlying factor in being able to employ the other three tactics because when you are clear about what outcome you are working for, you are more inclined to utilize tools such as cognitive resilience, self-efficacy, and leading with curiosity to continue to work toward achieving your goal.

Then Carol moderated the panel with our esteemed panelists.

These women are all succeeding in arenas where gender parity is notably unbalanced.  The great thing to me was that they weren’t trying to pretend that they didn’t notice or that their gender wasn’t noted in relation to their position by others. I am so glad that it is starting to be ok to have these types of conversations because it does all of us a disservice when women pretend that their gender is a non-issue.

Thank you to all of the speakers for stepping up, speaking up, and turning around to help the women behind you.  Thank you for trailblazing.  It was a privilege to meet you.

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Got Hay Fever? Have you tried the Neti Pot?

Here is another health remedy from the strange-yet-effective file.

Have I told you before about how I went through that phase with terrible allergies?  About how I was miserable all the time and even gave up yoga? One thing that helped me survive that phase (and I continue to use now) is the Neti pot.

One day, I was watching random Oprah reruns and there was Dr. Oz.  He was promoting/demonstrating the Neti pot – a little tea pot style thing that you would use to wash out your sinuses.  Basically, you make a little bit of warm saline solution, then you pour it in one nostril, and it comes out the other.  You do both sides, then you are good to go.

I knew that saline solution could be helpful – I remember rinsing with salt water after getting my wisdom teeth out, it made sense that it could help flush and reduce inflammation in your sinuses.  It still seemed like it would be terrible.  But I was so miserable that I decided to try it.

I headed to Whole Foods where the nice gal in the health and beauty supply area knew all about it.  Her tip was to make sure that you really blow your nose well after you rinse.  Then I picked up a container of regular NON-iodized table salt and headed home to try it out.

And…

It was life changing!

Seriously, it really does help.

I became a Neti pot evangelist.  I would tell anyone with allergies to try it.  My sister always has terrible allergies and I really gave her the hard sell.  She wasn’t having any of it.  Finally, I told her that one day she would be so miserable that she would be willing to try it.  That day came and she has never looked back.  These days she is the one who reminds me to use my Neti pot when I start complaining about sniffles and sinus problems.

Here’s what you do:

  • Take your little Neti pot.  Here is an Amazon link to the one that I have.
  • Add ¼ teaspoon salt (non-iodized table salt).
  • Fill with warm but not hot water (should be close to body temperature).
  • Stir.
  • Lean over the sink (just a little, you don’t need to bend way forward) and tilt your head to one side.
  • Breathe through your mouth.
  • Put the spout against your top nostril and pour.
  • The water will come out your bottom nostril.
  • The package recommends using one pot-full per side, but I usually just do half-and-half.
  • After you’ve done both sides, lean over the sink some more.  After all the water has drained out of your nose, give it a good blow.

Few warnings:

  • Make sure that you are using processed water.  I use tap water, but if your municipal water supply is questionable, you might want to use bottled, distilled water.
  • If you are completely stuffed up, it won’t work.
  • If you use too cold or too hot water, it won’t feel good.  Shoot for water around body temperature.
  • If your sinuses are really unhappy, it might be a bit uncomfortable (like a slight burning feeling) but you will still feel good afterwards.
  • I also don’t recommend using it before going to yoga class or any other kind of exercise class when you will be bending over.  I’ve had surprise reminders that I just poured a bunch of water up my nose (drip!).

Let me know what you think!  Happy Hay Fever Season!

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Just Kidding! Happy April Fools’ Day!

Happy April Fools’ Day everyone!  I hope that your day is filled with shenanigans that everyone can laugh about when you get to the part when someone says, “just kidding!”

When I was working on my blog schedule and I saw today was April 1, I immediately thought that I would come up with some sort of practical joke for today’s post.  The more that I thought about it, I began to get this icky feeling.  What about X? No, what if someone actually tries it.  What about Y? That just seems mean.  What if I claimed that some big, hairy, audacious goal of mine had come true, and then at the end said, just kidding?  It seems counterproductive to turn a goal into a joke.  And so on.

Maybe I’m superstitious. I just couldn’t come up with something that I didn’t feel uncomfortable about putting out there into the universe.  And we all know how things can take on a life of their own on the internet.

So, I chickened out.

I’d rather use my energy to give the universe stories about kittens.  I don’t mind sharing my failed attempts at gardening or achieving a flat stomach.  And I have no compunction about giving lackluster productions a less-than-stellar review. Having fun and joking around is wonderful, but I just felt uncomfortable about trying to play a practical joke here.

Then, I decided to google “April Fools’ Day.”  The first thing that came up was an article about how Microsoft has banned pranks. In an article on The Verge, they report that a memo has gone out stating that, “the data tells us that these stunts have limited positive impact and can actually result in unwanted news cycles.”

Apparently, it’s not just me. Massive tech companies are trying to avoid pranks that could be taken the wrong way as well.  Why is it so hard to try to joke around these days?  Does no one have a sense of humor anymore?  Is it political correctness?  Or the culture of busy-ness?  People are likely to react first and think later, potentially blowing anything into a massive issue.

Once, many years ago, I instigated a harmless practical joke on my beloved boss.  We asked the receptionist to warn us when she was arriving, then left a ransom note on her desk and the entire staff absconded to the break room. Since she would arrive most days to a lively and productive workplace, the ghost town environment was unexpected to say the least.  Shortly, she arrived at the breakroom to find us all with bagels or doughnuts or something.

I don’t remember if this was before or after the time that she returned to work after knee replacement surgery to find that we had replaced her desk chair with a wheel chair, but she certainly seemed to take that joke in better humor than us pretending to have kidnapped her whole staff.  Probably because we were all diligently at our desks when she arrived to the wheelchair surprise.

I guess that the moral of this story is that if you want to play a practical joke on someone, know your audience and do it in a controlled environment, like in person as opposed to on the internet.

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Are You Recovering Today?

Well, yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day, a day when everyone claims a percentage of Irishness (real or imagined) in order to justify indulging in beer (green or not), whiskey, corned beef, and wearing green.

So how did a day commemorating the arrival of Christianity to Ireland, become a drinking holiday?

Ah, ha!  Because Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking would be lifted for the day.  If Lent is your deal, then I hope that you made the most of St. Patrick’s Day because now Lent is back on.

Traditionally, St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated with religious services and feasts.  Modern celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day began as a way for the Irish diaspora to celebrate their heritage.  Eventually, it became a tourist holiday within Ireland and many of the practices common in international celebrations were adopted there.

What about the snakes?

It seems unlikely that Ireland ever had any snakes (too cold for reptiles).  At some point, the lore about Patrick’s efforts against the Druids (the Celtic professional class – spiritual leaders, healers, judges, and teachers) became his vanquishing of snakes from the island.  Poor Druids.

What’s the deal with shamrocks?

Three was a significant number in pagan Ireland.  It is speculated that this helped Patrick with his evangelical efforts – the legend is that he may have use shamrocks to help illustrate the holy trinity to the pagans.

Not an actual shamrock

Sunday Funday

This St. Patrick’s Day also happened to be Sunday Funday, a somewhat recent designation for Sundays spent brunching and partaking in other day-drinking activities.  The term first appeared in the Urban Dictionary in 2006 (what did we call it before then, just Sunday?). Sunday Funday traditionally should begin with mimosas (preferably bottomless) and/or Bloody Mary’s.  The objective is to party hard enough to pass out early enough to be fresh and ready to start your week on Monday morning.

So, my question for you is: are you recovering today?