The Apple Ritual

I've begun to each an apple pretty much every day, which for me, is a big deal because I like to say, "I'm not a fruit person."

But I do like health, and health begins with diet, so eating fresh fruits is totally part of that. Time to let go of that limiting belief about myself!

However, I'm not eating an apple for any of those reasons. I do it because it's a part of my post-yoga ritual. And I've gotten in the habit of going to a yoga class virtually every day. 

Hot 26&2 classes are not for the faint of heart, but they are for the people who like challenges and improving on a day-to-day basis. These classes are the same postures in the same sequence each time. There's no music, florescent lights are highlighting all your physical features in a mirror that you're facing almost the entire time. There's a pause in between each posture and lots of time to think. Except it's so hot that the sweat continuously pouring off of you is distracting enough to break any long-chains of thoughts. 

Sometimes the only thing that gets me through these classes is thinking about how refreshing the apple and can of Lacroix I'm going to have afterward will be.

I'm not sure how it started. I mean, the La Croix started because the studio keeps a fridge full of them behind the front desk. The apple started one day when I grabbed one in a rush leaving for class knowing that I'd need a post-yoga snack. 

But then that first bite sold me on all the rest of them.

There's something special about the first bite of an apple. The sound, the crunch, the subtle sweet flavor hitting your taste buds. Especially after a hot class, it's extra delightful.

Now that's become my ritual. I sit on these concrete stairs behind the desk like it's the front stoop of some house in the big city and crunch my apple while sipping a cold one (La Croix, that is). I chat with the teacher and classmates about how hard class was, how we’re doing postures in ways we haven't done before, or it gets deeper when someone shares something going on in their lives.

After getting sober at the beginning of this year, it’s like I've traded in the beers and weed for apples and Lacroix. I'm not looking back. It turns out all the drugs and alcohol were trying to get me to the same place -- finding connection in shared activities with people on the same path as me. My path as changed, but connection is still the same. Maybe even better. 

We're all always performing rituals one way or another, the question is what gods are you praying to? What churches do you belong to? Do you even realize that the spells you’re casting are happening? 

It's best to be conscious of the magic you’re making instead of letting it make you. That's how dark magic happens. It’s often not intentional, instead it happens to you. But not if you create your own conscious magic first.