At the beginning of 1976, when I arrived in Australia for the first time, there was an annoying ritual well underway: shutting down the country for the month of January. Actually the closure had started earlier, mid-December or so.
I was looking at this slack behaviour from the American perspective which leaned somewhat toward the Scrooge work ethic: you can have Christmas Day and New Year’s Day off, but little more than the public holidays.
That’s the trouble with being horse-blinkered by cultural bias; I was missing out on seeing how glorious coastal Australian summer was and how it demanded celebration.
I am told I still speak with a strong American accent – it’s a stubborn one, obviously. But under that yank modulation, I feel like I’ve become a true-blue Australian.
So, it makes me a little sad to see that the sacred boundaries around the six-week Chrissy break have been gradually encroached on over the years. I have even heard of yoga schools opening all through the holidays. To my mind, it’s a perfect time for yogis to grab their mats and head off to camp sites, music festivals, and the beach to be able to do personal practice.
If you are a regular “Yoga with Eve Grzybowski” reader, you probably know I’m half-joking. I think it’s laudable that yoga teachers want to teach during the holidays. In fact, I’m running a week-long intensive on Mitchell Island mid-January. But you can bet I’ll be enjoying the beach and the bush every possible day and reading that stack of wait-till-Christmas books.
Eve & duck family
1 Comment
Gina
on December 15, 2011 at 10:13 am
Oh I so agree, where has the chrissy break gone. I am not teaching exactly, however I am taking my mat to the park twice a week (one evening and one early monring) and inviting my students to join me for free, if they’d like. I hope they’ll like.
Thank you Eve for great year of joyful, honest reflection. Hopefully I will see you at the YA Conference in Sydney next year.
With Love. (and Hugs)
Oh I so agree, where has the chrissy break gone. I am not teaching exactly, however I am taking my mat to the park twice a week (one evening and one early monring) and inviting my students to join me for free, if they’d like. I hope they’ll like.
Thank you Eve for great year of joyful, honest reflection. Hopefully I will see you at the YA Conference in Sydney next year.
With Love. (and Hugs)