Roger Zee Memoirs
Yoga in the Rain 09/11/20
It's the unexpected small things in life that make it worth living -- like outdoor Yoga in the rain last night. No matter the slipping on the grass and getting drenched in the mud at Turnure Park in White Plains, NY. Oh the sheer Karmic Joy of it all! Welcome to another excerpt from my memoirs, "Life and Times of a Pandemic Musician."
Started training in the Martial Arts when I turned 38 while living with my wife and two kids in our house in Teaneck, NJ. Got depressed after dropping out of the music business after playing with one too many bad drummers, LOL! I needed something to do to lift my spirits. My spouse, Gwendolyn B Armstrong
, wanted me out of my mope as well as the house! Teaneck Camera around the corner from us on Cedar Lane had just gone out of business and Chon-Ji Academy opened in their storefront run by IFC Taekwondo Master Brett Casser.
Oh what a struggle for this thin, previously unathletic string bean. After the first couple of weeks of twisting, turning, and kicking, I hurt so bad that I couldn't sleep or even sit down! Thank God my wife sent me to her chiropractor. After two miraculous sessions, I could actually sit while riding the bus to work in Manattan, LOL!
When what I call my "Civilian Life" ended with my divorce, I moved to White Plains where my kids lived with their mother and her parents. After a few months, I searched around for a new dojong and chose Master Edwards' WTF affiliated Exceptional Taekwondo. Although I had already attained my second degree Black Belt in NJ, the WTF required me to test again for my Black Belts. I found the new techniques very different from the ones I originally learned but put my head down like the bull I am and charged straight ahead. Many years later, in 2007, I attained the rank of 4th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor. ??
So now here I am again, much later in life sinking my teeth into what I hoped would prove a less demanding discipline - Yoga. Oh how wrong that assumption turned out, LOL! I train outdoors twice a week on Mon. and Thu. 6 p.m. at Turnure Park in White Plains, NY under the supervision of Svetlana Berezhnaya.
Oh my aching body! Once again I find myself practicing seemingly similar yet subtly different moves. I hear the word "wrong" a lot, LOL! Yet so nice to get my adrenaline pumping and feel that endorphin rush again!
So after a troubled night of Covid-19 lockdown sleep, I woke up at 4A and started my day by strapping on my bass and learning the low-end lines to Robin Trower's "Greatest Hits," all the while daydreaming of a future life of joy, socializing, and gigging. One <3
YouTube - Daydream - Robin Trower
©2020 Roger Zee