Dexter Day
My body expressed a very strong opinion today: it wants rest. The message started at the left ankle, working up to left hip flexor through left quadratus lumborum, with a side trip to right inner leg, upper back & general fatigue as a postscript. Plus got about three hours of sleep last night, maybe four. Something about evening assisting gets me wired up long after & I need to work clearing that energy out better.
So there’ll be gentle practice, but I am respecting the message & resting. I am also practicing mindful housework & watching most of Season 3 of Dexter on DVD. Devilishly decadent. 
The show actually has a lot to say to us as yogis & human beings. No, really, hear me out on this one. Beloved Husband won’t even watch Dexter because he’s a sweet sweet man who doesn’t like the idea of a serial killer (anti)hero.
But I see the character as a device to initiate a really interesting discussion on how nearly everyone feels at some point that they must present a false self in order to be socially acceptable, and many folks also feel that they have a deep darkness within that others don’t have & couldn’t understand.
Much of the black humor of Dexter for me is in the dramatic irony of how Dexter is really more normal than he thinks & everyone else also has their demons that he frequently doesn’t see because he’s so caught up in his own obsession. And it uses Dexter to illustrate that being an ethical person, having healthy relationships, feeling emotions , sorting out your personal history & opening up can be damned hard.
A few months ago, a friend & I had long conversations about identifying with Dexter. And what broke my heart was that this friend believed that they were permanently broken, unfixable, condemned to live with demons forever.
Fictional (or real, heaven help us) serial killers aside, it’s not buying into that belief that makes the difference. The degree of darkness for everyone is different, but the shadow side is there for us all to address, on the mat or off. I’ve met too many people who have survived & risen above to think anyone is permanently broken. I still hold that belief for my friend, like this little golden egg of hope , and will have it waiting when & if they are ready.