About Me, "Eleventh Hour Sol"

 

A few words about myself: I'm a Buddhist, yogi, New Yorker, nursing school student, part-time New York City cab driver, blogger of BuddhaCab.com, and citizen of the 21st century. I'm an enthusiastic yoga practitioner and teacher and someone who's become steadily more involved with Buddhist practice and philosophy (even though I've resisted up to this point formally self-identifying as a Buddhist—"be a buddha, not a Buddhist," as the saying goes).

I've lived in New York City since 1984, having arrived fresh upon being discharged from a two year stint in the U.S. Army. I lived in New York until 1993, when I moved to Honolulu for three years and drove a cab as I mentioned above. After living for most of a year in San Francisco, I resumed my life in New York in 1997, and I've been here since. Although this year (2006) I became licensed to drive a cab and have been working as a New York cabbie part-time while I'm in school, for much of my work-life over the past twenty years I've supported myself as a freelance graphic production artist, working mostly in banks and advertising agencies.

In 2002 I began practicing yoga, and in the beginning of 2004 I became a yoga teacher. This has led to a great deal of personal healing and transformation. After the conclusion of my yoga teacher training I went to India and spent three months continuing my yoga and spiritual studies—those experiences are the subject of this website.

Although for a long time I've resisted self-identifying as a Buddhist (and even now do so mostly for simplicity in describing my spiritual leanings to others), I've become increasingly interested in its philosophical worldview and particularly the practice of Buddhist meditation techniques, which I find very complementary to the teaching and practice of yoga. When I returned from India I attended a 10-day vipassana meditation retreat in Massachusetts, and subsequently I've attended dharma talks and weekend retreats by some of the great Buddhist teachers who visit New York. I'm as well a member of the alternative Buddhist meditation group founded by Noah Levine called Dharma Punx NYC.

After taking three months to teach yoga in Salt Lake City at the end of '04 I returned to New York in January '05 and got a graphics job, and as well I taught one or two yoga classes a week. Then in September '05 I was laid off (the second layoff from graphics work I'd experienced within the space of two years). Over the winter I contemplated my next move. I read The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman—a fascinating and eye-opening account of the degree to which the globalization of the world economy is quite rapidly shifting more and more of all kinds of work that can be translated into the digital medium out of local economies through outsourcing. That clinched for me the necessity to find a different way to earn a living.

I considered trying to make it as a full-time yoga teacher but that didn't feel like quite the right move for me—there's a large and growing population of yoga teachers out there (as yoga studios continually conduct teacher trainings for enthusiastic yogis and the yoga business continues to rapidly evolve). I've already encountered some ups and downs in the competitive yoga teacher job market. The truth is there are many who are more experienced and gifted (and younger) than I when it comes to teaching yoga, and although I think there's a place for me as a teacher in the yoga world, I don't think it wise to plan on the yoga teacher path as my principal means for paying the rent.

After giving it quite a bit of thought, I decided to embark on a strategic career shift and started nursing school this fall to become an RN (Registered Nurse). Over the years I've become increasingly interested in health and healing, and especially alternative pathways to health. As a yoga teacher I've come to really enjoy helping my students grow stronger, healthier, and gain access to tools for their relaxation and centering. Through my yoga studies I've learned a lot about human anatomy and physiology, and the beneficial changes that the practice of yoga can bring about to strengthen and stretch the muscular system, promote bone density, and induce the relaxation response by affecting our breathing and hormonal systems.

"Right Livelihood" is the traditional Buddhist term for work that is ethical and helpful to one's spiritual development by embodying service and compassion in one's worklife. I see working as an RN as a service vocation that embodies the principles of right livelihood, and is complementary to the path I'd like to continue as a teacher of yoga and meditation. The idea is that by being able to work in nursing I can make a contribution to serve and care for my fellow human beings in the years ahead as well as shift to a career that won't be so vulnerable to outsourcing as the global economy continues to evolve. In fact I'm intrigued by the possibility of combining a career in nursing with my experience as a yoga teacher to bring the benefits of yoga and meditation to diverse populations that could benefit from them; I can particularly envision the advantages of possessing a nursing background in bringing yoga and meditation to geriatric populations. I believe that my participation in the profession of nursing will make me a much better yoga teacher, by giving me a much deeper understanding of the human body-mind-spirit health system (and I think the experience I possess now in life and as a yoga teacher will make me a better nurse).

I got my nickname, "Eleventh Hour Sol", from my stepdad; we were talking about how there was probably just enough time left for me to get into the nursing profession before my age became too much of an issue (I'm 47). Even my entry to the program at Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing had been arranged at the last moment. Bob remarked,"that's the way it goes with you—you're Eleventh Hour Sol!". I like this nickname and I think it fits; it does seem that I've waited until almost the very last possible time to get around to many of the important things in my life. Two and a half years ago that was making my trip to India, and this year that's going to nursing school. Who knows what else may lie 'round the corner after that.

The metaphor of "the eleventh hour" resonates with me for another reason as well. When I look around at the state of the world, I believe that we may collectively have reached our "eleventh hour" in regard to facing a planetary situation of increasing urgency. The human race must get a handle on a number of social, economic, environmental, and even spiritual problems that seem to be almost beyond a reasonable chance for resolution at this point. It is my hope that I may enlist the energy of my life—even as it has taken me this long to evolve personally and developmentally over a circuitous and winding path—to work in the spirit of compassionate service and right livelihood as a personal and spiritual response to the situation that I individually and we all collectively find ourselves in at this point in our history.

Peace to all beings.

I can be contacted at sol@IndiaJournal2004.com