Il Sacro e Il Profano

 

"Profanity is the treatment of the sacred with contempt"

 

Italy is a country in which the sacred and profane constantly interact. Piazzas dedicated to martyrs and saints fill with foreign drunkards on the weekends and graffiti cover the intricate and ancient architecture.  This dual aspect of Italy is thoroughly endearing. Well…almost. Today as we lay on Ostia beach with the sun massaging our backs and the ocean serenading us, my trance was broken by “Ayy Americana, Bella, Coconut, Acqua, Birra?” to which we politely refused. However a few minutes later we realized we would never escape the continuous hollers of “Sunglasses? Two for 5?” “Towel! 10 Euro!” “Bracelets!” Finally our group was so tired of this that one of the girls did the Jenna Marbles pterodactyl...you know, the move you do to freak people out enough so that they’ll leave you alone? It begins with a SCREEEEEEEECH and is accompanied by floppy arm movements and hisses. She did this for about 20 seconds until the guy just ended up smiling and walking away very confused.

While this might be a funny story, there is a tragic undertone to it all. It was heartbreaking to see the young Indonesian men trudging through the scalding sand to make a few euros. It was even more gut-wrenching to see them mocked and yelled at by the annoyed tourists bathing in the sun. This image jolted my memory of similar encounters with immigrants in Italy. After a night of partying, I remember dark-skinned mothers with their babies sleeping outside churches. I remember the exhausted night bus drivers and passengers going home after work at 3 a.m. It was a big awakening to see the same struggles, discrimination, and prejudice that are present in the ghettos of Orlando. Even in a country of pleasure, beauty, aesthetic overflow, and history, we must not forget those cleaning its streets, wiping its toilets, cooking in the kitchen, and running its transportation. Let's pray that this sacred country stops treating its own hallowed inhabitants with contempt; let's hope that Italy will continue the mission set out by the saints and apostles commemorated in every street corner, piazza, and building.

The year of savasana.

Let your whole body sink into the earth...relax your muscles, your temples, your eyebrows, your hair... free your mind, and open your palms up to the universe to receive. You are no longer breathing into your body; your body is breathing you--Savasana.  शवासन. Corpse pose.

For people who are new to yoga, savasana means exactly as it sounds: shahhh-vahhh-sahhhh-nahhhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It’s the final resting posture after a series of more active poses where the body can soak up all the benefits of its previous exertions. After semesters jammed with 26 credit hours and countless times screaming “I quit” after waitressing to my poor puppy, the upcoming year will mean just that. The hard work, rewarding in its own way, has paved the way for an autumn in Italy, a spring in Samoa/Fiji, and a summer in Rwanda. As much as I’d like to stray away from the “Eat, Pray, Love” perspective, I can’t help but see how perfectly Elizabeth Gilbert’s Italy fits into the philosophy of savasana. As her friend Luca Spaghetti says, "[Italians] are the masters of il bel far niente." –An exquisite phrase meaning “the beauty of doing nothing.” As in Shavasana, one must be able to DO nothing; yes, relaxation requires conscious effort. After all, one must decide among gelato flavors, direct their feet towards the park, kiss the beautiful foreign men, and surrender to the divine. Follow me as I experience the city of Roma/Amor looking always for conscious ways to relax deeper into its surroundings, receive its life lessons with a smile, recognize Jesus (the divine) in everyone I meet, and stuff every ounce of my being with gelato, wine, pastries, cappuccinos, pasta, and soccermatches/menonmopeds/museums/baci.