Naked Yoga and My Return to the Michelangelo

Wow, what a day! I spent the morning looking at apartments, the afternoon meeting with a big-time Broadway producer, and tonight I went to naked yoga at my friends’ house. Naked yoga was one of the things I missed most during my year away from New York. It’s a great group of guys, sweet and spiritual, (beards required) who gather once a week to sit in a sauna together, talk about our lives, nurture one another, do an hour and a half of kick-ass yoga and then sit down to a gourmet dinner for 20 (and yes, we’re still naked for dinner). The nudity brings an air of vulnerability to the evening not to mention providing a lot of beauty to look at. The conversations tend to be more intimate and honest. Yes, of course there’s sexual energy (we’re men after all) but that is only a part of the whole experience. I’m so grateful to be reunited with my bare, bearish, and bearded brothers.

The producer and I met because one of you set that up. Thank you for doing that. You know who you are. The meeting was productive and helpful and I know what to do next as I seek to get these next three plays produced and also what to do to take the Mehadi Foundation to the next level. One extra cool component of that meeting was that it took place at the Michelangelo Hotel– and not just because that’s a nice place to have a meeting but because the Michelangelo and I have a history. You see, I stayed there with my friend Lynne twenty years ago and if you do the math, yes, that was back during my drinking days. It’s a fancy hotel and there’s a certain decorum that pervades the public spaces. That decorum was interrupted by yours truly one night during our stay when I had to be taken from the limousine up to my room in a wheelchair because I was so drunk. How embarrassing! But how wonderful to return to this prestigious and beautiful hotel so many years later– sober, on track and on purpose. I am so very grateful for my sobriety and I am acutely aware that everything good in my life is because I am sober and there is nothing good in my life that wouldn’t be taken almost immediately away if I made that one simple choice to pick up a drink. And that’s something I do have now when it comes to drinking– a choice. Once I ever have it in me, that choice is gone. I take the first drink and then the first drink takes me– and the places it takes me are not pretty let me tell you. My return to the Michelangelo today was a victory of sorts– not only for me, but also for those who have helped me stay sober all these years. You know who you are.

The next item on the goals workshop I found online is:

“What does willingness look like, how do I express willingness?”

I’m not going to overthink this one. I’ve come to believe that willingness has feet. I can sit around all day saying I’m willing to have my dreams come true but until I get off my ass and start taking the necessary steps to bring them to fruition, things won’t change. If nothing changes, nothing changes. There’s also the piece where The Universe steps in and brings help to whatever I’m up to in sometimes very unexpected and seemingly supernatural ways. The Universe believes in inertia. It will help you stay at rest if that’s your intention but I have also seen it over and over, if I’ll take that first difficult step, It will rush in to support the effort. The Universe (or God if you prefer) loves a good start.

Well tomorrow is another very full day and I have to get up in less than six hours. I’m pretty beat. Those yoga boys really took it out me tonight– but in a good way, wink, wink. Tomorrow I’ll take the next question from the goals worksheet and talk more about the action items. I appreciate those of you who have written to me saying that you are also going through this process with me. Not only does it make me feel great that people are being helped by my (sometimes embarrassing, sometimes sloppy) process, it also helps me not to feel so lonely on the journey. Thanks again.

See y’all tomorrow.