I’ve been thinking lately that the minimalism that I’ve been trying to achieve lately would have seemed to me bourgeois sophistication just a few years ago. The items and gadgets I possess are opulent in comparison to then, and the amount of time I squander on the computer is similarly insane. When I extrapolate from what I know of the change in my own habits to wider circles, I can only conclude that there must be something seriously wrong with our koyaaniqatsi world.
Anyway, today I was looking up on the web things that I might like to take to India with me. Last year I took along a meditation pillow and was glad of that but it’s too bulky. So I looked up inflatable meditation pillows. Amazon was selling one called the “Mobile Meditator”, and there were a couple of competing products on other websites. There’s an inflatable zafu from bodyfriendlyfurniture.com, and Wisdom Travellers also have an attractive set. After much deliberation I opted for the Mobile Meditator. But Amazon said it would only ship around July 5 and there seemed to be no way to alter the kind of delivery. So I looked further and found the company that sells the pillow directly – Brightspot Solutions. Their website was friendlier than Amazon’s. The product + delivery was also cheaper and, best of all, it has already shipped today. So if I’m lucky, I’ll have it in good time for India.
I also looked at light travel yoga mats. Here I ran into the problem that most companies didn’t ship to Israel. There’s an Israeli retailer, yogastore.co.il, that sells Jade travel mats. But yogamatsandmore.com have one that folds as small as a newspaper. That would be better for me, even if it is less comfortable to use.
Finally, I looked at clothing. I’m tempted by Ex Officio’s line of travel t-shirts. And there’s one unique company called Makeyourownjeans.com, which would definitely interest me if it weren’t for the time-frame. I’ve bookmarked them for another time.
My goal is to fit everything into the Chinese rucksack that Yonatan had shipped to me from China. If I can make do with just a single change of clothing, I think I can succeed.