Erlinda and I drove across Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans yesterday for me to see my yoga therapist and to go grocery shopping afterwards. I had started therapy to relieve stress and anxiety.

We parked at a meter six blocks from my therapist’s downtown office. As we walked there, we passed a restaurant’s outdoor tables set with tasteful linen and silver. A trio of casually-dressed businessmen approached and passed us followed by six women in workout clothes.

We rode the elevator to the 19th floor of the 400 Poydras office tower. While I saw the therapist, Erlinda sat in the waiting room reading an article in Psychology Today titled “Don’t Argue with People Who Believe Their Own Lies.”

After my session, we drove across the river to Hong Kong Market, a Vietnamese grocery store in Gretna where Erlinda buys mung bean noodles, milkfish, Asian vegetables, and Vietnamese desserts. While she shopped, I ordered a sardine sandwich at the deli counter.

The sandwich lady used the traditional Ligo brand of sardines canned in spicy tomato sauce. She microwaved the sardines and arranged them on a po’ boy loaf. To this she added pickled carrots, daikon radish, cucumber, jalapeño pepper, and sriracha hot sauce.

Once outside, we parked in the shade and ate lunch. Then, having loaded the car with dry noodles, frozen fish, and gelatinous desserts, we soared back over the Mississippi River bridge and out along the New Orleans Causeway toward home.

That night, I went to bed at 9:00, woke up at 3:30, and couldn’t go back to sleep. Rather than take a sleeping pill, I did my yoga therapy practice. I felt like a zombie the rest of the day, but I wasn’t anxious.