Day 25, 26 and 27 - Make me smile.

Day 25 
Mysore at 6.15am

Day 26
Mysore at 6.15am

Day 27
No yoga day aka.
NEW MOON DAY! 

My plan was to make it to the beach with the rest of the yoga room crew to indulge in some sunrise meditation. I have never admittedly been this excited to meditate. I almost had to contain myself from calling people to spread the news.

And then- FOG happened. I woke up to a city engulfed in a cloud. It was so bad, and I got chicken. I couldn't get in my car at 6am and put in that much effort. Is it worth the danger? In a city filled with bad drivers? And Paul Walker's sad news lurked in my mind?

I'd rather just live (and sleep in)

But it's not all bad news, I just found out that the ultimate Ashtangi is coming to Yoga Room in 2014. KINO MACGREGOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to go and pinch myself now. What a dream!

Kino MacGregor is an international yoga teacher, author of two books, producer of six Ashtanga Yoga DVDs, writer, vlogger, world traveler, co-founder of Miami Life Center  and founder of Miami Yoga Magazine. Her YouTube channel reached more than 2 million views within the last year. She is one of a select group of people to receive the Certification to teach Ashtanga Yoga by its founder Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India and practices through the Fourth Series of Ashtanga Yoga.

Day 22, 23 and 24 - Samskaras

Day 22:Shitty Practice 

Day 23

Friday morning led class with Nea followed by Yoga Sutras - it was interesting. The topic at hand was:

samskara 

= deep impressions,

 imprints in the unconscious

, deepest habits,

 subliminal activators,

 traces

(positive/negative)

Ashtanga yoga is such a deeply meditative practice that you would pretty much be working out your negative samskaras as you go deeper into the practice. I know I'm preaching to the choir right now, but if you want to learn more about this : Read Kino McGregor's article here.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

Day 24

Morning practice with Tonya,  followed by lunch and beach with an old family friend who's in town. I love living in a city by the beach.

Namaste xo.

Day 19 - Like water

Day 19

“You must be shapeless,
formless, 

like water. 

When you pour water in a cup,
it becomes the cup.
When you pour water in a bottle,
it becomes the bottle.
When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
 Water can drip and it can crash. 

Become like water my friend."

-Bruce Lee

My flow was like water, smooth and adapted to my hotel room this morning. Abu Dhabi is a beautiful and very REAL city, unlike Dubai. Those who have been around here a bit would understand what I mean. The city has a certain authenticity to it that Dubai lacks. However, AD has no Mysore-style Ashtanga anywhere. I'm so over it.

Namaste x

I miss home and hippo and my bae

Day 16 - Never Give Up / Always Let Go.

Day 16

Thought-streams are controlled by practice and non-attachment.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras say that practice is the effort to secure steadiness. So this may be through any form, yoga, meditation, breathing, etc. It is not necessarily 2 hours of Ashtanga primary or half primary every day. But that is what it is for me. A solid half primary practice - that is what brings my steadiness. And yes, I am attached to it. I am on a quest to be devoted to it, without interruption, over a long period of time.

Yesterday, I missed my practice and I was upset about it. But today, after a nice, sweaty, Friday morning practice followed by studying Yoga Sutras with Tonya and Nea - I feel much better.  My practice is the EFFORT to secure steadiness. It will always be an effort to get on the mat (some days more than others). And it will and should always be an effort to practice non attachment. We are all human, we are attached to places, people, things, shoes, lululemon, lovers, etc - we need this to keep us human. But in the end, we need to stop looking for an outcome or expected result. That's where we fuck up.

So yeah, to sum it up:

Give it your everything but expect nothing.

Never give up, but always let go.



Namaste x

Sheikh Zayed Road after the storm  is actually kinda gorgeous.

Day 12 - Meatless Monday & Ahimsa

Day 12
(Ok whatever, I'm counting moon days. Say something!)

I made it in to mysore this morning! Hallelujah! and I was having a super productive morning, drinking ample amounts of water and other healthy liquids. Everything was going great until I discovered my dutty food court soup had chicken in it! I knew I shouldn't have trusted the food court lady :(

I've been vegetarian for about a year now, and I have to say - it feels like one of the best decisions I have made in my adult life. However, I'm not a super anal vegetarian yet - I eat fish from time to time and I still indulge in meat-based gravies with simple ignorance. So... really, I'm not vegetarian! But I DO think about my food and the practice of "Ahimsa". Do you?

But here's my philosophy; one step at a time - we all gotta start somewhere. As long as we have the right intention, we're on the right path.

Namaste! x



This is me every time I make it in to Mysore. (which is supposed to be every day)

Day 9 - "my insanity is my sanity"

Day 9

Today, after yoga, we talked yoga sutras and the dynamics of our mind. The practice of controlling your emotions, which ultimately affect your body, comes from bringing awareness to your thoughts.

Are you still with me?

Thoughts --- Emotions --- Physical reactions.

Thoughts may be of the past, the present, or the future. They may be real, they may be projected, they may be delusional. The thoughts that we should focus on are those that represent reality. That means we accept things as they are, not what we want them to be. This acceptance and awareness is a constant battle for most of us, but things like yoga and meditation are tools to guide us. Just Breathe :)

My friend Lily, who is a big fan of Mike Tyson, spent some time last night explaining to me the "rawness" of Tyson's personality and character as depicted in his documentary. I just watched it and I could not agree more. Tyson embodies this concept of yoga to the tee. His awareness of reality is astounding and his story will definitely identify with some part of you. I cried *shrugs*.

Namaste and have a good Friday!



 PS.  Watch his documentary "Tyson" below, you won't regret it!!

Day 2 - Yoga Sutras and Commercialism

Another 5am wake-up call, but not for yoga - to the Dubai Women's Run!

It was a great venue, great turnout and well organized. I met a lot of lovely ladies and tons of interesting people pitching cool "health related" businesses. On the down side, it was commercialism at it's finest. Anyone will sell you anything and claim that it's healthy. I'm not one to preach about health and fitness, but I wish more people did their research and made a conscious effort to look through the bullshit.

By noon I was done Friday morning led class and sipping on some homemade chai with a group of like minded souls. Between day dreaming and reading yoga sutras with Nea & Tonya, I caught something about "the stillness/essence underneath it all" - that's what matters. Bingo.

Commercialism is well & good, branding is great; we all have a brand - a worldly identity. But that's not our essence or our true selves. Look through your own bullshit now and again.

Namaste.

Day One (again)

Okay so Day 1 didn't pan out as imagined.

5.15am alarm on a Thursday morning. First thought - it's the weekend (In Dubai at least)!!!

I got dressed and quickly drove over to my favourite morning destination @yogaroomdubai before my body realized what was happening. I have officially begun. I got through my half primary series, enjoyed a good savasana, was back home by 7.15am

What a win.

Tomorrow is a Friday which means led class followed by some yoga sutras with Tonya and Nea. Let's see what that brings!

Tomorrow is also the Dubai Women's Run - 5k & 10k, if you are running - come check out the juice bar with @cafebaroque. I did a juice cleanse with them a couple months ago and I highly recommend it. In fact I think I might endure another one before christmas - I have been so so naughty!