Challenge accepted - Day 60

Dec 23rd - Mysore

Dec 24th - Mysore

Dec 25th to January 5th - NADA

Not a damn thang. And tomorrow will be the last day of my 60 day yoga challenge.

I have officially practiced for 40 out of 60 days. And that is pretty horrible. But, hey, it's a start!! I encourage everyone to keep track of their practice until it becomes part of you. It is hard, but it works. I can't wait to get back into my practice of 6 days a week this year.

My year has been pretty awesome!  - but this year, I will take more yoga photos and photos with my bae!


Thank you all for reading through my journey. xo Namaste

Day 42,43,44,45 - Desert Carols

Thursday, Day 42 - Morning Mysore

Friday, Day 43 - Friday Led Primary with Nea

Saturday, Day 44 - Home practice + deadly Christmas shopping

Sunday, Day 45 - Morning Mysore


This Happened. We sang carols in the desert and got cozy with hot tea and a real camel!! Sand dunes instead of snowy hills once again. I kind of miss Christmas in Canada. Kind of.

Day 40, 41 - Almost there

Day 40 - Mysore morning

I got to my morning mysore session at about 6am and I was the only one there for my entire practice!! It was nice having all the attention on me and even made me be more aware of the little things through my practice. I was completely absorbed in myself. My left shoulder has been a little annoying lately, but I think it's one of those things that go away as you keep practicing. Let's hope.

Shoulder pain is not a strange thing to yogis, it happens. Read more about it here.

Nea told me to bring my shoulders down and keep it engaged as I go through my Marichi sequence. Let's see where this goes.

I've been having an amazing week, but this day was the cherry on top.I was expecting a hard day at work but ended up spending the day in love with everything. I even got my nails did!  Last year, I had a day like this too. It sets the tone for Christmas. Endless love and a lot of baking.

Namaste xo

Day 41 - Mysore morning.

day 37,38 - Beyonceasana

Day 37: Mysore 6am
Day 38: Mysore 6am

And tomorrow is Full Moon Day aka No Yoga day.

I don't deserve a rest day to be honest. Even though my body is sore after the run this weekend, I feel a little spoiled. On that note, if you - like me- are obsessing with the new beyonce videos out there, she has been known to get her Ashtanga on with her gal pal Gwyneth Paltrow. Must be nice.

SO - fellow big bummed girls, get yo asana on.

Day 28,29,30 - Have Faith.

Day 28 
Ladies Holiday aka Bitches' day off, but this time with NO PAIN. yoga cures cramps y'all

Day 29
Home practice. I had an allergic reaction to some chickpeas. It wasn't the nicest of days.

Day 30

I'm half way there. Writing has been really helpful to my practice as it gives me a chance to reflect. Maybe I should just have a journal and not bore you guys? Just kiddin, I love the attention.

Today was Friday led class with Nea and it felt amazing as always. I felt light and I did my Bhujapidasana and back bending with new found vigor. Today's yoga sutra topic was interesting

"clarity is preceded by faith, energy, memory and equalminded contemplation" 

-Yoga Sutra 1.20

Clarity = Samadhi.

Clarity of mind.
Are you there?
Does it come naturally?
Or do you have to work on it? How far do you go every day to achieve it?
Ashtangis generally go too far.

This is a beautiful piece to watch: 

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 21 - Dubai wins Expo 2020

Day 21 - Hotel Practice.

If you don't know, now you know: Dubai Exbo 2020

Congratulations to Dubai! Now, what does this mean for the regular yoga enthusiast?

1) More yogis and yoga studios in Dubai
2) Less expensive yoga (more competition in the market)
3) More eco-friendly products and yoga mats available locally
4) No, Marichiasana D is still not available for sale.

Namaste xo

The celebrations on Beach road today. It was quite entertaining =) 

Back home in DXB, 

8am meeting. 

I predict a lot of coffee tomorrow.

Day 20 - Abu Dhabi is a weird city

Day 20

Morning half primary in my hotel room again. I felt that total mind-numbing bliss while I meditated for the last 10 minutes of my practice.

lol - few people would get this joke.

Didn't have to use my AK.

no?
yes?
ok.

Work may or may not be driving me crazy. The coffee downstairs is making my life complete though. If you haven't heard of or tried PappaRoti, you have to!!!

PAPPAROTI

They are also really awesome on twitter ----> https://twitter.com/PappaRotiUAE

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 18 - Travel and yoga

Day 18

I spent the last summer holidays travelling around Canada with my family. We did the Alaskan cruise and then the Rocky Mountain train and then airplanes, and cars, and buses, and bicycles, and walking. But not enough of yoga. But why?? It's not like I didn't have the time. It somehow just was not convenient. I left Dubai with the intention to practice everyday. And I have to admit, it was the hardest, hardest thing to do.

Yoga-Travel checklist

1) Bring yoga mat

2) Get on mat

Simple, non? 

Nea wrote a wonderful post on how to keep up while "on the go" and I'm starting to put more of those things into practice. My schedule is always changing even when I'm in Dubai, so I'm always finding ways to adapt. 

Read the article here

Abu Dhabi for the week should be interesting :) - will post more about this capital city and ex hometown tomorrow. I got through a nice sweaty half primary today sans painkillers.

Namaste x

This pic was taken somewhere in Alaska mid-hike.

 

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 13 - Tuesdays aren't "good" days in yogic tradition

Day 13
Tuesdays are known to be superstitious days in the Ashtanga (Indian) tradition - So, maybe that explains my weird ass day.

Click here to check out the superstitions behind Tuesday

I was driving to the salon after work. Desperately hungry; I pulled over at a gas station on Al Khail road to grab some stale veggies from the convenience store there. Traffic in Dubai was ridiculous today and sure enough - there was an unorganized mess of honking cars waiting to fill their tanks.

Attempting to skip the line up and get straight to the "pronto" convenience store, I cut in front of a guy in a black Audi - intentionally. And he showed me NO mercy. He stuck his hand out the window and gestured vigorously as I looked away. A few minutes later, he pulled up beside me at the parking lot and I immediately got out of my car to apologize. The man looked furious - maybe this was a bad decision.

"SORRY!! I didn't mean to piss you off" I said to him with my sweetest smile.

Two quick glances at my face and a full-body scan later, the once furious dude was smiling and telling me it was okay and asking me about my day. He later told me that if I wasn't "beautiful" - I wouldn't be forgiven.

Ummm....Thanks?

I was really hoping he would say "your inner peace and calmness reached out to me and brought happiness into my life". No? Just my bum? ok.

It's sad how much you can get away with by just being a woman!

I did my practice at 8.30pm in my yoga room at home and it was a little nauseating after the convenience store veggies. I skipped my inversions to avoid puke-asana.


Namaste x

my bae is back in town tomorrow! :)

Day 10 - Being Sober Sally, all.the.time.

Day 10

It was a friend's boyfriend's birthday thing last night at one of the most crowded over-rated beach bars in town. I'm starting to feel a little bit (okay, a lot) self righteous when I say I don't want to drink or party. But, I went, got a little grumpy and came home asap. I can't. I just can't.

And then I found this article - I'm not sure if it makes me feel better or worse.
Read this Article Here: Are you in the Ashtanga cult?

I identify with everything on that list - and every one of my friends should be nodding along right there haha.
Number 8 from that list is tomorrow!  :)

Rest well yogis xx

Namaste.

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 7 - bruises make for better conversation.

Day 7

I made it into morning mysore practice. YAY!

Today, I worked from home and talked to my brother in Canada a lot. He has had an ankle injury as of last week and is sitting at home recovering. I'm so traumatized at the thought of an injury and the disgusting snapchats he's been sending me. Crutches aren't fun when you actually need them.

On that note, my heart also goes out to all the victims of the typhoon in the Phillipines. I've been seeing pictures and videos of the injuries, homelessness and sadness of over 10,000 people. I send you love and light xo

If any of my Dubai readers want to join a guided meditation practice for charity - Please join the facebook event - http://t.co/5K6G0ur34A 

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!