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 17 - Painkillers and yoga.

Day 17

About 3 years ago, I had an accident in Cancun which resulted in a fracture to my upper front jaw amongst other bruises and wonky teeth. It's not all sad and boohoo, don't worry. I got better in about 3 months and life kept going.

But guess what? About 3 weeks ago I found out that it has come back to haunt me!!

I just had a 9.30am appointment to fix my face. Ok, I will spare you the details. But there was blood and stitches and now I'm on some major painkillers. I attempted a little bit of primary today, it was going well and then some dizziness happened right after standing. So, I called it a day and sat there in the happiness of my painkillers.

It's a new dimension of zen haha - I will get off them (painkillers) as soon as I figure out how to deal with this pain. At least there was no swelling/bruising/anything on my face. I just had to talk a little slow and slurred today.

Hopefully more asana will come tomorrow.

Practice practice practice.

I spent my day here today after la dentiste:

There are few things I love in life more than piles and piles of canvas.

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.