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 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.