Day 18 - Hello Sunshine!

Sometimes you go to bed upset and frustrated and then something magical happens over night while you're sleeping (even if you do dream about aliens surrounding planet earth in bubble wrap and suffocating its inhabitants), and you wake feeling really good.

Today, I am re-energized and happy and clear on what I want. I want this 108 x 108 to really make a difference in some way. I want to inspire people to do yoga in their own fabulously unique and personal way, because I really believe that everyone has a personal yoga style that is expressive of their individual creativity and needs. I want to raise a lot money and awareness for important non-profit organizations. (In May, as mentioned, I am supporting the Great Canadian Yoga Stretch Challenge to benefit the Canadian Institute for the Blind. And in June & July, I would like to raise money for the David Suzuki Foundation and the Stephen Lewis Foundation, two organizations close to my heart.)

I also want to have more fun with this project (sometimes I think I take my projects too seriously.) I want to do my sun salutations on a rooftop over looking the city, on a beach, with my best friends, with my awesome 1 year-old nephew Jackson, with my grandma and I want to do yoga bare naked outside in the forest, though not with my grandma.

In a consultation with my ayurvedic teacher and mentor Anita (Manu's wife) today, it became clear that in order to feel more grounded and stable, in need more organization and structure to reduce my Vata (wind/ mental turbulence). I agree. The problem is that I'm not a gifted organizer nor a good planner, but these are too things I am in desperate need of, if I want to succeed in my goal and if I want to stay sane. My challenge is figuring out how to prioritize my time and knowing what needs to be taken care of by me personally and what needs to be delegated. I have a hard time communicating what I need other people to do, because I'm not always sure myself. There's no better opportunity to figure this stuff out.

Anita suggested I spend a couple of hours on Sunday planning out the upcoming week on paper and then meeting with my staff on Monday to discuss what tasks they can accomplish on their own and what I need to do. She also said I need to eat and sleep at the same time everyday and to avoid teaching and practicing between 12pm and 2pm. This is what they call high Pita time and Pita consists of the fire elements. I need to eat, rest a little and do paper work at this time and practice before or after when it is more suitable. Now, I've told you about this, so now I have to do it. I'll report back in a few days to let you know how I'm coping with a schedule-- eeech. In the meantime, I welcome your organizational suggestions.

My practice was pleasant today: a few sun salutations outside in a patch of dandelions, more in my ashtanga class and 54 at my parents house. Towards the end of the practice I was getting bored (as you do sometimes when you repeat the same thing over and over and over) so I started to play a game I made up a few months ago to revitalize my surya namaskars. I call it the "Choose your own Salute," and it is today's sun salutation.

Surya Namaskar Recipe: Day 18 - The Choose-your-own-Style Salute

There's really nothing complex about this sun salutation. First, write down a list of 12 descriptive words you like-- insightful, curious, joyful, creative, smooth, delicate, delicious, etc. Then, you do any variation of your sun salutation in way that expresses that adjective. For example, if you chose "stylish" as your word, then you must do your sun salutation stylishly. If you chose "elegant," then your sun salutation must be done elegantly, and so forth. This is a good way to see how emotions affect your movements.


(I ask Craig to shout out adjectives, which he usually does from another room while doing something else. Today, he was watching Vancouver lose against Chicago and after a little pleading, he agreed to play along and called out words like "bubbly, grandiose, thorough, and strongly." I used my childish creativity to figure out how to do my surya namaskars accordingly. I know it's a bit lame, but it keeps things fresh.)