Day 74 - Food glorious food

Lately, it feels like I'm always hungry, regardless of the amount of food I eat. This insane appetite is unusual for me. At first, I figured it's obviously because of all the physical activity I'm doing, but now I think it has more to do with quality of food I need as oppose the quantity. After all, the body will crave food until it feels properly nourished.

I've also been feeling a bit dizzy. So it appears as though I'm not getting enough nutrients from the food I'm eating, which is why I'm starving all the time. Yesterday, my Ayurvedic teacher Anita confirmed my suspicions and told me my iron is low and I'm lacking B12. This is no surprise because I should be eating a lot better than I am these days. The problem is that I have no time to cook and I usually wait until I am starving before I think about what to eat. The result is a lot of crackers, chocolate, cookies and chips are being consumed, because these are more convenient than making a meal when I'm tired. I realize this is no excuse and I must prioritize my time better. After all, if I'm committed to doing about three hours of yoga a day, I really must also commit to re-energizing myself...

My friend Brendan Brazier, who wrote a nutrition book called "The Thrive Diet", says that athletes (and I guess I now fit the bill) need to consciously choose more nutrient dense foods than regular folk, because they are constantly breaking down muscle tissue in training, and thus require the best materials to rebuild their tissues in order to become stronger and recover faster. If an athlete eats junk food all the time, then their body can't repair itself as well, because there isn't an abundance of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber and healthy fats available.

Anyway, I am paying closer attention to when I eat and what I eat, because I dislike feeling dizzy and I need as much energy and stamina as possible. As one of my classmates said, my body is "my instrument" and it constantly needs fine tuning. So, steamed beet greens, watercress, kale, arugula it is!


Now, as for the 108 today, I was on the pier again this morning with my group of eight students. It was freezing, but once we got into the flow it was ok. Len joined us again this morning and taught a great Twisted Surya Namaskar, which I tried to film, but it's a pretty slow practice and ran out of space on my memory card. (I have to reshoot it from memory.)

Day 73 - Len Blum

This morning marked our second day of Morning Yoga by the Lake. The conditions were perfect, the sunrise magnificent, so we practiced on the pier just outside the Pointe Claire Village as we've done at this time, four years straight. The feeling of practicing outside at dawn in a group of highly committed students is amazing.

Len Blum joined us this morning. Len is a brilliant yoga instructor, who is part owner of United Yoga Montreal. He is also a former successful Hollywood screen writer and the only person I know who can recite all 196 Yoga Sutras (spiritual versus) from memory in Sanskrit and knows all the major interpretations of each scripture. He is truly a devout and incredible yogi and I was humbled by his presence.

We started our meditation and breathing exercises at about 6 am and started our first set of 36 sun salutations at 6:20. Our first 12 were very slow version of my opening:

• 4 half sun salutations = two full sun sals
• 2 sun sals with three cat/cow stretches to bring mobility into the spine
• 2 sun sals holding plank for three breaths to awaken the back muscles (no chaturanga or back bend)
• 2 streamline or thunderbolt sun sals to gently open the chest and shoulders
• 2 sphinx sun sals to further open the front of the body
• 2 sun sals with three progressive cobras (small, medium, full)

Following our opening series, we did 60 Surya Namaskar A bringing our awareness to a different successive part of the body every six sun sals. (For me, this was in honour of Anthea, who left for BC this morning and who first introduced me to this style of surya namaskar.) Here's what we did:

• Toes, feet and ankles
• Knees & quadriceps
• Integration of legs from big toe to head of femur (inner leg line)
• Pelvis (any aspect of it)
• *Five-ten minute break.
• Rib cage
• Shoulder girdle (shoulder joint, clavicle, shoulder blade)
• Neck & head
• Integration of the entire spine tailbone to crown of head
• Integration of the body whole & breath
• Any other part that needs attention or just breath-focus

We took another short break at 72 and finished with 12 Surya Namaskar B, 18 Surya Namaskar X (I call this one as X as we add a standing posture in each sun sal), and then 6 of our choosing, followed by self guided back bends and inversions.

It was so beautiful to be practicing outside to a soundtrack of birds chirping and wind in the trees. There was a tranquility so powerful, that it energized every cell of my being.

After practice, I had the privilege of speaking to Len for a good hour about various aspects of surya namaskar and my process of doing 108 each day and blogging about it. He suggested that the blogging part is probably just as intense as my actual practice, if not more so, because it is forcing me to acknowledge what I am going through and putting it out there. I hadn't really thought about it this way, but it's completely true. Sometimes I feel as though I would prefer to do another set of 108 than to write, because writing forces me to pull my experiences out of my head and to see them rationally for what they are, rather than just sit in it. But, I know how important it is to document and share the process, so here I am.


* Anyone is welcome to join us this week for an early morning practice on the pier, just one block east of Cartier on Lakeshore Rd in Pointe Claire. We start at at 6am, but you can join in whenever you want. Canada Day we're doing a special practice. ($25, breakfast included-- part of the money is going to David Suzuki Foundation.)