Day 77 - Summer rituals

I participated in three social rituals today: soccer fandom at Cafe Olympico, a bridal shower, and my favourite summer kick-off, the Montreal Jazz Fest.

The best place to watch World Cup soccer is a block away from my house at either Club Social or Café Olympico, two little corner bistros known for their lattes and football fans. Craig and I went down to Olympico this morning to watch Germany play Argentina. It was over following with people and emotions. The spectators, some of whom donned the colors of their team, were absolutely captivated and superbly animated. And what a game. Germany played so well.

I really enjoyed sitting and watching the game. It was a nice to do something different, a good mental and physical break. Plus, I love watching soccer. It's the "beautiful game," because, for one, it's the only sport played creatively without hands. It also requires incredible dexterity, agility and stamina, and it is accessible any where in the world. In a way, soccer/football is classless. My only complaint is that there so many dramatic fake injuries. It annoys me when one player touches another from the opposite team, and then the former exaggerates their supposed foul. That's a little unsportsmanlike, in my mind.

My afternoon was spent at my friend Jackie's bridal shower. Although I have a hard time taking anything wedding traditions seriously, I have to admit that a gathering of women to celebrate one of the woman's union is a special right of passage. It's communal, supportive and loving, and something we should do more of in our society.

I did half my 108 in my living room this evening and the other half at the Jazz Festival, which closes after this weekend. I managed to find a little patch of grass and after a few sun sals, I was able to stay focused on what my practice and enjoy the live music on stage. Craig and I wanted to see this amazing guitar player named Andy McGee, but we couldn't get tickets. Click here to see an unbelieveable YouTube video of him playing.

I'm so looking forward to the rest of summer, and guess what? As of today, I only have one month left in this 108 journey, which is scheduled to end August 3rd. Everyday I am discovering new things about myself and my practice. Today, I was able to bring a much deeper level of sensitivity to my upper back, just below my neck. I don't think I ever paid much attention to this area before, unless I had pain there. I noticed that if I focus my attention on the area around C7 and keep it 'buoyant', there was much less tension in my neck and trapezius muscles.

I'm pretty happy that my practice still fascinates me and I'm so curious how I will feel when I'm done.

Day 3 - First practice outside!

Woke up feeling under slept and a bit achy. I was supposed to teach a private yoga class at 8:30am in Westmount, so dragged myself out of bed at 6:30 in order to start my practice. However, upon receiving a text saying my student decided to play golf instead of yoga, I peeled off my leggings and crawled back into bed to sleep for an hour. But who was I kidding? I've never been good at sleeping in, let alone going back to sleep once I'm up. So, I lay there observing the imbalance in my right and left nasal passages and trying to remember which side of the brain is associated with which nostril -- if the left side of my nose is blocked, does it mean that my right hemisphere is more active or my left? After 30 minutes of mental list making and planning, I got up and started tackling a barrage of emails, which I've found is a great distraction when I'm not quite ready to start bending and twisting. Despite the computer side track, my first 36 were completed before I left my house.

Tuesdays I'm in school. I am studying to become an ayurvedic practitioner at le Centre Holistique d'Ayurveda with Anita Sharma. It's great. Anita is great. And I love the process of learning new healing techniques. (If you don't know about ayurveda, I've written a description of it below.) We started our classes with breathing and yoga. "Great, more breathing and yoga," I thought, considering the 72 sun sals left to do. But, Manu, Anita's husband, led a beautiful little practice that focused on different pranayams (breathing exercises) and joint mobility. Lot's of great stuff for older people and corporate desk bound people. (Message me, if you want some ideas of how to do yoga at your desk or on a chair. Manu inspired me.)

Driving home past the mountain this afternoon, I saw hundreds of lovely people gathering and hanging out in the park along Parc Ave, our Montreal beach without water. At first, I was set on practicing there with them, but I ended up going through the next 36 on my balcony while my neighbors blared new school Green Day. (Not my favourite tunes, but whatever.)

I'm still not done for today. I still have another 36, but I didn't want to rush, so I will do them before bed, promise.

As there's no video today, here's the break down of the Surya Namaskar Recipe for Day 3:

The Flying Cobra Salute
Look mom, no hands! This one is good for activating the muscles along the spine and strengthening the neck.

1- Standing in Mountain Pose at the top of the mat, INHALE, raise the arms over head (shoulders stay down)
2- Keeping the legs solid and knees unlocked, EXHALE, fold forward.
3- INHALE and lengthen the spine.
4- EXHALE, step back to plank pose like you are about to do a push up.
5- INHALE, pause.
6- EXHALE, slowly lower to the floor, and place the forehead to the floor.
7- INHALE and lift the forehead, chest and hands off the floor.
8- Hold here for two breaths. (Engage the back muscles by drawing the shoulder blades together, continue to look down and lengthen the neck on all sides.)
9- EXHALE, hands down beside your chest and tuck the toes under.
10- Pressing down through your palms, INHALE and lift up to all fours.
11- EXHALE, shift back to downward facing dog.
12- After two breaths in the down dog, INHALE, step, walk or jump your feet to the top of your mat and lengthen your spine parallel to the ground.
13- EXHALE, forward bend.
14- Press down through your feet and bend your knees a little to INHALE and rise to a standing position reaching your arms over head.
15- EXHALE, slowly lower your hands to your heart.

WHAT IS AYURVEDA?
Ayurveda is a healing science indigenous to India. It has been practiced as a medical system for more than 5000 years and is still highly effective and widely used. The word 'Ayurveda' is Sanskrit for 'science of life' or 'knowledge of life span.' The guiding principle of Ayurveda is to promote balance between the five natural elements of which all matter is composed. This elements are: earth, water, fire, air and space (ether). It is believed that the pairing of certain elements create three distinct energetic compositions or 'doshas' responsible for specific mental attributes and functions in the body. Each individual has a unique constitution that combines these doshas. Most people have one or two dominant doshas. Air and space make up the dosha Vata, fire and water create Pita, and the third dosha, Kapha, is composed of earth and water.