Day 83 - Distrubing the Peace

Today was an important day for Om West. It was first time in history that cops came to the studio because they received a complaint that we were disturbing the peace on this Friday afternoon.

That's right, my friends. The owner of the hair salon below us called the police and said that game of charades our kids from camp were engaged in was noisy and was upsetting his customers.

Now, being a yoga teacher, I am totally sympathetic to noise disturbances and our building isn't well sound proofed, but it's really quite comical that someone would go to such lengths in an attempt to keep a group of yoga kids silent and motionless on an afternoon where they were stuck inside due to thunderstorms. The kids weren't even ill-behaved. They were simply having fun playing charades and trying different balancing poses that caused some to topple over and giggle.

As for the police, they arrived at 6 pm, two hours after the last kid left, and 'interrogated' Penka, who in the middle of giving a shiatsu treatment and who had led the game of charades. She said they were polite, but I'm glad I wasn't there. I'm not sure if I could have kept a straight face during the questioning. I don't even know how to respond to these accusations. I informed my landlord of the situation and he thought it was funny and ironic that the police came to a yoga studio to tell the owner she and her students need to be more peaceful.

I'm not upset about this. More concerned for the sanity of the hair dresser, who is actually a close friend of my family's and even cut my dad's hair this very afternoon. Obviously, he was having a bad day and decided to unleash his frustrations on the yogis above. (I'm actually grateful that I now have yet another interesting tale to share with you. )

Anyway, it's finally Friday evening and I'm so happy to be home. Craig's at a pub celebrating a friend's birthday. I am enjoying some alone time listening to the rain outside and enjoying a short glass of porto given to me by a student at my inauguration party. I like port, but I can't even remember the last time I had it.

I did my last 72 sun salutations with Miranda and her friend Bree in Miranda's new loft space on St Laurent. It was steady and fluid and great to practice in what will be Miranda's Ahimsa Yoga Studio as of July 17.

Good night, friends. Try to stay out of trouble this weekend, ok? :)

Day 82 - Aqua Surya Namaskar

It's a perfect day for the beach. I'm with our kids yoga camp on a field trip to Cap St Jacques, a small lake beach about 40km west of Montreal. The girls ages 5 to 13 are playing in the water and I am watching our bags. It's hot and humid again today with another record shattering high of 41 degrees. Apparently yesterday a 14 year-old died of heat exhaustion. We are watching our group closely for signs of sun burn and dehydration.

I just finished doing sun salutations in the water with three of the older girls who have been coming to the studio since they were kids. Morgan, 13 and a singer, just plopped herself down beside me. She thinks the sun sals with did in the lake were "so fun" and that they should count toward my 108 for the day, so I'm up 18.

I have only 18 left for the day. I woke up early and did a practice of 54 before 7:15 am. Then 18 with Max and now another set of 18 aqua surya namaskar, which were most entertaining. I will have to wait until tonight when it's cooler to finish up for the day.

Today, I noticed that I seem to be practicing much more smoothly. My movements are more exact and I am quickly working out tensions that, in the past, would linger for a while. In short, I feel myself responding to my physical needs sooner. When I feel discomfort somewhere in my body, I immediately modify the flow and focus on alleviating the tension. I am also trying to pay more attention to satisfy my natural urges as they arrive. This includes the urge to drink, eat and sleep. Well, I'm still working on the sleep one, but the others are getting much better and I feel better as result.

Recipe: Fresh Summer Pasta Sauce

I taught this recipe to a group 10 to 13-year-olds during our Kids Summer Yoga Day Camp at Om West. It's super easy and the kids loved it.



Ingredients--

• 6 fresh organic tomatos
• 2-4 garlic cloves
• a handful of basil leaves
• 1/4 cup of oilve oil
• 1/2 tsp of evaporated cane juice (or sugar)
• salt & pepper to taste

Using a food processor, simply blend all the ingredients until smooth. You can heat the sauce if you really want to, but I rarely do. To finish, pour the sauce over your favourite pasta, serve and enjoy!

Day 81 - Heat wave

For the last few days, we've had record highs in temperature. It's been in the mid 30s or higher with the humidity all week, which is nearly 10 degrees warmer than the historical average., and the smog is so thick we can barely see the tops of the buildings. This is pretty serious. Of course, climate change is responsible for these spikes in temperature and it boggles my mind that people still question this as fact.

Regardless, at present, the best we can do is be completely vigilant on how we can reduce our personal impact on the environment and how we can peacefully inspire others to do the same. I'm not going to run through a list of eco-tips, but I will share some ways in which we've been keeping cool these last few days.

First, I have to admit I have an air conditioner at home, but it's second hand and we only have it in our bedroom. Plus, it's only set at 25 degrees. We have been camping out here and its been kinda of fun eating, working and sleeping in one room.

What we eat also affects our body temperature. It's rather obvious, but spices and heavy cooked food increase our body heat. Spices, for obvious reasons and heavy deep fried food, as well as meat aren't advisable in summer because the body needs to produce more heat in order to properly digest those kinds of foods. Craig and I have been enjoying a bunch of amazing raw and semi-raw summer meals-- fruit smoothies for breakfast, wicked salads, avocado-cucumber gazpacho. (Check out the Fresh Summer Pasta Sauce recipe in the next post. I made it with my Kids Yoga Camp today and they really enjoyed it.)

Another effective way to survive a heat wave is, of course, to be close a lake, ocean, and/or pool. This afternoon, my student Bossa and I did sun salutations by her pool. We did the first half then had a swim. We tried surya namaskar in the pool, but it was pretty challenging. Some standing and balancing poses work well in water, and a floating savasana is like a dream... I highly recommend it.


A photo of my sun salutations with our Kids Yoga Camp taken this morning by the lake near Om West:




PS... I did get a chance to see the semi-final World Cup match between Germany and Spain, and although I rooting for Germany, Spain did score a fantastic, deep header goal, which was most impressive.

PPS... As of today, I've completed 3/4 of my 108x108 project. That's means that since April 18, I've done 8,100 sun salutations!

Day 76 - New students/Old student + World Cup Football

The morning 6 to 9 am 108 practices are finished. It was gorgeous weather today, not a cloud in the sky and warm, with a summery breeze. Perfect conditions. I think I got a bit of a sun burn, but it was really glorious this morning.

We had a few new folks joining this morning. My student Peter arrived with his two kids in tote, Eva, 5 and Jacob, 11. And you know what? Those awesome kids did nearly 72 sun salutations with us, despite our efforts to encourage them to rest. They were so determined and smiling the whole time. Eva even tried to convince her dad to stay for the rest of the practice. They really made the atmosphere light and fun.

Just before we started the last set of 36 sun salutations, I got another surprise guest, a former student who I hadn't seen in about two years. She says she's been following my journey on Facebook. It was really nice to reconnect with her. I often wish more of my old students would pass by the studio and say hello, because I remember everyone I've taught and I'm always curious how they are when I don't see them for a while.

I've enjoyed these early morning practices on the pier with my students, but I am kind of looking forward to getting back on my own practice schedule again starting tomorrow. And I'm looking forward to sleeping in past 4:30am (or attempting to anyway).

On a closing thought, did you see the Uruguay/Ghana game today? It was super intense. Shoot outs are so tragic. Being the daughter of a former competitive soccer player, I love watching the game. However, I hadn't had much time to follow much of the World Cup. This afternoon, in a juice bar on Drummond, Frances (my student/friend/employee) and I found ourselves clutching hands, wailing at the television during the 30 minutes of the game. Very emotional. Kudos to Uruguay, but I would have liked to see Ghana advance as the last standing African team, in the tournament.

Day 23 - Headaches, Painkillers and the Tic Toc of the Biological Clock

I have another confession.

Yesterday, I wrote about nurturing and taking care of yourself with the Mama Salute. The example I gave was resting in child's pose during my sun salutation to soothe my headache. It did help, but not enough for me to eat and be social at the family mother's day dinner, so I popped an Advil. I'm not going to lie, the painkillers worked better than the sun salutations, and the throbbing pain in my head subsided, so I had seconds, talked a lot and stayed up late.

I bet you're wondering, "What's the problem with that?"

Well, my friends, the major problem with relieving my headache with a painkiller is that the headache was still there backstage. I just couldn't feel it. My poor body was trying to tell me something like, "Please rest, go to bed early, and avoid traveling and lots of activity." Instead of listening, I silenced my sensors with a pill and I acted the opposite way I was feeling. The result? I woke up with another headache today, because I didn't do what my body was requesting in the first place, so I made things worse.

Pain is always a signal for attention. For instance, I touch a hot burner on the stove and I feel pain so that I know to remove my hand from the burning surface. If I didn't feel the pain, then I wouldn't know to remove my hand and I would end up with a third degree burn. Similarly, my headache was most likely signaling the fact that I need quiet time and more sleep. Had I done this, I would have woken up refreshed and energized today. But, I didn't. My head was aching and I felt exhausted. Nevertheless, I refused to take another painkiller.

Despite feeling sensitive and tired, Craig and I launched into one of our 'what if' discussions over oatmeal. Today's 'what if' talk was about having kids, a topic which surfaced in light of mother's day and Craig's mom sweetly and innocently wishing me "Happy future Mother's Day" on the phone last night. (I guess we are at that age...)

Anyway, Craig and I started joking around about who would be a more strict parent, him or I. He says, I'll be more strict and "health conscious" and he'll bring home Fruit Loops and be more fun. The discussion was funny at first, then we began arguing over the merits of raising kids vegetarian and circumcising babies. I am, of course, for vegetarianism, at least until my (imaginary) kids are old enough to choose, but totally against circumcision. Craig is against the idea of bringing children up as vegetarians and thinks circumcision is a good idea. After some debate, things turned serious.

When Craig is upset, he becomes quiet and starts randomly putting things away. He answers in short words and avoids eye contact. After some coaxing, he said he thinks I'm stubborn and that I always need to have things done my way. He might be right. But, all this is hypothetical and far off anyway, I said, laughing it off. He gave me a look like it wasn't.

I think Craig, at 30, might be almost ready to "settle down." We've talked about that too. I admit, I have started thinking about family and kids, but right now my biological clock feels very separate from me, like ticking of the clock inside the alligator in Peter Pan. I hear it coming and honestly, it scares the shit of me.

On another note, I officiated my Monday afternoon 108 practices at Om West today. I will now be doing my 108 sun salutations every Monday from 2:30 to 4:30 (ish) and am inviting people to join me.* Nobody else showed up this afternoon, but this didn't bother me. I really enjoyed practicing at my own pace while listening to the Fugees.

Today's sun salutation was inspired by my headache, which now almost gone by the way. This is the practice I should have spent more time doing yesterday.

Surya Namaskar Receipe: Day 23 - The Headache Relieving Salute

(You will need a few blocks for this one.)

1- Start in Mountain Pose and have either a chair or a stack of wooden blocks nearby. Breathe deeply.
2- Without lifting your shoulders, INHALE, raise your arms.
3- EXHALE, fold forward and rest your head on the stack of blocks or on a chair. (A table works too.)
4- Stay here for ten breaths to three minutes.
5- When you are ready to exit the forward bend, INHALE and lengthen your spine.
6- EXHALE and slowly lower to your knees for child's pose. Sit back on your heels and rest your forehead on the floor or on a block.
7- Hold the child's pose for any length of time between ten breaths and three minutes.

8- After child's pose, make your way into downward dog and rest your head on a block or two.

9- Again, hold this pose for as long as you can.
10 - To exit, slowly bend your knees and walk forward to the top of the mat.
11- INHALE, lengthen your back.
12- EXHALE, release back into the supported forward bend with your head on the stack of blocks or chair.
13- Hold for ten breaths or so, then slowly bend your knees and roll up the spine coming back up to Mountain pose. Keep your arms by your side.
14- Finish with five to ten breaths in mountain pose.


* I am accepting donations to the CNIB. To donate online: click here