Facing Doggie Down

I've returned from Mexico with a tan line (twas a burn line... I fear my future includes melanoma) and about five new pounds on my body from margaritas, tortilla chips, and guacamole. While I succumbed to the temptation of tequila and too much avocado--I didn't think that was possible--I did not succumb to the temptation to ditch my daily yoga practice. Yay!

It did take some effort to practice on my trip, particularly on that dreaded travel day last week when I took a 6 AM flight to Houston en route to Cancun. As I mentioned in my last post, I'd loaded up my i-gadget with a couple of chair podcasts from Hillary's Yoga Practice, so during my layover in Houston, I tried to find an empty chair that wasn't too close to anyone else and looked out the window with room to cross my legs and to stretch them out in front of me. Then I plugged the ear buds into my ears and pushed play.

How did it go? Well, unsurprisingly, I felt a little self conscious meditating in public. I thought my OMs instead of chanting them out loud at the beginning of the practice and I held my hands in Anjali Mudra in my lap. The chair practice incorporated a lot of arms overhead stretches and I felt pretty conspicuous after the fourth or fifth one. Likewise, after the first couple of forward bends in my chair, I wondered if people were watching me and judging me. It was very difficult not to become self aware to the max. And then my practice was interrupted because I had to go stand in line at the gate counter to get my passport validated again. When I resumed it, I really struggled to find a calm mind again because I was all revved up to go to Mexico. Will I do a chair practice again next time I have a long plane day? I don't know--it was convenient on a day when I was traveling SO early and traveling to an earlier time zone, eliminating my daylight hours. But yesterday morning, I made sure to go to a yoga class at the resort spa before we checked out and headed to the airport.

I went to the 8 AM yoga class at the spa Monday-Friday this week. A muscular, short instructor named Mauricio taught the classes. His English was quite good. Except for yesterday, he taught entirely in English. Yesterday he translated everything into Spanish for a few Latina women. I didn't pick up anything, except inspiras and espiras. Mauricio really focused on the breath a lot in his classes, when to inhale and exhale, how many times, and breathing into the diaphragm, not the chest. This kind of pranayama instruction can feel patronizing to me often, given how long I've been practicing yoga. I have to remind myself in gym/spa/community yoga classes that not everyone who comes to these classes has been practicing yoga for over 10 years, or even over a month, and that I'm lucky that the instructor is teaching pranayama with such focus at all. Mauricio even ventured into Nadi Shodhana Pranayama, i.e. Alternate Nostril or Channel Cleaning Breath. Regardless, it was hard to be critical of Mauricio with his cute little accent and way of saying Downward Facing Dog ("Down Dog Facing" or "Facing Doggie Down") and adorable pronunciation of vertebrae.

Mauricio led yoga on this pier one day--Lovely. Picture by jeco.

Back in the USA, I entered month 2 of my Yoga 360 today. I've done yoga for 32 straight days for at least 30 minutes! I suppose I should pause and reflect at this point on how I feel, but I'm blogged out for the day. Tomorrow, I'll post with some musings about the 1-month mark, along with my minute count for the last 10 days! Until then,

Namaste.