Day 102

My moon day was fabulous!

I love it when it falls on a day that I can actually sleep in. I slept until 9, took a long, leisurely walk, and tidied up the apartment. Then I travelled up to Don Mills via subway and bus, sipping tea and reading a good book. Sometimes taking public transit is like a game of roulette, but today everything fell into place like puzzle pieces. Trains rolled into the station as I walked onto the platform. Buses were waiting patiently for me at the station.

The bus rolled past my old office, the one from way back, when I worked the corporate job. I didn't have a good experience there and I was bitter for a long time after. Today though, I felt a surge of gratitude. If it wasn't for the money I made working there, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now (teaching yoga). I'm grateful I had that experience. I'm grateful for the resources the company provided to me when I chose to leave. Aspects of that job were horrible, but I learned a lot, paid off my school loans and here I am now, doing what I love.

Gratitude.

For lunch, I met up with a good friend who I haven't seen in over 5 years. We worked together on an IT project for a small company back in 2000. At the time, L was one of my favourite people to spend time with, but it's been a long time. As soon as I hugged him, I realised that the passage of time doesn't erase true friendships. The years just melted away. We enjoyed a wonderful meal at a Japanese restaurant. I looked through his photos from a recent holiday to China, we chatted about friends we know in common and parted warmly, promising to meet up again soon. It was really lovely.

By happy coincidence, the restaurant is next door to my favourite hockey shop. I had 2 inches chopped off my composite hockey stick - the fancy expensive one I bought earlier in the year. I haven't been using it because it was too long. The chopping process only took five minutes, but I've put this off for so long because it's a big schlep for such a small thing. I'm very excited to use this stick again! I'm going to retape the stick this weekend so I can use it at my game next week.

The rest of the my moon day was restful and fun. I taught a youth class in the afternoon, where I was able to get a little bit of a yoga fix. We played around with sundial pose and Kurmasana. I helped a 9-year-old bind in Supta Kurmasana and she was so excited! When we said our 'gratitudes' at the end of the class, she said that she was 'grateful to learn something new'. She's my handstand girl, so it was neat to see her get so absorbed in a floor pose. She liked it because she thought it made her look tiny and scrunched up. “Look how little I am!” So cute!

I went home and watched Grey's (from tape - I teach in the evenings, so I record my favourite network shows to watch later). Dr. Hahn, my favourite recurrent character, is now on the show regularly. I was dancing around and cheering when she showed up! Hooray for silly, brainless, but fun television! I'm so high energy that I think it's good for me to occasionally sit still for an hour and watch something I enjoy.

Tim Miller suggests that observing moon days “makes us more attuned to natural cycles” but I think it's just nice to have two days each month that seem special - kind of like having a holiday! (Oh no, did I just quote Tim Miller?!! I did, didn't I?)

Now where was I? Oh yes, this is an Ashtanga blog and I'm supposed to be writing about yoga.

So yes, and I practised this morning and it sucked. I was tired, my back hurt and I couldn't focus at all. I cut out at Navasana, but I did do three very nice handstands.

I'll be back on Monday.