Astanga

Today, I felt like a small child, frantically doing her chores so she could go out and play.

The afternoon was a comedy of errors. I bought the wrong kind of fuel for the camp stove, which had me bicycling frantically around the city trying to exchange the wrong fuel and locate the correct one. Then I had to pack the camping equipment which took longer than I thought it would. I was reminded of an article I recently read, suggesting that when we 'see the glass as already broken' it provides a perspective shift. If we expect the unexpected, then the unexpected can't faze us.

When I finished gathering everything together in one big pile, I gazed in horror at the sheer amount of STUFF. I tend toward minimalist, but I do like my creature comforts. These two tendencies come clashing together like the Titans when I go camping. Argh!

There's one category of stuff that I completely indulge myself, though: books. I love reading and for me, a camping trip is just an opportunity to swing in my hammock as I read book after book for three days. I'm bringing six, including two brain-candy novels that I know I'll love. I won't read them all, but I need to have the option, you know?

And I prepped the food for the trip. We're going to be eating well this weekend and most of it is very healthy, lots of vegetables and fruits, salads and lean protein sources. It's vegetarian except one tuna wrap for lunch on Saturday. I'm looking forward to preparing meals on my tiny camp stove, always a fun challenge! Pancakes on Sunday! I like living dangerously!

I finished my 'chores' in the early evening and headed up to the Big Park with the dog. As I started my practice, I noticed groups of women congregating on either side of the park. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but when I finally did, I laughed out loud.

They are 'Bikini Boot Camps'. I've noticed the flyers posted on poles, but I've never actually seen the Boot Camps in progress. I somehow thought that the Boot Campers would be running around in Bikinis, but no, they were in regular yoga clothes (like everyone seems to be these days, whether they practice yoga or not). The Boot Camps are run by two competing Personal Trainers. I wonder if Campers defect from one to another, like Survivor?

I had a marvelous time watching them jump and flail and run circuits through little orange cones as I did my seated poses. I enjoyed the startled looks I got during Sirsasana. This practising outside thing is turning me into a bit of an attention junkie. Maybe that why Guruji thought it was a bad idea. I'll bet he didn't know about the Bikini Boot Camps, though!

Tomorrow, I'm off to camp myself - Camp Lazy! I will be doing yoga, but 'where' is yet to be determined. For the past few days, the forecast has flipped between 'sunny' and 'rainy'. I don't know where the coin will fall, but if it falls on the rainy side, I may find myself doing yoga in the laundry room (yes, there's a laundry room at this campground - creature comforts, remember?). If it's sunny, I'll be on the beach, watching the sun rise over the lake as I do my sun salutations.

Think good weather thoughts for me, eh?

Updates will be scant because there's no wifi at camping (creature comforts haven't caught on to that one yet). I'll catch up with the blog on Monday.

I leave you with a 70s Yoga Glamourshot jem:

Figure 115: Squat toilet?
Figure 116: Nope, just Malasana