Day 221

I had a lovely day off yesterday - no yoga, not even restorative, though I did teach a class in the morning.

I went to the St. Lawrence Market and wandered around, trying tonnes of samples and buying some treats for the coming week (samosas!). There's a vendor of fresh pasta at the market. I don't often eat pasta, but I tried a sample of his cheese ravioli with a tomato cheese sauce and it was sublime. I bought a Pecan Shortbread cookie at Futures Bakery and nibbled on it as I walked around.

I'm continuing to experiment with 'computer free' time - I decided to do more of this over the weekend. I put away the computer after supper on Friday evening and didn't log on again until this morning. I immediately sensed the free time just open up. It was like magic: with no computer to distract me, I decided I might as well walk the dog. After a few hours of this, my focus and attention span adjusted. I did a lot of reading, went for a couple of walks, and cleaned the apartment. On Saturday night, I went out with friends.

I don't do enough of this. I don't talk about dating very much on this site, but I am single and I'm-never-going-to-meet-someone-if-I-don't-go-out. During the winter, when it's cold, it's easy enough to make excuses about the weather and just stay in. And then there's the whole Ashtangi thing that has been discussed ad naseum elsewhere. Going out with friends can be tricky because no one heads to a bar at 6 p.m. unless they're eating supper. My bedtime is around 9ish. Since 'going out' typically happens well after 10 p.m., I'm often too sleepy to really enjoy myself.

But it's not impossible - I have a strategy and last night it worked for me.

I went to bed around 6 and slept for three hours, which left enough time to eat supper and get dressed. I was at the bar by 10:30 and I felt wide awake. I stayed the entire evening (I'm notorious amongst my friends for ducking out early), dancing and chatting and enjoying myself. I really did have fun! At 2 a.m., we all went out for pizza! I rarely eat pizza so it was such a treat. I was back home and asleep by 3 a.m. and slept until 7 a.m. (of course, I'm used to getting up early so sleeping in late is sometimes hard).

I had a good practice. I seem to be back in a headspace where I'm enjoying my practice again. I did my thing - full vinyasa, binding in all the poses and binding to wrist in the poses that I can. Handstands were strong, headstand was stable. Today, I added the little 'push-up' into the vinyasa between some of the poses. I would like to build some more strength to improve my jumpthroughs (which have been so-so).

After breakfast, I turned on the computer but after I post this, I'm going to put the it away for the rest of the day. It's beautiful out. I want to walk the dog up to the Big Park, then I'm going to the Grey Café for lunch. There are a few things I need to pick up at the grocery store too. In the afternoon, I'm taking the subway out to High Park - Toronto's wonderful big city park. My dog loves to run on the off-leash trails there.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!