Day 281

This afternoon, I headed out to the park with a cheap red yoga mat, mysore rug and the dog. I had Sharath loaded onto my iPod Shuffle (he's a flexible guy). I laid out my mat in a quiet shady spot and did the Primary Series while my dog chewed on sticks and the world buzzed around me. It was fantastic! I have no qualms about doing my practice in a public place - in fact, there's a nice energy to it.

During every surya, my left hand brushed the low-hanging branches of a pine tree. Each time I looked up, I saw leaves, then sky. During headstand, I watched the upside-down cars roll by and thought about how all cars look pretty much the same when you're upside down. The temperature was perfect - not too hot, not too cold. Blissful. I can't believe I hadn't done an outdoor practice yet this summer. Need to do a lot more of it!

As I was practising, three children rode up on scooters. I was in the midst of Ardha Padma Padmottanasana and they were ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over it. So I turned Sharath off and said hello to them - they ended up doing most of the practice with me. They also gathered sticks for the dog to chew and eventually started piling handfuls of grass on my mat to 'make it softer'.

Then their nanny called and they went home for cookies. I turned Sharath back on and did my finishing poses. Afterward, I lolled around on my mat, reading a book. Perfectly content.

All summer days should be exactly like this. Really. No attachment here, no siree! ;-)