Outdoor Yoga

There is something that is so inspiring about practicing yoga outdoors. With the beautiful weather we have been having in Vancouver over the last week I have found myself spontaneously doing a few rounds of sun salutations wherever I might be.

This weekend my partner and I were up in Squamish climbing and I was at the base of a crag waiting for him to set the rope up and the sun was shining on me and well, it was perfect. The only thing was that the crag we were at is close to residences so there is a lot of broken glass on the ground. Because of this  I only did one full round before stopping for fear I might cut myself.

Then later that day we were at the beach and yet again, it was perfect. I would like to say one thing though; sand is not the greatest surface to be trying to hold your balance! It brings a whole new meaning to slippery.

Because the sand was so malleable I thought that maybe the sand would be a good medium to attempt a headstand.  This actually was not as great of an idea as I had thought.  Having a spine injury, placing undue pressure onto the disks (specifically my neck) is something I avoid, which means doing headstands is something I shouldn't consider (outside of using a "headstand helper").  I immediately felt the pressure pinching my neck with a little bit of discomfort, but happily three days later I am still pain free!  So hopefully if I take it slowly and continue to build strength I might actually be able to do a headstand again one day!

Then on Sunday I "ran" the Sun Run, a 51, 419 person run!  I don't run, I have never run, I have never enjoyed it, it is just something that my brain does not understand.  So when I managed to complete a 10Km run in 1 hour and 24 minutes, saying I was a little surprised is a bit of an understatement.  I managed to run somewhere around half of the race and speed walked the rest.  Keep in mind though, this is with zero training, outside of yoga.  awesome eh?  I am still paying for it two days later, oh man the pain will not let out, my ankles are the worst.

Surprisingly as my partner, myself and two other friends were walking home Mark remarked that we should stretch!  This is the man that it feels like I have to drag kicking and screaming onto a mat.

Of the three locals, this was my favourite.  the lush green grass, Falls Creek beside us, Science World at the end of the paths and of course the view of the city behind us.  Although my muscles were pretty tired I also felt strong.  I actually got into Crane pose! three times!  The first time I hadn't even realize, it wasn't until one of my friends commented on how cool it was whatever it was I was doing.  so I showed them crow pose and then showed them the difference of two.  I'm waiting until my muscles juice up again before I even attempt crane since I can hardly walk at the moment (so sad!)

 I quickly realized I had two willing participants and mark was getting excited about it too, so we showed them "the backpack" and a shoulder opening partner pose. and then I had them doing the downward dog backbend that I loved so much from the acro yoga workshop along with attempting to fly one of them.

And that was my amazing weekend in a very small nutshell!