Yoga with the Belugas

Did you know that June 8th is celebrated as World Ocean's Day?  Also, did you know that it is Canada who inaugurated this celebration around the world?

Here in Vancouver, the Vancouver Aquarium hosted the best World Ocean's Day Celebration! They organizing with Ocean Wise (this is the group that advises what fish are good to eat and which are endangered) the first ever Yoga with the Belugas!  And even better yet, this practice was led by none other then Ocean loving surfer-yogi Eoin Finn!

When my husband showed me this event, I immediately latched on and decided that I had no other choice then to fork over the cash and go!  Not only were all of the proceeds going to helping protect our oceans and environment but when will I possibly ever get to have this experience ever again???

Well, it was well worth it!  There were countless times that you would look up and there would be this incredible creature brushing up against the window curiously looking in on us.  It was such a surreal experience to be witness to!

Unfortunately on my way out the door, I grabbed the wrong bag, I grabbed the bag I had unpacked which had only some random things that I did not want for the day!  So of course I showed up with no camera and no video camera, only my iPhone!  Although the quality isn't superb, this clip I captured really caught the essence of the morning.  You could tell there was a connection occurring with our event, the music and  the belugas.  You could see through music what they enjoyed and the music that they didn't understand.  This song seemed to be one of their favourites, in their small entrapment, it looked as though they were dancing!

Enjoy!

Remember a few months ago when the New york times published that excerpt from the book "The Science of Yoga" by William Broad titled "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body".

Well back in April at the New York Yoga Journal Conference, they hosted a Panel of Yoga experts with such giants as Ana Forrest, Gary Kraftsow, David Swenson and of course William Broad, all debating whether Yoga should hurt and if the hype around William's book actually a wake up call or a scare tactic. 

It is a very interesting listen!

I will learn grasshopper arm balance

Stumbled on an image of this pose and kept trying to figure out the most efficient way to get in, but my awkwardness combined with gravity I could only find my limbs in twisted and unbalanced positions... straining ...everywhere.
...Now this, is so logical! I'm kind of ashamed I didn't think of it on my own. I will be trying it first thing tomorrow!

          **Update: so I tried this, oh man do my hips need some more deep stretching, pigeon and thread the needle, you and I are going to become BEST friends over the next few weeks!


Flowing Through Grass Hopper from Elinore Cohen on Vimeo.

Romantic Buddha Tale

~ Wake Up and Cook: kitchen Buddhism in Words and Recipes; from a Burmese manuscript adapted and translated by Michael Edwards

On my quest for all things to do with running and Yoga, two great things fell into my lap.

1st.
The new book by Sage Rountree titled The RUNNER'S Guide to Yoga suddenly was in front of me and so it was only moments before I released it from it's shrink wrap (yes... not so nice packaging! yikes!).  I have gone from front to back.  I will properly review this later with all of it's pro's and con's.  But I will simply state she has grown as a yogi and book writer since her other book, "The Athlete's Guide to Yoga".  Lots of great running specific poses, tips to becoming a better runner, not just in the physical training but in the mental capacity and the balance of training and life.

2nd.
Lululemon must have heard me calling. That and well all of their running races are happening across North America!  But let us pretend that they were weighing in on my needs too!  They have come up with a simple blog post providing 5 quick poses to practice before beginning your run to help limber you up for those 10 kilometres and help balance and strengthen your muscles to prevent injury.

Go and visit Lululemon's blog here and try these before your next run and see how it changes the way you move!