Are you guys on another break?

Me: No, no, no. The traditional calendar has caught up to us now.  We start Summer Break the same as you.  *explains modified calendar further*

Oh.  *pause*   Then how long are you in Edmonton for?

Me: *realizing root of question*  haha, just the weekend.

Sometimes I think I blow things out of proportion when I obsess over them, either virtually or in my storytelling.

Well, I think they get perceived out of proportion.

To be frank: I’m very excited about the weekend staycation.   Every day this week, I’ve tweaked it.

(…or: A Tale of Two Yoga Postures)

Ananda Balasana

The “Happy Baby” pose is a fairly basic one as far as proper form goes.  You lie on your back.  You raise your feet and legs as high up as you can while still being able to grab your own feet same-hand to same-foot, and spread your legs apart, and then if-wanted, rock back and forth a bit.

Essentially: legs up, bum up.

While in a class, it’s a pose you want to look around first to see if you’re actually hearing the instructions properly as they’re narrated to you–for fear of actually living ‘that dream’, where you’re doing something wild and crazy and the rest of the world is doing the less-crazy actual calm/tame proper thing.

It looks and feel nutty.

Savasana

Savasana, I assume is everyone’s favourite posture.  I only think this because it’s my own.   …and I, often though often falsely, think everyone has the same leanings and preferences as I do.

While “Happy Baby” doesn’t register on a solemn scale, Savasana–or ‘corpse pose’ as it’s also named–registers off the charts.

Yoga opens and closes with Savasana.  You lie on your back, avoid adjusting where possible, open your heart and feel everything… especially your breath and your own heaviness.

It’s a perfect rest because it feels well-deserved and it almost always comes with a clear head.

My weekend

My weekends almost always strive to be Happy Baby-esque.  I try to laugh, and feel good, and end off each week with a little bit of productivity but even more indulgence.  I worry when I’m not getting the most out of each weekend because they’re such a precious resource.  I revel in opportunities to be and feel nutty.  With a certain hedonism, I put the week aside or laugh it off.

That’s all very fine.  Almost always there are more adventures than I can count and almost always I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This weekend, though, a Shavasana-esqe weekend, as though by divine intervention, was thrust upon me.  Literally.  I was given a gift I didn’t even know I wanted.  I wasn’t even given the gift, I was bound to it with no other alternative.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday I was sick.  I started feeling like, ‘Oh great, here goes a Long Weekend” but then I didn’t even have the energy to feel that.  I slept in most of the day, ate and moved to a minimum, napped, then went to bed early each evening.  Normally an all-day nap prevent sleep, but my body accepted sleep at any point it was available.  Somehow, my body was feeling like it was deprived of rest and it was taking it at all cost.

Holiday Monday,  I woke up feeling super alert and super great.  Maybe some people get that gift every morning, but for me it’s a rare treat.  The roommate had planned a ‘surprise day’ which turned out to be a day of indulging in relaxation-kicked-up-a-notch [i.e. in the hands of spa experts].  The relaxation was interrupted only by great food.  I try not to think too much during massages, just like I try not to think too much during Savasana.  I did, however, think how perfectly necessary the day and the weekend had been.  How had I not realized, I this need for some time to do absolutely nothing, think nothing, recharge, and renew; why did the realization have to find me?  Spring Cleaning doesn’t have to be active doing/thinking/planning it can also be just the opposite.

It’s not just true for weekends.  The same holds true for vacations and adventures and projects.  The ‘Happy Baby’ Ananda Balasana moments tend to make the best pictures and be the moments most-discussed.  Sometimes, though, the Savasana ones are just as nice to think back-on… they just also, sometimes, take a little more scratching to get at to remember.

Tomorrow, just before June starts and all the madness that goes with it, I’m hitting the mat.  It’s been a good long while since I’ve done any formal yoga.  The instructor is one I really connect with.  I hope amidst my concentration and through my cursing (for it being so long since the last session) I’m able to enjoy it in a Happy Baby sort-of-way.

This weekend, I go to Edmonton, and have zero doubt there will be a ton of bum-up nutty-feeling madness.  I also hope I’m able to get in a bit of the quiet reflection (and gratitude) true rest and Savasana can deliver.  After a stretch without recognizing the need, now that desire is all that makes sense anymore.

In fact both somewhat-opposing sensations seem to provide clarity for the other…

…kind of neat.

And kind of worth remembering.

=)

Hm.

Love dances in the freshness of the unknown. It doesn’t need reason. It speaks from the irrational wisdom of the heart.

@DeepakChopra

=)

• I need to find a WordPress theme that I love for ‘the blog’.  I don’t think it’s this one.
• I don’t think I’ve EVER complimented a random stranger on their clothes.  I’ve maybe complimented someone I didn’t know well, or knew through someone else, or to fill an awkward silence–but never just walking down the street have I said ‘nice shirt’.  Anyways, a handful of people LOVE my big bird shirt yesterday.  It got to the point I started to expect it.  Either people are really able to connect with the bright yellow addition to my wardrobe OR it’s so LOUD people feel they need to say ‘something’.
• I am loving the access to Vitamin D our city is having right now, SO BAD!  It has been TOO long.
• Edmonton, the weekend after this one.  I’m looking forward to it like it’s a flight to some distant country.  I don’t know why I’m so restless in this city these days.  It seems my wildest waterpark dreams will be fulfilled–maybe that’s the difference.
• I am now a runner.  More to follow.  One day: maybe I will be a French Runner.   *fingers crossed*
• Must.  Start.  Reading.  Must, must start reading.  I wish I wasn’t the slowest reader of all time.

Happy Monday!

No one cares when you perform site maintenance; I get that.

BUT, I just did. I now have WordPress 2.9.2 after only having 2.0 since January 2006.

It was a nightmare to upgrade. I had to remember passwords and processes long-forgotten. I had to explore in the depths of my FTP files, and it was like a random stab-in-the-dark in a deep unfamiliar cave. I had to rename files and folders if I didn’t understand what they did and I had to hold my breath when I was working on data files that I knew would make or break my success.

BUT.

It’s done.

Now the most major issue issue is that the update is showing some strange characters in my older posts.

What a geeky project!? However, I feel glad it’s done. I’m IN LOVE with my new editor… AND, I’m glad I didn’t actually lose any of the writing–for awhile it seemed like I had.

Travis 2.9.2 I LOVE IT… Does this mean I’m on the CUSP of Travis 3.0?

a.k.a. [pre-]Go Time!

Breath,
Power-up,
Journal-journal-journal,
Tidy-tidy-tidy,
Smile.

Read-do-begin-plan-enjoy.

Eat.-Pray.-Love.-Elizabeth-Gilbert

The words and order don’t really matter BUT I’m dedicating the next five days to a ‘here we go’ plan.

U of L starts Monday, May 10th.  I’m I will be ready.  If I can get myself excited, even better!  If I can get some routine in there, and some ‘other treats’ and things to look forward, too… success!

My Cinco-Dayo-Plano [I hope that isn’t offensive] is to forget about life after September for a bit, and really think about how the coming weeks can lead to a wicked-awesome start to Summer (and accordingly to the coming school year and to 29).

How can I build in time to be productive, be with others, get into flow, and have quiet time too?

Okay folks, admittedly this one is for me and not really very reader-friendly.  In short, a crazy storm is brewing so the proverbial calm-before-the-storm is vital (especially when my head has been essentially in-the-sand since New Zealand).  The great news: at least right now, I feel very up to it!

Five days.  (…and how can I go wrong when one of those days is devoted to Theatre Calgary with B.T.B.Comm.??)

I’m feeling a bit deflated these days.  I’m not chipper, and I’m also grumpy and hard to get along with.

I don’t think it will last much longer… but it’s true: My Southern Hemisphere Gusto is now Northern Hemisphere Un-sure-edness.

I’ll survive.  In fact, I’ll probably come away from it stronger and more resilient.  In fact, I can already see some things aligning in nice ways (versus before when everything seemed to align in total awfulness).

Usually it’s my energy, openness, and enthusiasm that carry me… so I hope to get some of that back very soon.

So far, the secret ingredient in trying is food together.

Today it was pizza with the extended family and breakfast with the smartest crew I know.

Yesterday it was a homecooked meal by one of my favourite new-Calgarians and a Spolumbo Sausage (and walk) with the roommate.  The day prior: Tim Horton’s and Pizza with co-workers.  The day before that another roommate meal, all ready for me as I arrived home for the day.

I hope the food is not enabling me… but I know the company is very, very welcome.

Wouldn’t it be nice as Spring turns to Summer to have all of this behind me?

To energy, openness, and enthusiasm.  One calorie at a time.