Salutation Nation 2011

Greetings and Happy Saturday! It is HOT here in Portland today! I went to Salutation Nation this morning in Lake Oswego and it was a lot of fun. I tossed my mat down on a slight hill so I felt like I was leaning to the right the whole time, but Tiffany made an excellent point. Something along the lines of this: Yes, it's nice when you can come to your mat and have a beautiful, almost effortless practice, but reality isn't like that. The instant you re-enter the real world, people are honking at you, asking you to do twenty things in five minutes, etc. Whatever the obstacle may be, we all have them. So we should enjoy those moments on our mats when we're on a slant, or the sun is in our eyes, or we ran a few miles the day before and feel stiff, etc (again, insert obstacle of your choice here) because that's life. And that's yoga. One thing I love about Tiffany Cruikshank is her ability to salt and pepper in advanced poses in a non-threatening way. One of the poses she threw in today was eka pada koundinyasana from a revolved lunge. Either you did it or you didn't, and afterward Tiffany said, "It's already over! Nobody is going to care whether or not you did that pose. And when you leave here, nobody is even going to know." Tiffany is so eloquent. She's also deeply devoted to her own practice and passionate about what she does- that's what makes her a great teacher. 

I killed a few hours after S.N. breakfasting with a friend and wandering around before heading to another (free) yoga class. As hot as it is outside, it was a heated class and I actually felt pretty great about it. For a moment, it made it seem like it wasn't really so hot outside. 

In other news, many of you saw on my Facebook page that I recently purchased a new Kitchenaid blender! I am so excited about this because it can do so many great things! Just today I tossed some raw beets in there and it blended them up like a champ. Beets aren't my favorite addition to a smoothie, but they sure are good for you! I don't hate them, so I toss them in every so often. Have you been making smoothies this summer? Share your recipes with me! I'm always looking to try new things.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Namaste,
Tami