Practice, Practice. Everywhere, Practice.

I visited Toronto for July 4th weekend and wanted to take a picture of where I practiced yoga every day. I forgot the snap the shot, but picture this: My friend, Trey, lives in a 400 square foot apartment with the loveliest little back porch. Cozy, and just big enough to fit my travel yoga mat, his two chairs and a tiny table. I swept the cement ground, moved his furniture, laid out my mat and was able to practice this way. Some practices were shorter than others, but it was so important to keep consistent with my practice, that I either woke up early or slipped out to the porch during the afternoon to get a practice in.

The practical part of this was that I traveled by train and bus from Chicago to Toronto, and keeping limber really helped with cramped "sleeping" arrangements.

The energetic part was to keep my head even keeled while I was in a new environment. Geesh, can I be a bear to travel with, sometimes. I control, I get hot headed, I want to do the things that I want to do, darnit. Yoga yoga yoga sure does take the edge off of traveling for me and my travel mates. Believe me, we all benefit when I'm doing yoga regularly!

The fun part of my practice was trying to figure out which direction North was. I was turned around a bit and don't think I did too much "damage" not facing North while I meditated (South is not a good direction to face while practicing, sources say). At any rate, I justified packing my yoga mat with me in order to keep regular.

By the way, there's a popular yoga studio in Toronto called, "Down Dog" and even though many people told me to practice there, I didn't connect to any teacher's bios that I read. My practice is to the point that it's better if I practice alone over practicing for 60 minutes or more in a class that will whack out my energy. So not worth it! I'm sure I would have found a teacher/class that I'd gel with but upon initial research, there was too much vinyasa/power yoga action for me. All the more reason to have the discipline to practice alone on a teeny back porch in downtown Toronto. 

(Lovely town, by the way. Highly recommended!)