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June 16, 2004
iPod vs. iRiver
Oh and back to technology for a second... I loved loved loved having the iPod but I have to say that the battery life BLOWS on that thing. Halfway through my day yesterday the battery was nearly gone :( So this morning I ordered the iRiver.... I'm hopeful that the experience with it will be good... I'll be sure to report on it here.
Posted by ashtangagirl at 2:29 PM | Comments (3)
Elemental Embrace
Though I arrived in Toronto a couple hours later, all worked out. I met Lucia in the airport, rented the car and we took off for the spa. We drove for awhile both remarking that, for some reason, we thought Canada would look, well, like Canada and not like America. Truly there wasn't a whole lot of differences -- Shell stations, McDonalds, IKEA, etc. After driving awhile we got more to the "country" and things were very spacious and green. We exited the freeway in Brighton and became just a bit jittery that the structures were not all that beautiful and we were definitely in the middle of nowhere. We arrived at the spa, were warmly greeted, had our the tour and dinner. We hadn't made time to go to the liquor store but we made enough fuss ;) that the owner's gave us a bottle of their own wine (we were very happy). Our rooms were nice. My basic summation of this place is that it is smaller than the pictures make it out to be and about 3/4 as nice as those same pictures make it appear...but very nice nonetheless.
Day 2 started out with me getting up for the 7:30 yoga class. I had asked the staff here repeatedly what "type" of yoga would be done and they had told me multiple times that it was ashtanga based.... doubtful, I got up early and went and started my own practice at 7am with Surya Namaskara A & Bs... a couple postures into standing the class started arriving. The yoga we did was probably closest to Savroopa yoga (and if any of you have been reading for years, you'll know my last experience with that type of yoga left me liking it not). I had made an oath with myself that I can learn from all types of yoga and that I would. I can't say that I enjoyed it, as one of the other guests said to me later in the day "that class was simply way too easy for you, wasn't it?" It was. I did enjoy the stretching though there was actually very little of it. Following that we did breakfast then off for our first spa treatments. I had a very nice head, shoulder, neck massage and, after, went back to the yoga room and did the rest of a "prep" practice -- Standing postures, through to Navasana then finishing. Practice is MUCH harder after having had spa treatments... body like jello, mind like mush. After this I had an Aryuvedic consultation with a doctor. It was very interesting. Whenver I take those "type tests" I always score basically even between Vatta & Kapha and, as a result, have never known what to consider myself -- fairly sure I was more Vatta than Kapha but didn't see the fire anywhere. The consultation started with some questions then he asked to take my pulse... and he said an amazing thing as he held my arm. He said "Do you anger easily?" Yes, yes...I do! "Do you express that anger within your family but restrain with strangers?" Yes, Why yes! So he charted out my types... I am mostly Vatta with Kapha coming up right behind... but, surprising to me, he said that my fire is also there and that it comes out in some very apparent ways in my personality (apparent to me). Once he mentioned some things I clearly understood. He told me I should never eat raw vegetables (which explains why I didn't last on a raw diet). He told me I could eat raw spinach or lettuce but all other vegetables should be cooked. He said I should be eating cheese and I explained that when I do eat cheese, I often find it difficult to do downward dog, that I get this wierd feeling in my throat. He explained that this is actually detoxification -- that as long as it isn't in my nose, I should consider it good -- news to me. He also mentioned meat and said that my body needs meat, that all meat is good for me but I should only boil or bake it :( He mentioned spices..cardamon being an important spice for me. It was all very interesting and I noticed that he was writing all of this down in Sanskrit so I said "What language are you writing?" He says "Sanskrit" and points to my necklace (which says abhaya in Sanskrit on it). He says "I wonder why you wear that?" I said that I wear it as a mindfulness tool -- to remind myself that fear can hold me back and that I wish to be more fearless. He told me then something really interesting. He said that abhaya has two meanings... one is fearlessness... the other is to be free in the mind. I said "Well, if you can be fearless then you would be free so that makes sense." He said that he doesn't believe fear is an underlying emotion in anger -- but that there are three basic emotions -- fear, sorrow and worry. He also told me that abhaya is a very common name in India. I like it. After the consultation I tried to find the liquor store in town. Some other girls here told me that the liquor store name was only initials... first I got lost (this town has maybe one street and 10 stores altogether..very small), finally found a bank machine, went to the wrong store first but finally found LCBO (which I now know stands for Liquor Control Board of Ontario) and bought some wine... it was Lucia's birthday so I wanted to make sure we had some wine for dinner. Speaking of, the food here has been wonderful. Surprisingly un-spa like. Meat, fish, dairy.... there is another guest here on a cleanse, she doesn't eat this and they make special Indian looking dishes for her. I'd like to try that sometime. My last treatment of the day was my favorite, Shirodhara. They do theirs a bit different here than I'd ever had before... It began with a synchronized massage by the two Aryuvedic doctors -- and I was nude.. a first for me and a bit to get used to but I had to keep in mind that these were doctors, not just massage therapists. Then the oil drip -- in the past this has always been a straight drip on the third eye but they do theirs more as a constant stream across and back your forehead. I'm not sure if I liked it better -- they have you on a wooden "bed" with no blankets so it was much more uncomfortable than I've had in the past.
Day two started with sleeping in -- probably the first night I've actually slept through the night in years (I can't take credit though, I had the help of Tylenol sleep something or other and some wine). We had breakfast then I had a lympatic draineage treatment which was very very nice. They sorta massage your lymph nodes into two central locations... I was nearly asleep by the end. Lucia and I did some yoga together after... she has a great backbend though she claims to not be able to get into it often. She has that nice curve in her back that I will never have and lust after ;) She also has a beautiful halasana... I would say textbook perfect. She tried my Luminaire chamy and liked it so I gave it to her...because I hate it. Lucia left for home shortly thereafter and I had my traditional Indian head massage which was heaven. I think I am going to have to teach The Husband how to do it... even the hair pulling rocked. I loved it.
The surroundings of this place are nice...very wooded, it's a beautiful day and I went for a short hike on their grounds... dark woods, like woods... a bit of water in there. I enjoyed it. I took the iPod with me and am now even more convinced that I will be getting a player very very soon.. I love that thing. There is nothing to do here except relax... a good thing for me.
My last night activities included an Aruyvedic lecture by one of the doctors. It was profoundly interesting and cool to be able to ask lots of questions. One of the most interesting things we talked about were vaccines. He was saying how he is very much a believer in the polio vax and has seen it's miracle but, on the other hand, talked about how he had never seen cases of M M or R in India until after the vaccine started being given out... interesting. I also got to ask questions about meat-eating and Ahimsa and different herbal treatments... as well as about fighting what is apparently inherent in your type (such as anger for me -- Lucia this was prompted by our discussion after the consult... I'll email you what he said).
My final day started with a crappy yoga practice... I think the time change finally caught up to me... it was nearly painful... followed by a nice facial (which I normally hate but the Indian version is very nice). The chef had promised me a traditional Indian feast for lunch and he came through... it was incredible. A dal, mung beans, green bean dish, masala shrimp, curried cabbage... filled I left for the airport and things went good until the flight became so bumpy the captain had the flight attendants sit. Those of you that know me know that I HATE to fly.. HATE HATE HATE so this was not pleasant for me. We ended up diverting around weather and adding 45 minutes onto our flight...which, in turn, caused me to miss my connection to San Diego. Long story short, with a lot of running and cursing, I actually made the last flight to SD for the night right as they were closing the gate (no really)... and my bag even managed to make it with me. I got home very late... took the kids to Legoland today and am just now figuring out my computer (i.e., work) life...
Namaste.. more blogging later.
Posted by ashtangagirl at 2:27 PM | Comments (3)