Chicago

It's been a few days without a post due to the hectic schedule that hit me on my return from Chicago. My practice has been quite random over the past 5 days. Last Friday I was traveling all morning and then had the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner to attend to. Afterwards I joined the Viking Youth Power Hour podcast for their poignant topic of the week: marriage. So no practice Friday. Saturday, I did about 5 each of Surya Namaskara and then closing before we all hit the flotation tanks. Sunday, I did the same practice prior to the wedding, and then Monday Jeannine and I spent the majority of the day in the car.

Before moving forward I must note that being the officiant at Brian and Amanda's wedding was simply wonderful and a great blessing. We put together a beautiful ceremony that everyone seemed to appreciate. Presiding over the event and standing there at the altar as these two wonderful beings were united continued to verify my observation that this world is in fact paradise.

Yesterday, being a moon day found me without asana and fasting. I typically stick to juice on the moon days as I find it helps to balance out my system. Last night I made a big batch of kitchari and will stick to eating that and fruits and vegetables. Save 3 sips of champagne I didn't drink or smoke this weekend, but I was around a ton of smoke! So much so that on a few mornings I was feeling like I had smoked. I did eat a ton of Kratom, a tree sap from Indonesia that shares a very pleasant euphoria conducive to communication. It's a very clean ethnogen and, for my experience, leaves no toxic feelings the next day. Regardless though, after the kratom and being around so much smoke and drink this weekend I feel a bit of a cleanse is in order.

I didn't go to the loft this morning as I wanted to hit the noon Ashtanga here at my job. I'll be at the loft tomorrow morning, but I have to say that the idea of mixing my practice up a bit is appealing to me again. I think that I may be a bit too rigid with my exclusive Ashtanga practice. A bit of diversity at the moment may assist me in moving through (or around) some of the obstacles I've recently encountered.