Great Way Weekly

I gave myself last weekend off–with July 4 on Sunday, I knew my practice would be slow, so I decided to take Friday and Sunday off. I love being active in the city, so I planned to do a different fun thing for each day.

I did a few hours of paperwork in my office in Davis Square on Friday, which was O.K. because I spent the afternoon biking the Minute Man Bike trail from Somerville to Lexington.

It was a beautiful day, and I hung out for a spell in Lexington.

Saturday’s activity was a walk from Central Square, up Main Street and over the Longfellow bridge into Boston.

My destination was Boston harbor.

Sunday morning was yoga with David at South Boston Yoga. It was super sweaty! We sweat more and more easily in the summer because our body’s energy (or “qi”) is up at the surface so it can open and close the pores and keep us cool. Which is what sweating is–your body keeping you cool.

Since I had spent so much time outside, I decided to give myself an soothing blueberry antioxidant mask to repair my skin from all the sun exposure. Here’s my recipe. The quantities are approximate–the goal is to have a smooth and creamy mask with a medium-thick consistency. It should be easily spreadable but not runny.

You should always patch test any home made beauty products before you smear them all over your face.

Antioxidant blueberry facial mask

1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp honey
a few drops of Vitamin E (optional)
1-2 tbsp cosmetic clay of your choice (I used Betonite clay).

Combine first three ingredients in a blender and blend well. Pour blueberry/yogurt mixture into a bowl, and stir in clay a little at a time until desired consistency is reached.

To use: Spread thin layer of mask onto clean skin. Relax for 5-10 minutes. Rinse.

I just got back from a short trip to NYC where I took this super-fun yoga class called Anti-Gravity yoga. Om Factory Yoga in midtown has a small room full of about 15 yoga “swings” or “hammocks” that hang from the ceiling and the entire class is taught in the swings.

It was a two hour class, and we spent a lot of time hanging upside down in various positions, including forward folds and backbends. I worked up a sweat eventhough it was not at all like an active, vinyasa class. One woman got a little queasy with all of the upside down time, but I felt great. Nothing was sore after class, and I didn’t feel tired. I felt energized, relaxed and stretched-out.

Though I only took this one class, I really liked the studio, and will definitely try to return on my next visit to NYC.

During my week in New Orleans, I went to classes at 2 different yoga studios in New Orleans. Swan River Yoga Shala on Magazine St. in the Garden District, and Wild Lotus Yoga on Perrier St. Uptown. Both studios had really great atmosphere. I was in the third-floor Castle studio at Swan River, which had great views of the surrounding rooftops. Wild Lotus and stenciled gold lotus flowers here and there on their floors, which were delightful to use as drishtis (points to focus on to help with balance). Both classes were ashtang/vinyasa style yoga, though Swan River offers classes in other styles.

In Michelle Baker’s class at Swan River, we spent the first 30 minutes of the 75 minute class chanting and listening to Michelle give a dharma talk. The chanting was nice, but I personally could have done with less talking and more yoga. Cecelia at Wild Lotus did no chanting and led us through a solid 90 minute class of ashtanga.

Taking yoga classes in other cities is really a great thing to do on vacation. I like to travel my Yogatoes non-slip yoga towel/mat with me as it packs up pretty small, and then I just use one of the studio’s mats underneath. It’s fun to check in with other yoga communities–I always learn something new!