New Surroundings

It doesn't, and shouldn't matter where you do yoga, right? But just occasionally when we move, to a new house, or new area, the environment takes a little adapting to, which is only natural. The habitual practice of yoga in the same space may feel comforting, but essentially we need to challenge ourselves not to slip in to the "I know this" zone.

Adapting to a hot and humid climate, compared to the last few four months I spent in the desert has been interesting! A practice of any kind, vigorous or not leaves you sweating, maybe not quite like a Bikram or Hot yoga class, but nearly! The benefits are the same - increased suppleness in the warmth and feeling totally refreshed afterwards - cold water never tasted so good :)

The island we're living on is not conducive to running - due to undomesticated dogs (some might say wild!). They are a bit like Mexican dogs, just wandering the streets, doing their own thing, catching the breeze, scratching, chewing and also chasing people. The dogs are so territorial that a lonesome runner crossing their path makes for good 'game'. A few people do brave the dogs, but I've heard some nasty stories of yucky bites, so decided, somewhat reluctantly that this might be good time to skip running for a while and concentrate on yoga. But then I met someone at the weekend who offered to show me where the early morning runners trot around a 'dog-free' track! Bingo. Excellent, a new running-friend to meet up with, sans wild dogs. But meeting at 5am is something else I'm going to have to get used to...

In the mean time I found Pummel Vision, and decided to create a yoga-type-video as an extra challenge, which I was a little aprehensive about but it turned out to be a great posture checking exercise and also a lot of fun! Try it! Surprisingly the challenge has helped me settle in to my new environment and I'm finding the heat a blessing in disguise.

Have you ever had to adapt to a new home-practice yoga area, and did you ever use video to check your posture, or do you use other ways to check your posture?

Yoga Flip from Susie Stephen on Vimeo.