Every Fall, as Mother Nature sheds her Summer skin and transitions into her Fall wardrobe, I’m with my family at the beach house on Anna Maria Island. And let me just emphasize that I'm on the verge of going crazy from too much family time. Here I am trying to maintain my cool among all the craziness, chaos, drama and over-planning (bless their lil' souls) making me need to retreat to a yoga sanctuary. And I had actually looked for yoga classes in the area but the local studio's yogis are on vacation...isnt' that ironic? So, I made my retreat to the sand, under the warming sun, breathing in the ocean air--- and no complaints here!
In an effort to regain my sanity, I did yoga on the beach. I took my bamboo mat (purchased from a generic beach stores for a $2 BARGAIN!) unrolled it, plopped it on the sand right in front of the ocean waves and began with some yoga breathing (pranayam). Sitting in easy pose (half-lotus) I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my nose, filling my belly and drawing my navel into my spine. Letting my breath flow through my body was a simple task as I visualized the ocean waves rolling up to shore on each inhalation and retreating to sea with each exhalation. My breath flow was one with the ocean flow.I did a few sun salutes and some of my favorite standing yoga poses, such as triangle, wide-legged forward fold, downward facing dog, and forward fold. I interlaced seated poses and inversions into my practice as well, such as headstand, elbow stand, reclined twist and marichyasana with a bind.
And this isn’t the first time I’ve practice yoga on the beach. A few weeks ago I did some yoga before paddling out to go surfing. Ironically enough, I couldn’t even make it past the break. I tried three times and no success…I just got pounded by the ocean waves. You have good days and bad days...this goes for everything, work, yoga, school and surfing. Placing no judgement on your performance is really one of the hardest parts for me.
It’s my dream to live on the beach and practice breach yoga every day. Just like us the ocean is alive. It’s intriguing to think about the ocean as a living being; full of energy and a sanctuary amongst itself. It provides shelter and a habitat for creatures of the sea. And its mood can be peaceful at times and angry at others, just like humans.
In an effort to regain my sanity, I did yoga on the beach. I took my bamboo mat (purchased from a generic beach stores for a $2 BARGAIN!) unrolled it, plopped it on the sand right in front of the ocean waves and began with some yoga breathing (pranayam). Sitting in easy pose (half-lotus) I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my nose, filling my belly and drawing my navel into my spine. Letting my breath flow through my body was a simple task as I visualized the ocean waves rolling up to shore on each inhalation and retreating to sea with each exhalation. My breath flow was one with the ocean flow.I did a few sun salutes and some of my favorite standing yoga poses, such as triangle, wide-legged forward fold, downward facing dog, and forward fold. I interlaced seated poses and inversions into my practice as well, such as headstand, elbow stand, reclined twist and marichyasana with a bind.
And this isn’t the first time I’ve practice yoga on the beach. A few weeks ago I did some yoga before paddling out to go surfing. Ironically enough, I couldn’t even make it past the break. I tried three times and no success…I just got pounded by the ocean waves. You have good days and bad days...this goes for everything, work, yoga, school and surfing. Placing no judgement on your performance is really one of the hardest parts for me.
It’s my dream to live on the beach and practice breach yoga every day. Just like us the ocean is alive. It’s intriguing to think about the ocean as a living being; full of energy and a sanctuary amongst itself. It provides shelter and a habitat for creatures of the sea. And its mood can be peaceful at times and angry at others, just like humans.
1 comment:
Fantastic post and fabulous idea. Thanks for sharing your experiences on Anna Maria Island. Island Real Estate is working on spa packages so we should have a massage on the beach available soon. Also, I know one of the spa's up in Anna Maria City does a yoga class on the beach once a week. I think it's body by soul. We have a few spa's on our Anna Maria Island blog at blog.IslandReal.com. Sorry for rambling, Serenity Now....
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