Day 1 - Shiva's summer immersion

Resting in bed, it's 9.30PM.

The bad news today is that I could not be bothered to attend the evening session (opening ceremony up in Malibu on the hills). The combined effect of a long first day, of a number of admin things to do, of the jet lag and of the distance of the venue (with car pooling involved) drove me to stay home and enjoy a free sweet night.

The day was amazing. The morning was great (see below). After updating my blog, I went down to the beach (which is a long walk away from my door: the sand stretches forever before you reach the ocean), walked in the water for a while and enjoyed the amazing breath, energy and radiance of the Pacific Ocean. I initially wanted to jump in a swim for a while, but the fact that my feet almost turned blue when i stepped into the water suggested I refrain from immersing my whole body in the very very cold blue liquid.

The afternoon session was nice, mostly spent on analysing our mudhara chakra, discussing with partners... Shiva asked if anyone had anything to share, had a spanda arising to take the mic and talk. the first three ladies who took the mic shared very sad and dramatic stories, one of them even cried, about how life is tough and they don't feel loved or celebrated in their bodies... It was so sad, and I am so grounded these days in my Muladhara (mainly refers to the areas of health/embodiment, home, relationships and Dharma/livelihood) that a tremor (spanda) occurred, and i decided to take the mic to say that Muladhara was an exciting place to be, and that it was important to take the time to root oneself, to feel that joy. I made people laugh a lot. I guess some will think I am proud to stand up just to say that I am doing well and am happy, but that is what my spanda was about. It was fun though.

I finally connected with Coral, my teacher training mentor, who is adorable and hugged me the whole time. I am sure something interesting will happen for my birthday tomorrow.

Talking about birthday, my dearest dearest Imperfect Husband, whom I love so very much (I know you are reading this, dear), was the first one to wish me a happy birthday, given that my birthday is spanning three continents this year: my home in Asia, my roots in Europe, my body in America. Long stream of good wishes, and a few arrived already. I am actually feeling nothing major about turning 30. Anyway, we will see tomorrow.

After the afternoon session, I decided to attend a yoga class, as the morning practice totally helped my back, but was too short to completely fix it. So I attended Twee Merigan's (Shiva's assistant) class at Exhale. Few people, but very nice. Started a bit strange with a long breathing meditation in Shiva Lingam mudra, but it turned out very very fun, quite challenging with some cool moves: nice balancing sequence leading at the end to Garudasana, Vasistasana and Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana, and a few other things. Anyway, totally fixed my back, I felt nice and happy after that. Went to get a nice smoothie from the store next door and an organic avocado and tofu sandwich for dinner, which proved surprisingly tasty.

At this very moment, I feel the waves of sleeping slowly coming over me, and I know i won't be up long. I need to rest as I feel tomorrow ill be arm balancing, with, I suspect, and interesting flow including Eka Paka Utkatasana to Galavasana to Eka Pasa Utkatasana to dragonfly and a few other things. We shall see.

Love to Shiva, IH, Moomoo, Keke and all the other heart centers in my life.

Good night.

IY