Yoga

Confession: I am an addict! I'm addicted to yoga. For nearly 3 years now, I've been practicing yoga on a weekly basis and I'm convinced it is life transforming. Yoga is so simple, yet extraordinarily complex. In its most basic definition, yoga is the learned art of simply being. That may sound easy, but trust me, it may be the most difficult aspect of yoga (of life for that matter). Think about it... simply being and not doing. Being as you are, who you are, where you are in the moment you are living. We are a society of doers. If we are not doing, then we must be lazy or unsucessful! "Being" requires us to be uniquely in touch with body, mind and spirit. Deeply enough to be in tune with our physical (strength, balance, flexibility, alignment), our mind and emotions, and our spirit - all in the moment in which we are breathing. It is not how strong, upset or prayerful we were this morning, or how we plan to feel after our yoga practice ends, or how well we multi-task, but having clarity about our whole being in a specific moment in time, and accepting and respecting where we are right now.

How many times do you catch yourself thinking about what you will say next, or making a to-do list in your head while you are interacting with someone else? We all do it. While I practice yoga I try to stay in the moment each and every moment of that hour. Do I succeed? Not 100%, but it is a goal and it is something learned with practice. I find it ironic too, that if I am true to yoga teachings I can not scold myself for failing to stay in the moment (or not having the perfect Forward Bend) because yoga also means accepting my body and myself the way I am. When you think about that, it is great! I can have a goal for which to strive (maybe for years), but I'm not allowed to beat myself up if I don't achieve it. For us perfectionists, that is the ultimate freedom.

Costa Rica Pictures

Costa Rica

We went to Costa Rica at the end of June and, WOW, what a beautiful country. I thought it would be similar to Mexico, but it was so much better. You could even drink the water and not worry about Montezuma's revenge!

The first day in Manuel Antonio Bruce and I probably walked over 6 miles, and most of that was hiking in the jungle at the national park. It was a real workout, especially since the humidity was 100%. Neither of us has ever sweat so much in our lives and we both work outside in the summer all the time. In fact, both of us became dehydrated at one point or another during the trip. We were drinking water, but it is hard to drink enough to keep up. Anyway, we climbed up a steep hill in the jungle to a beautiful vista overlooking the ocean. It was awesome!

The terrain in Manuel Antonio is very hilly. Just about every hotel is built into the hillside and just getting from your room to restaurants and the beach is a workout. Not a place for the physically challenged.

The wildlife and the flora and fauna were my favorite parts of the trip. Of course, being in the tropics, the flowers and plants were just phenomenal! Several times I had to touch different flowers to make sure they were real because they are so perfect and gorgeous they look fake. Iguanas were numerous and not particularly afraid of humans. Each day when we left our hotel room, there would be several in our path, some fairly sizable, and they would usually stay put as we walked by. "Fred", the jumping iguana, visits our hotel regularly and the owner has trained him to jump up and grab fruit off a fork. If you like monkeys, Costa Rica is a great place to visit! My favorite were the red back Squirrel Monkeys. They have the cutest faces you've ever seen and are so playful. We also saw lots of white faced monkeys and even a few of the more elusive howler monkeys. You would not believe the noise that comes out of a howler. Bruce and I were hiking in the jungle far behind another group of hikers when we heard this frightening noise. It was something like a cross between a lion and a bear. Here we were in the jungle with no one else around and something is sounding like it could eat both of us for lunch! I said to Bruce, "*#%&, you know they always pick off the last ones in line!" We picked up the pace trying to catch up to anyone else, until we realized it was howler monkeys.

The zip-line canopy tour through the rain forest was a blast!! Bruce said I was a maniac when I took the zip line upside down with no hands screaming with excitement - what a rush!!! It was cool. In all, we did 19 zip lines and 2 repels. If you are at all adventurous, I highly recommend it.