Animated Yoga? how does that work?

The yoga class on Thursday was actually quite enchanting. (ok, it was last Thursday but as I promised to update my cafe as often I could, I would still like to share the rather intriguing experience) The teacher was very animated and would guide the class through by visualising each postures using animal features, i.e. imagine there were two elephant ears when getting into Janu Sirsasana C etc, which was really fun and there were constant laughter throughout the class. It was just refreshing and it also showed how distinctively different each teacher could be. I guess this goes back to my previous comments on emphasising the importance of finding the right style with the right teacher for each individuals.

Work is still manic but I feel more dogmatic and can be more firm when it comes to awkward cases. Sadly I haven't had a chance to go to the gym nor yoga classes this week as I have been indundated with meetings. I so look forward to the bank holiday weekend as I am in serious need of some decent sleep! I shall also hopefully get some time to update my cafe!!

I Am Still Here.....

Gosh, it's been exactly three weeks since I last updated my blog and I have to say that I feel almost ashamed with myself. The longer I put it off the more amusing my plight and it was just a vicious circle.

Anyway, here it is and I will try to update my blog as often as I can.

Right, so what have I been up to in the last three weeks? um, apart from being absolutely snowed under at work, I have been sipping quite a few vodka and tonic lately. Okay, it's not as I have been drinking like a fish, but let's just say that I am pretty good at it! And these drinking sessions, or should I say a way of networking as it is what us, people in this industry do. We meet up with clients/candidates and more than often the more 'sophisticated' kinds would have a glass or two of vino and before we know it, we would be on our third bottle! oops, did I say bottle, sorry I meant glass.

And this is where arguments/problems begin. Your better half starts to think there is some sort of drinking issues going on and the next thing you know, you are an alcoholic? huh? pardon me? where did that come from? anyway, so this is how the story goes....

Interestingly enough, I just came across this quote as I am writing:

''An alcoholic is anyone you don't like who drinks more than you do.''
- Dylan Thomas

It just takes the words right out of mine!!!

Anyway, they are only some of my thoughts...

I went to my yoga class today, a first in two weeks and it wasn't as bad as I expected. I was still able to do all the postures but just with very tight hamstrings.

नमस्ते and I shall keep up with the good work so far even though it's only Monday!!!

Breath Again

For some peculiar reasons I have not been able to get into ujjayi breathe three classes in a row now and I am starting to get a little bit concerned. I can see that I am progressing with some postures but not being able to utilise ujjayi breathe does worry me a little as it’s one of the fundamental elements. I can’t help but think whether it is to do with the fact that Mr B counts every breathe so slow that I can’t regulate mine?! Okay, I know I had BEEN having rather biased views on the new teacher and the reason I am using past tense is I have realised that there is no point to dwell on the negative sides of things and life is really too short. I have learnt just to get on with it and let things go. Therefore I have been doing what I would do in the class and I can sense that he kind of grasped the hint not from me but from few of us and so he tries not to skip postures but still talks a bit too much and therefore we don’t get to do as much postures as we should. But hey ho at least that’s an improvement. Having said that, he actually is quite good when it comes to explaining new postures and he is one patient man. (well, I have to try to discover some positive things about him, don’t I?)

Anyway, I can now grab hold of my wrists instead of my fingers when I do Marichyasana A, B and C and although I can’t take my wrists when I am in Janu Sirsasana A, B, C but I can interlock my fingers. I can definitely see some progress when I practice, slowly but I know I will get there one day.

नमस्ते

Talise Spa

Here are some more photos from our Dubai trip. After the awe-inspiring, exhilirating birthday dinner - specially planned by Mr T (definitely will do a separate post on that and I will try not to take another month to write that up!!), we decided that we needed a bit of TLC for our mind, body and soul! Well, any excuses really. So off we went to the beautiful Talise Spa which is again, conveniently located within the resort.

This is the back view of the hotel, taken on the abras (water taxi).

On the way to the Spa. There are 3.7 km of working waterways with fully operational abras (traditional water taxis) which transport guests from their rooms to the restaurants, beach and the spa.

Inside the spa and this is just one of the many areas where you can relax and chill out.

After our massage treatments, we went to the vegetarian retaurant next to the spa for lunch. Someone clearly needed a bit of fuel as that someone snored throughout the treatment and we all know how snoring burns off calories!

They are complimentary bread from the chef and can I just say how tasty these are!!! Warm walnut bread on the left and rosemary bread on the right, served with pesto sauce and tomato butter.

Another complimentary starter - beetroot jelly with mango sauce. Really light and those two flavours compliment each other very well.

This is T's starter - flower & herb salad with three dressings: yoghurt & advocado; balsamic vinager and orange & pomogranate dressing.

my starter - roasted artichoke with topinambur puree, marinated tomatoes, rosemary and thyme oil served with topinambur crisps.

T's main - spinach pimento risott with roasted asparagus, moreles, deep fried parsley leaves and parmesan sauce

Mine - pan fried millet tofu cake, minted green tea puree with hazelnut oil baked cherry tomatoes and pak choi

T's desesrt - passion fruit delice with exotic fruit potpurri with coconut cream

Mine - iced cardamom coffee cream, fresh figs in vanilla grapefruit syrup, chocolate cake

This is just another one of the many reasons why we absolutely adore Dubai!

New Postures

Despite my previous complaints about the new teacher, I still have been going to the classes. The pace is still very very slow, and I mean really slow! In fact, two girls said that they were sure that they fell asleep one time during the class! Yes, falling asleep in an ashtanga yoga class. Anyone who has done ashtanga yoga would know that it’d be difficult not to sweat during the class, let alone falling asleep!!! The new teacher still skips postures in between but decided we might be interested to learn new postures! So he demonstrated Bhuja Pindasana Vinyasa in and Bhuja Pindasana.

Yes, I know! We all thought it was utterly madness! He thought we might find lotus/half lotus postures too hard but it was fine to do something new which I have no problems with but I am not sure if we were ready for them yet. We haven't done anything from the finishing sequence for a long while, either.

Anyway, I've decided that I will still continue going to the class as I worked hard to get where I am now and I am not going to let someone spoiling it. Though I have to be honest that I feel like I am losing the momentum with yoga because of this teacher but I will try hard to be persist with my practice.

नमस्ते

Parisian Feast

We decided to go to the Parisian restaurant within the resort we stayed on the first night for dinner and I have to say that it probably was one of the most enjoyable meals we had. Not only the waiters/waitresses were super attentive and friendly, they also made some very good recommendations!


Complimentary fresh herbal salad with feta cheese

My starter - Grilled aubergines with yoghurt and mint

T's starter - Pistachio soup : silky, smooth, really delicious!

Hammous (a kind of fish) fillet kebab with pomegranate rice, grilled tomatoes and pita bread. The portion was huge, I could hardly even finish the fish, let alone the rice and bread! However, the fish was really beautifully cooked, very moist and tender.

T's gigantic shank of lamb with herby rice and chilli sauce. According to T, it was one of the best lambs he had and just look at the size of it....I don't need to say more!

Rose petal tea - absolutely divine!!! It was so lovely that I had two glasses of them!

desserts made from chick pea and pistachio - they literally melt in your mouth!

After dinner, we had a quick drink at the hotel lobby.

I had a Loulabelle (left) - 'an exquisite mix of strawberries, rose & white grape juice shake and topeed up with lemonade

Mr T opted for a Camingo (right) - 'A refined combination of fresh strawberries, vanilla and the Arabian touch of camel milk'. Camel milk actually doesn't taste as bad as we thought, in fact it doesn't really taste of anything, apart from it's more cloudy than normal milk.

It was a perfect end to the day and evening before we retired to bed.

It must be one of the very few nights that I had a really good sleep!

Here It Comes

Right, here comes our much-anticipated Dubai trip.

When we arrived at the hotel, the room wasn’t ready yet so we decided to go for the grand buffet breakfast and we were there for almost two hours while waiting to check-in our room. We were both so tired that I literally passed out on the sofa in the hotel lobby.

This is me trying to keep my eyes open in the lobby.

An hour later, the room still wasn't ready, so we decided to take the hotel shuttle bus to Mall of the Emirates for some retail therapy.

This picture was taken in the bus just outside the hotel.

However, we didn't spend too much time in the mall; not just because we didn't get any sleep on the plane or being slightly jet-lagged, we simply got bored in there. They have all the brands you can think of there, even my favourite Harvey Nichols but the stuff there just weren’t the same.

Just as we were thinking where we could go next, the hotel called to say that our room was ready.

This is the picturesque view from our room...I can honestly look at it all day long!

From another angle

more pics to follow!..please bear with me...