Sunday, October 25, 2009

Bonne Fete a Moi!

I heart birthdays so very much. Always have. As I've grown older I have kept the firm belief that birthdays should be celebrated with childhood abandon even as we transform and that innocence slips away. Birthdays are meant to celebrate your awesomeness, your friendships and your family. (check out the dude with the sign in the background... more on him later in the post!)

That being said, this year wasn't shaping up to be the best birthday... I was down, scattered unbalanced and stressed. The birthday party fell through completely (simply life got in the way) and my favourite cake wasn't being made anymore (The Royale while I lived in Montreal, Jane's on the Common's Chocolate Hazelnut Torte here in Halifax).

So Saturday I decided that pre and during birthday (Sat and Sun) would be "me" time. Saturday morning a few friends went to the community class at 108 yoga and for the first time I experienced Yoga Nidra. The class was supposed to be an immune booster- nourishing type class... unfortunately the instructor didn't give a lot of info about Yoga Nidra... so it was more of an interesting experience.

That afternoon we went to Bhavana Yoga Boutique and chatted with the ever gracious and kind Krista (the owner). She was so helpful and grounding and while talking with her I realized that perhaps feeling this scattered and out of sorts each moon wasn't something I had to tough out. Suddenly, it became apparent that I had missed something in my "naturalization" process with my cycles. I had cut out the synthetic hormones that were destroying my cervix.... but didn't think that perhaps "a la naturel" would need some thought. Now it just seems ridiculous that I wouldn't want to incorporate (my choice...of course *wink) scents, meditation, more music and yoga for these times.

I left her space feeling renewed and decided: I will be adding more guitar playing, quiet and grounding yoga to my personal practice adventure each month.

I also was the new owner of a Sam-Sara bag and wallet. (the purple monstrosity on my shoulder in that pic) Oh my they are BEAUTIFUL. I have never owned TWO wallets at the same time, nor have I ever owned more than TWO purses at once! Sam-sara is the latest venture of Matt&Natt bags and means rebirth in sanskrit. Based out of Montreal, all bags are 100% Vegan and for each bag sold one dollar is donated to the charity of the consumer's choice (Canadian non-profit organizations). You can see on their site how much money has already been raised for each organization and the countdown is until the checks are cut with four new charities each year. They also have a bag recycling program where your "gently-used" bag will go to someone who is working to overcome poverty. Krista also inquired as to why their bags were made in China- according to MattNatt, that is only place production of the Vegan material can be accomplished. I'm sure it's something similar to the issues faced by Klean Kanteen and other stainless steel water bottles: no processing plants in North America.

In any case, I heart my bags even though they are made from synthetic materials (i.e. petroleum) and MattNatt align themselves with PETA (I'm not really a fan of their tactics... at all).

Follow this shopping escapade with a stop into Halifax's Climate Change Action Day event! It was COLD here yesterday so a hat, mittens, scarf and winter jacket was a must. We got to the commons just in time to line up in the 350 photo line, get handed a Stop Global Warming sign and half heartedly chant "hey hey, ho ho, climate change has got to go" hoping no one could hear me lol. At least it had stopped hail/raining long enough to take the picture. We also saw this fantastic older dude (at least in his late 60's) holding a sign that said: "The End is Near".... YES! Although it was supposed to be an important global event, I kinda feel like a photo isn't really enough... so I'm thinking of writing Mr. Harper. Missed out on the 350 Climate Action day fun? Why not write a letter to your government leader informing them that the planet and it's civilization actually DOES matter and that you hope they represent your interests at the December Copenhagen Climate summit. Also, check out the awesome photos on 350.org of people around the world who support action against climate change.

Finish this up with a Clary Sage bath (step one in centering), some singing, a slight fever, a few friends and a homemade cake... YUM.
(my favourite pic on 350.org: Australia)

And now, my actual Birth Day, the entire day is open!

Blessings!

article and photos copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

17 comments:

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    ReplyDelete
  2. Enjoyed this blog.

    Knowing your interesting guitar, I want to make sure you saw YogaDawg's latest video creation:

    "Jackson Dawg"

    http://yogadawg.blogspot.com/2009/10/jacksondawg-video-mashup-with-patricia.html

    Bob Weisenberg
    YogaDemystified.com

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  3. What a great way to celebrate! Happy birthday.

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  4. Happy birthday to you!

    Sounds like you did better with your first yoga nidra than I did with my first...three...two of which I fell asleep during (though that was at Kripalu, where I was in a program that began at 6:00 AM...) and the third I spent mostly struggling to stay awake, which was actually worse than falling asleep. Since then, I've done a bit better (for some reason I find I actually do a better job of staying awake when I'm at lying on the floor at home by myself listening to a recording than in a yoga studio with other people and a live teacher). Anyway, among mindfulness meditation folks, there's something called a body-scan which, as far as I can tell, is identical to a yoga nidra. Jon Kabat Zinn and others have written some interesting stuff about how it can be used to deal with depression and anxiety.

    I think I'm with you on PETA...some of their more offensive stunts actually make me wonder if the fur, pharmaceutical, and beef industries are secretly paying them to make people who care about animal welfare look bad...

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  5. Sounds like you are on a great track with your new intentions. Perfect for your next year! Bon anniversaire!

    P.S. I took care of the rescindment! Yay!

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  6. Happy b-day! Wishing you a fantastic year full of blessings and light! Congrats on the new sam-sara bag/wallet - I heart matt & nat and all their offspring!

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  7. happy birthday lady. sounds like you created a wonderful weekend for yourself. hope you had a great day.

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  8. Hey--when'd you change the header up there? I like the yoga-by-the-sea image...

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  9. Bonne Fête à toi !!!!! Birthdays should be celebrated in any which way we feel like. As long as there's cake...

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  10. love the new banner!!!

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  11. Happy birthday! I always feel it is important to celebrate birthdays, but in the way the celebrant wants to!

    Jen

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  12. Happy Belated Birthday!!! Sorry we weren't around to celebrate it on the official day...but how wonderful that it can last more than one day! ;)

    I have a chocolate cake in mind for you!!!
    See you soon!!!

    BIG HUGS!
    Alli & D

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  13. Happy birthday! You're on the Libra-Scorpio cusp, right? Oooh, a lovely combination of balance and fire. :) Blessings!

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  14. Thank you so much everyone for the birthday wishes!
    The new banner is how we spent the fluke 16 degree (celcius) actual day of my birthday- at a small hidden rock beach watching the waves and doing some yoga.
    Although I am now home sick (ack-flu!) it turned out to be a nice bday.

    I AM a Libra-Scorpio cusp!! :)

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