Good morning, Sun!

Greeting the sun on ice

Greeting the sun on ice

I never seem to find time to go to yoga practice regularly, so every morning I do a few sun salutations. It’s pretty easy, no equipment involved, and I can do it anywhere.

I am not sure how many years I have been doing this. It has become as much a part of my morning routine as brushing my teeth. I know my form may not be great, but the thing about yoga is that form, style, and endurance are not as important as the spirit and energy we bring to it.

I like doing these stretches outside when I can. Seeing the morning sun on the ocean is an affirming way to start my day. I do mean morning sun, too, since I usually miss the sunrise itself. Outside the surface is nothing like that of a yoga mat in a studio. Sometimes I am wobbly in the sand, or my downward dog begins to slip, feet one way, hands the other, as my nose slowly approaches the ground.

But no matter how sloppy my salutations, they never fail to bring my head from whatever mile-a-minute frenzy it was in, and let me start fresh. I think about what I am doing and what my senses are taking in. I don’t think about my business, or emotional traumas that may be going on, or financial dilemmas. I breathe. I feel really, really good.

Whether I go inside to get ready for work, or have a day of adventure ahead, I have been plugged into the universe for a few seconds. The rest of the world was gone. I love this time, however brief it is. And it is short–I don’t take the time for half an hour. It is usually ten minutes max. Easy to justify and fit into the start of the day.

I wish I could share this time with everyone I know, and those I don’t. Instagram seemed like a good idea but technical difficulties got in the way. Usually, I am by myself. Ever try to hold an iPad at arms length while in a yoga pose and try to get the scenery in? I have tried to photograph my shadow while doing yoga, but the contortions were counter-productive to my postures. Just taking a picture of the scene did not tell the story, it was just a scenic.

Yoga on the wire bridge Pretty sloppy here.

Yoga on the Wire Bridge. Pretty sloppy here.

Sometimes my husband joins me, and then I can get him to take a picture, or, if I get him into cobra, I can take a picture of him. But all these maneuvers are awkward, when what I really want to do is my sun sequences. My morning salutations have always been something I do for myself, and I guess it will stay that way.

Oh, but what fabulous places I have saluted the sun from!

  • The boardwalk outside the Frontenac
  • The top of Cadillac Mountain
  • In the middle of a railroad bridge
  • On the ruined stonework in Tulum, and get this, it used to be called Zama, or city of dawn because it faces the sunrise.
  • The pier in Eastport
  • An olive grove in Montecorto, Spain
  • The center of a frozen lake
  • With corn fields in every direction
  • With my mother in the garden of her assisted living home
  • The wire bridge over the Carrabasset River

And then there is always the regular. This is Seal Harbor Beach and the cliff on the far side of the beach. I can be there in five minutes, and the salt air and waves never fail to make me start the day happy.

Every day? Okay, maybe not, I’d guess 350 days out of the year. Most of them outside. So I do this ALMOST every day. And I really wish you could join me.

 

Eastport,  Maine

Eastport, Maine

 

Yoga on snowy beach

Yoga on snowy beach

 

sunrise shadows om Maine beach

Sunrise shadows on Maine beach

 

This is blog nineteen of thirty-one, part of a blog a day for the month of March challenge. It is also the first day of spring, the season of  lengthening days and more sun. This spring got off to a rainy start, and sunrise salutations were done from the inside looking out.

 

 

Karen O. Zimmermann

About Karen O. Zimmermann

Karen O. Zimmermann savors chance encounters with people throughout the state of Maine, and is endlessly delighted with the tales they have to share.