Today's my birthday. I am 33. On the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the year. Hmm. It's probably one of the most surreal birthdays ever. To the point where I almost forgot about it. I mean, my family in Singapore had made me a special dinner and had planned the menu with my veganism in mind which I really appreciated.
And that, was pretty much my little celebration on Sunday before I left. So I forgot today is the day until Kelly had wished me a Happy Birthday today. I guess spending all that time flying also kinda made me unsure what day it was.
I calculated that from when I left my parents' home in Singapore to when I arrived in Cape Town, it was a 30-hour journey. I had to fly 12 hours to Amsterdam, with a 2.5 hour layover there, and then another 12 hours to Cape Town. A direct flight would've just been 12 hours.
By the time I had heard the news of Kelly's dad, there was just not enough time to re-route flights in time, what with the time I had left to jump on the flight to Amsterdam (that had already been booked) to the time difference between where the travel agent and I were and partial ticket/ one-way ticket costs and blahblahblah...
So my tailbone really felt it on this journey.
What was great is I found a Meditation Centre in Amsterdam at the Schipol Airport. A beautiful, light space that had shelves with every kind of religious book that existed, and space for me to plonk down my black mat (good thing I hand-carried it). So I had a super light asana practice, with some pranayama and meditation thrown in. Check out the signboard. Kinda cool to see it in an airport.
I was next to a Muslim lady praying on her mat and another yogi who was using a prayer mat as her makeshift yoga mat. I think she was an Iyengi as she was using a little prayer stool as her makeshift prop. And I swear she was in a headstand for at least 10 minutes. Not that I was watching her. She was just in it for sooooooooo long that I noticed.
So, here I am in Cape Town. There's quite a bit going on here now as you can imagine, so I'm gonna have to jump off the internet now.
Happy Birthday, hope the year takes a better turn for you, last month or so sounded too messed up. best wishes and all that.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday. With all that you've been going though of late, may your upcoming year be filled with light, peace, and love.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday! Hope you have a chance to celebrate, even if only to hop on the mat for an inspired practice. Namaste :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday! I hope at some point you can take a day just to rest and pamper yourself, god knows you deserve it. I hope the next few days pass as smoothly as possible. Take care of yourself.
ReplyDeleteCheck that, a meditation centre - aren't the Dutch awesome?
There is a multi-faith prayer room at Changi Airport I've used where people pray and do yoga too - makes you think peace is possible in the middle east - just for a minute :)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, glad you had a nice meal with your family. My mums birthday today too!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU, EVERYONE. You are all very sweet. x
ReplyDeleteoooh, I'm late! Happy Birthday!!
ReplyDeleteGreat things are in store for you, I know it.
LOVE the meditation area at the airport. How awesome. Glad it helped you out. I would have been in headstand with Iyengar lady.
hi Skippetty
ReplyDeletehappy belated birthday.
whenever i pass thru Miami airport, i know where the chapel is. it's a good place to meditate.
i like that in the one you visited you could spread the mat.
in airports being designed for the middle east there are prayer rooms for the muslims.
hugs
Arturo