Day 71

Holy crap! Tomorrow is our 72 Sun Salutations day! I can't believe how fast time has gone by since I have been doing this program. Between life happening and the yoga train madness, we are 37 days away from reaching our goal. Isn't life fabulous?
Today I decided to do Yin in the afternoon, since I had a lot of errands to run in the morning. I also took my lil' doggie to the vet so she could check him out and see how he was doing with his boogery nose. She said he needed a bit more medicine and that we should go back on Wednesday. Oh well. I know I haven't told you the whole story about my dog, and today seems a good day to do so.
Once upon a time, when we lived in Mexico City, my husband and I were strolling through the mall when we spotted this cute lil' white pup on the window of the pet shop. Us, being the compulsive buyers that we are, went in and bought that cute puppy. We named him Idefix and he was just a couple of months old.
When Idefix turned three, we found out he had cataracts on both eyes. Holy shit, right? That's what you get when you buy a dog from the pet store, the fuckermothers. Since he was just three years old and with a lot of life ahead of him, we decided for him to have the surgery so he could regain his sight. After a tough recovery, Idefix can now see things far away, but not up close, so it breaks my heart every time I have to gently touch his nose to give him a treat. He loved playing with the ball and he was a damn good catcher. Now? He tries his best and always fetches the ball, but it breaks my heart when the ball is right there next to him and he has no clue.
Ok, so after a few years, we moved to Scottsdale, AZ and Idefix came with us. After a year of living in the States we found out that he was diabetic. Holy mother of all shitloads, right? After a long period of adjusting his insulin and checking his glucose levels, we finally got him under control. I forgot to mention that he also suffers from allergies, so he is on a special diet. Phew!
After a few more years, we moved to Valencia, Spain and of course that Idefix came along -he is my first child and I could never leave him behind!- So now we live here and he is doing really well with all his afflictions and leads a happy life. He is now 12 years old and when people ask me about his age, no one believes he's that old because he still has that energy and bounce that young dogs have. I love him more than words can express. He brings such joy to our lives and doesn't ask anything in return. My son talks to him as if he were a person and shows him his drawings and soccer tricks and whatnot. I am convinced he is a child trapped in the body of a small white dog. For real.
So now you know the story of our sweet Idefix. Even though he has faced some huge challenges in his life, he's doing perfectly well and living life to the fullest. Here is a pic of him right before we left the States to come to Valencia. It's one of my favorite ones:

Ok yogis: after that nice story, here's what I had for my vegetarian lunch today. It's a yummy quinoa burger with lettuce, tomato, onions, cheddar cheese, ketchup, mustard and mayo. It was good; but I prefer good old fashioned meat in my burgers. Check it out:

In the afternoon I finally finished reading my book; which I highly recommend. It's by Neil Gaiman and it's called "The Ocean at the End of the Lane". Beautifully written and it's such a lovely story. Here's the link, if you're interested: http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/The+Ocean+at+the+End+of+the+Lane/
A little while later, my order from Lululemon arrived in the mail! Wohooo! I am so happy that Lulu ships all the way over here! And for free! Every day more and more companies are shipping internationally and I am so very grateful for it: there are so many things I am used to and I just can't find them here or find a decent replacement for them. Now this yogini is better equipped for these power classes in this heat and humidity. It's on like Donkey Kong!

Around 6:00 pm I finally rolled out that mat to welcome Yin back into my life. Oh how I had missed Yin! I still don't get why some yogis out there have trouble liking Yin: I find it to be such a delicious treat. And I had several surprises waiting for me. First, is that immediately after slipping into pigeon, I am able to get that buttcheek right on the ground. Before it took me a minute or so, but now it was instant:

Second, I noticed that I am able to go much deeper in the straight leg seated forward bend as well as in one leg seated forward bend:

And finally it was the biggest of all. You know that pose where we have one knee bent and the other leg extended and Travis tells us to lean back? Before I was only able to lean back with straight arms and only a tiny bit. Well look at me now:

Holy yoga, right? This made me so very happy! As I started to lean back and ended up all the way lying on my back I was very surprised with how much I have progressed in so little time. It's truly amazing! I never thought I would be able to do it, honestly; so you can imagine how much this means to me. *I'm still doing a shimmy dance*
After a very rewarding yoga session, I was ready for some dinner. Tonite I had a mean fruit salad with peaches, figs, red plums and bananas with a Greek yogurt to keep it company, of course.
I am off to bed early tonite so I will be ready for our 72 Sun Salutations tomorrow. I am super excited and proud of what we have accomplished! Tomorrow is going to be awesome and I can't wait to read all of your posts to see how you did and how you felt.
Sending a ridiculous amount of good vibes your way!
Namaste.