Yoga In The Pass???

"Friendship isn't a big thing. It's a million little things." ~ Unknown

This weekend I made the trip down to the Pass. Crowsnest Pass that is. It's a wee little area made up of wee little towns. One of which my friend Julie, whom I adore, lives in.

I love heading down there. Julie and I have this unspoken comfortableness between us. Considering we've only gotten to see each other a handful of times since we met, you'd think we'd known each other forever!

This visit was no different. Well, except for one thing - she is training for her two Ironman's this year, and for once, I am not training for anything. Oh the bliss that is non training...but I digress.

I had sent a note beforehand asking what her schedule was so that I could perhaps plan around it. Then I had a thought - does the Pass have a yoga studio?

This may not seem like a strange question, but you have to understand where Julie lives. Her little town has a smattering of houses, a rock slide, and a gas station. Oh, and a liquor store. Of course there is a liquore store. In Alberta, even in a town with a population of 5 there will be a liquor store!

However, the next town over, which is only a kilometer or so and only slightly bigger than Julies town, does have a yoga studio. A fact that Julie was unaware of until I questioned. So on Saturday, while Julie was busy biking, running, then biking again, I decided to take in a yoga class in the Pass.

I liked the vibe as soon as I got there. Yup, us peace, love and granola folk can be found no matter where you are - just look for the nearest health food store or yoga studio! The teacher was very welcoming. At least I knew I wasn't crashing a class!

This class was different then when I've been to before, rather than being a flow class it was one where we held several different poses. My low back/arse is STILL causing me grief so I was all for holding some poses in the hopes that it might help things back there.

Most of them I did fairly well in. There was one that was quite cool. Basically, you are on your hands (think handstand) a certain distance from the wall, but you are bent at the waist so your feet are resting on the wall. To look at the profiel of someone in this pose they would be a right angle! It was a tough one to do, but very fun. I was thankful too that my hands didn't slip so I didn't crush my noggin.

The class was an hour and a half long and I felt wonderfully zen at the end of it. When I got home Julie still had quite a bit of a workout to go so I made myself comfortable on the couch with my book. Ahhhh. Bliss. While she sweated millions of calories, I lounged in my zen state on the couch, reading and napping intermittently. It was great!

The next day I joined Julie for a swim at the pool several wee towns over. Julie had mentioned a temperature issue at this pool. Not only with the water but also with the air in the building. I was shocked when I slipped in the water...it was like being in a bath or hot spring. Gack.

Julie was already into her laps so I had no chance to look at her and say 'what the heck??' I started on my laps. Within the first 100 m I felt claustrophobic from the heat of the water. It was weird. I stopped and stood up just to cool down a bit. Then I started up again.

As soon as I tried to take the pace up a notch it felt like my insides were going to boil, so I slowed down. At one point I met Julie at the end of the pool. That's when I said 'what the heck??' Apparantly the pool water that day was 29.5C! Our pool is a cool 21C. I couldn't believe it. Julie said it was like that a lot. I swear, this is what makes her such a touch competitor in Ironman!!! Swimming in bath water, and running/biking in gall force winds! Yikes.

I only stayed in for 45 minutes - that was enough for me. I was afraid to stay in longer for fear of my skin being boiled and falling off!

It was an amazing weekend in the Pass. Friday evening I got to meet Julie's buds - Cath and Jase in Fernie, who are brilliant and have an incredible B&B, which I'm going to shamelessly plug: http://www.cinnamonbearlodge.net/, and of course there was seeing the 'kids' agian, Peanut (my furry namesake), Mandalay and Toby - Julies furry companions. Not the least of which was getting to hang with Julie for a while in between her workouts.

Because I will be moving from this fair province in a couple of months , I knew as I was saying goodbye to Julie that I may not see her for a long time. At least not till her race at the end of August in Penticton. Needless to say it took everything in me not to burst into tears as I walked out the door. I will admit though that there were a few tears as I drove away, and as I was driving home.

Oh the joy of making changes in ones life....but that's a story for another time!

Peace out my lovely friends!