I have not been posting much recently because I had so much to say backlogged in my head that I did not know where to start — so I did not. There's a personal contradiction for you.
My skin is as white as the sands on Salomon Bay beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands.
My wife and I also took a quick trip to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, for four days so I was out of circulation for a week. A couple of days getting ready, and then a couple of days to recover. There's another layer of overwhelm that can get in the way of writing. And I get all tied up in knots when I travel so there's another issue to deal with. But sandwiched between the prep and the flying were two days spent chilling on the beaches, Magens Bay on St. Thomas and Salomon Bay on St. John. When we lived in Peru, the Pacific Ocean beaches were something that we took for granted and enjoyed every summer; now residing in the States, beaches are out of easy reach. The Caribbean is just a world apart. There is nothing as mellow as the sound of the surf against the shore. Lots of sun screen to keep from being burned to a crisp, and keeping covered up when not on the beach. During the day, St. Thomas tends to be overrun by day visits from the cruise ships that dock every day in Charlotte Amalie, but the rest of the time, a visitor has plenty of room to enjoy the place. We took a 45-minute ferry to St. John on the second day and came back in the evening. It was worth the trip because more than half of St. John is a US National Park and contains one pristine beach after the other. According to National Geographic magazine, we were told, Magens Bay beach is the number 3 beach in the world. If that's the case, then, there are a dozen other VI beaches that deserve a similar ranking.
For the past two weeks, I've been thrown out of my normal routine of work, yoga and blogging. For the past week, I took a vacation with my wife going to Canada and visiting my old home town in Niagara Falls, New York. In Ontario, we were staying at a resort that was 90 minutes north of Toronto, in the north woods, so there were no studios nearby. We had only limited access to Internet, just enough to check the e-mail and our bank balance. There was a fitness center, swimming pools, jacuzzi and sauna so we did take advantage of the facilities. Even though it was supposed to be the peak season for the foliage, the extended dry summer weather meant that few trees had changed colors. That was a disappointment. While we were there, the weather broke a record for warmest day by over 10 degrees. We made a quick, two-day excursion to Quebec, which required too much time behind the wheel driving, but allowed us to see the picturesque wonders of Ville de Quebec and Montreal. If I were to recommend one place to see in Canada, it would be Quebec. Canada has become a lot more expensive than it used to be because of the falling value of the US dollar.
I had not been back to Niagara Falls in 43 years so practically no one that I knew from those days is still around. I wouldn't even know how to contact them. The city has fallen onto hard times, with its old industrial base (chemicals) gone obsolete, the Air Force base closed and nothing has moved in to provide a solid economic foundation for the area. There's a lot of urban rot in the city, despite the need to keep the area neat and clean to attract tourists. I visited my old home and was struck by how small it all seemed. I remember my yard being huge; in my childhood, I organized infantry charges across its expanse. My elementary school had been demolished so that piece of my memory is gone. My junior high (Gaskill) is now a private prep school; it still looks the same. The church where my dad pastored is now home to another denomination. I was expecting to have a bout of nostalgia, but it all seems so remote because I left the town when I was 14 years old.
Teresa and I spent a full day taking in the sights on the American side of the Falls. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat outing below the falls where you really feel the force of nature all around you. We visited the museums and historical displays because I wanted Teresa to understand the cultural context in which I grew up; I loved to study the history of the region. Even though it was a weekend, we did not have to fight crowds. I know that I never spent that much time sightseeing when I lived there in the 1950s and 60s. We hit the Canadian side of the falls, which has a much better view of the Falls than the American side, when we came back from Ontario on the following Saturday.
The week before, I had a flare-up of my sinus infection that left me voiceless and groggy. It felt as if needles and pins were piercing my throat any time I tried to swallow. I got to see my doctor quickly and was prescribed another two-week round of antibiotics. Within three days, I was feeling a lot better, but by then I was packing bags for Canada. I have a sneaking suspicion that the repeat was due to my sinus not being completely cleared up the first time, that having my sinus infected so long made it especially hard to clean out all the infection.
Last month, Teresa and I took a long postponed vacation, five days in Orlando, Florida. For two days, Teresa kept me running to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts so that she could satiate her thirst for the ocean -- white sands, waves and sun. We stopped at the Kennedy Space Center for a couple of hours, not long enough to take the whole center in. We also spent one full day at Epcot Center, Disney World and also another day shopping for gifts and bargains at the outlets that tempt the tourists to delay their return to the Magic Kingdom. Teresa complained that we had waited 15 years too long: we should have brought the kids to Orlando when they could have enjoyed it. Of course, in those days, we couldn't have afforded it.
For me, the highlight of the trip was the Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian ultra-circus, had a resident show, La Nouba, at Disney World. I had seen Cirque du Soleil on television and was intrigued by the concept. But TV or phtographs could never capture the electricity and scope of the performance. First of all, the Disney World show is presented in a custom-built freestanding theater so it is a magical setting. The lighting, the set and wings were exploited to increase the impact. The audience was seated in the round and the actors frequently ventured into the audience. I thought the music was recorded but there was a full musical band seated in the elevated wings and the singers roamed the stage.
House Troupe, Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba at Disney World
© The Walt Disney Company
Costume credit: Dominique Lemieux
Once the lights came down and the show got underway in earnest, I gasped. It was overwhelming; I felt as if my senses were insufficient to take it all in. My eyes were darting back and forth trying to catch all the action. As the performers soared through the air, danced across the stage, balanced on the edge and tumbled, it suddenly occurred to me that I was seeing something that I aspired to in my own yoga practice. The grace and strength, the imagination and dexterity, the playfulness and wit that drove the performance were the essence of my intention when I stepped onto the mat. Not that I could ever aspire to the sheer athleticism and skill that the Cirque du Soleil cast displayed, but that joy and courage could propel my own body as it flew out of downward-facing dog to forward bend or balanced in crow.
Teresa in front of the Big-Tent-style theater where we saw La Nouba
A week later, I was in Barbados at an evaluation for a new online education program that CICAD, my employer is sponsoring. After our last session, I went back to my room and did a yoga practice on my balcony -- maybe it was something magical about Caribbean seas, winds, sand and sun. As I stretched out in side plank, my top arm reaching high and my shoulders arching back, my vision just took in the blue sky above the railing and it felt if I were balanced precariously on a high wire, and in a daring flourish, I lifted my top leg into tree position, resting my foot on my thigh. It was all an illusion, a trick of tunnel vision and concentration on my practice, but it was also a seed of intention.
For purposes of clarity, I am adding the explanation of the term "La Nouba" because there's no way of know what it means. I says through the entire show and I did not get. Of course, I did not buy a program.
La Nouba originates from the French phrase "faire la nouba," which means to party, to live it up. It transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, engaging the imagination from beginning to end with opulent sets, brilliant choreography, theatrical lighting and provocative music.
Postscript:
Debra Perlson-Mishalove told me that she had read that many cast members of Cirque du Soleil practice yoga. It wouldn't surprise me. Yoga Journal has a mention of cast members in a yoga class.
