A very different Yoga challenge

If you know me or read this blog, one fixture every year is the 60 day Yoga challenge that runs between Jan to March. Every year I have been doing the 60 Yoga classes in 60 days at Bikram Yoga San Jose.

This year it was as challenging as it was in the hot room. We had to do it mostly on Zoom and sometimes go for a parking lot class on weekends. Started on Jan 1st but as usual there were some challenges. Had a double bone graft gum surgery which took me out for 5 days. Had to do doubles on five other days to catch up. 

Even when I came back to doing Yoga, it was not easy to rest my cheeks on the floor for a few days. It is all well and healed now. Think this Zoom yoga class is here to stay. With new variants showing up, it might be some time before the studio opens to capacity. 

My daughter took this picture of me with the new T-shirt (which is our trophy of sorts from BYSJ when finishing the challenge). This time there was a cat as part of the design. I see so many of my yoga buddies try to do yoga at home with me and no matter where they try to hide their pets always find them and come disturb them in the most interesting ways while they are trying to do the poses! It is hilarious to watch. 

Yesterday we were hiking in Mount Tamalpais and after having attended the 60 day challenge party on Zoom the previous night, Yoga was still very much on my mind.. so when we went down to the falls, my wife gave me the idea to do yoga poses in front of the falls. 

at first I tried to do this on the log behind the rock and promptly fell in the water. Luckily only one leg was in the water. walked with a wet leg and shoes for a good 5 miles. So learned my lesson.. check the stability of logs for one leg instead of two before trying such poses.

There was no one around when we started taking pictures and we thought we had the place to our group. Just as I start to try and grab my leg with my hand, a dog comes out of nowhere and starts jumping on me and playing with me! Eventually the owners caught up to the dog and were laughing at how the dog was trying to distract me from doing yoga! The pets are getting really good at it, everywhere!

This was my 10th challenge. I am still a beginner. When talking about Yoga, one has to talk in Yoda timescales.. I am still a beginner with only 10 years of Yoga experience. Long ways to go! Learning new things every day. 

No graphs and charts this year.. doing yoga alone at home has been a humbling experience in its own way and I got to examine some of the asanas with a completely different mindset. 

if you have not yet tried hot yoga, try it at least once in your life. It might be the game changer! Thanks to BYSJ for all the push and a great T-shirt! 

A new trick on the iPhone

After visiting Maple falls and playing with some pictures, learned a new trick on the iPhone to get long exposure shots! Usually this needs my Canon 5D mark ii and the heavy tripod and a lot of post processing.. 

Now it is just a lot of post processing.

We went on a hike to Cataract Falls yesterday. I got exhausted from the climbing. It was the toughest trail we went on to date during COVID times.. but .. but.. it was a great experience. Will recover from that and post a blog..

In the meantime, here are some milky waterfall shots!

I tried to do a toe stand on that log and it was not a good idea. . . 

This thing is going to come in handy on future waterfall trails as well as ripping ponds and lakes! 

Well played Apple, well played!

Dry Creek Regional park - a hike to remember

Last weekend I was given a surprisingly low estimate for an afternoon hike to a place called Dry creek.. the name was not a best seller. Was also told it was past Fremont and an hours ride away. No shade and mostly dry hills but with a nice view of the bay. 

Was even given an option to bail out of this at first.. San then did what she usually does.. bat her eyelids and make a face about me being sore company and I thought, what the hell! We are going on a Sunday evening so it is not going to be hot by the time we start and we will come down watching the sunset! 

It ended up being one of the best hikes in recent memory, thanks to a surprising bloom of yellow and orange flowers everywhere on the first hillside. Then we ended up crossing the place where all the local Afghanis fly kites and run a flea market of sorts from their suitcases... (we had read about it in Khalid Hosseni's book Kite Runner, but got to see it first hand!) 

It didn't end there. We managed to go up all the way to the rim, catch a view of the rolling green hills, see all the way to SFO and Oakland and crossed a creek to get to a little lake that was beautiful.

The photo below is my attempt at some artistry, trying to catch a shadow of the four of us walking on the rim of a hill that was cast all the way on the other hill..

Then we walk down watching the sunset, while taking pictures!

Only downside was that the sun was on our face the entire time and my face became a bright orange the next day.. and as luck would have it, made it into the hot room the next day and flushed myself inside out with sweat. The Aloe Vera lotion was no longer required! 

a shot of our friends as they came up the hill..

Green never looked this good..the sunset made everything so vibrant!

This was taken at a place called Gossip rock..

kept clicking every 5 minutes as we raced down.. we wanted to get at least close to the parking lot before it got dark. Sunset was 7:30! We had to make it down by 8. Used iPhone flashlights to practically run down the last mile and a half.

and my favorite shot for the evening..

Even for March this was not easy in the heat. We hiked form 5-8 in the evening and were way more tired than any of the previous hikes. So definitely wouldn't go again during the day unless it is in winter and on a cloudy day. The area is pretty barren. So no chance for shade anywhere! We didn't see any kids on the trail either. It was a pretty steep climb that reminded us of the climb to Mission peak. 

Breathtaking views of the bay at sunset. On a cloudy day, it would be even more spectacular.

We keep finding these interesting places within an hour from our place, after living here for more than 2 decades! It took a pandemic for us to explore home!