Welcome to Anke's Thoughts, Life, Yoga, Fun.

I am a boogie boarder, or body boarder, boogie surfer… Who knew? For all I know, I know it’s me.  Yet, I am still trying to figure out the correct label of the new “me”.  The “me”
in “ME” (Maine) is full of discovery of the new and rediscovery of the old and repeat.  The term “old” labeled just what I have ventured into or discovered previously and now solidly call my summer Maine style reality.  Away from New York, away from Manhattan’s buzzing nonstop go-go attitude I am, again, embracing my calming environment in coastal Maine.
Waking up in the morning when the sun just about kisses the horizon and turns the ocean into thousands of diamonds thrown over its surface. The bright blue sky yet in its shy pink morning hue but soon turning into the clearest of bright blue.  It’s been a fabulous summer
so far.  Again.

Little things about my Maine summer reality keep me tingling.  For one, there is my incredibly cute scooter.  Boy, do I love my Vespa, cannot ride it enough.  I so need to make more time yet to fully “be” it, merge with it and use it to the outmost.  It’s got this light blue color, the kind of a clean washed baby blue kind of hue.  Lovely structure of its chassis is completed with cutest of all light blue shopping canisters behind the seat (lots of storage room for mini shopping sprees!!!).  I adore my ride.  Silly of me, but I feel like I am the perky chick riding it, when indeed I am.  I feel like I turn into this bright eyed and bushy tailed girl who’s got a new dress on and feels particularly flirty. NOT that I am flirting, mind you. I am simply getting a bit more cheery and chatty, on intersections, in parking lots, in front of my fav coffee shop or the yoga studio. I have had them all. Various quick and delightful conversations in all of these places.

Well, Vespa rediscovered: check.

Last year’s grand opening of South Portland’s Greener Postures Yoga. Rediscovered: check.

Early summer of last year two beautiful like minded and giving girls opened this studio and have been creating and offering a beautiful environment for yoga practice for all types and shapes.  Knowing what I know now and still learning about all the various passages people are going through and have been on and how they found their way to class holds true fascination to me.  Never can one read another person by the way they look, walk into class, practice, behave or smile, talk or dress.  There is so much more to each and every person in the room.  There is no such thing as first impression, only to discover layers upon layers in each person.  I never cease to discover and be amazed about what indeed I learn about my students either in New York or in Maine.  When I am teaching, I whole heartedly try to create a fun loving yet no nonsense over the top mythical environment, to let the student feel their body by guiding them through physical exercises.  I hope my teaching reflects what I truly feel and belief, not what I hear to sound good or have read but don’t understand.  I will not say “thank your mat for allowing you to practice today”. Instead I offer a pure physical challenge and a mental purification hopefully because of it
without “enhancing” it with artificial quotes that sound great but are way to “out there” for a day to day elevation of mind and body relationship.  But that is just me.

Back to me (so not a yogic motion, ha!)… When I first I attended a class at this studio here in Maine, thinking that no matter what happens or how it will get taught, I decided that I will appreciate the place.  That I will enjoy the yoga they offer and the time I am allowed to practice.  But soon I discovered so much more about being here.  I discovered the ease of
repetition within their style of practice.  I discovered that I needed this kind of standard routine in order to let go of the rather competitive yoga classes that I attend in New York City, in the crowded and overly enthusiastic studios, where it never seems to get enough
difficult and upsidedownturnedupagaintocurlbackwardsandliftoffcompletely.  Often I get more stressed out about whether I can manage all the difficult “level 3” poses.  Though, yes and I do love the difficult way of practicing too.  Hey, I am a Gemini.  Tit and tat.  I guess I have got to be a bit schizophrenic.  DO put me in handstands and I am the happiest of campers.  Allow me to jump back and forth through handstand while moving through a Vinyasa I am in my element.  Yet yoga should not be about this acrobatics, should it now?

And THAT is what I am learning here in Maine.  Ease.  Happiness and being present in the moment.  Doing.  Repeating.  Staying simple.  Enjoying.  Appreciating.  Smiling.  Here it is all about straightforward Sun Salutations A and few variations on B, Warriors to Lunges to Triangle and Half Moon and Extended Side Angle.  Class finishes with a few strong backbends, Pigeon variations and a Savasana (nap time).  Bam, that’s it.  And yet – it is so freeingly enough.  Enough..I adore the two girls who give their all while teaching and offering this studio with all they’ve got.  I teach classes each summer now.  And with love and enthusiasm all my students shine in their element.  In their very own way they show who they are.  It is such a thrill for me to see my “crowd” move, and to hear them breathe and if just one student comes up to me after class and either addresses a question or simply tells me about this one little thing that made all the difference in her practice today, that is when I know WHY I love what I do.  Thank you guys!

Boogie Boarding discovered: check.

“When at the store, get 2 boogie boards for us”, says my friend ealier this summer.  Okayyyy I think, whatever you say.  Once there, I wonder what exactly am I looking
for to buy?  I see boards, a few different shapes and sizes and have no clue which one to shoot for.  I take photos with my phone and send them toher to have her decide for us.  Of course my friend is busy working, and doesn’t reply in time.  Duh … So I grab the friendly sales person that lingered nearby and is more than ready to help out (or happy that he gets
to tell me a few things about these boards).  And you have got to recognize that sales persons in Maine ARE the friendly kind! They are adorable and willing and would jump through hoops to help (if only they would be faster… and here is the New Yorker talking, not the yoga instructor!)

Suddenly boogie boarding.  Now I am so addicted to it.  The width of the long white Scarborough Beach, with its smooth sand and consistent waves rolling in one by one, is the perfect scene for surfing.  And so I go, every day I find the time, sometimes for hours sometimes just for 30minutes of play with the waves.  I wait for the next big wave resting on my board.  Then when the wave approaches, growing by the second, I time my dip to just before the wave forms the white mustache of foam, and dive ahead of it before it folds around me.  The wave’s force lets me surf towards the beach in immense speed.  Such an exhilarating feeling.  I keep my body long and straight and pressed onto the board as low as I can until I am swept all the way onto the sandy outline of the beach.  My toes still lifted so as to not let my pedicure get ruined but the exfoliating results of me rushing across the sand (well, I give up that thought soon, nail polish will need to get reapplied
daily now).  When my friend and I surf together I watch her masterfully reading the movement of the next oncoming wave and set herself up perfectly to dip in front of the wave to be carried all the way forward.  I copy her within a fraction of a mini second and soon the two of us become one pair flying through the water.  I smile when she gets all
concentrated and serious before the wave exploded behind us, very funny expression hanging onto her face.  But she is the true star, but I am copying her as much as I can.  And there is also a difference in how I get into the water now I realize.  Usually when I step into the water to “cool” off I have a hard time getting my shoulders under the surface of the crisp water, obviously the Atlantic Ocean is not heated! Cool water is cool indeed.  But when I have my boogie board Velcro wrapped around my wrist and the board hanging down at tits end to be used I step into the ocean like there is no tomorrow.  I am on a mission.  My momentary mission to find the next wave.  This getting wet comes with
it.  My steps are stronger.  I do not stop and shiver.  I never reconsider.  I do.

I realize my favorite time in the water is when the weather doesn’t scream “superb” but is just warm and windy.  The beach is hardly populated and just a few surfers hang out next to me on their big boards.  I relish in the moment, oblivious of time and reality.  It is just me and the next big wave.  How did I spend the last couple of summers without a boogie board?  How did I not love this particluar beach but settled for calmer beaches with less waves, to just splash in, to cool my body but not to swim and surf?  I guess I should be excited, I discovered my new hobby.  Rather late than never.  And so I will stop writing now as a beach day is planned.  Who knows how many more we get to enjoy.  I hear of Back-to-School sales, neighbors returning to their homes, closing up their summer cottages and friends starting to make plans for Fall.  I will not yet think of it, though how fortunate are we to have the best Fall season in the world? Fall in New York is most glorious with its warm temperatures, the golden hue of sun light glistening through the streets and the choice to still wear open toe shoes and sandals way into the months to
come?  I am looking forward to New York.  Slowly but surely.  But for NOW – I have
to run back to the beach.  Where is my boogie board?