The rise of brunch

 I have friends who we only ever catch up with at drinking establishments and with whom we drink a lot of wine. There’s one couple who we really enjoy spending time with and we haven’t seen them since I stopped drinking. I had been trying to work out how we would do it. Anything I organised would be difficult and so I just didn’t organise anything. But then I got a phone call from the husband. We haven’t seen you in ages, and we’d really like to catch up before the operation.

It was a new ABC comedy series based in the Adelaide Hills which solved my problem for me. They used Uraidla as a location and it occurred to me we hadn’t been to Uraidla in over a year. It’s a beautiful little township which over the last few weeks has been ‘reimagined’ and is now one of the coolest places in the Hills to hang out. A renovated pub, new cafes and a little local produce and handcrafts market has made it a destination just right for a weekend brunch.

At brunch you drink coffee and orange juice, not alcohol. This was the perfect solution and as such as headed to Uraidla yesterday morning and had a long lazy brunch with a poke around the recycled timber and salvage store. I haven’t enjoyed myself so much in ages. It was the perfect catch up. 

So now I have my solution, I don’t need to meet friends at pubs anymore, or even for dinner. Brunch is my go to catch up with friends event. I’ve already booked in my next one...

Namaste

Every Monday night I spend 90 minutes in skimpy clothing contorting my body into 26 yoga poses while sweating profusely in front of a floor to ceiling mirror in a room heated to 40 degrees C. 

Each week I show up on the mat reluctantly because I know the class is going to be hell and each week I leave the practice feeling amazing. I sleep deeply and the next morning I feel on top of the world. 

Bikram Yoga is addictive. But it’s also incredibly confronting. The practice exposes every weakness, every vulnerability, every insecurity you have both mentally and physically. 

One pose, Camel Pose or Utrasana is supposed to open the heart. If you’re feeling at all emotional Camel Pose can literally make you cry. 

To get the best out of a Bikram class you should be well hydrated, well rested and have had nothing to eat in the two hours before class. During those 90 minutes you will get to know your body and mind deeply and intensely. 

Bikram and alcohol do not mix. Alcohol is a diuretic. It causes your body to remove fluids from your blood. I have endeavoured to do many a class on a day after drinking. 

After nearly six weeks alcohol free the difference in my practice is unbelievable. My balance has never been so good. I can much more easily bat away thoughts that would normally distract me until at least a third of the way through the class when my mind finally quietens, my body feels like it’s been lubricated with oil and my poses are deeper. 

If you’ve never practiced Bikram Yoga and have no idea what I’m talking about check out this video of the world champion Kasper Van Den Wijngaard - it’s quite something what the body can do when it’s at its peak physique. 

Namaste

https://youtu.be/PLBOsOt3qtc