The Planet Portland Saga: Sweet, sweet Sunday

Adequately cider-ed and summit-ed, we have one last freebie day in Portland. I am up early to experience one last yoga class at YoYoYogi. This one is going to be led by Alex. He and his wife had been playing receptionist the day before and I had not realized that they were the owners. I read his profile on the site and came to find both he and Terri had pretty wild backgrounds as glitzy performers, meeting and falling in love in Hollywood before retiring to lame corporate jobs. When those didn't suit them, they up and left around the country, keeping a blog for 101 days about a new yoga studio they attended each day. Hence how they found their calling. I am excited to see what Alex has in store.

His class is called "soul shaken' yoga" and it does just that. Beginning with drumming and chanting, he sets the tone with a theme: Love and self love. After a moving proclamation himself, Alex shares a stunning poem by none other than Charlie Chaplin. "I think mr. Chaplin might have been a bit of a yogi himself" he quips after sharing

As I Began to Love Myself – Self Love Poem by Charlie Chaplin

As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering

are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.

Today, I know, this is “AUTHENTICITY”.

As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody

As I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time

was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this

person was me. Today I call it “RESPECT”.

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life,

and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow.

Today I call it “MATURITY”.

As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance,

I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens

at the exactly right moment. So I could be calm.

Today I call it “SELF-CONFIDENCE”.

As I began to love myself I quit steeling my own time,

and I stopped designing huge projects for the future.

Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do

and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in

my own rhythm. Today I call it “SIMPLICITY”.

As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for

my health – food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew

me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude

a healthy egoism. Today I know it is “LOVE OF ONESELF”.

As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since

I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is “MODESTY”.

As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worry

about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where EVERYTHING

is happening. Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it “FULFILLMENT”.

As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me

and it can make me sick. But As I connected it to my heart, my

mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this

connection “WISDOM OF THE HEART”.

We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems

with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing

new worlds are born.Today I know THAT IS “LIFE”

Alex leads a vigorous class that makes us sweat but his soft-spoken groundedness guides me through and charges me in the poses. As we wind down, the music shifts, his tone gets quieter, and we fold onto our mats as he comes back to the intention and talks once more about self-love. And now I find myself crying. 

I go up after class with my damp face to embrace him and thank him for such a gift. Any yoga I have been doing since makes me think back to that class. 

Back at the house, Mary and Justin get ready and we head out for our grocery portion of the trip (never do an out-town excursion without tackling errands). I am a bit out of sorts and decide not to get my additional Michael's shopping done because we are waiting to try and sort out plans with my friend and communication has proved difficult. With no where else to wait and not wanting to waste the day away, we head towards Washington Park which is home to both the Rose Test Garden and the Oregon Zoo. We figure we can wait in the roses but when I mention the zoo, Mary's face lights up. And Justin discloses that he's never been. Plans with my friend don't pan out and so we venture off to the animal kingdom. The spontaneity hits and we are filled with a vertiginous enthusiasm as we approach the gate. 

The first animal to catch my eye is a massive Mountain Goat asleep under a rock face. I'd never realized the things were so damn huge! Fur matted almost into dreads, he looks like a wise one whose seen a lot. 

The zoo is split like continents and we wind our way from the arctic on through Asia and Africa. We have to meet Tony at our dinner destination around 4 so we don't have time to see everything but we do have some favorites that we linger around more than others. I get into a very engaged conversation with a security guard named D who passionately talks about conservation and the palm oil controversy (and fact drops that the otter we are standing by has one million hairs per square inch of their body!) and when I finally break away to catch up to Mary and Justin, they are almost to Asia. There, we become captivated by the Sun Bear (also known as Human bear or Honey bear). His anatomy is funny enough - long angled nails on slender feet to dig for termites - but his behavior takes the cake. He strolls out with a giant pompadour looking hairdo which we cannot tell is part of his bone structure or just lots of fur. Only when he tilts his head back after lying down do we find out that it is like flubber! In fact, his whole body is flubber, like a giant loose blanket of fur draped loosely over his body! hilarity ensues every time he moves as he flails around a quarter-sized wood chip to try and find termites, getting it caught on his fur and poking around over, under and on his body to find it again. 

 

We linger at the Chimps, are awed by the enormous porcupine and the boars with four tusks. We run out of time in Africa and dart through the last portion, still stopping here and there when we can't resist. Justin is a bit miffed by all this but we count on it passing. 

We meet up with Tony around 4:30 and everyone is a bit confused as to why we have to be at Apizza Scholls. The Bar of the Gods next door is small and quiet - easy to slip in and out - so we go have a drink. When we poke our heads out at a quarter to 5, there is a line of at least 15 groups. Now they get it. I discovered Apizza Scholls back in November with my mom and friends (that excursion posted here) and convince everyone that it is worth the wait. The establishment is a top notch quality pizzeria, preparation of the evening beginning from scratch each morning at 7am. When the dough is out, it is out. 

We are the first table to be put on the wait list and settle in at the bar, prepared with drinks and appetizers. Not too much later though, we are told a reservation did not show and move to our table! 

It takes one bite for the verdict to be  reached: worth the wait. 

For better or worse, after feeling comfortably full we decide to walk to the next neighborhood over to experience some Salt and Straw magic. The line there is even longer but moves rather quickly. This month's specials: Cocktail flavors! I get a lemon Amaretto with homemade vegan marshmallow fluff and a coconut ice cream, gluten-free caramel-chocolate-cookie wonder thing that is new to the regular list. Our taste buds glow. Back at the car, our stomachs say maybe we tipped the scale slightly. 

It is late and we are driving back tonight. I probably speed half the way down 12. Back home, we shuffle our necessary belongings inside and leave the rest of the unpacking for tomorrow. A Planet Portland weekend concludes appropriately with weary, smiling faces and abrupt collapses into bed.