Yoga in Victoria Park

Everyone has wondered why I chose the middle of southern Ontario to stay for the summer. Sometimes I have even wondered what in the world I'm doing here, of all places in the world. Today a lot of that was answered for me, maybe not everyone else in the world but for me, yes.

As I approached the clock tower, there were these kids behind me, what I would describe as punk ass kids! The one, looked like Justin Beiber but cursed every other word. He may have been 13 or 14 years old, max. Obviously trying to impress his friends, a guy and a girl, with all the swear words. I'll be honest, it was legitimately on my nerves and made me want to curse... Still annoys me to think about it.

So I get to the clock tower and there's a little patch of maybe 10 yoga mats! I settle in on my mat and quickly forget how annoyed I was just a few minutes earlier. My little space in the world, all to myself, perfect! Slowly but steadily the area fills up, before I know it I can count at least 45-50 yogis and they keep coming from all directions, it was beautiful. People of all different shapes, sizes, ethnicities, ages, everything all joining together for 50 minutes of their day, sharing sacred space with one another.

When I travel, I often feel like I stand out and even here in Canada where standing out is the commonality it was nice for a moment to feel at home amongst my fellow yogis! To see the excitement on the faces of those who had never taken classes before, and to see the serenity and peacefulness on the faces of those who are veterans to a practice. 

I can't wait to go back. I'm thankful to be in a town that offers yoga for free to the public once a week, so that everyone has the opportunity to feel what it's like. Even the onlookers who were simply sitting in the park, homeless even, would take a moment to be one, even that kid who annoyed the day lights out of me... For a moment we were all one, and that... was beautiful! 

Thank you Queen St Yoga, Kitchener, Ontario

The Hermitage

What is the hermitage? Firstly it's a beautiful hike just outside of Hamilton, Ontario in a town called Ancaster. There are waterfalls and I even saw a lone deer bedded down in the leave, who eventually followed our hike for a solid 5 minutes. 

After an hour hike or so you come to the old ruins originally built in 1830 as a church by a Rev. Sheed.

This place intrigues me...tales around town talk of the place being haunted, you can see from the picture that there is some crazy energy there. So I took my feelings when I saw it, did some research and found out a little bit of information that explains why it's so intriguing to me. 

Magdalene. 

Yep. It started with her.

This time a Magdalene from Greece. A few conflicting stories, but either she was refused to marry the family coachman or her niece was refused his hand. Either way the coachman took his own life and since then, mid 1800s, the eerie tales have continue.

After the coachmans death, the structure was sold, and torn down. A new home was built and there were two fires, one of which did no harm, the second of which took most of the home down. The new owner, Alma Leith refused to leave and lived in a tent inside the rubble with her scraggly dog until her death.

Interesting how this site connects with you in one way or another... Check out the picture, you can see the gray that outlines the building. Haven't touched this picture with anything, I didnt even notice the outline until I pulled it up on the computer. Creepy.