Urban Yogini

I had the chance of meeting the wonderful Ave @avemariabell, who I had been chatting with on Instagram, we share a lot of similar interests and both live in Toronto. She messaged me the other day to meet up as she was hosting an Insta meet and I thought it would be so much fun!

I was hesitant at first because the weather has been sooo horrible lately, and it didn’t look like it was going to be warmer that morning but we all met up anyways around the Kensington area. Ave also invited super talented photographer Diego @urbvnex!

We walked throughout Kensington, making it to a few places I have never been before on our photo walk. Check out this place in the photo below, I need to go back there to do some yoga for sure. Today was just waaay too cold.

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After stop number one, we went out to find some graffiti, always my favourite to take photos of and with! We passed so many cool spots on the way to the best graffiti in Graffiti Alley but I promise to go back and take some photos there because I saw some incredible art work!

After making it to Graffiti Alley we tried out a few classic Urbvnex puddle shots, which I was blown away by. He basically set his camera in a puddle to take this photo!

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Photo by @urbvnex

We made it to the classic graffiti spot by artist Uber 5000 and not only did I get to yoga pose, but I had Ave join me as well. She was hesitant since it was such a narrow spot, but we made it work! All for the shot! haha

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We were pretty frozen after strolling through the alley and made it to Tim Hortons to snack and warm up. After thawing for half an hour or so, we had the amazing Mike @thrumikeslens join us. I previously collaborated with him on a rooftopping yoga adventure you can read about, that was incredible and surreal.

After Mike dropped by we decided to head out again and take some bridge photos. This bridge has one of the best views of the CN Tower and at night it is amazing, but there is no way I would be caught dead outside that day!

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Hollowback Handstand wearing K.Deer Leggings and using my Yoga Paws! Yogo Anywhere Yoga mat.

 

Below is a funny behind the scenes photo from my boyfriend Martin of Diego & Mike. Committed to the craft I have to say!

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Unfortunately, Ave had to leave but we promise to have more Insta collabs soon! Our Urban yogi journey is just beginning!

I brought a yellow smoke grenade, just incase we manage to find somewhere fun to set it off. And luckily we did. There is this one building formerly the Loblaw warehouse that I just LOVE, but they are of course knocking it down to build a condo. I swore I had to get in there before they completely knocked it down, and I was with the right guys to do that!

We found the perfect spot to set off the smoke grenade, I really wish I brought more. Not bad for my first time, but I really didn’t expect that much smoke. WOW. Did I get a lot in the face the first few seconds.

These smoke grenades are amazing. I bought them at rocketfireworks.ca and they are about $8-10 each. They last about 1 minute 30 seconds so I really had to think fast about how to use it.  Mike managed to grab a couple incredible shots! I hope we get to do some more when it gets warmer later.

 

 

Dancer Pose / Natarajasana

Dancer Pose / Natarajasana

 

Wheel pose / Dhanurasana

Wheel pose / Dhanurasana

I was pretty low on energy after this and we were all freezing so we decided to end the date at noon! That’s how worn we were. But I swear we will bring to you more Insta meets and possibly some LONGBOARD YOGA?!?!?!?

Extra special thanks to @avemariabell @urbvnex @thrumikeslens

 

 

Bunnies and ZEN

As a newbie to yoga, I seem to be missing a lot of accessories, props and gear that I need to help with asanas or problems like SWEATY PALMS! I entered a giveaway on Instagram for Bunnies and Zen Yoga Accessories to win a new yoga towel, and by surprise I won! It really is incredible that I did because I have been eyeing this yoga towel for a while, there are such cute designs!

This is a fun loving company full of bright ideas and designs, which is what attracted me to them in the first place. I received my yoga towel in the mail after learning I won, and it came with the cutest origami bunny (pictured in the photo above), which I thought was a nice touch.

After feeling the towel for the first time, it felt really silky, but not a slippery kind of silky because the texture is a bit rough in a way. This had me hopeful for an actual NON SLIP yoga towel because I have felt some that were just too silky and soft and no matter what, it would always be slippery. After laying it out on the floor and playing around for a few minutes, the familiar sweaty palms started to kick in. What amazes me with this towel is the sweatier my hands got, the more grip the towel had.

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Playing around with some split variations and forearm stands on my new Bunnies and Zen yoga towel!

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Overall this yoga towel is incredible, and with so many designs to choose from that aren’t your typical lotus flowers and rainbows style. I’m so happy I received this towel and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a truly absorbent, no-slip yoga towel.

Check out Bunnies and Zen online or @bunniesandzen_yoga_accessories on Instagram <3

-V

 

Yoga on the roofs of Toronto

What happens when one of the coolest Toronto photographers, @thrumikeslens (Mike), wants to do a sky high shoot that is basically once in a lifetime? You say HECK YES and collaborate! Seriously, I never thought Instagram could bring so many opportunities to meet cool creatives from around my city, and this one was definitely one to check off the bucket list.

I follow Mike on Instagram and his feed is crazy good. He takes a lot of daring roof top photos, and after a few comments here and there, a roof top photoshoot date was set up. I can’t thank him enough for taking me where most people can’t go. Check out some of the photos from the shoot below, it was really so much fun trying to get to the top of this building, and almost had a run in with security but all good 😉

Behind the scenes photos taken by my wonderful boyfriend Martin, and the rest are by the talented @thrummikeslens www.thrumikeslens.ca Check him out!

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It was SO windy but it all looks so surreal once you are up there. I really thought I would be pooping myself, but it looks so fake so high up!

 

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Hope you enjoy the photos! Maybe there will be a @thrumikeslens X @asanavanessana collaboration again! 😀

Leggings by k.deer <3