Summer Solstice

Waiting in line for the Times Square
Solstice Practice!

Tuesday, June 21st was the 2011 Summer Solstice, which means it was the "Longest Day" of the year.  The day was still 24 hours long, but there were more hours of daylight on June 21st than hours of darkness.  Astronomically, this means that at noon on June 21st, the sun is at it's highest point all year.  Each day, the sun will be at it's highest point at noon, but on the Summer Solstice, it's the highest "high noon" of the year.  Calendar-wise, it's the first day of Summer, and also a highly celebrated day around the globe.  Apparently, the great Pyramids of Egypt are constructed so that the sun sets directly between them on the Solstice when viewed from the Sphinx.  I've been to all three, but not on the Solstice, so I can't verify this.  Famously, of course, are the druids' celebrations at Stonehenge during the Solstice. Again, I've never been to Stonehenge at the Solstice, so I can't bear witness.   Less well-known is the relatively new tradition of practicing Yoga in Times Square on the Solstice.  Now THAT's something I can attest to!
Lucy apparel and the Times Square Alliance joined forces this year to shut down portions of Times Square for a day-long extravaganza yoga practice.  They had a variety of sessions throughout the day, and I signed up to participate! 
Tuesday, June 21st was a beautiful day!  I normally wake up around 6 am so I can leave the house by 7:30 and get to work by 8.  I woke up a bit earlier that day (5:30!) because it happened to be the day my students were scheduled to take their NY State Regents examination, and I wanted to be at school a little earlier to prepare (turns out, they ALL passed!).  At 5:30, the sun was already making a strong appearance - so much so that I thought I might have woken up late rather than early!  Anyway, the sun was wide awake, and that helped me to get wide awake, especially knowing that I had a yoga practice to go to that evening!
I registered back in the beginning of May for the 6:00 pm practice, but the subsequent emails suggested I get there by 5:30.  Considering my train ride into the city and the walk over to Times Square, it was a little unreasonable to expect Husband to come home from work extra early, so my plan was to bring the kids with me and do an exchange at the train station.  Except that didn't happen.
Husband got held up downtown, so I ended up walking the distance from Grand Central to Times Square with the boys in tow (roughly 4 blocks west and 5 blocks north).  Not too bad, except I hadn't planned that into my travel time, so I arrived at Times Square by 5:45.  There were still piles of the free yoga mats (thank goodness, because I LOVE my yellow yoga mat, and didn't want to treat it badly by laying it down on the dirty, filty concrete in Times Square, so I didn't even bring it!) and goody tote bags filled with coupons, offers, and giveaways.  It looked like there were plenty left for me.  Except there weren't.

See, no space for
me OR my kids!

The line moved swiftly along, but when I got about 20 people from the front of the line, things stopped moving.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  It was getting closer and closer to 6.  And the line wasn't moving.  Turns out, all of the spaces were filled (see photo) and the event organizers were busy setting up another "pen" a little farther down Times Square for us "latecomers".  They finally finished setting up, and were ready for us to file down the block to set up...but they were out of mats.  They were out of goody tote bags.  They gave me a bottle of water and a photocopied map showing me how to get to the pen.  They made a joke about letting the kids do yoga, too, and had we been equipped with mats, I'm convinced they would have given it a go.  Instead we needed to wander past the groups, stopping to snap a few pics here and there (blog-worthy!), and just admire the beauty of such a large, outdoor practice.  It's easy to find serenity on your mat, but in the middle of the chaos of Times Square?  Absolutely possible, and with better planning, absolutely doable.
So, my Summer Solstice practice was a bust.  I didn't get to practice in Times Square...I was relegated to doing a few sun salutations in my family room...but I did get to participate (in a small way) in a pretty cool tradition!  Now I know what to expect, and can prepare better for the next go 'round.  Perhaps at the Winter Solstice?  As if it's not crazy enough to practice yoga in Times Square, who's ready to practice when it's freezing outside?  Hmmm...Maybe I'll be better off waiting until next summer...

"Make the best use of what is in your power and take the rest as it happens" - Epictetus