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What’s the most exotic place you’ve ever struck a pose? Tell me and you could win

Okay, fireworks would be overkill. But massage balls? Nice.

Have you ever let a benchmark slip by unnoticed? If so, I think you’ll know how I feel.

Some time late in August, I noticed that we were bearing down on a thousand sales of the My Five Minute Yoga Practice iPhone app.

I was excited. One thousand of anything seems like a significant benchmark.

The background, for those who don’t know:

In the summer of 2011, with the help of my student, friend and technical wizard Dom Brecher, I launched a yoga app.

In 11 audio segments, with detailed photos synched to the words, it offers to help you put yoga into your day, in five-minute segments at first, but then, as your time and desire to practice expand, in longer sequences.

Every day I’d check the figures and watch them rise toward the dramatic number.

Then, early in September, when classes started up again, I mentioned the coming benchmark to Jen, who is married to Dom.

“Oh,” she said, “that happened a while ago.”

I have no doubt that Dom keeps better sales records than I do, so I believed her. I’d been waiting for another 25 sales, and here we were, already at 1011.

I confess to a slightly deflated feeling. But it was also September, and very, very busy.

Now that the autumn recalibration of life has settled, and in Canada, at least, we’ve devoted a weekend to Thanksgiving, I’d like to celebrate, and give thanks at the same time.

It’s not going to be on the scale of the fireworks display above.

But, thanks to the generous people at Halfmoon Yoga Products, I have three pairs of massage balls to give away.

This is cool for two reasons: massage balls are an integral part of one of my favorite ways to start a practice session – click through to see a video on exactly how it goes.

And once you have them, you’ll find yourself trying out other ways to let those soft little spikes release your muscles: hips anyone? IT bands?

One of the things that delights me most about the five-minute yoga app is the extraordinary range of places it goes to.

I expected to see it used in Canada, the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand – all English speaking places where yoga is alive and thriving.

But imagine my delight to learn that it’s also being used by people in:  Switzerland, Russia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Santa Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Austria, Italy, Japan, Peru, South Africa, Belgium, Portugal, Thailand, Sweden and Qatar. (The sales record shows the country for each app purchased.)

So in the spirit of yoga wherever in the world you practice, here’s what to do if you’d like to win a set of massage balls.

Answer this question: what’s the most exotic place you’ve ever struck a pose? Bonus points if you can provide a photo.

Let me know if you have any problems with entering – I’ve never tried Rafflecopter before, so I’m nervous.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Fireworks courtesy of Nigel Howe via Flickr

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Eve October 17, 2012, 9:13 am

    Mongolia?
    Okay, that’s truly exotic. Lovely picture too, Gailee. Thanks for sharing.

  • Jen October 15, 2012, 2:55 pm

    Congratulations Eve. At least it’s much better to find out that you’ve sold more and not less than you thought! Here’s to the next 1000…

  • Anet October 12, 2012, 7:28 am

    On a hilltop on Costa Baja, Mexico. The soft grass was perfect for trying full arm balance without the fear of hitting the deck!

  • Gilian Dusting October 12, 2012, 12:02 am

    Hi Eve:

    I tried to enter but didn’t get to complete the entry properly. My most exotic location is Dionisio Point Provincial Park on good old Galiano Island – because I have photos. Yoga Journal it’s not but it is me doing Sirsasana on the beach.

    Congrats on the 1000+ milestone!

    • Eve October 17, 2012, 9:04 am

      Ah, well, no one could complete the entry, as it turned out, because, as a Rafflecopter neophyte, I hadn’t put a tick in a box that needed ticking.
      Sorry about that.
      The program did, in fact take your entry, and since you wrote your answer here, you’re entered.

  • Beverly Fox October 11, 2012, 7:24 pm

    Did that work? I tried the Rafflecopter but couldn’t seem to enter text to answer the question (?) – most likely something I was doing wrong. I put my answer on Twitter. Do I qualify for the contest or do you need more?

    • Eve October 17, 2012, 9:09 am

      Hi Beverly,
      Twitter worked just fine. Cool pose, cool picture.
      The only time I’ve been to Death Valley was in August, and getting out of the car was like stepping into a furnace. I’m guessing you were there at a more temperate time of year, first, to want to do a pose there, and second, to be able to persuade someone to take your picture.

  • Barb Doran October 11, 2012, 5:31 pm

    I was at the very top of South Africa where the oceans meet and along with the penguins I did two sun salutations in the wet sand.

    • Eve October 17, 2012, 9:10 am

      Oh, penguins! How lovely!

  • gaileee October 11, 2012, 5:19 pm

    In Mongolia in 2009. On the first day, we drove into Dundgovi Aimag. We drove for most of the day, and arrived at Baga gazariin chuluu around 7:00 PM. The place was, surprisingly, covered with white trees. We climbed up the small mountain, and looked over the entire valley. The valley was surrounded on all three sides with mountains! So beautiful! The red rock formations were beautiful, too.

    During the time when the Chinese destroyed a lot of Buddhist monasteries, this place housed a few monks in hiding. There are many caves within the rock formations. Because of the monks that survived the Chinese raids, this place has a lot of superstitions attached to it. If you come here and do certain things, then good luck will come to you… it’s a lucky place.

    Baga gazariin chuluu

    The next day we visited the famous Flaming Cliffs! The Flaming Cliffs are famous for being the place that Roy Chapman Andrews found dinosaur eggs in Mongolia. He gave it the nickname “Flaming Cliffs” because of the way the cliffs change color according to the weather conditions. When my mother and I visited, the cliffs were a brownish color, with a hint of red. The wind was very strong that day… it made my hat fly off of my head! A nice Mongolian caught it for me.

    Here is the photo of me doing Tree Pose.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaileeee/3724083920/in/set-72157621516177866