chris johns comes to town

chris and reem in lidia al-qattan’s ‘house of mirrors’

how happy you made my home

Yogi master guru wallah (just don’t know what to call him!) Chris Johns has come and gone. I love receiving friends in Kuwait. They tend to land like hurricanes and leave a trail of good memories in their wake. It’s so bittersweet, and I always look forward to more [desirable] visitors. Because I was busy enjoying my time with Chris and Reem, I neglected my blog and am so behind. Once you go through the photos you’ll understand why.

Before the Living Yoga event my dear friend Reem Algharabali organized at Masaha 13 in Shuwaikh, we had to do a bit of social media promoting. And of course these sorts of things are always a big production in my home.

: chris creates a stamp because i am in charge of stamping people (i ended up being in charge of the glitter which made me even happier)

: chris’s stamp says ‘lokah samastah sukino bhavantu (may all beings everywhere be happy and free). and thank you, reem, for this pretty wrist band to ward off the evil eye

: chris levitates

: i wish i could float

And the night finally comes. For months Reem and Chris had been planning tirelessly for this night. It’s always surreal when these events come to fruition. Exciting and fun too.

: physical preparations began at 2 pm. here, chris gets the projection going

: reem and my video, which incidentally is unfinished. i just felt it would be cool to have it up for our post workout yoga diwaniya

: reem gets into her really cool yoga leggings

: have you registered yet, eve?

: the yoga center’s jana and saba prepare their goodie bags

: and it begins. eve is tries to keep up. it’s difficult so she makes up her own poses

: gift bags

: jana twists like a pro

: i love the colorful mats and the floating yogi-bears

: fly away, yogi-kins

: rock-a-bye-yogis

: and rest

: up, up and away

: i get caught out

: the one in red

: chris checks out his yoga center swag

: flip flopping

: half reem, half other

: things hang in the balance

: at the yoga diwaniya eve and i enjoy fabrice’s music

: eve and her new friend

: jana and me

: later on eve meets fabrice, who sang a few numbers during the diwaniya

: fabrice takes eve home with him

On Sunday, after I frantically cleaned up my home, I met up with Chris and Reem for a visit to Lidia Al-Qatan’s House of Mirrors. Later we visited the newly opened Al-Shaheed Park and ended the night with some Me

: and we’re here

: anybody home?

: chris and reem looking hip and cool

: inside the foyer

: these drinks await us: sweet cinnamon, sweet lemonade and sweet ginger. oh, and there were desserts and sweets

: chris and reem enjoy their drinks

: eve meets some banshees

: i spy reem

: eve gets caught in the planets

: lidia explains how the house of mirrors became what it is today

: a gracious host and wonderful storyteller

: lidia talks about leaders and followers

: eve touches lidia

: the zodiacs. i think she’s a sagitarrian like me, because i got a high-five when i told her

: in her late husband artist khalifa al-qattan’s library

: upstairs these newspaper snippets dating all the way back to the 80s. this photo is much older

: i loved this wall. i wish i had the eves with me at this point. i forgot them in one of the many rooms

: we didn’t need to use the toilet. we just had to. one-legged eve has sunk in the colorful sink

: towards the end of the tour, a very bizarre game leaves us in stitches. i won every time, which somehow made it funnier because reem and chris crack me up