Move the mat, not the mood: An Old Port Montreal Yoga Morning

Okay, friends, if you're following me on Instagram, you must've seen the hilarious mystery of the yoga mats with toy train tracks on them. And if you haven't, well, get comfy because here's the full scoop from our morning at Old Port Montreal!

This week, my friend (who's soon-to-be a yoga instructor....how cool, right?) and I decided to catch up and have a fun girls' morning. August mornings in Montréal are my happy place. They are perfect kind of breezy! We cycled our way to Old Port, found a quiet little bench by the water, and unpacked our breakfast. I had whipped up avocado sandwiches, and my friend brought along her yummy poha. We sat there chatting away, enjoying every bite and catching up on life...exactly the wholesome start we needed.

Food first, Yoga later.😋

After breakfast, we rolled out our yoga mats at our first spot by a water body that looked almost like an infinity pool, surrounded by trees. Super serene, but the trees created too much shade, and the lighting was off (classic!). So we moved our mats around, looking for better light.

Finally, we settled at our second spot with a beautiful view...the water sparkling, the giant wheel in the background...total cinematic and dreamy vibes. We set up the tripod wide, slid on our sunglasses(Yoga in shades is a vibe!!!), filmed our yoga flow several times to get our coordination and alignment just right. Each forward fold gave us an upside-down postcard of the wheel hehe!! After multiple takes, we were finally convinced we'd nailed it.

The view before the flow...water, birds, and La Grande Roue watching over!📍

So, we hurried to the phone(placed slightly far away on a tripod to capture the wide view) to watch our masterpiece. Surprise!!! At the very end, two strangers casually strolled right through our perfectly timed yoga poses. When filming, we had no idea because our heads were down in our poses. Discovering this later, we were totally shocked and a bit frustrated.

But wait, it gets better. My friend suddenly squeaked and pointed dramatically at the mats. For a second my heart skipped. We’d left our bags right next to the mats. Were they gone? Nope, something else had happened. The cute toy train that circles Old Port...yes, the one I rave about whenever I talk about keeping your inner child alive(I have a whole blog post on this.) had cruised right over our setup. We were so focused on checking our recorded video that we didn’t notice...only that the train had passed by us. After seeing our tattooed mats, I was half-laughing and my friend stayed stern for solid 5 seconds!

Previously, while we were doing the flow, the train looped around us and the driver didn’t say a word. A few minutes later, after we’d stepped off to check our video, he drove straight over our mats..no horn, no heads-up! When the train came back, we waved him down. He just pointed at the fresh tire marks, shrugged, and told us to move our mats farther away next time. It felt pretty rude! The gentleman who drove the train the last time I was here was super kind and he definitely wouldn’t have done anything like this, the very reason I wrote that “keep your inner child alive” post! I guess today's driver woke up on the wrong side of the tracks.😂

Picture us with sunglasses sliding down, staring at our freshly “tattooed” mats and realizing we didn’t even get the perfect flow. I burst out laughing, looking at my friend who was studying the tracks like crime-scene evidence. Then she finally cracked up too.

Freshly “customised” mats...they have their own story to tell!😜

We slid the mats just a little ahead. Still laughing, we decided to finish filming our yoga flow on those very mats, tire tattoos proudly on display! The clip feels more like us than any perfect take. We packed up happy, choosing the morning over perfection. Joy first, perfection later.💜

A Glimpse of our Yoga Flow with Tattooed Mats!☕️

After our Yoga adventure, we sat with some refreshing lemonade, still chuckling about the chaos. Old Port, seriously, never fails to deliver quirky, memorable experiences.😌 It reminded me again how much fun it is to embrace unexpected turns and just go with the flow.

Here’s what it really taught me, in plain words and real moments from the day:

The messy parts make the best stories.

If everything went smoothly, we’d have a cute video and nothing to say. The tire marks turned a simple Yoga flow into a memory I’ll keep. I don’t want perfect. I want something I can smile about later.🌸

Choosing lightness changes the vibe. Laughing lightens the whole mood.

I can take the plan seriously without taking myself too seriously. The second I smiled at the tire tracks, the tension dropped. It helped both of us reset and keep going. Also, if you can laugh while peeling toy-train proof off your mat, you’re already winning.😉

Plans changing is not failure.

Sometimes the first idea is not the best one. Moving spots, fixing the light, and doing another take made the morning better than what I planned. Also, every forward fold gave us an upside down postcard of the wheel, which cracked me up, hehe. We still got the flow, and we left happy.

Small joys matter more than a perfect take.

The breakfast, the bike ride, the goddess pose, and lemonade at the end are what I remember and cherish most. That’s the best part of a day like this. Simple things, full heart.❤️

That was my morning in Old Port: filled with tire stripes on our mats, endless laughter, and wonderful company. If you saw my stories, now you’ve got the full story. If you didn’t, thanks for reading it here.🙏🏻

Your turn now! Share one funny, unplanned moment from your week. Start your comment with “Mine was…” so we can read them together. I’ll be going through them with a cup of chai.☕️💜