Morning Routines
One of the better habits I picked up during the pandemic was a morning yoga routine. As some may know, I have not been blessed with natural flexibility. So feeling “advanced” in my age, I thought some daily stretching would be a good idea.
A fun aside, one of the great disappointments of my life is that I never won the Presidential Physical Fitness award in grade school. The Presidential Fitness Test was a national test to measure strength, endurance, and flexibility. And due to my lack of flexibility, I always had to settle for the (lower) National Physical Fitness award!
Noonva
An emblematic feature of many Persian (and Middle Eastern) homes is a courtyard. Bahar’s parents have a lovely small courtyard with an adjoining inner greenhouse.
Each morning before breakfast, I would head out to the courtyard for 50 minutes of yoga. And thanks to Down Dog for not having a geo-fence, I was able to keep to my typical routine.
Now, normally the air pollution in Tehran is typically pretty thick. However, overnight the pollution clears enough that it is refreshing to be out in the early dawn air.
What made these moments in the morning even more magical was the local noonva (bread store). The crisp spring air combined with the aroma of freshly baked bread produced a semi-sweet and savory smell (taste) that will be hard to let go of.
