Takin Health For Granted

This past Sunday I got thrown for a bit of a loop. I got really sick! It came on very suddenly and ended up being quite fierce. I think it must have been the 24 hour flu...not fun. I don't get sick that often ( the odd sniffle ) so it really shocked my system. I forgot how lousy it feels to be down and out. Just today I am getting my energy back and am not feeling weak and fragile. I guess you have to get sick once in a while to appreciate being well which has been my message to all of my students this weak; really appreciate and be grateful that you have the health to practice and move. Now that I am back, I have been inspired to pay attention to how it is that I haven't gotten sick for over 3 years! I practice yoga, I walk or go to the gym a few times a week, I chase my 14 month old, I eat breakfast, I drink coffee twice a day, I drink wine once or twice a week...usually twice, I eat a lot of salad and I love sushi, I drink Youth Juice, I drink a lot of water, I try to get 6 hours of sleep a night, I put ground flax seed in everything, I love cheese, and I always get popcorn at the theatre. I guess I live a pretty balanced life...hmmm. Ok, now that I have written that all down its time to get back on the healthy train. It is a way better place to spend the day!

Aparigraha...What is This?

I had a situation this past week that I thought I should share, because there is a huge lesson involved. About a month ago we had a sewage backup in our basement which involved gutting the basement and thowing away everything that was down there(including all of my one year old son's first birthday and Christmas toys). It was very sad. Then to make it worse, the problem was in our pipes below our house. We had to rip the basement, all the concrete, replace the pipe and then fill the basement with concrete. It was a big, expensive mess. In the middle of the chaos I broke down. We could no longer live in our house and all of our 'stuff' was ruined. I was so upset with what we had lost, but then had a glimpse of reality. The reality was, it could have been worse. Then I started to think about all of the people in the world that have lost their homes to other disasters and that thought me made think about all of the people in ther world who have no place to call 'home'.
All of a sudden I was full of gratitude and reminded myself of everything in my life that I should be grateful. When I went through this list in my head it was all of things that have no monetary value attached: it was my healthy, happy son and husband, it was my mom and dad and all of their love and support, it was my beautiful friendships and family, it was my country and how safe I feel living here, it was my health...all of things I was thankful for were of of simple nature. In yoga we practice Aparigraha which in English means non-attachment. The idea is to not attach yourself to anything, because at any time it could be gone. Take a moment and think about all of the 'stuff' you are attached to; it could even be non-tangible thoughts. Now for a moment imagine if you lost all of this stuff and all of these thoughts. How would you feel? For a moment it may be kind of scary, but it would be ok. The lesson I learned from all of this, is that we are so blessed with ambundance and we should be grateful for this. And, we should take more time and remind ourselves of what really enriches our lives. Is it the house we live in or the home we create with love, happiness and health that makes us really happy?

Open Your Heart This Valentines!

With valentines day right around the corner, doesn't it make sense to open up your heart so you can offer compassion and love to those you hold close to your heart? Of course it does...so how do we do this?
The easiest way to open through your heart Centre(Anahata Chakra)and move into shoulder, throat and chest openers. BACKBENDS!!! Some examples would be Ustrasana(Camel posture), Matsyasana(Flying Fish), Dhanurasana(Bow), Natagarasana(Dancers),Purvottanasana(Reverse Plank). These postures allow for the upper thoracic spine to move into extensions witch enables the entire front to the body to open. It is a very vulnerable place in the body, so don't be surprised if you feel emotional, nauseous or dizzy after a back bend focused class. After all, this is where we hold on to a lot of our stress and emotional tension. Backbends also stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, so don't be surprised if you feel charged after a series of back bend. We can also improve our immunity and metabolism my opening the heart and the throat by stimulating our thymus gland(immunity gland) and our thyroid gland in the throat(metabolism). You have every reason to try some back bends and open your heart. A series of back bends will leave you feeling open, compassionate, charged with energy and happy!
Happy Valentines Day!

Judgement Day!

I faced quite a challenge this past week. I was asked to be a judge in the Miss Calgary pageant and said yes! After saying yes, I realized that while I teach and practice yoga this is the one thing I avoid and try to teach others to avoid. "Don't judge yourself, just do the best you can." This sentence is usually followed by, "Don't compare yourself to the person beside you, do what works for you and your body." And then there I was; sitting front row watching all of these beautiful, courageous girls strutting there stuff in hopes to be crowned the next "Miss Calgary." My job was to judge these girls? I wanted to give them all equal scores and give them all a crown and a banner for just having the courage and vulnerability to do it. They were all winners in my mind. But, I had a task at hand and very quickly had to decide how I was going to judge these brave souls. So I put on my game face, and tried to find imperfections,compare one girl to the next and found it quite stressful. Their future was in my hands....crazy. I was fortunate enough to have done a yoga workshop with most of the competitors in previous months, so I started to pull some memories from these workshops and tried to remember how the girls responded to me, the workshop and how they interacted with each other. This thought process made the evening so much easier. I was now judging on a real life experiece where in most cases, I got to witness the girls being themselves. Now I was making judging decisions based on how these girls treated each other, themselves and their competitors; intead of how they looked in a bikini or a fashion that perhaps was not suitable. This added more of a human element to my task at hand and got me through evening. The lesson? You never know in your day to day life why you meet the people you do, but you do for a reason and they are there to teach you something....so if you treat every human with the same respect and integrity that you like to be treated with, you won't care who is judging...you have already won.

Yoga and LasVegas?

I know Vegas and Yoga in the same sentence seems like a bit of an oxymoron . In a city that is charged with energy, is it possible to find some sort of zen...barely!
I am the type of person that can usually find time to do yoga anywhere. I bring my mat where ever go, plop it down somewhere and practice. It's like somebody who runs, you just throw on your runners, grab your Ipod and go...right? And yes, I did see this in LasVegas. I saw people running outside on the strip and I thought, how? Then I realized, why not? While running down the strip there is so much to look at to take your mind off the task at hand, you could run forever. But, every time I thought about doing yoga, I was defeated by the urge to go see another hotel, or watch a show, or play a little blackjack, or...or ..or. Then I realized this must be what its like to live in a person's mind that doesn't stop and is constantly seeking another surge of stimulus. Wow, I lived like this for three days and was completely exhausted when I arrived back home. With my mind racing and my body functioning on pure adrenaline, I was disappointed that I wasn't able to find enough zen to just stop the insanity and just be still for a few minutes. The good news is I have a reason to go back to Las Vegas. I have a challenge at hand. I need to prove to myself that amongst the chaos I can find some sort of serenity.

Yoga and Weight Loss

This is the time of the year when everybody has made their new years resolutions and are ready to make some changes in their lives. For most people, weight loss is always at the top of the list.
Like any other form of exercise, you can lose weight doing yoga, but you have to eat right and be dilegent.
What yoga does is balance your energy centers in your subtle body and realigns your skeletal body which in-turn allows your body to function at an optimal level. When the body is functioning properly you will have more energy and crave foods that promote healthier and better eating choices. Your organs will function properly and do what they are suppose to do, helping with things like metabolism and digestion. The deep breathing that is practiced while doing yoga reduces stress which reduces the amount of cortisol in your body(high cortisols levels have been linked to weight gain). The spiritual element of the yoga practice give you a better attitude and different ways of looking at life. Attitude is everything. You are what you think about. By changing the mind, we change the body. By changing the body, we change the mind.

Yoga Retreat In Goa India

Well time has finally arrived: India here we come. This retreat is for anyone who is interested in learning more about the Ashtanga Yoga pracice. We will have seven days at the retreat where we will eat, breathe and live yoga and then we will end the retreat at an all inclusive resort hotel on the beach of Goa. This retreat is for beginner to advanced practioners. It is going to be quite the journey. Travel dates are from Feb.26/2009 thru March 11/2009.