Shameless Self-Promoter

How else can I get the word out about my teaching and reach new students….for free to boot?

Here’s an example of how I’m putting my teaching out there for you. Let me know what you think or what else you’d like to learn.

Walking The Walk

I don’t practice 3 hours a day.

The average time I set aside for my yoga practice daily varies from obsessively long to pathetically short. Heck, some days it’s nonexistant. As a teacher there are times I feel I’m not “walking-the-walk”; as a yogi I know it’s ok to give myself a break. Somes days it’s simply a case of I just don’t want to practice.  Instrinsic motivation was never my strong suit.

You’ll be happy to hear I’m currently miles away from yoga practice burnout but I’ve been there before. It’s not pretty.

Forgiving My Flaws…

…and God knows I have a lot of them so this might take awhile.

Yoga Journal recently posted an article on forgiving your flaws.  I could relate – I drink coffee almost daily.  Mmmm….lattes.

But I digress.  For the record: I don’t care if someone judges me for my imperfections.  I simply don’t have the energy to waste on thinking about it.

Enjoy the article.

Spoiled Rotten

There are days when I want to smack myself in the face. I’m very fortunate for the opportunities I’ve been given but for some reason they aren’t always enough.

I have the disease of ‘Wanting’: A better career, a larger client base, more knowledge, etc., etc., etc. But here’s the kicker: I don’t always work as hard as I should to get what I want. I’m horribly spoiled. I call it the “Middle-class-Canadian-white-girl-from-the-suburbs” disease. Life has come too easily for me.

Here’s a quote I recently heard that hit home: “Give 100% to the things you want to do; give 110% to the things you don’t.” – Lou Lamoriello

It’s the things you don’t want to do that are the ones you really need to do to grow and accomplish great things. Especially as a middle-class-Canadian-white-girl-from-the-suburbs I owe it to those less fortunate to use the opportunities I’ve been given.

How does this relate to yoga? Your yoga practice is a metaphor for life: You accomplish great things through dedication, sacrifice and practice. Don’t expect to be able to do a handstand by sitting on your ass all day.

This yogi is ramping up her “practice”. Stay tuned for great things.

Chant-schmant

I’m not morally opposed to chanting, I simply don’t do much of it.  I’m really doing others a favour because my voice is like Harbour seals mating.

Tingsha are a different story.  I perfer the sound of these cymbals to my chanting voice when I use them correctly.  Otherwise, their melody is like nails on a chalkboard.  Not much of an improvement to seals.

What say you: To chant or not to chant?

Stress Case

I’ll let you in on a little secret: Yoga teachers feel stress. Ssh…..don’t tell anyone.

For example, some days I’m like a duck – cool and calm up top, paddling like hell underneath. I feel stress, some days more than others. I’ve found a few techniques that help: breathing exercises, meditation, emptying an entire box of Smarties, dividing them into groups based on color and eating them in order of color preference. Blue is last. Some days though nothing can cut it but a good dose of self-pity.

Does this make me a bad person? No. Does this make be a bad yoga teacher? You decide.

When it comes to serious things, like the impending doom of a zombie apocalypse, I’m cool as a cucumber. When it comes to little things, like having to wash the dishes AGAIN (who the hell gets them dirty anyways?!), I freak out.

So I’ll say it now: One day I will pen my first book called “The Stressed-Out Yogi (TM)”. The book might be a best-seller, it might not…but if you don’t go out and buy it, I may just curl up into a ball in the corner and never come out. Although, then I’d have the first chapter of my second book.

Photo credit: Animation Roller Coaster

Smarty Pants

I don’t know everything.  Shocking but true.

As much as I’d like this next statement to be false, it isn’t: I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know everything there is to know about how the body works and I don’t always know how to fix it.

I know much more than the average Joe, I can say THAT. Thank God because if I didn’t they should take away my teaching certification. I’ve earned a degree, a couple of teaching certifications, and have taken years of classes, courses and workshops to learn all that I can about how the human body works. That’s why I can say I’ve earned the right to teach.

I’m keenly aware I still have a gazillion things left to learn, especially when I get on my mat or teach a class. What am I doing about it? Learning MORE!

But knowing you know you don’t know everything you should know is half the battle. You know?

The day I think I know everything is the day I become a bore…and the day I close myself off from becoming a better teacher.

Fearless – NOT!

I’m a chicken. Bok. Bok.

Whether it’s nailing a handstand or swimming across the cove on a recent trip to San Diego, I’m a chicken. Not even my super-duper brand new swim goggles could motivate me to do the later. In my defense, the water was only 57 degrees Fahrenheit and as I’m sure you know, the human body freezes somewhere around 58 degrees Fahrenheit.

I’m not sure where I picked up this tendency to fear my own shadow. Maybe it’s a deep-seeded inclination towards self-preservation; maybe it’s because I’ve lived my life in a bubble. I’m not sure, but that’s not important. The important thing is, I get nervous if I flick a light switch and the lights go off before I get to bed. Which is almost all of the time.

I know logically, the fear is all in my head. There was nothing out there in that cove that could hurt me and I’m not going to break my neck if I fall out of a handstand. Mind over matter will be my new mantra, whether it’s sticking an inversion or swimming the English Chanel or just crosing the road. Bok. Bok.

(What are you afraid of and how is it holding you back from your goals?)

I get angry

For example: I get angry when the title sponsor of the largest outdoor hockey game held in Canada runs out of their signature event donut at my local coffee shop ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT. I’m over it though.

(Said sponsor shall remain nameless).

Patience is a virtue

This blog post is brought to you by Air Canada whose advance seft check-in has failed to work again. Apparently both my flight and booking reference don’t exist. Dumbfounding. Now I’m forced to wait on hold to talk to a representative. It’s been 15 mins….16……17. My blood pressure is rising – waiting sucks.

Breath in, breath out. Repeat.

Update (20 mins later): Finally spoke to a very lovely guy at Air Canada. I’m feeling better already.