So they didn’t pick me…

(Note: I wrote this post a few weeks ago and sort of sat on it, not sure if I should share it while I am looking for a job. But, I realize that these are the times and many of us are out there searching for our next opportunity and may meet with rejection regularly. The key is to keep on going and searching for that amazing place that will be the right fit. It will come.)

So, there’s this company that I really, really wanted to work for. I won’t mention their name here, but let’s just say they’re an international organization that most people are familiar with.

I’ve applied three times. I’ve gone to three group interviews. I’ve then met with the person in charge. And then I’ve been rejected.

I’m trying not to take this personally, but seriously, how can you not?

Funny enough, I fit the entry position to a ‘T’. I have the background experience, my extracurricular activities are well aligned, and I love working with people. But for some reason, I’m just not this company’s material. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.

The point of this isn’t to ramble on about why I can’t get the job, the point here is more about how I can’t seem to handle this rejection well. Every time this happens with this particular company, I take it to heart and start to question myself as a person. Are they seeing something I’m not seeing? Do I have a horrible personality trait that the people in charge don’t seem to like? These thoughts really do go on and on.

Anyone else who’s been rejected by a company that they really want to work for can probably relate. When you feel like a certain role would really align with your life and you can’t seem to get there, you really start to wonder what you’re doing wrong… Or, if this is what you really want. Goals and dreams start to crash around you and sometimes you don’t know where to go from here.

I read a lot of self-motivating books and blog posts that tell me to get out there and achieve my dreams. Life is there for the taking! But what about when you don’t achieve those goals? How many times do you try? I’ve tried three times, and I’m starting to think that’s enough. And I’m not looking at this as if I’m giving up. This is moving on. 

This is reconfiguring my goals and finding another approach to getting to the end result. I don’t need this one company to get there, it just would have been a big help to work in the proper environment. But I believe I can find that atmosphere elsewhere.

I want to surround myself with amazing people who are doing great things, who are also elevating those around them. I want to share what I have with them, pushing them to see their greatness as well. Sharing and caring environments are out there, you just have to look for them. Sometimes, one place is not the be all end all of your life. Plus, there’s only so many times I can try to convince a company how awesome I am. If they don’t see it, then it’s their loss. Time to move onwards and upwards where I can spread the joy and with others who will love and appreciate it.  ॐ

What’s your best strategy for dealing with job rejection? 

Onzie giveaway winner…

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who entered the Onzie Yoga Apparel giveaway by sharing their favourite yoga memories. I loved reading every one of them, all of you are very inspirational!

The winner has been chosen and notified, but please feel free to continue to share your favourite yoga/fitness/running memories on that post or this one. I find that it’s nice to reflect on these moments of joy in our practice, while also sharing it with others as inspiration and motivation. Reading about some of you that were able to achieve certain yoga poses over time reminded me of poses that I am still struggling with. This made me think about how I need to stop avoiding them and start challenging myself to work on them (hello handstand), which will be great for both my body and mind.

Congratulations to the winner and to all of you for having such wonderful memories of your practice! Keep up the OM-azing work! ; )

Also, a huge THANK YOU to Onzie Yoga Apparel for donating this awesome prize to one of my lucky readers. I love sharing great products with you, so I was excited at the opportunity of spreading the word about comfortable and colourful clothes for yoga and everyday life. Enjoy!  ॐ

Run Yogi Run…

Before the race shenanigans

So that’s what I did.

At a very early time in the morning.

Ok, it wasn’t that early, but it was definitely my earliest run of the season and just so happened to be my first 5K race of the year as well.

I’d been looking forward to this race for quite some time, so when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. yesterday I was both tired and excited. I normally only wake that early for flights, never anything active and/or outdoors on a chilly day. Nonetheless, I got up, threw my gear together, made a delicious smoothie, and ran out the door with my boyfriend and roommate for the Oakville Mercedes 10K race, which was a 45 minute drive away.

Could I have done a race a little closer to home? You bet ya! But, do I seem like the type to do things the easy way?!

I’ll be honest here… the original motivation for this race had something to do with the shiny medal that finishers get (see pic below). But as time got closer to the race, it became about more than that. It became about how I haven’t done a race in 2 years, and how I’ve really grown to like running lately, and about challenging myself in a fun and supportive community.

When we arrived at the race grounds, I grew more excited as I was surrounded by all types of runners – the novice, the casual, the experienced, and the ones wearing Boston Marathon jackets – every level you can imagine was there. It was incredibly inspiring to see so many people up bright and early in their spandex ready to run their hearts out for whatever reason. I felt the energy and took it into my run and I hope I spread some of my good vibes around as well. I even started mumbling some words about how I could run a marathon someday… uh oh, I’ve really got the sickness now.

During the run I made sure to say good morning or thank you to all the spectators, volunteers, and police along the route. Recent events really make you realize how important these individuals are and I did my best to thank as many as I could. My boyfriend was an amazing spectator and I am grateful to him for getting up before dawn on his day off to see me race.

Overall the whole morning was great and I left the event with a huge smile on my face. I achieved a personal best of 30:56, previous time being 32 minutes for a 5K. Needless to say, I was pretty pumped! Especially since I was aiming for 34 minutes (taking into consideration that I don’t run in the morning and how chilly it was). Looks like I need to give myself more credit!

And yes, I got my shiny medal.  ॐ

So pretty ; )

Onzie Giveaway!

** This giveaway is now closed. But please feel free to share your favourite yoga/fitness/running memory as part of the discussion **

Recently I was asked to think about my favourite yoga memory or experience, and to be honest, this was a tough one to answer. Even though I haven’t traveled to India or been on a major yoga retreat (yet!), there are still so many good memories to look back on…

- My first ever yoga class – I was stiff!

- Touching my toes for the first time – had an awesome Iyengar teacher help me get there

- Meeting so many great people at workshops and my home studio

- Workshops with Julie Gudmestad and Jawahar Bangera

- My first shoulderstand without props – after a few years of re-building from a neck injury

This list could go on!

But, I’d have to say that one of my favourites would be graduating from yoga teacher training. After so much time of working hard, learning more about yoga and myself, and connecting with my fellow trainees, the graduation was a time of elation and positivity. Ready to go out into the world to share this gift of yoga and filled with so much new knowledge. What a great day!

I have come far from that graduation in 2009… on my path, off my path, challenged time and time again. Currently, I am not teaching, but I know I would love to get back into it again. I want to share my love of yoga with others, I want to help them like my teachers helped me, and I want to have fun with great students while being connected to such an amazing community. I’ll get there, but in the meantime I need to keep learning from those around me and sticking to my daily practice.

And one way to help this daily practice is to have comfortable, flexible clothes. That’s where this giveaway comes in! Onzie Yoga Apparel is graciously giving away $75 towards their amazing clothing that you just have to check out. I’ve had the experience of wearing their Gypsy Pant and Dip Dye Muscle Tank (pictured below), which are both hot pieces but also perfect for yoga. These items allow for all ranges of movement and flowing, while also allowing you to keep cool and looking good. Plus, these pieces look so great, they don’t have to be worn for just yoga. The pants are great for throwing on with a tank on a nice spring day or the Dip Dye Muscle Tank can be worn with your fave pair of jeans and a gorgeous scarf. Onzie has many other items that can be worn in so many different ways, check out their site for more info and to see the gorgeous colours and patterns available.

Details for the giveaway:

Contest open until Sunday, April 21st 11:59 pm EST

$75 of Onzie Yoga Apparel up for grabs (how awesome is that?!)

What you need to do:

- Leave a comment telling me about your favourite yoga memory (or fitness/running if you haven’t tried yoga yet)

- Extra entry – Like Onzie Yoga Apparel on Facebook (let me know you did this in the comments)

- Extra extra entry – Like YogiCrystal on Facebook

Good luck!!  ॐ

Dip Dye Muscle Tank (pic from theonzie.com)

Gypsy Pant (pic from theonzie.com)

One goal down…

Yesterday morning I woke to some awesome news in my inbox – my article was published on elephant journal!

How exciting is that? I’m still pretty pumped about it.

This all started a few weeks ago when I had a chat with my friend and yoga teacher about which direction I’d like to take my life in after recently finishing a contract role. I mentioned that I enjoyed writing and hoped to have some articles published in different online publications someday, like elephant journal. To which her reply was just do it! I stared blankly at her like she was crazy, so she told me to write her something about what I am experiencing right now and she would take a look at it. She gave me a week.

To be honest, I felt panicked about this. Even though I currently write and share stories on this blog, I felt even more nervous about writing something for just one person to read. But, I did it. A week later I sent her my article and she gave me great feedback and told me to send it. So, a few days later I prepared my submission and sent it into elephant journal with my fingers crossed. And well, the rest is history! I really would not have sent something this soon without her extra push, and I thank her for that.

You can check out the post HERE, titled To Teach or Not to Teach. In this post I share some more private details about my life and how I am working to stay on the path I love, instead of returning to old patterns. It was a little scary to write, but I am definitely glad it is out there now. Check it out, let me know what you think, leave me some comment love if you have a minute.

Hopefully you’ll be seeing more of me on elephant journal in the future. Just have to keep putting it out there! ॐ

Logo from elephantjournal.com

Yoga Weekend Bliss…

Now that I’ve had the time to let the adventures of this past weekend sink in, I wanted to sit down to write and reflect on the awesome events I had the pleasure of participating in. It was a yoga filled weekend, and even now I am still feeling the buzz that comes from this great practice.

On Saturday I had the honour of attending Yoga Unite here in Toronto, which is a fundraiser in support of the New Leaf Yoga Foundation. For those unfamiliar, New Leaf is a non-profit that offers yoga programs to youth who are facing barriers such as neglect, abuse, involvement with the criminal justice system, socio-economic issues and more. Needless to say, this is an amazing organization doing great things with the youth in the community who deserve access to healthy activities, such as yoga.

The event had silent auction items (of which I won one!), massages by donation, Vega samples, live music, and more which everyone was able to take part in before and after the yoga. Right away I will tell you that the yoga class taught by Chantal Wade, Ella Isakov, Duncan Parviainen, Ashley Holly, and Jordana Halpert was AH-mazing. These teachers were able to make this class flow seamlessly, which was certainly helped by the transcending music of Darren Austin Hall. Darren sang, played the guitar, and the crystal singing bowls so well that I felt like I was taken away out of the room, out of Toronto even, and placed in a yoga sanctuary. Seriously, if you have never experienced crystal bowls before, give it a try. Right now. The vibrations from the sounds are extremely relaxing and healing, I just can’t get enough. I left this event on such a yoga high that it was difficult to imagine topping this afternoon spent with friends and the community, all while giving back to such a great organization.

Sunday followed up with another afternoon spent in the bliss of yoga. This time in a workshop held by Ashley Holly and Jordana Halpert called Vision Flow. This workshop involved the theme of ‘letting go’ paired with restorative yoga poses and guided meditation. For those that know me, guided meditation works best for me right now, so this practice was both relaxing and revealing. Ashley and Jordana work very well together, again seamlessly, transitioning between sections of the class with no effort or disruption to flow and relaxation. I left this class feeling so serene, I barely remember the hour long transit ride home. I was off in yoga-mind-land somewhere and it was great.

In the end, this past weekend had me feeling positive and in a sense, ready to take on the world. Such an amazing feeling, that I don’t want to lose it. Situations will arise that will challenge this feeling and the key is just to take things as they come and never let that feeling of positivity and hope go. Being surrounded by passionate and engaging people certainly helps and I am very glad to have made these connections since living in this new city. I look forward to what is next and am taking it one day at a time, it’s the best we can really do. ॐ

Setting up at Yoga Unite

What do you run with…?

Does anyone else out there run with their cell phone?

First, I do like to have my phone with me in case anything happens or if I’m waiting for a really important call. And second, I use my phone as my GPS to track my runs with the app MiCoach by Adidas. I’m only a 5K runner, but I still like to track my runs and see my progress (or note when I have bad days and why). The thing is, my phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 2. If you’ve seen this phone, you know it’s HUGE. Any time I use this phone, I get numerous comments thrown at me including ‘what the hell is that?’ and ‘who uses their tablet as a phone?’

Some people even think I’m crazy for running with this phone.

There are no arm bands for this thing, it would take up my whole upper arm, so I run with it in my jacket pocket. This suits me just fine for now, even though it can be heavy. The problem will be when the warmer weather hits and I won’t want to wear my running jacket. The option that is left is to run with it in my hand, but I seriously don’t want to sweat all over my phone on a hot day and I certainly don’t want to drop it.

So, my question is… what do you run with? Do you use your phone, iPod, or some kind of cool watch to track your runs?

I know I’m going to need an alternate way to track my runs soon, but I have no idea what I should get. Some of the watches look cool, but sound really technical sometimes. I just like to track my distance, time, and pace most of the time, so I don’t need it to be super techie. And if it links up to a program or site for tracking over time, even better! Plus, I’m budget conscious, so it makes the decision even funner. Time to do my research!  ॐ