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

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)

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

Bad yoga day…

What do you do when you have a ‘bad yoga day’?

You head to class with the best intentions, have a delicious protein smoothie an hour before, and once you get on the mat you are uncoordinated and floppy… How do you react?

Well, today I didn’t react in the best way. I focused on how my poses were going wrong. I over-thought about why my balance wasn’t with me today, and I started to let it fester in my mind. Not a good idea mid-yoga class.

Not a good idea in general.

This doesn’t happen to me too often in yoga, this is usually the time I take away from berating myself. But every 2-3 months or so, I have the kind of class where I let my mind get the best of me and go down a negative road in the class. My inner voice starts telling me I’m not good enough to do this class, I’m too clumsy, I can’t do the poses as well as everyone else there… Etc etc. Even while this conversation is going on in my mind, I know it’s a bad idea. I know I need to stop it and just go with the flow of the class.

But it’s not always that easy, is it?

I already know that our bodies respond differently and can feel different each and every day. So sometimes, just like bad running days, I can have ‘bad yoga days’. And that’s ok. We’re not at optimal performance every single day, even if we want to be. Sometimes that little bit of sleep we missed can affect us. Maybe something else going on in our lives is tying up our mind. And maybe, just maybe, the time change throws us off a little bit. (Anyone else feeling a little sluggish?!)

Presently, I think I have a lot on my mind and I wasn’t fully letting it go for the yoga class today. Other thoughts were creeping up in my mind when I was supposed to be focusing on the flow and the enjoyment of the poses. And I have to realize that it’s going to happen sometimes and that it’s not the worst thing in the world. I also have to work on letting it go when these things creep up in my mind. I’m usually pretty good, but I find verbal and visual queues can be helpful.

Maybe the teacher sensed my tenseness, maybe she could read my face when I was struggling in balance poses, but she gave the right verbal queues when I needed to hear them. She told us to breathe and say in our minds “let go”, which after a few breaths really started to work. My mind went to that mantra and the negative thoughts started to fall off me to the floor. I dropped them for the rest of the class and even still feel pretty good as I’m writing this a few hours later. Amazing how those two little words can adjust your thought pattern and bring about peace in your mind. That’s powerful.

In the end, I probably shouldn’t say it was a ‘bad yoga day’, but it was an experience. It was part of the journey. And it served as an awesome reminder that when the mind is going places that don’t serve us, switch up the thoughts, say a mantra and move the mind into a more peaceful place. This doesn’t just apply to yoga classes either, do this anytime… At work, on the bus, in a long checkout line. Whenever you feel like your mind is wandering into a dark place, work on your own little mantra and bring it out into the light. We can do this!  ॐ

Have you ever had a ‘bad yoga day’? How did you turn it around?

Yoga pep talk…

I’ve been doing yoga for almost 5 years. Yep, it’ll be 5 years this January. And you know what?  I still beat myself up when I can’t get a pose right, or when my balance is off, or even when I fall over.  I laugh at myself a little more now when I fall over, but I still get a little angry when I don’t get the pose quite right.

Like today… I was just minding my own busines, attending a lovely Vinyasa class, and I had absolutely no balance. My Warrior 3 was strained and well, even Revolved Triangle threw me off a little.  Where in the world did my balance go today?  Because it certainly didn’t join me for yoga.

I know, I know… there’s no ego in yoga.  And I’m not even comparing myself to others.  I’m comparing myself to… well, to myself on better days.  Why is that?!  I know better.  Our bodies act differently on each day and some things just aren’t always in sync.  But I would like them to be!

This is why it’s called a practice friends.  But you’re not practicing to make perfect, you’re practicing to just be.  Just be you.  Be you on whatever day it is and enjoy the moment, even if your Tree Pose is a little wobbly.  Breathe and be in the class, tune into the teacher’s voice, and pretty much just do your best.  Because that’s all you can do.

This is the pep talk I’m having with myself today.  Tomorrow’s balance poses might be better or worse, but I’m reminding myself to enjoy the process and just be.  ॐ

What pep talk are you giving yourself today about perceived limitations?

Why do I yoga? – A guest post at Yogitastic!

A couple weeks ago the lovely Yogitastic asked on twitter – why do you yoga?  Well, I jumped at the chance to write a little something for her blog about why I started and continue the practice.  I am grateful for the chance to share my story on her blog and it was nice to reconnect with why I love yoga.

Check it out HERE!!  Leave some comment <3 too ; )

ॐ

April yogalicious pose of the month…

Not that you noticed readers, but I was a bad girl and missed the March yogalicious pose of the month post.  March was a crazy month for me, which included year end at the office, so let’s just say I was a bit preoccupied.  Not the best excuse, but hey, life happens to us sometimes and we have to prioritize.  That’s what adults do, right?

Missing the post was was not the worst thing, because my recent venture to a new yoga class and studio helped me realize which pose I should write about next.  In the post I mentioned the teacher had the class do Goddess Pose, which I haven’t done in ages.  This fun challenge caused me to want to look further into the pose and share the details with you!

Goddess Pose, picture from http://www.fitsugar.com/

Goddess Pose – Utkata Konasana

Cautions for the pose:

• if you have knee or groin strain/injury, hip issues, or leg injury/chronic pain
• if you are experiencing lower back pain
• shoulder strain or injury (modification: place hands on thighs or hold them in Namaste hands position)
• if you have another condition or injury that you are worried about, definitely check with your local yoga teacher to see if you should proceed

From Mountain Pose (Tadasana), step your feet out length-wise along your mat wide apart.  Turn your feet out about 45 degrees, so that they are pointing towards the corners of your mat.  With your hands on your hips, slowly begin to squat down as you exhale.  Be sure to keep your knees over your toes as you slowly progress to having the thighs parallel with the floor (do not force this if you’re not there yet – just go as deep as is good for you).

Now extend your arms out to the sides about shoulder height, reaching strongly while keeping your shoulders relaxed and down.    Start to bring your arms up toward the ceiling, bending at the elbows.  Your palms should now be facing the front of your mat with elbows bent at a 90 degree angle.  Hold the pose for 5 – 10 breaths, working your way up to holding the pose a little longer each time.  Keep your shoulders relaxed and tailbone tucked – don’t stuck your butt out or over-arch the spine.  At the same time, feel the power and energy of this pose – feel the strength of the goddess in you as you draw energy up through your feet to your fingertips!

To come out of the pose, slowly lower your arms down and put your hands on your hips.  Follow this by gradually, and strongly, lifting up from the squat and straightening your legs. Step your feet back together and end in Mountain Pose.

Benefits:

• Strengthens the legs/thighs and shoulders
• Tones the buttocks and calves
• Opening in the chest and hips
• Stimulates respiratory and cardiovascular systems
• Improves balance and focus

Benefits I experience in or after this pose:

• Strengthening in the thighs, very strong to hold the pose
• Opening of the chest and intense in the hips
• Improvements in balance
• Feelings of strength and power throughout the body while holding the pose
• Concentration while I am in the pose (usually to ignore the feeling in my quads!)

Since everyone’s situation is different, you may experience different benefits from this pose but I would hope that it at least makes you feel strong and powerful – yogalicious – like you can take on anything!  It’s very important to listen to your body while you are doing any yoga pose, do not push yourself needlessly and work slowly to progress in the postures.  Always ask your local yoga teacher if you have any specific questions regarding injuries and the poses.  ॐ

Note: After writing this post, but before publishing, I went to another flow based class where Goddess Pose was done again. Twice in one week for me after not doing the pose for about 2 years? Amazing. 

Have you tried this pose before in your practice?  Did you find it challenging?

Exploring again…

Dear readers, I tried something last night that I haven’t done in a long time.  Two years almost.

I tried a new yoga class… at a new studio. Gasp!

Once you stop laughing at me, I will explain.

Done?  ; )

You may not know, but I am an Iyengar gal.  I work part-time and have been doing yoga at an Iyengar studio for 4 years and it has been my world since the start due to my injury.  My yoga journey began with Hatha yoga, which was lovely and is my training, but shortly after I was drawn to Iyengar yoga.  I have whiplash damage and chronic neck pain, so the alignment focus and use of props in Iyengar yoga resonated with me and my limitations (at the time) right away.  Iyengar classes and workshops have taught me so much about my own body and yoga and I continue to learn with every class I attend.  The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and always ready with adjustments and alternate poses for those that need them.

I actually used to try new classes and studios all the time, I’ve tried different styles and places so that I could gain the most knowledge possible about yoga.  But for some reason, I haven’t attended a new studio or yoga style in about 2 years.  I can’t explain it, maybe I just got comfortable going to the one studio.  Maybe I was nervous about doing something new, the reasons aren’t clear to me right now.  So last night, I knew it was time.  Time to get my butt to a new class, time to experience something new.

Canmore, AB - taken by my friend Tara

The class was called Yoga for Meditation, so I was drawn in right away.  I’ve been talking about making changes in my life lately and calming things down, so I thought that this class might just suit me.  I thought about it a little too long – for some reason I get this weird feeling of “cheating” on my yoga studio, weird right?  Well, some people thought so.  After a little bit of blah-blahing in my mind, I grabbed my mat and went to the studio.  I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the front desk staff was, you just never know what you will get at new studios sometimes.  When I mentioned I was new, even a fellow student told me that she thought I would really enjoy the class. Awesome, feeling welcome already!

The class was very different from anything I’ve done in the past two years.  To go from an Iyengar class where the teachers monitor your postures, make adjustments, and focus on your alignment to a class that is pretty free with the teacher staying mostly at the front is strange to me.  Not bad entirely, but definitely different.  The poses we did in this class weren’t too extensive, so close monitoring wasn’t necessarily required but I did notice this difference.  The teacher also talked pretty much through the entire class, sort of like a talking meditation.  Some might find this annoying, but I actually enjoyed the constant voice to bring my thoughts back to in this meditative class.  His voice was calming and non-invasive, so it nice but also very different from Iyengar yoga.  We started with laying down and performing a meditative breathing exercise and I will be honest, my lungs felt clenched and strained.  I guess from being so closed doing desk work and not performing these exercises regularly, my lungs were telling me something.  Ok lungs I hear you, something to work on for sure.  The asanas we performed were generally gentle – except for goddess pose (phew I haven’t done that one in awhile!), but the challenge was nice.  He ended the class with a bit of a yoga nidra type guidance, which I love while the owner of the studio played on a crystal bowl in the other room. Wow, I love the crystal bowls, the vibrations are so intense.  Nice touch new studio, nice touch.

Afterwards, I felt great and relaxed.  Very nice class and interesting to have this new experience.  I believe I will be back, the meditative style of this class with a gentle yoga flow could be a nice addition to my practice.  See, it didn’t hurt me to try something new… but I still feel like I “cheated” on my yoga studio – how do I get that feeling to go away? : )  ॐ

Have you ever been nervous trying a new style of yoga or studio? How did the experience turn out for you?

Must get back on track…

Last week a friend of mine shared this picture on her Facebook wall and it caught my eye right away.   Actually, with that title, how can it not get your attention?  Anyway, it struck me as an odd and sad story, but of course I was also skeptical about it’s validity.  But then I thought, whether it’s real or not, this would be a sad sad story and I instantly thought to myself “I don’t want this to be me”.  Now, some may want to argue that the article isn’t real and I did a brief look over the internet about it, but that’s not what this post is about.  The actual thoughts that come to mind even more are related to how awful it would be to know someone or be that someone in this article.  Strangely enough, I mentioned this article to my co-workers on the same day and one of them right away said that she knew a guy that this happened to.  Back in the day, she knew an accountant who had passed away at his desk and no one noticed for two days.  Two damn days.  So, even if the article isn’t real, her story is and I felt sorry for this old acquaintance of hers.

Right away, seeing and hearing stories like this might make you assess your life and what you’re doing with it.  Am I happy with the work I do?  Do I work too much over-time?  Am I getting enough time to spend with friends and family?  So, many questions came to mind almost instantly.  And let’s just say that the general consensus is no… no I am not spending enough time doing what I actually love.  This article has been like a slap in the face and as I look around I realize I am spending less and less time doing what I love and I am not exactly sure why.  Of course, work is work and we have to do it to pay the bills, but is there opportunity to make that work more enjoyable?  Do we actually need to put in lots of over-time?  How can we figure out what we really want to do for a career and how can we get there? Tons of questions to think about, I know.  But, it has to be done.  I’ve lost track of who I am where I want to be, so it’s time to get back to these basic questions and focus on some real goals.  This post where I wrote my answers to the 11 questions we should be asking ourselves is a great place to start.  The answers are real and may even lead me back on track.  I know that I need it… do you?

I know I haven’t been posting very much lately readers.  This is part of what I am talking about.  Working too much, losing focus of where I want to be, and spending time on things that aren’t my passion – that’s where I’ve been.  And, I need to come back.  This yogi needs to come back here… back to the writing… and most certainly back to the yoga that I love.  This girl always carries a journal, got a new mediation book, and the sun is starting to shine again – yep, it’s time to get back to basics and figure out what drives me again.  I’m realizing it has to be done, it is necessary – I want to live life to the fullest and not be a sad story in an article wondering what life could have been.  Let’s do this!  ॐ

It might be that spring is in the air, but are you having similar thoughts as these? Why or why not?

Reflecting on Power of Movement…

Last week I had the distinct pleasure to take part in another awesome Power of Movement event in Calgary. Some of you may not be aware that I joined this fundraiser last year by raising a few dollars, volunteering a little bit of my time, and participating on event day. This year I took on a few more duties to help out the fantastic Kim McNeil by becoming a POM ambassador, volunteering my time, blogging and tweeting, and raising funds for this great cause. Let me just say it was an awesome experience and I am already looking forward to next year!

If you’re wondering, Power of Movement is a national yoga fundraiser to raise awareness and funds for arthritis and autoimmune disease research. I got involved after meeting Kim McNeil and learning of her passion for this cause and also because I acknowledge that we all know someone who has arthritis in some form. This cause also felt close to home due to the fact that I deal with chronic pain everyday and use yoga to help manage pain and stiffness without medications. Not that I believe chronic pain and arthritis are the same thing, but there can be similar limitations and a need to try and manage without prescriptions (unless completely necessary).

This year’s event was really fun and a great success with increased numbers, which means were are reaching out more and more to those in this city about both yoga and arthritis awareness. We had great guests with us – Yelp Calgary, two Calgary Stampeders players, three Outrider gals, Omega Massage & Wellness, Spa Lady and more! The atmosphere was one of community and fun and you really can’t ask for more on a Sunday morning. I got to participate in the yoga class with a couple of friends, who were very nice to listen to my rambling that morning, and in the end, we all felt good for a job well done. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it? We feel good raising funds and getting the word out there, but that feeling of community and doing good with your friends is amazing – I guess it’s why we keep doing it!

For this gal, it feels pretty special to be involved with a cause that incorporates my love of yoga. I ‘preach’ yoga to someone almost everyday and tell them how it has helped me deal with my chronic pain. I love that feeling of sharing yoga with anyone, but especially those that can really benefit from pain relief as a result of an injury or ailment. I haven’t seen the clip, but I was interviewed for a local TV channel at the event and I can tell you that the reporter asked some intense questions. I felt challenged, but I also felt that it was my opportunity to be honest and share why I started yoga with whoever may end up watching the clip. Hopefully with that small clip I can reach out to just one person to finally give yoga a try. I guess sometimes that is my aim with this blog…. if I can help or reach out to someone, than my job is being done.

Attached are some great pics taken by the awesome POM photographer, David Blaine of Voyager Photography. He really captured the event well (check him out if you’re in Calgary!), lots of beautiful shots of everyone enjoying their yoga practice. Thank you again to everyone that took part and big thanks to Kim McNeil for giving me the opportunity to be part of something awesome!  ॐ

You can check out more of his photos from the event on the Power Of Movement Facebook page in the albums under ‘Calgary’.  

Do you volunteer for a cause that makes you feel great while helping others?