Halfway there...

Wow, I just realized that I'm halfway through my thirty day challenge!

15 Classes! Woot! Woot!

However, class today was actually one of my worst classes. I felt like I had I no concentration and fell out of almost every pose in the standing series, especially anything on one leg and I even managed to fall out of some of the floor series which is really, pretty incredible because you are already on the ground. Maybe I should I clarify what "falling out" means - it doesn't necessarily mean that you fall down (although that did happen once in standing bow!) but that you leave a posture early for whatever reason)

I'm hoping that I have an increased attention/concentration span for tomorrows class. Also, I don't really want to look like a fool in front of all the new yogis coming tomorrow to "Free Day" It's Valentine's day and you get to bring someone you love for free.

Two Weeks - I'd rather be in Acapulco!

Quote of the day: Motion is the Lotion for your joints. - David

Ok, so for those of you who think I'm superstitiously avoiding number 13, it's not true, yes I DID do a class yesterday, but I did completely forget to blog about it. Which is a surprise actually because it was really a turn around class as far as the stiffness I've been experiencing in my hips. It really started to release yesterday and more-so today. I'm back on track to increase of flexibility, but with the added bonus of more correct form. Because I was experiencing a really deep, painful at some points, stiffness in my hips I had to really start focusing on the posture and correctness more which has totally improved my overall practice.

Tonight's class was actually the first class that I've been able to do with my sister since we started this 30 day challenge together. It was great to be able to practice together and the class was a great one. It was small enough so it wasn't crazy hot and the instructor, David, was pulling some hilarious one-liners. It was all I could do to not start busting in the middle of class and at one point I definitely did and Diana did too and then the whole class was laughing...oops! He was using this analogy. If you ride a bike for 90 minutes and stretch for 5 min before and after, then you are slowing going to start increasing tension in your hamstrings, and then your back, and your traps, and then you'll get migraines, and you won't be able to tie your shoes, and then not be able to zip up your pants, and then eventually you just won't be able to move at all...Motion is the Lotion for your joints.
(Maybe you had to be there, but when he finally got to not being able to move I lost it, it's just so ridiculous...but there is truth there too I suppose)

There were quite a few other witty remarks made, some poking a bit of fun at one of the other teachers, then at the end he was saying how Peter (one of the other instructors) did his training in Acapulco and it was actually hotter outside the room than inside, so....

"It could be worse, you could be in Acapulco!"

Two-Sixths

New favourite pose! Well actually it's not that new, it's one that I've really been working hard on the past few months. The pose is called Bow Pose. Now that picture is a bit insane, I'm not quite their yet...but I'm working on it! I love it thought and lately I've been get this really fantastic "burn" in my quads.

In this posture, you can't rely on gravity to help your back curve and push your legs up. So you really have rely on your legs and butt muscles to kick up there. You need to let your arms be pulled back so you can't use your arm muscles at all and ideally you must keep your knees, legs and feet no more than six inches apart. I love the process of breathing through it and on every exhale getting just a little bit deeper.

Haaaaaaaaaaaa (*sigh of bliss) :)

Number 11

What a peaceful class.

Tonight's class was quite small (maybe 20?), so quite a bit less humid, still hot, but not unbearable, a really good deep heat, it was very relaxing.

I actually went to class tonight thinking: "Okay, I'm a little sore, so maybe I'll just back off things a bit." But you know, it's funny, as soon as I get in the room and get into the first breathing exercise "Pranayama - Deep Breathing"(Inhale and Exhale) I don't really want to slack off anymore. I want to push till I feel that deep stretch.

It just feels right.

One-third Complete!

So from what I'm told day 10 is the hump you have to get over doing a thirty day challenge, so that's either today (since it's ten classes) or tomorrow will be ten days, so we'll see which class is harder...

When I first started doing Bikram Yoga last winter I did some reading about the it's history and found a very interesting tidbit of information that I related very personally to. At the age of thirteen, Bikram won the National India Yoga Championship and was undefeated for the following three years retiring as the undisputed All-India National Yoga Champion. But here is the interesting part:

At seventeen, an injury to his knee during a weight-lifting accident brought the prediction from leading European doctors that he would never walk again. Not accepting their pronouncement, he had himself carried back to Bishnu Ghosh's school [where he practiced yoga], for he knew that if anyone could help to heal his knee, it was his teacher. Six months later, his knee had totally recovered. Ghosh was a celebrated physical culturist and the first to scientifically document Yoga's ability to cure chronic physical ailments and heal the body.

Having broke both of my knees, this story is very encouraging. Obviously I can walk and I don't have pain in my knees all the time, but since breaking them walking down hill, deep knee bends, jumping down from things, etc. are always moments when I experience some sort of pain. I always thought that would just be life, but maybe not...

It's funny how simply changing your mind about something can change it in actuality as well. We all grow up being told that sitting down on the floor with your knees out to the side is bad for you, but according to this style of yoga a pose like Fixed Firm Pose is one of the most healing postures for knees...interesting.

9 of 30

If I could tell the world one thing about yoga, it would be to challenge the belief that yoga is only for people who are flexible. It doesn't matter how flexible you are as long as your intent is right. If you are trying to do it the right way then you are getting just as much benefit as the person in the front who can turn themselves into a pretzel.

I was feeling tired today and had to fight not to give up at the end of a posture. Sometimes I won the fight, and sometimes my mind did and I left a posture early. I always have this sense of defeat when that happens; even when it's only a couple seconds, maybe I could've just taken one more breath and lasted for the full time, but instead I let myself come down. Yoga is just as much of a mental challenge as it is physical. One of the hardest poses to master mentally is Savasana or "Corpse" pose. You go into this pose for two minutes between the standing and floor series and for 20sec between each posture on the floor. The idea is to lie still and concentrate on nothing, or just one thing, your breath. Ideally the whole class is geared to be 90 minutes of awake meditation, and this is one of the core postures in which to practice that. But it's hard not to think about that piece of hair on your face, or the sweat sliding down somewhere, you want to wipe it away, but that would be the equivalent of falling out of the pose, so you try to breathe past it and just lie still, because it is in savasana that the healing happens and the blood is allowed to flow back freely through your body.

One Week - 8th Class

I was definitely a little more tired than usual waking up this morning and in general I'm starting to feel some overall stiffness, especially in my hips actually, which is good I think because it has always been really hard for me to stretch or work into my hips/hip flexors because they're pretty flexible in the grand scheme of things. So hopefully the stiffness just means that I'm working hard and not improperly.

Ida taught my class again today. There were lot of other instructors taking the class as well. I always think it is interesting to watch instructors as they go through they're own classes. It's really leveling to know that everyone is doing the same class, the same postures, in the same heat, for the same time. So even people who've been practising for years and years are still doing the same 26 postures. Ida mentioned today that a guy (one of the instructors) finally yesterday (and again today), after SIX YEARS of practice, saw the top of his mat behind him while doing Camel Pose I couldn't even imagine (as I was looking at my hands grabbing onto my heels) the determination it would take to come back day after day, year after year, and not see the improvement that I wanted. I would get so frustrated!

As much as I love yoga, I'm glad (at least for now) that it has a season in my year. I can only practice for 4 months of the year, because I'm on the water for the other 8. It's an intense 4 months and feels so good, and as much as I notice how much I stiffen up in March when I stop, I can then look forward to going back again in November.

Class 6 AND 7!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, two classes in one day, actually two classes back to back, phew....

So I came to the realization a few days ago that towards the end of the month there are two days when I will not be able to attend any yoga classes. One due to the AGM for SALTS! (p.s. everyone come! or at least come for after; we will having the premier for the Pacific Odyssey documentary) and the next night I'm going to be cooking for Street Cafe.

In any case, it means that two days this month I need to double up my classes, so I got myself all geared up yesterday to do two classes in a row. I have done two classes in a day before but they were very spread apart (6am and 745pm) so this was a new kind of challenge and I figured it would be a good time to try because I had Michelle and Alysson were meeting me for the second class so there'd be some people there to push me a bit.

Okay, so first class: Great, a little on the warmer side. After my first class I wasn't sure if I had made a smart decision to stay and do another, but once I got out into the cooler air I perked right up again. So I drank about half a litre of apple juice and a good liter of water and I was geared up to go again half an hour later.

Second class: I was tired! But I was excited to have Ida Ripley teaching the class (she was the silver medalist in the Hatha Yoga Championships); I have never had her as a teacher but have practiced in the same class as her before and she is quite inspiring to watch. She was a great teacher and good at pushing me when I was feeling tired and weak. Her repetitive line throughout the class was "Don't give up on yourself." I could especially feel it in my arms in the standing series. It was hard to even hold my arms above me head. I pushed through quite a bit, but had to take a knee a couple times. Once we hit the floor thought I felt great. You know how during a long run you can get a "runner's high" and you feel like you can go forever? Well this was like a yoga high, it was a great way to finish the second half of the class and awesome to have some friends there doing it with me. Plus! Since it was a Karma Class all the proceeds from the class went to Haiti, so doing good for yourself and globally at the same time, is there a better combo? ;)

A Sixth of the Way

A sixth of the way through and still going strong. It is pretty amazing what the body can do if you let your mind get out of the way and just breathe. I am a fairly flexible person, but I have my limits and it's always a challenge to breathe beyond them and let my body rather than my mind tell me when I'm going too far. I had a great breakthrough during Half Moon Pose tonight. I have slowly been realizing how much the side bends prepare you for the backward bend. It's one of the first poses in the class so you feel like you are not warmed up enough to do it, but tonight on the second backward bend I could see my mat about a foot and a half behind me and it felt like I was able to release all this tension in my back and just hang out back there rather than restraining myself from being able to bend backwards. It was such a great feeling to let my body decide how far it was able to go rather than being scared and have my mind holding me back.

I mentioned that I talked my sister into doing this challenge with me (despite the fact that she had only done five classes prior to starting the challenge). Well, I asked my sister how her thirty day challenge was going and she said "Good I think, it kinda feels like I'm still dreaming..." So I guess that means it's going well?? I know what she means though, the thought of starting this challenge seemed really overwhelming, but in reality it's just taking it one day at a time. You just go to class. One day. Then the next one day. I definitely thought it would feel like it was taking up a lot more of my time that it is.

4/30

Good class, didn't start out fantastic. I was feeling a little dehydrated on my way to the studio, but I guess I drank enough today cause I didn't get any of the usual signs except for a brief dizzy spell after losing my balance during the second set of Standing Bow Pulling Pose


This is actually a poor picture of standing bow, I was trying not to fall off that cement block at the time so I didn't dare go down all the way, this is a better picture.
This has from the beginning been one of my favourite poses. In the start I loved it because it reminded me of dancing and it felt "easier." I could from the beginning lift my leg quite high, but as I have progressed in my practice I have begun to see more and more things that I was initially doing wrong. The biggest thing for me is keeping my hips square and not letting one come up higher than the other as you would as a dancer. Teachers, on more than one occasion, have asked if I had dance training, and I imagine it is mostly due to my form in this pose.
Someone once asked me if it [Bikram Yoga] ever gets easier... My answer was this: yes it's challenging and no it never gets easier. But that is because it shouldn't. You should always be working just as hard to perfect your form and increase the depth of your pose. When your strength and flexibility increases, it just means that you have to continue to try harder more correctly every class. What does get easier is the mental challenge. At first its so hot, and that's all you can think about, but once you can get over that, it's bliss. As I've been told:

"It's not HOT, You're HOT!"

Day 3

Wow, HOT!!! so whereas last nights class felt cool, this one was one the warmer side of the scale. Regardless, still a good one class though.
On an entirely different topic, I have one written exam left in the process of getting my 150T Ticket, and that exam is tomorrow...so I shall attempt to motivate myself to study for this mostly open book exam. This is the only one that has been open book and I have been finding myself procrastinating (i.e. tonight's blog entry) more often than actually studying.
Apparently 2 x 30 sec of "half tortoise" pose is like getting 8 hours of sleep! (not sure I'm buying that one) but maybe "half tortoise"along with sending blood to my brain and re-energizing my brain cells will increase my intelligence and memory retention... (I'm gonna have to give myself a major kick in the but it I don't pass this one!)

Day 2

I love hot yoga. It's been decided. Well actually it was decided pretty much the first time I stepped into the room. It felt like the tropics all over again, the warmth is so relaxing. Tonight's class was actually cool by comparison, at least that's what I felt, but in all honesty where one person feels a class is cool another will tell you that it was the hottest class they've ever taken! Every class is different depending on how you treated your body that day. Did you drink enough water? What and when did you eat? Did you sleep well the night before? etc...
The water thing is one of the biggest challenges outside of the room. If you are dehydrated before you get into the studio then good luck staying upright for the class. I've been to class before when I haven't had enough to drink during the day and I've gotten so dizzy I can't stand up for all the poses, or I get crazy pounding headaches when we are doing postures on the floor when I bring my head up from being down below my heart. It's bad. Drink enough water everyone! (even if you aren't doing hot yoga everyday)

30 Day Challenge

Okay, so call me insane, but I have willingly agreed, under no coercion to do 30 Bikram (Hot) Yoga classes in 30 days.

Here are the stats:
Temperature: The room is 105 degrees Fahrenheit (that's about 40 degrees Celsius) It's hot, think Tropical Heat for those who have experience that.
Humidity: usually somewhere between 40% and 50% - although it varies with the number of students (as does the temperature for that matter) more students = more heat = more sweat = more humidity (that's kinda gross when you think about it....)
Postures: There are 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises done in the same order every class, each posture preparing you for the next one in the series. The first half of the class is standing, and the second half is done on the floor.
Time: 90 minutes every time

Okay so why am I doing this? Well...
1/ I love hot yoga.
2/ I'm paying for a membership, might as well get my money's worth
3/ It's a huge challenge, but one that I think I can complete. The hardest part won't be going to class, it'll be finding the time to go to the classes. With my current word schedule I can't make a morning class, which means that every day after work I will be going to the yoga studio.
4/ It feels amazing
5/ I get to put a sticker beside my name every day!

p.s. Did I mention I coerced my sister into taking this insanity on with me???

Okay, so here is challenge part two. To try and write every day about how the challenge is going. Today at the studio one of the instructors said to my sister (who is fairly new to bikram yoga) "Don't worry, you should be fine after the first ten days." Ten? Really? makes me nervous.

Link to my studio: Bikram Yoga Saanich

Ode to my Fireplace

Due to family persistence I will continue to update, inconsistently, for the time being.

I would like to present a special thank you to my fireplace for the extra service it rendered during a very cold week in November when my furnace decided to commit suicide.

Since being in this house I have continually been surprised by the number of DIY projects where the "handyman" definitely didn't know how to do it themselves... The most recent in these findings was after my furnace quite working and both the upstairs and my suite were plunged into the cool temperatures of around 12-15 degrees...brrrr. I called my trusty furnace repairman, who helped me last year when my thermostat wasn't working properly, to take a look. He found a very jery-rigged system where the spring that opens the furnace has broken and so they had set up a little piece of copper pipe to hold the furnace continually open...this means that basically the furnace is always powered, not just when I tell it to be. So then it overheated part of the control panel and basically killed itself to prevent further overheating of the electrics.
Well $400 later I can now walk into my home after work and not have to go old school lighting a fire to keep myself from freezing! Although I would like to say that my little fireplace managed to boost the temperature quite quickly from around 14 to 20 last night in about an hour. And it was pretty nice to have an excuse to light a fire every evening, and wonderful to sit in front of with a nice cup of tea. The worst part in the whole ordeal was waking up to a cold house and knowing it wasn't going to heat up all day!

Wow, two posts in a week! That leaves me a solid amount of time before I need to feel guilt for not posting...

I Give up.

O.K.

So I'm not usually one to give up on things, actually I don't ever do it really, however, I am giving up the blog... "Inconsistently Updated" has turned into never updated, and it all gets linked and forwarded to my facebook page anyways so why have double? At least that's what I figure. So for anyone who actually checked in here (mom) I'm sorry and you'll just have to turn into a facebook stalker like the rest of the world.

Take Care,
Sarah.

Flu...

Somebody please explain to me how a person can have crazy chills and sweats and still not have a fever!!?

Went into the walk in clinic today and basically got told off for daring to infect the rest of the world...apparently I should have gone to emergency, waited for who knows how long, and infected all the already weakened immune systems there instead.

Turns out I have a flu (NOT swine flu) but it still sucks, and the doctor says I'm contagious for a least a week, so no work all week... If anyone has any brilliant ideas to keep me entertained when I'm not sleeping (which is most of the time) please pass them on!

Results

Dinner was really good. About 15 people in total, still some leftovers, but everyone had more than enough to make them burst, plus pumpkin chiffon pie on top...

Turkey Dinner Number 2

Well I have officially been a "hone-owmer" for a full year (as of Aug.28 actually) and this is now my second turkey dinner to be cooked in this place. I was looking back over the year's worth of renovations and work and was pretty happy with the list that I got done:

1. I deep cleaned a very dirty, dusty, grimy, and overall fairly filthy house that was full of garbage... until it shined!
2. Emptied a yard full of everything from a fooze-ball table to portable car park tents, to scrap wood, to the kitchen sink....with a few trips to the dump/recycle with my handy honda civic.
3. Re-painted: 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, a kitchen, and a couple halls
4. Re-finished (scraped, sanded, stained, and varnished) all the wood trim in my bedroom (a VERY dusty procedure)
5. Sewed a set of curtains
6. Had the outside of the house painted
7. Replaced the hot-water heater
8. Framed in, fixed electrical, dry-walled, puttied, puttied and puttied some more, and painted my now beautiful and clean laundry room
9. Plumbed in a functioning laundry room sink
and
10. Somehow managed to figure out a little of what is going on in my yard, realize I have blackberries now, and got my compost bucket up and running.

Among a myriad of smaller projects like pillows and bedspreads.

I've realized that I love owning my own home, it's like having a permanent and never ending project that you can (mostly) choose to work at on your own pace. It feels fulfilling to actually be putting my money towards something, rather than paying someone else's mortgage. The house even managed to hold its own in the downturn of this economy. Fingers are crossed that year two goes by smoothly and the market values start to head back uphill.

As for that second turkey dinner. I'll let you know tomorrow...

In which the ninja suit is resurfaced and apple pies get baked...

Well folks, September is fully upon us (actually it's almost October!)with the first day of fall and the wind has turned cold again so the ninja suit (aka ice breaker base layer) has made a reappearance, although the bottoms have yet to resurface... but soon.

This week was marked by the baking of about 10 apple pies! It is a pretty cool process to be able to sail to the island, pick the apples, row them back to the boat where they are peeled, cut and coated with sugar and then baked into delicious apple pies (dough from scratch of course!). We had an all girls school on this week and they definitely got into the idea of pie making and we were pretty enthused as well when the last night was marked by a variety of tasty apple pies and turnovers and even a "sack of gold." I like getting my hands into the galley every once in a while and Krystle graciously let me get myself covered in flour to head up the production line, although somehow I managed to escape peeling a single apple...thank you Tom Sawyer.

Three trips left, and looking forward to the change of pace that will come with the finale of this wonderful season.
Back out tomorrow, wish me dry and sunny skies, and fair winds of course!

Back to Victoria

There are a few clues that summer on the boats has come to a close:
1 - The mean outside temperature has lowered to a point that the aft-cabin stove is lit more often than not.
2 - I wore shoes, not Chacos, for an entire day.
3 - I removed all swim suits and board shorts from my bunk as there is little to no chance that I will be going in the water again.
4 - My bunk is looking extra cozy these days and I've been spending a little more time there as of late...
5 - Coffee is being consumed at a higher rate as the year is catching up with me.
6 - My blog is being updated again...

I have not touched this much in the past few months, but maybe with the coming of September and freshness of fall I will be inspired to write again. September with the start of school has always seemed to have a fresh start feeling to it, despite the fact that I have not started anything new in September for about five years now. In fact for the last five years September has symbolized the beginning of the closure of our sailing season. The start of fall sailing is the beginning of a very quick end to what always seems like a year gone by too fast.