Well, it is a good thing that I am only blogging for myself...as you can see, it is not something I am consistent with. I am consistent with yoga though. I still practice with Rodney Yee as soon as my feet hit the floor in the morning and I still absolutely love, love this tape(and yes it is a tape..VHS..that's for my hubby who thinks it is funny that I am still calling things tapes and albums). I still practice at the Amana Institute with Stephen, who is wonderful. My Pilates Teacher is on a break for August but we will start back up the first week of September 2-3 times a week and I am going to try to fit some Belly Dancing Classes in again, but it depends on scheduling. I over comitted myself earlier this year and I don't want to do that again...I want to enjoy it all. It is a 45-60 minute commute each way to attend the Dance classes and a 30-40 minute commute each way for yoga, pilates and the gym...so I can't sign up for every night of the week like I was earlier. I love the BD classes but my focus is Yoga Dance, so I have remember not to get too stressed out with the BD moves and choreography,etc. My daughter really liked the classes and seeing as she is going to be going to a local University, we are going to try to get to BD class together. I love going with her, it is so much more fun....she is fun to do things with and when the classes were on Saturdays, we could go out for lunch or shopping after.
The big news is....I am registered for September 30th for my Yoga Dance Teacher Training that I have been wanting to do for two years now. I am so excited, and a little nervous but I can't wait to meet these people and dance with them. I am on Facebook with them and when I need a little boost all I have to do is go on and read some of their posts and it makes my heart smile....these are very special people and I can't wait to be a part of them. The Teacher..Megha and the GM..Irena are amazing and I feel like I know them already and I haven't even met them.
Yoga Dancer
"Free to be Me"
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Got Rhythm??
Well, I guess we will see. I am signed up for a Drum Workshop on Saturday night and I am both excited and nervous. I only hope that there are other beginners that are really beginners and not people that just need a refresher. I had purchased a Native Hand Drum at Eagles Nest last year and have no idea how to play it. I arrived home with this $120 drum and my oldest son immediately picked it up and started pounding out a tune...which was great but intimidated me right off the bat. I thought to myself..oh, oh, I guess I have no natural rhythm at all. It has been pretty well hanging on my bedroom wall since then taunting me. I have taken it down a couple of times when no one was home and tried to find the drummer in me but I need some type of instruction. Hopefully, I will be able to at least keep a good beat after this. I would love to be able to get comfortable enough with it, that I could incorporate it into my Yoga Dance Class when I get going. I actually think I will take it with me on the training in the fall and figure out which Chakra Dance I can use it for. My favorite part of the Goddess to the Core Bootcamp was the smudging ceremony in the morning. Sierra would play the hand drum and we all would chant "Mother, I feel you under my feet, Mother, I feel your heart beat" while Wendy & Jamie did the smudging and it was very spiritual and beautiful. I decided then & there that I wanted to be able to do this. I wanted to be able to drum & chant and to feel as comfortable and beautiful and free as Sierra appeared to be to me in this moment. In my "Quest for Real", this was the highlight of my workshop. Words to describe my "Quest for Real"....
natural, earthy, pure, free, raw, true, honest. I think I'd better save "Quest for Real" for a post all on it's own.
natural, earthy, pure, free, raw, true, honest. I think I'd better save "Quest for Real" for a post all on it's own.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
...Spring is Here!!
Time for Renewal, Refresh &Regrowth!!
A long time since last post and a lot has happened since last July...some great stuff and some not so great stuff. Let's get the sensitive stuff out there right away....my father was diagnosed with a large tumour in his bowel last October and it is so big they can not operate. He spent a month in the hospital and is home now with my Mom looking after him. He is on chemo pills and just this week started radiation to try to shrink it some. He is such a strong, handsome man it has been really hard watching him suffering and wasting away. Every family goes through it's struggles and we have been one lucky family right up to now, so hopefully he can continue on with some quality of life for a while but I do not want to selfishly watch him suffer and waste away to nothing, so when God and him are ready...I will deal with it. Now to tie that into this blog called Yoga Dancer, here is the deal. Dad decided that he would like to give his children a gift while he can still enjoy their reaction, so in February he gave both my brothers and myself a $5,000 cheque each to do whatever we wanted to do with it. Well, that doesn't happen very often...to me anyway. My father and my mother have both worked very hard all their lives for anything that they have, so I know how hard Dad had worked and made many sacrificies himself to save that much, so it makes it even that much more special to us. Think about what it would be like if someone gave you a cheque and told you that it was just for you to do what ever you wanted to do with it...no strings attached. My first reaction was to put it on a credit card bill or towards my son's tuition or my other son's student loan or a hundred other good causes but then I really thought about it....what would be more fitting than taking Dad's gift and spending it on the Yoga Dance Teacher Training. He is giving me the opportunity to do what I have wanted to do for the last couple of years and better still...every time I dance, I will be thinking of him...perfect!! My youngest graduates High School in June of this year and is off to University in the fall, so I am planning on registering for the Fall training at Kripalu. I just have to figure out how to get there and back and I'm all set. The Toronto training which I was planning on attending didn't work out because the dates run into the time that my daughter would be moving to University for her first year and I have to be there. I was there for my both of my boys move to Campus so there is no way I would miss my daughter's move. It didn't work out for TO but I am actually more excited to be going to Kripalu because I fell in love with the place when we were there on the Goddess Bootcamp. Kripalu is where I was introduced to YogaDance and I really wanted to take the training where I was totally immersed in it for the whole time...no outside world to deal with....Kripalu is the perfect place.
To bring this up to date and go forward, I am still taking Belly Dance classes at Natural Moves Yoga and Belly Dance School. Actually my daughter and I are still taking 2 hours of classes on Monday nights. My sister-in-law and neice decided last year that it was not for them, so they stopped going but I was so happy that my daughter really likes it and wanted to stick with it. I had to give up the Tribal as the schedule just didn't mash with mine and I had too much on my plate and was starting to not enjoy it. My whole point of this is to enjoy things, to feel good and when it started stressing me out I knew I had to make a change. I think I just got so excited about things, I wanted try everything. I needed to take a step back and focus on what I wanted.....and that is to be a Yoga Dancer.
I am still doing yoga every morning and going to Amana Institute for classes. I am still going to Pilates at Rothesay Ballet School and although I can't attend the Monday class because of Dance, I go on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. I am still trying to get to the gym..Goodlife..at least 2-3 noon hours a week for either the weight circuit or one of the machines. I am going to step things up once this long Easter Weekend of eating chocolate and great meals is over. I am going to put a push on to feel really good by my May 23rd Birthday. The one thing I am going to really focus on is portion control. I am not going to deny myself anything as I don't believe that works...not for me anyway.
Here are five short term goals:
1- Yoga every day & Continue with other work outs, but work out like you mean it.....feel it!!
2- Portion Control - don't deny yourself but be aware of what you are putting in your mouth and the amount.
3- Be honest - if you are picking at the meal as you are cooking it, be aware of how much.
4- Practice dance outside of class- memorize the choreography for both the Pot Dance & Nawal's Dance.
5- Try to get to at least one Body Flow class at Goodlife each week.
A long time since last post and a lot has happened since last July...some great stuff and some not so great stuff. Let's get the sensitive stuff out there right away....my father was diagnosed with a large tumour in his bowel last October and it is so big they can not operate. He spent a month in the hospital and is home now with my Mom looking after him. He is on chemo pills and just this week started radiation to try to shrink it some. He is such a strong, handsome man it has been really hard watching him suffering and wasting away. Every family goes through it's struggles and we have been one lucky family right up to now, so hopefully he can continue on with some quality of life for a while but I do not want to selfishly watch him suffer and waste away to nothing, so when God and him are ready...I will deal with it. Now to tie that into this blog called Yoga Dancer, here is the deal. Dad decided that he would like to give his children a gift while he can still enjoy their reaction, so in February he gave both my brothers and myself a $5,000 cheque each to do whatever we wanted to do with it. Well, that doesn't happen very often...to me anyway. My father and my mother have both worked very hard all their lives for anything that they have, so I know how hard Dad had worked and made many sacrificies himself to save that much, so it makes it even that much more special to us. Think about what it would be like if someone gave you a cheque and told you that it was just for you to do what ever you wanted to do with it...no strings attached. My first reaction was to put it on a credit card bill or towards my son's tuition or my other son's student loan or a hundred other good causes but then I really thought about it....what would be more fitting than taking Dad's gift and spending it on the Yoga Dance Teacher Training. He is giving me the opportunity to do what I have wanted to do for the last couple of years and better still...every time I dance, I will be thinking of him...perfect!! My youngest graduates High School in June of this year and is off to University in the fall, so I am planning on registering for the Fall training at Kripalu. I just have to figure out how to get there and back and I'm all set. The Toronto training which I was planning on attending didn't work out because the dates run into the time that my daughter would be moving to University for her first year and I have to be there. I was there for my both of my boys move to Campus so there is no way I would miss my daughter's move. It didn't work out for TO but I am actually more excited to be going to Kripalu because I fell in love with the place when we were there on the Goddess Bootcamp. Kripalu is where I was introduced to YogaDance and I really wanted to take the training where I was totally immersed in it for the whole time...no outside world to deal with....Kripalu is the perfect place.
To bring this up to date and go forward, I am still taking Belly Dance classes at Natural Moves Yoga and Belly Dance School. Actually my daughter and I are still taking 2 hours of classes on Monday nights. My sister-in-law and neice decided last year that it was not for them, so they stopped going but I was so happy that my daughter really likes it and wanted to stick with it. I had to give up the Tribal as the schedule just didn't mash with mine and I had too much on my plate and was starting to not enjoy it. My whole point of this is to enjoy things, to feel good and when it started stressing me out I knew I had to make a change. I think I just got so excited about things, I wanted try everything. I needed to take a step back and focus on what I wanted.....and that is to be a Yoga Dancer.
I am still doing yoga every morning and going to Amana Institute for classes. I am still going to Pilates at Rothesay Ballet School and although I can't attend the Monday class because of Dance, I go on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. I am still trying to get to the gym..Goodlife..at least 2-3 noon hours a week for either the weight circuit or one of the machines. I am going to step things up once this long Easter Weekend of eating chocolate and great meals is over. I am going to put a push on to feel really good by my May 23rd Birthday. The one thing I am going to really focus on is portion control. I am not going to deny myself anything as I don't believe that works...not for me anyway.
Here are five short term goals:
1- Yoga every day & Continue with other work outs, but work out like you mean it.....feel it!!
2- Portion Control - don't deny yourself but be aware of what you are putting in your mouth and the amount.
3- Be honest - if you are picking at the meal as you are cooking it, be aware of how much.
4- Practice dance outside of class- memorize the choreography for both the Pot Dance & Nawal's Dance.
5- Try to get to at least one Body Flow class at Goodlife each week.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
This is MY LIFE
My boss sent me an email today with The Holstee Manifesto on it and it really says it all about life. I am not sure about copyrights, etc. so I am reluctant to copy the whole thing to my blog but I would encourage anyone to check it out on http://www.holstee.com/. It starts out with "This is your LIFE" and then reminds us that we are responsible for our own happiness and it doesn't have to be as hard or as complicated as we tend to make it.
"Do what you love and do it OFTEN"..how simple is that. We get so caught up in the things that others want us to do or what the community/society thinks we should do that we forget that it is all about choices, and ultimately we choose for ourselves. Of course we find ourselves in situations where we are under someone else's power and sometimes that is okay, but we forget that in the end we can choose to or choose not to. I constantly hear people whining about what they have to do, me included..but really why can't we do what we want? What is holding us back? Sure most of us have commitments, family, financial, professional but if you can figure out what it is you want (and sometimes that is the hardest part) why can't you work towards it. That is what I am doing right now. I know I want to be a Yoga Dance Teacher and although I am very impulsive and would have loved to take the training last year when I discovered it, it just didn't work out for me. It is really strange but I am anxious to do this but I am also content knowing that I will be doing this when the time is right for me. I am on the list for training in 2012, the first time the training is in Canada and am very excited to think I will be one of the graduates in the first Canadian Training session. There are Canadians already trained in this but the training has never been offered here before. I am so grateful and excited to be a part of this group. My youngest child graduates next year and I really have been a mom who wanted to be around my kids as much as possible, so I can't help but feel that it is working out perfectly for me. I am working towards it, practicing yoga daily, taking pilates and dance classes and reading books that the Instructor suggested, so I really feel like I am a part of it already. There honestly isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about it and feel it. Even with music...I am constantly hearing songs and wondering if it would be one for a Yoga Dance song. I finally have started a list of music that moves me and hopefully will move others too. I really can't explain the feeling that came over me from that one Yoga Dance class at Kripalu last year..it was an experience like I have never felt before. I felt so alive, joyful and free and you know what...I felt beautiful and you don't feel that way very often, or at least I didn't. I know that my sister-in-law and everyone else in that class that day felt the same thing as the energy and joy was just incredible. I have never participated in anything before where at the end you were hugging complete strangers and just sharing such love and joy. I was so happy that my sister-in-law experienced the same thing as it is something that we shared that was such complete bliss and so special.
"Do what you love and do it OFTEN"..how simple is that. We get so caught up in the things that others want us to do or what the community/society thinks we should do that we forget that it is all about choices, and ultimately we choose for ourselves. Of course we find ourselves in situations where we are under someone else's power and sometimes that is okay, but we forget that in the end we can choose to or choose not to. I constantly hear people whining about what they have to do, me included..but really why can't we do what we want? What is holding us back? Sure most of us have commitments, family, financial, professional but if you can figure out what it is you want (and sometimes that is the hardest part) why can't you work towards it. That is what I am doing right now. I know I want to be a Yoga Dance Teacher and although I am very impulsive and would have loved to take the training last year when I discovered it, it just didn't work out for me. It is really strange but I am anxious to do this but I am also content knowing that I will be doing this when the time is right for me. I am on the list for training in 2012, the first time the training is in Canada and am very excited to think I will be one of the graduates in the first Canadian Training session. There are Canadians already trained in this but the training has never been offered here before. I am so grateful and excited to be a part of this group. My youngest child graduates next year and I really have been a mom who wanted to be around my kids as much as possible, so I can't help but feel that it is working out perfectly for me. I am working towards it, practicing yoga daily, taking pilates and dance classes and reading books that the Instructor suggested, so I really feel like I am a part of it already. There honestly isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about it and feel it. Even with music...I am constantly hearing songs and wondering if it would be one for a Yoga Dance song. I finally have started a list of music that moves me and hopefully will move others too. I really can't explain the feeling that came over me from that one Yoga Dance class at Kripalu last year..it was an experience like I have never felt before. I felt so alive, joyful and free and you know what...I felt beautiful and you don't feel that way very often, or at least I didn't. I know that my sister-in-law and everyone else in that class that day felt the same thing as the energy and joy was just incredible. I have never participated in anything before where at the end you were hugging complete strangers and just sharing such love and joy. I was so happy that my sister-in-law experienced the same thing as it is something that we shared that was such complete bliss and so special.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Back to the Schedule, vacation is over for now.
Two weeks off, a trip to Montreal to see U2 with the fam and now back to work and back to my work out schedule. I actually only missed one scheduled class during vacation as we didn't leave for Montreal until Thursday am and were home late Monday night. My summer classes are on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, so the rest of the week I mix it up with different DVD's and always wake up to Rodney Yee's AM Yoga (my favorite).
I saw an interesting fact this morning when I was printing the Active Living Daily articles to post in the crew room at work.
The article was called "11 Activities for your Heart" and guess what # 5 was..DANCE
#5 Dance Every Day
Whether it's country dancing or ballroom, dancing burns 480 calories an hour, uses your muscles in new ways - and puts joy in your heart. Some Cardiologists say their patients who dance are the healthiest of them all. Try to go twice a month.
This just keeps getting better and better. It cements my thoughts that Yoga Dance is the ultimate workout routine. It combines the beauty of yoga with the joy of dance and is good for your muscles and your mind. When I first contacted the Let Your Yoga Dance Leader, Megha Buttenheim and asked if you needed to be a Yoga Teacher or a Dance Teacher to take this training, she said that I didn't need to be either but it would probably be a good idea to try a dance class or two until I can get to the LYYD training next year. Earlier this year I started taking Belly Dancing Lessons with my sister-in-law and our teacher is so beautiful when she dances...well, she is just beautiful anyway, but when she dances, something just takes over and I could watch her all day. We struggled a little with the choreography, so we joined the Beginners class again for the summer and our 17 year old daughters joined with us so Wednesday nights are a really fun outing together and I think the girls are having fun. I also joined Tribal Dance, with the same instructor and I love this. This actually was what I wanted to take but the instructor suggested taking Bellydance first to get some of the basic moves. I am determined to master some of these moves and although I am not a natural, I am really enjoying it. Hopefully my teacher will continue to be patient with me. She has been an absolute doll so far. She also teaches yoga and there is a 5:30 class both Monday and Wednesday's before my 7 pm dance classes, so I am trying to get to a couple of these. It is a little tough to get into town for 5:30 as I work outside the city, cross a ferry to get home and it is another ferry ride to get to the city. I did manage to get there a couple of times when I was on vacation and really enjoyed her classes, so I am trying to convince my daughter to attend the Wednesday 5:30 class before our Belly Dance class. Tuesdays are Pilates @ 6 and Restorative Yoga @ 7:30 which works out great and they seem to compliment each other. I'm not sure how the schedules are going to match up come fall but it has worked out perfectly for the summer.
I saw an interesting fact this morning when I was printing the Active Living Daily articles to post in the crew room at work.
The article was called "11 Activities for your Heart" and guess what # 5 was..DANCE
#5 Dance Every Day
Whether it's country dancing or ballroom, dancing burns 480 calories an hour, uses your muscles in new ways - and puts joy in your heart. Some Cardiologists say their patients who dance are the healthiest of them all. Try to go twice a month.
This just keeps getting better and better. It cements my thoughts that Yoga Dance is the ultimate workout routine. It combines the beauty of yoga with the joy of dance and is good for your muscles and your mind. When I first contacted the Let Your Yoga Dance Leader, Megha Buttenheim and asked if you needed to be a Yoga Teacher or a Dance Teacher to take this training, she said that I didn't need to be either but it would probably be a good idea to try a dance class or two until I can get to the LYYD training next year. Earlier this year I started taking Belly Dancing Lessons with my sister-in-law and our teacher is so beautiful when she dances...well, she is just beautiful anyway, but when she dances, something just takes over and I could watch her all day. We struggled a little with the choreography, so we joined the Beginners class again for the summer and our 17 year old daughters joined with us so Wednesday nights are a really fun outing together and I think the girls are having fun. I also joined Tribal Dance, with the same instructor and I love this. This actually was what I wanted to take but the instructor suggested taking Bellydance first to get some of the basic moves. I am determined to master some of these moves and although I am not a natural, I am really enjoying it. Hopefully my teacher will continue to be patient with me. She has been an absolute doll so far. She also teaches yoga and there is a 5:30 class both Monday and Wednesday's before my 7 pm dance classes, so I am trying to get to a couple of these. It is a little tough to get into town for 5:30 as I work outside the city, cross a ferry to get home and it is another ferry ride to get to the city. I did manage to get there a couple of times when I was on vacation and really enjoyed her classes, so I am trying to convince my daughter to attend the Wednesday 5:30 class before our Belly Dance class. Tuesdays are Pilates @ 6 and Restorative Yoga @ 7:30 which works out great and they seem to compliment each other. I'm not sure how the schedules are going to match up come fall but it has worked out perfectly for the summer.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Up til now
Okay, here it is..my very first post. I have been very slow at getting this started but to tell the truth I got a little freaked out at having my thoughts and feelings posted for everyone to see. After I created this, I realized that I am an intensely private person and am not comfortable with putting it all out there, so I have decided to keep this blog related to my journey of becoming a Certified Yoga Dance Teacher. I am not so much trying to get people to read my blog as I am just wanting a place to catalogue my journey for myself.
I attended an Introduction to Yoga 4 week course March 2010 and totally fell in love. When the 4 weeks were up, I could not find a yoga class in my area that would fit in to my schedule so I bought a couple of Rodney Yee Beginner tapes and started on my own. It is like a hunger, I just want to learn more, more, more. I have practiced every day for over a year now and there have been very few mornings that I get up and not do Rodney's AM yoga. It is a great way to start the day and now it is a habit and I miss it terribly if there is some reason I can not practice it. I have even typed up and laminated a little card with the poses on it that I can take with me when I am travelling. I call it my Yoga to Go card. I love the way I feel when I do yoga and I am sure it will be a part of my life forever. I have been semi athletic all my life...High School basketball, softball, aerobics...what ever the exercise fad of the year was. Yea, I had the Jane Fonda LP's, the Suzanne Somers Thighmaster, etc...man, we have come a long way. None of these things have ever made me feel like Yoga does..that's right I have to capitalize it, it means that much to me.
Well, that's start. My next post will take me through why I crave Yoga Dance, why I need to do this.
I attended an Introduction to Yoga 4 week course March 2010 and totally fell in love. When the 4 weeks were up, I could not find a yoga class in my area that would fit in to my schedule so I bought a couple of Rodney Yee Beginner tapes and started on my own. It is like a hunger, I just want to learn more, more, more. I have practiced every day for over a year now and there have been very few mornings that I get up and not do Rodney's AM yoga. It is a great way to start the day and now it is a habit and I miss it terribly if there is some reason I can not practice it. I have even typed up and laminated a little card with the poses on it that I can take with me when I am travelling. I call it my Yoga to Go card. I love the way I feel when I do yoga and I am sure it will be a part of my life forever. I have been semi athletic all my life...High School basketball, softball, aerobics...what ever the exercise fad of the year was. Yea, I had the Jane Fonda LP's, the Suzanne Somers Thighmaster, etc...man, we have come a long way. None of these things have ever made me feel like Yoga does..that's right I have to capitalize it, it means that much to me.
Well, that's start. My next post will take me through why I crave Yoga Dance, why I need to do this.
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