Ashtanga

This Saturday a friend and I went to the Ashtanga Yoga Shala's 1 year anniversary celebration. They had a free 2 hour class in the evening followed with mediation, chai and treats. We only stayed for the practice and the mediation but it was absolutely phenomenal. This was my first ever Ashtanga class and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I was familiar with most of the postures but not the sequence. From what I can tell there are two sequences in Ashtanga. The primary and secondary. In each one you do a specific sequence of poses in the same order every single time. It seems like once you know the sequence you would go into almost a moving mediation. You wouldn't have to think about what was coming next.

I have to say that it challenged me a lot more than the majority of classes I have gone to recently and I'm seriously considering buying a pass to the Shala. I have two more class passes I have received so I'll use those first just to make sure I really like it. The only down side is that the Shala is in downtown Halifax. I wish it was closer to my house!

Live In The Moment

If you know me you know I'm a planner. I have been planning my whole life ever since I realized I could dream and set goals for my future. Sure, these dreams have changed almost as many times as new moons but I have always had a destination of sorts.

Until recently.

Last month was a me month. As I've mentioned, my family and I went to the Dominican Republic for a vacation. If you ask me what we did on that vacation my response would be "absolutely nothing". Which is exactly what the doctor called for. I reveled (don't think this is a word? lol) in the time I had to just be me. Kind of reminds me of this post (could find the one I really wanted but this is a substitute) by my beautiful friend Lisa. Instead of having to get things done like reading, yoga, snorkeling, taking photos, I just enjoyed doing nothing. And I think that is the biggest thing I brought back with me from my vacation.

New Year's Day I decided to commit to a 30:30 challenge. Didn't happen. But you know what? I'm not sad about that. I listened to my body when it told me that I needed a break (no, it was not saying that it wanted to be lazy). And I'm ok with that. I'm sick of having so many expectations for myself. Sure, there are things I want to do in my life. A "bucket list" of sorts. But I am open about the possibilities, flexible with the outcome, as long as I am happy.

I have decided to live in the moment. I'm trying a lot harder now to not make plans. To go out with friends at the last minute. To listen to my intuition and my gut when it tells me to stay in my pj's all day. And I refuse to be guilty about that. Why? Because enjoying the life we have right now is 100 times better than waiting for the life we want tomorrow.

30:30 and Dalai Lama

30:30 is going good so far. I have only missed two days. I'm not beating myself up over it though because life happens. And it's in the past, there is nothing I can do to change it. All I can do is move forward. Tonight some girls from friend yoga and I are going to Halifax Yoga for Krista's Powerflow class. I'm really excited. I haven't been to a studio since October so it'll be a good change for me! I plan on getting the new student unlimited 10 day pass as it's only $20 and a drop in class is $14. That way I can go to lots of classes in the next week :)

On Friday I bought a daily calendar. The ones I've had before haven't been anything special but I really like the one I picked for this year. Every day there is a new quote from the Dalai Lama. I have decided to post them here for the remainder of the year. Out of the ones until today there is only one that I really liked:

Happiness comes through taming the mind; without taming the mind there is no way to be happy.

Today's quote though is:

The ten misdeeds include three physical activities - taking life, taking what is not given, and abusive sexual behavior; four verbal activities - lying, slander, harsh words and idle gossip; and three mental activities - covetousness, malice, and wrong view. Abandoning these ten is crucial if we want to achieve a fortunate rebirth.

2011 Goals

This post is a little late but oh well right? Tends to be a theme with me I think. Hahaha.

This year I have decided to make some goals focused more on myself than I think any year previously.

1-Practice yoga at least 3 times a week
2-Read 50 books (I've already read 1. To keep track of what I'm reading go to my GoodReads page)
3-Give myself more "me" time to just be. Not have to worry about my to do lists or yoga practice. Even if it's just sitting with a cup of tea and watching the sun come up or sun come down.

That being said I would like to do some other things this year but they aren't "goals" per say. One of them being 30 days of yoga, which I am doing right now. Started Jan 1st. I don't have any rules for it. As long as I get on my mat once a day I'm happy :) I would also like to make my own body butter and maybe some other body products. I'm doing a lot of research right now on what ingredients are good and bad for your body. I'm trying to go 100% natural, organic, fair trade, etc. Hopefully it won't cost too much and will be worth it :)

As for my yoga practice itself I have been feeling good. While in the Dominican (photos will be on my photography blog soon) I practiced yoga 4 out of the 6 days. Which made it 100% worth it to bring my mat with me. It was so nice to practice outside on our balcony while listening to the birds and the ocean. Talk about a calming practice. The 30 day challenge has only had one hiccup so far. I accidentally fell asleep last night before doing my practice. So to make up for it this weekend I'm going to do two practices in one day. Hopefully one when I wake and then another sometime during the day. I have been feeling a lot stronger. My core is feeling stronger in plank. My arms are feeling stronger in chaturanga. I'm really feeling the progress :)

I am a little nervous though. We had our monthly coffee and yoga meeting on Tuesday and some of us decided to make a yoga date on Monday night for a class at Halifax Yoga. I haven't been to a class in months and I'm used to certain instructors on yoga glo so it will be interesting to be in a class environment again with a new instructor. Will keep you updated :)