Sunday 28 August 2011

R.I.P. Jack Layton

It's been a long and emotional week and I've been a little more introspective than usual yet more connected to more people at the same time.

There's been a shared, buzzing energy about City Hall all week, and it can't be captured in any way via the blogs, the news coverage or the photos posted. It was something to experience it, collectively, with tens of thousands of people.

I don't have anything new to say that hasn't already been said, anything felt that hasn't been felt so I'll post my few photos and let the rest continue to digest.




I realized after the State Funeral yesterday (I felt very honoured to have been able to play a role in it and to be able to have shared the space with close friends, family, supporters, both in RTH and outside, and all over the country) that Jack's was my first funeral.

While there were many inspiring, uplifting, sad, touching, and beautiful moments, the most amazing thing was the prana in the room - the life-force, that you could feel through the artists' music, through the orators' words, through everyone's sobs.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

hodge podge

Just a little mid-week entry to check in with where I'm at.

1. My shins are still blowed up from the race but I've managed some yoga earlier this week and tonight did a bootcamp class at Dynamic Conditioning Centre with some level of control in my lower body. Last training of hills tomorrow (thank goodness) and then give my legs a few days of "rest" (which means yoga and strength training of course) until Sunday's manageable 23km. Funny that 23km seems like such a short distance to do in relative terms.

2. It's been a whirlwind week. After Monday's news of Jack Layton's passing, the emotional effect its had on a lot of people (and brought a lot of people together, regardless of political stripe) was heavy and it was compounded by a lot of action at work organizing many aspects of the State Funeral Saturday. I'm honoured to be able to assist and be there Saturday but it's been an emotionally heavy week to say the least.

3. Yoga. I love it! You love it! Come and sweat on the mat with me... the schedules for September at several Mokshas have been done up so here's my schedule for September so far:

Moksha Danforth Thursday, August 25, 2pm
Moksha North York Monday, Sept 5, 1:30pm
Moksha Danforth Thursday, Sept 8, 2pm
Moksha Downtown Friday, Sept 9, 9:45 pm
Moksha North York, Monday, Sept 26, 1:30 pm

Community classes are $7 or $8 depending on the studio and you can rent a mat / towel if you don't have one! See you on the mat! Come sweat with me!

4. Tornado alert in many parts of southwestern Ontario tonight, and ominous, powerful clouds, loud thunder and bright-as-daylight sheet lightnening out the window right now. Intense, raging storm goodness. Love.

5. MUPPETS!

Saturday 20 August 2011

My legs keep no pace with my desire...

The Midsummer Night's Run - my second 30km race this year (and ever racing that distance). My goals for this race were a) to not be bored on the somewhat uninspiring course (I don't know why but I get this weird mental block thing running the Leslie Street Spit); b) to have fun and zen run the "race"; c) to come in under 3 hours (weather and humidity permitting for a PB); d) and attempt some sort of consistency or negative splits, unlike my effort at Around the Bay 30km in the winter or the marathon in the spring.

Before I start writing about my race, I do want to point out what I did like about the race, because otherwise, the post will seem really negative and it wasn't all bad. Seeing all the CCRR folks out before the run was so great - I really need to do more of the social stuff with these guys cuz they be good people. I was razzed by a few of them for not running with the group so many Sundays this season (in my defense, at least I'm keeping up with my training) and it was deserved. Seeing James, Ginny, Kathryn, Steve, Ted, and other supporters out on course was stellar and the volunteers were great. And lastly, the full non-plastic reusable water bottles given out at the end and option to refill your water belt instead of getting paper cups at the water stations is a big winner in my book. A race that's going green. I support that. And to celebrate the milestones: I accomplished 2.5 out of the 4 goals I set out for the race. I enjoyed the Spit by taking out my earphones and listening to the crickets and the waves and the birds and appreciating it for what it is. I took meaningful breaths and totally zen'ed for the first 20km of the run, and I got a PB with 2:56:55 chip time.

The anticipation for the race was tricky, as usual. It's a night run. What do I eat? Did I rest enough or overdo it (um, so glad I didn't do a double yoga class this morning!)? How can I get myself psyched up to race when it's dinner time on a Saturday? Seeing familiar faces including some I hadn't seen in a while was energizing though and the start of the race in front of the 3 hour pacer was good. I fell in a good rhythm at my planned 5:20-5:25 per km pace. At the 10km mark, I thought I was a little too fast on my time so I slowed it down to 5:35 per km, bringing me to the halfway point at 1:24. Still pretty fast for my 3 hour goal. I started to slow down my pace (without noticing) at the 19km mark as the walk breaks here were making my hamstrings seize up. Regardless, I kept running my 10s and 1s as much as I could as even a slow jog is faster than walking. I got to the half marathon mark at around 2 hours so I knew I was still on track but my body was quickly starting to revolt and my pace was already inconsistent and I was being all judgy towards myself for it.

10km mark. Still enthusiastic.
Quin and me shortly behind at 23km. From here, it was 7 grueling kms of "can I do this or is this a DNF for me?".
Being cheered on by familiar faces.
At around 24km, I had to develop a new strategy. I had lost so much salt in my sweat and the humidity was making me dehydrate a lot faster than usual. My shins started getting cramps in them - the kind of weird leg cramp you sometimes get in your calf in the night - and then spreading to my ankles, calves, foot, toes! If I stopped to walk, I looked intoxicated and I would have likely fallen so I had to run slow with no walk breaks as much as I could. On the positive side, it did make my pace faster and more consistent to not take the usual walk breaks and I was passing lots of folks during this stretch, despite my state.



Here's the part that troubles me the most about tonight though. At around 26km, I stop for a washroom break in the Ashbridge's loop and get water. I leave the bathroom and start running again. I double back over because I think I've gone the wrong way and cross over and grab the "correct" path where the volunteer is. But at the end of the race, when I stop my watch, I start doubting that I took the right path because my Garmin only had me at 29.4km. The whole way home, I had this "Oh my god, did I accidentally cheat? Am I a sham? Is this not an official race then?" feeling. So I hope other people's Garmin's had them in slightly under too!

The finish line allowed me to see Nicole, who struggled her way through and is such an inspiration for finishing despite pain, Speedy Sam, looking refreshed at the finish line, and then the paramedics, who gave me salt tablets / electrolytes and kept me from falling over from the leg spasms and cramping. It was like someone was putting the Petrificus Totalus spell on me and my legs wouldn't move and I could have just collapsed over at any moment.

The best thing for me to do was keep walking so I left for home and didn't get to see everyone finish their race, give sweaty hugs, or toast to the race in the Beer Garden. I hope everyone was happy with their race, because guess what, we gots her done. I'm ice bathed, epsom salt bathed, ibuprofened, hydrated, fed, stretched, and now it's time for bed. Looking forward to my next race (a half) to see if my love for the race will come back when it's a distance I'm more familiar with.


PS: I was offered a bib for the Chicago marathon by a friend who can't run it. I'd be nuts not to take it right?

Sunday 14 August 2011

Sunday night tune...

Thunder, raindrops, cool breeze.
Pajamas, dog cuddling, bedtime.

Saturday 13 August 2011

City Chase!

City Chase is like the amazing race, but in a six-hour, race around town to attempt a minimum of 10 required checkpoints at the 35 available checkpoints around town. Using nothing but public transportation and walking or running to get you places, this "race", that has no set route, is as easy or hard as you, transit issues, and the clue sheet make it. The clues were a little more cryptic than usual, some chase points super easy, some physically challenging, some disgusting, and the required points were more scattered around town than before.



Team "That's What She Said" reunited after a year off and Whitey and I covered about 15kms and a lot of ground using the TTC. I got to say a big thanks to marathon training as it kept me going today. We started off heading to Yonge and Dundas as I had seen the volunteers setting up their station on my way downtown this morning, so we knew there'd be one there. We headed up to the check point in Yorkville that had a street named after a type of pear to do Car-e-oke but didn't find it and I remembered it not being the funnest last week so we decided to take the subway all the way to Royal York to our second chase point, only to find out that there are two locations of the dance school we were looking for and that the one we wanted to go to was in... Yorkville, where we'd just been (at least we weren't the only team in this boat but still lost about 45 minutes). We went to paintball (although a nice team gave us the clue answer before we went in which made it easier, and we most certainly paid it forward to another team after as it was really tough!). Headed to Christie Pitts and did bootcamp and scaled a wall. Awesome volunteers manning this station - made my day. We played games invented in the 70s at Snakes and Lattes (70s theme for this edition of CC), and headed north to "Pick your Poison", where I ate a LIVE WORM while Whitey held a tarantula. This one took some guts and convincing on both our parts. Went to learn some ballroom dancing at the right location of previously mentioned dance school, sang some '70s tunes and did some '70s pop culture trivia and finished it off in a doubly-operated kayak, where I was blindfolded and Whitey was backwards.



Next year? Maybe do both editions? Maybe turn one into Endura Chase, where you continue beyond 10 and get as many checkpoints as you can and cross the finish line before the 6 hours is over? Totally :)

Ice bath, shower to not smell worse than the dog for much longer, dinner, and bed!


Reflections on teaching - one month in

It's been over a month since I've been back from yoga camp. It's incredible how relative time can seem -- I don't know where the time went even - flew by, actually, but I the same time I was mindfully watching each moment go buy, almost in slow motion. I know I've said it before and there are only so many ways of saying it but it's how it feels - both in the moment and in looking back.

It's also been over a month since I started teaching. And I thought I'd bring some observations to that, especially before the feelings disappear. It's like being in a new relationship. There are butterflies before your 'date', you're smitten, you think about 'class' all the time. Your friends are happy for you. Others might be sick of hearing about it. You're able to survive on less sleep. You're going through the good times in your head over and over again and replay with insecurity all the dbouts. And there's also judgment, nerves, and uncertainty, but these lessen with time and are pale in comparison to the good feelings.

Aside from my very first class, I have to say I've been a lot calmer than I thought I'd be. More confident. More trusting of the path and the journey. But I've also been up against a lot of observations and questions that I can't answer. And at first that troubled me because I like solutions. I like resolution. I like me a Sudoku puzzle to solve. But I've quickly realized that these questions aren't solvable puzzles. They're what experience and time will bring - and I'm trusting that. The changes may happen without even having an epiphanous aha moment. It will just click. I'm looking forward to that. Just like I'm really enjoying not being in my head. ME! I'm enjoying the not thinking part and feeling and observing and being really present moments. Amazing. Totally amazing.

I know what comes the most naturally to me. And interestingly they're linked to running. I'm able to ground myself. I'm able to visualize the beginning, middle and end. I'm a good pacer. I can provide modifications and adjust on different body types, with different injuries, and quirks and idiosyncrasies. And I also know what I have to work on - tone, variety, finding me in the humour and creativity, being more intuitive, not being afraid to use my power/strength. So I look forward to continuing teaching, continuing my own learning and development, and riding the waves.

PS - last night was my first class taught where I felt FULLY like the teacher. No longer an imposter. Own it ;)

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Kemi's fall fundraiser


Hey! The wonderful contemporary dance company I'm Board Chair for (Kemi Contemporary Dance Projects) will be hosting a fall fundraiser on September 27, 2011 at the Winchester Street Theatre (80 Winchester Street), in Toronto. The evening features a short performance of Artistic Director Jennifer Dallas' current work and selections of Dallas' most recent solo Zetetica (photos of Zetetica performed at Dancemakers' Centre for Creation in February 2011 are below).

The evening will include opportunities to bid on local art work, sample delicious local seasonal food, and listen to selections of music collected by Dallas on her extensive tours of West Africa and Ethiopia.

All this, plus a bar (SOLD!), for only $10 a ticket. It will be an exciting evening to support Kemi’s third season (2011/2012) and to launch the fundraising and awareness campaign for the 2012 tour in West Africa.

The doors will open at 6:30 and the performance will start at 7:30pm.

Here is where you can get more info!
Website: www.kemiprojects.com
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/groups/26976526904/
Twitter: KemiProjects
EventBrite (to purchase ticket and / or make donation): http://afallgalakemiprojects.eventbrite.com/

If you're a local artist interested in helping out with our silent auction items, please let me know!

Hope to see you there!!!



Photo credit: Andréa de Keijzer. Dancer: Jennifer Dallas


You can also check out a video of Zetetica by Linnea Swan at: http://vimeo.com/26162940

Monday 8 August 2011

Sangha (partial) reunion and Moksha 7th anniversary party


I was so lucky on Friday to have dinner with a large group of fellow yogis from all over Canada and the US and to have them come and take my community class afterwards was the cherry on top. My heart grew two sizes that night and I'm not a Grinch to begin with so it was bursting at the seams, ready to spill out everywhere. A great feeling but kind of awkward visualisation... sorry for that.

On Saturday, August 6 was the seventh Moksha Anniversary party and teacher appreciation. The drive up to the farm was lovely and once arrived, the surroundings were even more lovely - serene, stunning, and absolutely perfect.

 It was my first time going and it was like "home". Visiting with my "extended family". Hugs all around, people I knew and didn't, seeing folks I haven't seen in (and have only known for) just over a month but feel like it's been longer (and that I've known them forever). I missed the part of our sangha that wasn'tthere and who we talked about all afternoon and evening.

 Most amazing of all was to see the bigger community that is Moksha -- post training, we have our group that we are so connected with, but to see it in relation to the whole was amazing. Genuine, good, and inspiring people, all around me. And it just feels right and the right direction to be going in.


And after hearing about what Moksha's accomplished in the past seven years (stats below) and upcoming projects for the next year to come, I'm energized, and excited at the potential for this crazy army of peacemakers!

Oh, and there was cake. Delicious, delicious cake. So if you weren't sold before, you're probably crazy jealous now, right?

Chicago

Less than 72 hours in Chicago but got tons done: got to walk around all over downtown, go to Lou Malnati's for some sickeningly good deep-dish pizza, shop at Macy's north, go to Navy Pier, ride the ferris wheel, eat at Billy Goat Tavern, watch the fireworks, run 21 km, walk around through Millenium Park, go to the Art Institute ('s gift shop), go to the Willis (former Sears) Tower, shop at Macy's south, do a boat architectural tour, awesome seafood dinner at Shaw's Crabhouse, do an underground architecture tour with Chicago Detours, shop some more and take the El around the Loop. A good taster visit of the Windy City - which reminds me a lot of Toronto - and can't wait to go back for more!






(Thanks to Ivana for a number of these pics since my camera died!)


Review - Dynamic Conditioning Centre

A first attempt at a vlog (Am I getting lazy? It's just so much easier!) with pjs on and no makeup but the video was to big to upload. You all missed out, is all I'll say.

Review of Dynamic Conditioning Centre in Toronto at Isabella and Yonge:

-What it is: The environment is like a large playground that includes monkey bars, field turf,  rock climbing grips, cargo netting, large tires, sledghammers, fireman hoses, kegs and climbing ropes. DCC focuses on functional movement training based on the principle that strength and conditioning should be rooted in primal movement patterns: squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling and throwing.

-The pros: The staff/teachers/coaches are very creative in making full use of the facility - I took a bootcamp class that focused mostly on utilizing your own body weight and plyos and a core class that had over 1,000 reps of everything BUT crunches. The staff also made an effort to make me feel welcome/at ease when I got there - while I didn't particularly need this, a beginner who is nervous in this setting would really benefit from this.

Also, it's fun. If you're plateau-ing or stuck in a pattern in your training (especially with H.I.I.T - high intensity interval training and your strength training), this will shock your muscles, your body, and you'll be able to lose that last 5-10 lbs or re-boost your creativity for your strength training. Even though I'm marathon training and strentgh training and doing more yoga, I was sore for 3 consecutive days post DCC.

-Guaranteed, in comparison to a conventional gym, you'd see faster results. Like a P-90X playground of creativity for muscle confusion.

-The cons: Even though they claim that there's a 50-50 ratio of men and women that use the gym, and even though I'm pretty hardcore myself and don't get intimidated in these kinds of settings, the reality is that it was pretty testosterone-y. So while that's okay every now and then for a kick-ass, set-you-straight workout, I don't see it replacing my gym membership where I can have more control over what I might want to do that day.

There wasn't a lot of focus (if at all in the first class I took) on form and alignment. I did my best to slow down my movements to ensure proper form but still left there with two muscle twinges (that haven't turned into injuries, knock on wood) that made me really uncomfortable. So listen to your body and common sense if you're seeing a movement that's too fast or not focusing on tightening the core going into it.

There doesn't seem to be a class pass option for using the facility and taking classes, which is how I'd tend to utilize this kind of facility (drop-in, interspersed with other workouts). Instead, it looks to be membership based exclusively.

http://www.dccentres.ca/

Sunday 7 August 2011

Pour Lukas

Tu adores l'aspirateur et tu aimes mon Tao alors voici un vidéo avec les deux. I miss you little guy!

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Costa Rica - saving the dates

Just because I'm bursting with excitment at this possibility, I have to share it. Moksha Level II teacher training in Costa Rica in November 2012 might just be in my future... Amazing.

At first, I thought, there's no way I should go in 2012. I should wait it out, give it a few more years. See what happens between now and then. How I grow. How I progress. To me, going right away, the year after doing the intensive, was like reading all the Harry Potter books at once. What do you do after that?! You've binged and it's all 'over'. But now I'm thinking, screw it, devour it all while you can, absorb it through every pore in your body and share the love and passion! It's not over after that, it's always just the beginning!

So with that, I head to bed with sweet thoughts of the possibilities that lay ahead, and the real thoughts of starting to save my shekels now :)

http://www.bluespiritcostarica.com/

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Khloe

With how busy it's been and all the excitment of Chicago (post to come once I get my pictures organized), I have been delinquent in writing a little entry about my new, little, scrunchy faced, beatiful, and healthy niece, Khloe. Khloe is gonna be wearing a lot of pink and orange courtesy of many new cute girly outfits my sister got. I still think some Lukas stuff can be used but the headbands and bows and jumpers I got to help fold and put away when I was helping my sister nest were pretty darn cute.

The more the family grows, especially with little ones, the more I miss them, and being away across the country is starting to be questioned. But I love my home and life here and I do get out there once a year, and thank goodness for Skype... now to get them to figure out how to use it (and start Skyping with my brother to see the twins!)...