Holiday fitness

Leave a comment

IMG_5900

I am currently in London where the sun has been shining, the weather is actually hot, and I have been having picnics and doing daily yoga and meditation in a beautiful rose filled garden.

It can be so easy on holidays to slip out of routine, to eat badly and to let yourself go.  Well I am here to tell you that with a little bit of effort this doesn’t need to be the case.

Quite often on holidays I try to “find” the time to practice yoga – this holiday I decided to “make” the time and everything changed.

I have made it a priority to wake up do 5 – 10 minutes of meditation, followed by a 10 minute yoga practice with my mother-in-law then make the time to do my own practice.

I am fortunate that I am staying in a house with a beautiful garden and more blessed that the weather has allowed me to be outdoors every single day.

However, even though it may not be an ideal workout in a small space – it’s a great chance to get creative with your workout.

Any little bit helps and honestly if you can only find 10 minutes then grab that 10 minutes and welcome it with open arms.

Your body, mind and energy levels will thank you.

Winter brrrrs

1 Comment

While many may argue that Queensland doesn’t really get a winter – most of us here in Queensland would strongly disagree!

True, it may not (and does not) get nearly as cold as many other places in the world,but for us recently shit got real.

You know it’s cold outside when you go outside and it’s cold – haha – I saw this the other day and it just cracked me up.

With the coldness comes the lack of motivation and I get it, I really do!  Leaving a warm environment to go out and exercise can be less that ideal.

I sulked around yesterday – wondering if I could send everyone motivational quotes and just let them exercise themselves so I didn’t need to leave the house – I was only joking – sort of 🙂

However, think about this.  You exercise, you move, you warm up – madness I know….stay with me

Think about it from a mental point of view – how satisfying is it when against all odds, you don’t listen to that voice telling you to stay in bed/on the couch you – fight that voice and you win – you get out and you move that body.

Now you feel physically and mentally better, you are winning and you are getting fitter doing it.

You aren’t drinking enough water, because it’s winter and you just don’t think about it – you exercise, you drink more water.

Our bodies become stiffer in winter, we tense up and we do less exercise and we just feel worse for it – just a few stretches a day and a little bit of cardio or other exercise will make you feel amazing and help to get you out of the winter funk.

Still unconvinced – put on your big girl pants and my Nike yoga pants say – JUST DO IT!

IMG_5434

High above the clouds 

This morning I awoke at 5am in London and as I typed this I was on a plane to Berlin, where I currently sit in the most amazing hotel (but that’s a story for another time).

The weather is a ridiculous -11 degrees Celsius.  The last few days in London have been cold and rainy, yet everyone keeps telling me that the 9-11 degree temperatures there are mild for this time of year and while that may be true – I am from Queensland, Australia I just left 30 degrees so let me tell you this is not mild to me.

Boring weather story I know  –  bear with me there is a point 🙂 
As I sat on the plane, high above the clouds, the sun on my face, I was filling in an intention journal for 2016.

I used the journey to complete the reflection part on 2015 and to keep up with my weather theme here if I had to pick a word or two to describe 2015 it would be cloudy with several storms.

Yet as I wrote I realised that the bad times have already started to fade in my mind, I struggled to remember the challenges with emotion and details attached and I can already start to really focus on the good memories.

So as I sat on the plane lapping up the warmth of the sun on my face, I can hand on my heart tell you all, that even though it may be cloudy to you right now, even though you may not be able to see the sun – it is there patiently waiting for you – high above the clouds.

I can tell you that no matter what is going on in your life right now – the sun will most certainly come out again.

So hang in there my friends – you got this! 

11 things you may not know about me (does the 11 not 10 indicate my randomness)

blog 11

  1. I am a sponge for people’s energy – I feel this is both a blessing and curse.  It is both a weakness and a strength.  At times I absorb too much, I allow other peoples energy to weigh me down, yet this is also a blessing when I surround myself around positive like-minded people I can feed off their energy, as I know people feed off mine.
  2. I am a walking contradiction – I love to find moments of calmness, yet I attract crazy; crazy situations, people and moments and I also thrive on the randomness of this and the good crazy that I and my life is. I teach body balance, I have excellent balance, yet I am ridiculously clumsy and trip over nothing several times a day. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my hair and I rarely wear makeup or do other “girly” things, yet look out world if my nail polish is chipped on my toes it seriously distresses me to epic proportions.
  3. I am a great cook but terrible at baking. I heard once that cooking is an art and baking is a science and if that is true then it makes perfect sense to me.  I love to throw things together and create. I hate having to have exact measurement s and stir for the exact time I am told to.  I love the challenge of having a few random edible items at home and making them into something amazing.
  4. I am messy, no really I am for a tiny little person I can create mess of cyclonic proportions in about two minutes – I truly don’t know how I do it, it’s quite amazing.  My house can go from spotless to war zone in about 5 minutes.  I don’t know what I do but man I do it well.
  5. I sometimes feel like a yogi imposter – #secretnownotsosecretconfessionsofayogi – I do yoga and I eat meat, drink coffee and drink alcohol – there I said it – I do it all!
  6. I love to write, but I hate punctuation; I just finished a job in communications and marketing and don’t get me wrong I understand the importance of punctuation but I love to just let my fingers fly across a keyboard and unleash an unconscious stream of thoughts onto my laptop and see what appears (kind of like I am doing right now).
  7. I have an irrational fear of bees and birds.  Birds make me nervous – seriously I just do not trust them and always feel like they are plotting against me.
  8. I try really hard to like olives – I really dislike them – but feel like it’s something I should love, so keep trying them with not much success so far.
  9. I love it when people are kind and authentic – no really I looooove it. The world needs more of it and when I see it my heart swells open like you would not believe.
  10. I am a witch – a good witch not an evil one – I see things coming an hour, a day, a week before things happen, I sense it, I feel it, I predict it.  I don’t try to do it – it just happens.  Sometimes I wonder if I am just one of those in-tune people, other times I wonder if I am from the future – true story! I can’t switch it on or off, it is just on the whole time.
  11. I love the beach, sunsets, full moons, rainbows and anything beautiful that comes from nature – this is probably something most of you would already know – but the energy and excitement I get is something that only a few of you really would understand.  Those friends who I have literally yelled at to get ready faster as the sun is setting, my poor husband who has been bitten by mosquitos on numerous occasions as I race out for just one last look at the full moon. The work that I left in my inbox as I just knew a rainbow would appear and I had to leave the office immediately. People think I am weird but I don’t care – and something that makes me more happy than any of you would ever know is the people who send me a pic of any of these things, who know I would appreciate it, who now appreciate these things because of me, who have just stopped for a moment to appreciate – that to me is the most amazing thing.

Follow your dreams

Live the life you always imagined.  If something in your life doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t.

If you are questioning your job then it may not be the right job for you.

If your relationship doesn’t feel right then it probably is not.

Don’t let fear stop you from living the life you dreamt for yourself.

We were born to dream and be courageous.

The only thing stopping you is you!

Dream big friends!

 

Capture the daylight – find the magic

magic3

 

The last few months I have been juggling a communications job, while still teaching yoga, pilates and body balance.  It has been hectic and I have felt tired and stressed.

Finding the time to write with a clear mind has been challenging to say the least.

My communications job and teaching job could not be two worlds further apart.

Instead of writing (even though it pains me to have put it on hold) I have been focussing on finding beautiful moments in the edges of my days.

Capturing moments of fresh air and daylight.

 

magic 1

I have discovered that when I can live outside these two worlds, when I can sit and enjoy the edges of the day, that is when the magic really happens.

Where possible I will get ready for work even three minutes earlier and using those three minutes to sit outside and just breathe.

What has been getting me through is taking a ten minute walk at lunch time, or leaving the office in time to see the last fifteen minutes of a sunset.

In the edges of the day, surrounded by nature, my brain is momentarily clear and focussed.

I can write my class plans, I can reflect and I can re-energise.

In the edges of the day that is where all the magic happens.

To those of you who have been reading my blog when I have not been updating nearly as frequently as I should, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

x

magic 2

I am a yoga instructor and here are my truths

Sometimes I awake at silly o’clock at times to teach a class, I boil the kettle and jump in a quick wake up shower.

Occasionally I internally battle with my NEED for morning coffee.

Occasionally hearing my yoga teacher in my head (let’s protect his identity and call him Mr M)  telling me how bad caffeine is, I have read the studies and he is an intelligent guy so I am pretty confident the studies and he is right.

Yet that voice is always quickly quieted by the louder “get out of the shower so you have time to slam that morning coffee down” voice screeching at me from under the soothing refreshing water pouring over my head, calming me from the evil alarm that made me want to forget about the Ahimsa Yama and instead of being a non violent person, sometimes I just want to punch that beeping alarm in its beeping face.

I lapse into a happy serene daydream under that shower, momentarily forgetting the world, blissfully euphoric under a cascade of soothing water, until the screeching coffee need inner voice returns with a jolt yelling “now you idiot- get out now!”

So I reluctantly get out of the shower I throw on my yoga gear, I almost never do my hair, yogis don’t do hair and makeup right – we are natural and beautiful and content with our natural beauty.

Riiiiiiight?

Hellllllooooo????

Anyone?????

Now don’t be too shocked I do smear a bit of moisturizer and sunscreen on my face –  I’m not an animal.

Anyway where was I?

Coffee/Yoga
Yoga/Yamas
Yoga/Coffee

Anyway coffee…..

That beautiful liquid that allows me to regularly practice Ahimsa and be non violent to myself or others 🙂

See I also practice Satya as you can see my the many truths revealed in this story.

Yes I slam my coffee down – I say slam as I couldn’t possibly set my alarm 5 minutes earlier to allow me to sip my morning coffee like a civilized human.

I eat a tiny bit of toast normally with peanut butter that nine times out of ten I am wiping off my pants during the journey to class – Don’t ask I am as baffled as you are!

I race to my class feeling tired and slightly disheveled.

I am sometimes still angry at my alarm for making me wake so early – I have forgotten all about the 4th Niyama – non judgement.

I arrive at class, I roll my mat out and a strange peaceful calm transcends over my body.

I step onto my yoga mat and sit peacefully awaiting (secretly hoping) (sometimes worrying) that someone will actually turn up at this ungdly hour.

The people file in they are subdued, undoubtedly as tired as me.

I smile at them knowingly, I smile at them compassionately.

I smile, as being a yoga instructor is the most rewarding fulfilling job I can have imagined myself living. It can also be a lonely world as a self-employed instructor so I smile for me, for the simple fact that I am sharing my space with another human.

I smile in appreciation that they too got up early for me or for themselves, they choose my class out of all the many classes and I feel honoured.

I smile as for that next hour my life exists purely for them – my thoughts are no longer my own, my being is a vehicle to inspire others, to motivate, to exist for them and them alone.

My thoughts, doubts, fears, insecurities, excitement, preoccupied dreams can be mine again maybe ten minutes after class but for that moment and for every class that I teach, my thoughts are not my own.  For during this time, I practice and I honour all the Yamas, the Niyamas, prana, I honour my teachers, I honour myself and I honour each and every person in that room.

I am an instructor I am watching people grow; mentally, physically and emotionally.

I momentarily feel silly for my alarm induced rage.

My feelings of tiredness have vanished.

I am ok with my decision to drink coffee (sorry Mr M) I don’t do drugs, I don’t drink excessively, I don’t even eat a lot of meat I am mostly a vegetarian without even being vegetarian.

I am kind to others and I try to always be kind to myself.

I believe in energy and I vow to beam all the positive energy I have inside out of my heart and into my students.

I am a coffee drinking yoga instructor I sometimes have crazy hair and I always have awesome yoga pants.

I am a loving yoga instructor who loves life, who loves to help others and chooses to hate nothing except for alarms.

I am a walking contradiction of mayhem and calm.

I am a yoga instructor and these are my truths.

 

IMG_0518

Breathe in, Breathe out and escape

breathe

When life starts to become hectic, as it always will; sometimes we need to just stop!

Stop and find solitude.

Inhale  new peaceful calm energy.

Exhale the drama, the negativity, the pressure, the tension.

Sometimes you just need to let go and escape.

After what can only be described as a hectic crazy year, I am doing exactly that, I am escaping for 2 short weeks to London.

I am running an event there to help others escape so if you live in London and you need a little break, then check out the events page of this site and let me help you escape through yoga and mediation to relax, to take some time out for you.

For those not in London, I hope you can find some time in your busy lives to find some inner peace, to find solitude and happiness.

You owe it to yourselves.

x