day 12: sweaty practice without heat

I rebelled against the studio today and CELEBRATED my own practice in the small studio at the JCC. Today I listened (nay Rocked out to) the Last Five Years, which has quickly become my new favourite musical. I played with Crow and Side Crow and celebrated my body's wicked strength. These poses make me smile like a little kid and I think part of me needed this jolt of joy to help me deal with the stress of moving and a different life schedule. The coffee I had after practice definitely didn't hurt this either. I know I shouldn't be thinking this far in advance, but I'm curious about what my practice will look like tomorrow considering it is the big move-in day. It will look like awesome is what it will look like!

day eleven: disapointing but satisfying

I had the entire day off, except for teaching the 6pm class...so one would think about how easy it would be to take a class. Packing took up most of the day and when I got around to leaving for the 4:15pm flow class at downtown, I realized (half way there) that I hadn't budgeted enough time for the bike down there and I wouldn't make it. When I had realized this, I turned the bike around and went to the JCC, went in a studio room and did my own practice. There was this other guy who came in the room and he was punching the air and punching the air with weights in his hands. Kind of a weird dynamic between the two of us...but somehow it worked.

day ten: back in the studio

After a few days off from teaching, I was back at the downtown studio and took my down time between classes to do my own practice. I put on my ipod, played my loudest most energetic music and rocked it out with the sun pouring through the windows. The best part of my own practice is that I can do like 50 million crows if I want to and any other pose which I love and I can play with any other pose that I feel like playing with. It was a great practice and it felt good to get back into the swing of things.

day nine: birthday fun

The sad truth is that my day was devoted to my partner's birthday, which is in a way a practice in and of itself, but regardless I lapsed today which is something I'm not going to get attached to and just move on from. End of story.

day eight: Before you go to bed at night

Busy day, but admittedly I was also being a little bit of a slacker about my practice today. It came into my life before I retired to bed. A few child's poses, pigeon, fire log and any other pose I could think of at the time that was restorative and something which would allow me to sleep a bit better. Sleeping on a blow up mattress is fun, but anything to make you more sleepy to carry you through the night is always a bonus.

day seven: Home Practice

I am always reminded of my own quirks and idiosyncrasies during a 30 day challenge. Yesterday reminded me that I need to do my practice early in the day in order for it to happen. I think what happens in my head is that if I get past lunch without yoga, I've already decided what kind of day it is and whether it is a yoga / joy filled day or not. So this morning, before doing anything else, I hit the mat for 30 minutes and kicked some asana. I broke a great sweat just flowing and playing with my favourite poses right now. I'm loving everything about crow and poses which make me remember how strong I am.

day six: a little bit of creativity

Life sometimes gets in the way. I'm not going to lie. Sometimes there are days when you get your period and the idea of asana is not ideal. In a hotel, in London, my practice today was all about child's pose and gently coaxing my abdomen to stop aching. Still a practice. Just taking form in a much different way.

day five: and this is why it is called a challenge

I was up last night packing until 4:30am. Lesson learned: coffee after lunch, not so great of an idea. Needless to say, my day today after a weird evening of lateness was also a little weird. I wasn't working, but I felt like I was doing my fair share or running around. My practice today happened on the floor, listening to upbeat music and then followed up with a brief seated meditation. These little practices obviously don't even come close to having the same effect on my body and they really feel like a "break" day, but I think there is still something very important about them. That daily practice means DAILY. Whether that means while you are between two different things, then so be it. But come back to it daily. Whatever that means. Keep the habit active.

day four: am i really tired already?

8pm karma class with Bruce. It was a great mellow class which my sore body from yesterday most certainly needed, however, even being in the cooler spot in the room, I was finding myself slipping into savasana more than I'm used to. It was actually a great practice to try and match my breathing with the group and follow along with Bruce's teaching. Sometimes savasana is harder than any other pose.

day three: oh what a day

My practice today existed with Laura at Uptown in between classes. It was one of those days where you don't really know how or when the practice can get squeezed in, but because you do (somehow), your day just feels a little bit more magical.

About my day: I taught the 6:30am and 9:30am classes at Uptown. This meant waking up at 5am, which is auspicious, I realize, but early nonetheless. Between these two classes Laura and I did our own separate flows in the hot room to some wicked loud music. The two practices were still quite independent from each other, but I felt very inspired by what she was doing and it definitely positively affected my practice.

After the 9:30am I had to boogie to make it to the Downtown studio to teach the 12 noon class - after a crazy bike ride through the streets of Toronto, I made it to the studio with 10 minutes to spare (yes, I am a speed demon on wheels). I taught the noon class, had 2 hours off (when I went for a swim at the JCC, am I crazy? Probably! and then grabbed some food, hung out with Les and then went back Downtown for the 4:15 class. 

It was one of those days that leave you feeling tired and accomplished. Happy and pooped. Exhausted and yet energized.

I realize that teaching is a separate practice from my own personal practice, however, those 4 classes I taught definitely added something to my 30 day challenge for sure.

day two: and this is why they call it HOT yoga

I have never sweat this much in my life. Okay, perhaps this is a bit of an overstatement considering I've taken a fair amount of Moksha classes in the last few years, however, it was hot today.

I was grateful today's class was just an hour long as I had to rush off to OISE for an orientation session afterwards.

At the beginning of the class, I tried to focus my energy on someone who brings a ridiculous amount of joy to my life and I could feel, not just my face smile, but my whole body. It was a great way to start my practice. Once the class got going, it was a bit trickier to focus on that positive focal point as I felt I was slowing overheating in the room, but I could still sense that my anchor was tied to something beautiful and inspiring.

The no-sugar thing is also getting challenging and it is only day 2! It is a great way to be mindful about reading ingredients and to think critically about what I am putting in my body. I am thankful for health food stores, evaporated cane juice and rice syrup.

day one: and so it begins

It seemed like a perfect sign that on the first day of the 30 day challenge, I had 2 days off in a row (today and tomorrow) - what an amazing way to start my challenge off right, with a workout at the JCC, a bike ride up to the Uptown studio and then the hour long Moksha Class. Whether it has been intentional or not, my personal practicing has been pushed out of my schedule lately for teaching, work, errands, and time with people I love.

Regardless, it felt amazing to be back. I haven't sweat that much in a long time and I think I got rid of a lot of junk that my body was needlessly holding on to. I also saw Beth Moutrey, an old student from the Danforth studio today in class, so amazing to see such a bright happy smiling face.

The other component of the challenge, that I suppose I should bring up, is the fact that Monique and I are doing a "no-refined sugar" challenge as well. Which, because it is only refined sugar you would think wouldn't be hard - but this basically translates into "no-junk food". I can have my own baking with cane sugar or raw sugar, which when you think about it, isn't that bad for you, because it is usually a special thing to make your own cookies - it's the automatic response to grab the chocolate coated energy bar or the addiction based impulse to point to the blueberry muffin at Second Cup and say "that one", which is what I want to avoid. Changing my mind and becoming more aware of the food that I put into my body.

It feels like the start of something really great. The sun is shining, my day is great.