The dream I didn’t know I had

When I tell people I don’t like public speaking, they’re usually surprised. I get it. I talk a lot. Also, I’m a teacher. It’s my job to speak to a group all the time.

The thing is, I work with children. They are beautiful, non-judgemental, loving, tiny people. They are curious and believe everything that you tell them, because they don’t expect you to lie. They are, quite often, what adults should be.

I try to live my life the same way I teach: Expect people to listen without judgement, laugh as often as possible and be patient. It’s not always easy, because we all know that some people didn’t get the memo about being nice and all that stuff.

I’m going somewhere with this, I promise. But first, let me change the subject.

My first contact with yoga was when I was in college, 12 years ago. (Wow, I’m old.) I didn’t particularly care for it. It was ok, and that was it. Then, I started practicing about six years ago. This time, I was much more interested, but it was still a very sporadic practice. A couple of years ago is when I discovered how much I love it. I can’t imagine my life without yoga now.

If you put public speaking and yoga together you get….teaching yoga!

I have officially signed up for yoga teacher training! I never would have imagined this is where my life would take me. I’m not even sure I want to teach, all I know is that I want more yoga. I don’t just want to know how to do a pose, I want to know why to do it. The asanas are just the tip of the iceberg and I am ready to dive in with every part of myself.

I’m so excited, I don’t know how I’ll wait until July!

These are some of the pictures I posted last summer in an effort to counter all the negative “thinspo” pictures out there. I feel like they represent my feelings toward teacher training: joy, fear, excitement, determination, happiness. Also, let’s not forget to have fun!

Busy weekend, happy me!

This weekend has been pretty busy. But it was the good kind of busy. The I-am-so-lucky-to-have-such-a-wonderful-life-family-and-friends kind of busy.

Saturday morning started off with a hot flow class at 8 am. This was too early for me on a Saturday. I enjoy sleeping in. I qualify sleeping in as getting up later than I do during the week. I actually had to leave for yoga earlier than I have to leave for work! The class was perfect for a Saturday morning: the teacher had great energy, but she wasn’t too peppy, there was a good mix of flowing and stretching. Sadly, I spent most of class facedown on my mat or taking a child’s pose break.

Saturday afternoon was my cousin’s wedding and it was great to spend time with my family. I also saw some friends I had not seen in a very long time. I got to wear heels, which I love. Right after dinner, I got to change into my flats because my feet were killing me!

Some of my favourite moments:

Johanne and I pretending to eat our place cards because we were hungry while waiting for our dinner!

Elizabeth giving me a makeover.

My very pretty sister.

Today, Sunday, I went to the farm to have coffee with my mom, aunts, uncles and cousins. Elizabeth wanted us to do yoga together. She had a mat with her and she was dressed specially for yoga.

My cousin Annie, who happens to be Elizabeth’s mom, took this picture of us. I don’t know which one of us is having more fun!

I also got some great loot from the garden. I can’t wait to make it all into fall-tastic soups and muffins and brownies and casseroles and lots of good stuff!

When I came back to the city, I only had time to drop off my stuff, make a cup of lemon-honey tea (I have a little tickle in the back of my throat. I hope it goes away.) before I left for the yoga studio. I went to a karma class with Megan. The class was perfect! It exactly fit my mood and my energy level.

After the karma classes, Megan likes to have treats for everyone. This week, I offered to make healthy zucchini brownies. Seriously delicious and actually pretty healthy. You can’t even taste the zucchini.

The lovely weekend had to come to an end, but my challenge will keep going. I am aiming to find balance this week. I have to figure out how much to give to work, to my practice, to other people, and how much to keep for myself. I really don’t want to get sick!

Free falling

I’ve been sick for about a week, so I haven’t done anything exciting in a while. I thought I would share an amazing experience I had before I started blogging.

Last year, I got to try a free falling simulator. You get the same weightless feeling as jumping out of an airplane. Or so I’ve heard. I have never jumped out of a plane. The feeling might be the same, but I got to do it without the “Hey, I might crash to my death” thing.

A friend of mine got this as a gift and invited me to go along. I was kind of scared, but I said yes, because hey, you never know, I could be the next…humm, I was going to insert the name of some famous parachute jumper, but I don’t know any.

We had to wear a snazzy suit with lots of velcro and handles on our backs so the free falling pro could grab onto us if we started to float away. Yeah, I look excited, don’t I?

Then, we had to go into this glass tube thing, which in fact was the simulator. The air is forced up through a metal grate, creating the effect of wind resistance. We were not allowed to bring the camera into the tube, for obvious reasons. We asked a lady to take pictures of us. Even through the glass and my awesome plastic goggles, you can tell how nervous I am!

What am I so nervous about? I mean, it’s not dangerous. There’s no chance of death by crashing to the ground. It was just completely new territory. They were telling me I was going to feel weightless, but what does that mean, really?

When it was your turn, you had to stand in the doorway to the tube, cross your arms and let yourself fall forward. I stood there for so long that the guy just kind of pulled me in. It wasn’t what I expected. To me, weightless meant light, fluffy, floating around. This felt more like a Maxwell tape ad. My face felt like it was being sucked upwards and I couldn’t feel my legs. I could feel my arms, and I was told it was because I could see them. The sensation was so unfamiliar to my body that what I couldn’t see, I couldn’t feel.

My first time in the tube was about 2 minutes. Then I went back to the bench for a little while. What you might not know about this free falling stuff, is that if you open your mouth to laugh, as I did, the spit just comes right out of your mouth and up your face. Lovely, isn’t it?

When I went back in the second time, I was like a pro. I “flew” by myself and even experimented with different hights and changing directions. It was amazing.

It was definitely a unique experience. Would I do it again? Yes, but I don’t think I’ll ever be one of those free falling junkies. I kind of like gravity, come to think of it!

Have you ever experienced weightlessness?

Shake it on the beach

I’ve been looking for free activities to do this month, and today, lululemon was having a “fitness Friday” event. It was at Westboro beach, so not too far from work, and it was from 5 to 6. It was also a hip hop dance class!

This winter, I was told by my dance teacher that I am “too cute” for hip hop dancing. I took it as a compliment.

Julie and I decided to check it out. I actually wasn’t sure where the beach was, but Julie thought she knew. Turns out she did, but only after we drove past it. One illegal u-turn later, we were at the beach! At first, it felt a little weird, because it seemed like they all knew each other and we were the new kids. They actually all work at lululemon, so that’s why they looked like cheerleaders. I mean that in a good way. They were very peppy.

Mr. Bill was the instructor and he wasted no time teaching us a routine. You could tell he works with kids a lot because he would place his hand on his head to tell us to “take it from the top”. I wonder if I do stuff like that. Maybe I shush people by placing my finger on my lips or turn off the lights to get people to listen to me… I hope not, that would be awkward.

Julie said she learned more from Mr. Bill in an hour than she did in the 10 week session we did this winter. The teacher we had then was very stressed out and she liked to tell us all about it. It didn’t leave much time to actually dance. She was always telling us to be more aggressive.

Don’t we look like aggressive people? Yeah, didn’t think so.

It was cloudy all day, but the sun came out while we were dancing. It was great to actually work out outside.

We took a group shot at the end. Someone had to take the picture, so Mr. Bill’s not in it. One girl said to look gangster, or something about westside, or peace or whatever. Obviously, we did not all hear the same thing.

Next week’s fitness Friday has something to do with kettlebells and the instructor is apparently a kettlebell champion. I didn’t know you could be a kettlebell champion, but I’m impressed. Kettlebells scare me, but it’s free, so I’ll probably try it out!

Photo a day challenge

In February, I did fat mum slim’s photo a day challenge. I absolutely loved it! I really enjoy taking pictures. I don’t call it photography, because I don’t really know what I’m doing. There’s a prompt for each day and I like to find fun ways to represent whatever the word of the day is. I’ve decided to do the challenge for May. Here is the list.

This post is really only a teaser, because the challenge starts tomorrow! I won’t be posting the pictures here every day, but I will post them on my facebook page. If you want to follow my challenge, just click on the link and “like” my page.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/theblissprojectblog

I hope this inspires you to try the challenge as well. It’s so much fun and I already have ideas of what I want to photograph on some days! Have fun with it!

101 things to do in 1001 days

In September, my friend Suzanne and I decided to write lists of 101 things to do in 1001 days. We were always saying “We should do this!” or “We should do that!” So, in keeping with the whole, “More action, less talk” theme, I got to it! I started my list on October 1st, 2011, which gives me untill June 28th, 2014 to complete it. I was very motivated as I wrote the list, and I still am, but some things might take more time than I thought! Every time I do something and I cross it off the list, I feel amazing!

Here it is:

1. This one is personnal, so it’s a secret for now!

2. Go running every day for a week.

3. Take a trip by myself.

4. Go to a burlesque dance class.

5. Send in a secret to Postsecret.

6. Read Anna Karenina.

7. Take a trip with Suzanne.

8. Take a pole-dancing class.

9. Go to a yoga retreat.

10. Go back to school to get a certificate in speech therapy.

11. Write a book.

12. Try snowboarding.

Done! February 26th, 2012. Whenever I told people I wanted to try snowboarding, they all told me I would fall a lot. That’s true, I did, but no one said how awesome it would be! I was a lot better at it than I thought, which helped! I went 4 times while we still had snow, and every time was more fun than the time before. I will definitely do this again!

13. Go to Central or South America.

14. Make a quilt.

15. Volunteer for Girl Guides

16. This one is a secret!

17. Do a tarot reading for someone.

18. Do 108 sun salutations.

19. Try to get an educational game published.

20. Watch “Roman Holiday” with Audrey Hepburn.

21. Go to the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield.

22. Take a trip with my mom.

23. Go running along the canal.

24. Get a cell phone I can text with. Done! Noverber 26th, 2011. I  got one for my birthday!

25. Run a 10k.

26. Make a cd with my favourite Jewel songs.

27. Watch the X-Men trilogy in one day.

28. See a foreign film in a movie theatre.

29. Bake bread.

30. Visit the National Gallery.

31. Plant sunflowers.

32. Listen to an audio book.

33. Take a spinning class.

34. Go hiking.

Done! October 10th, 2011. I went to the Luskville Falls with my mom and my sister. It was Thanksgiving weekend, and it was so hot, it felt more like summer than fall! I remember feeling quite grumpy when I woke up that morning, but by the end of the day, I was all smiles!

35. Have a beer tasting party.

36. Go to church.

37. Make a dress (working on it!)

38. Eat beets.

Done! November 25th, 2011. I was sure I would have trouble with this one, because I don’t like beets. They taste like dirt. I was going to look for a recipe, try to hide the taste, and make the best of it! I added this to the list because I’m a picky eater and I’m trying to add new things to my diet. I went out to dinner in a fancy restaurant the day before my birthday, and I ordered a salad to start. It had all kinds of flowers  in it and it was delicious! I ate what I thought was a fried flower, loved it, and said “This is amazing!” before I realized it was a fried beet, cut up like a flower! If beets always tasted like that, I would eat them every day!

39. Climb a tree.

40. Learn how to drive standard.

41. Find the perfect little black dress.

42. This one is a secret!

43. Play volleyball.

Done! January 11th, 2012. One of the other teachers at school suggested we play volleyball in the gym after work one day. I hadn’t played volleyball in 15 years or so, and I was a lot better than I remembered! Or maybe it was that the people I was playing with were just nicer about it. Either way, it was fun!

44. Visit a province I have never been to.

45. Get an IMAX teacher movie pass.

Done! January 14th, 2012. For 15$, I can now see all the IMAX movies I want for a whole year. Not bad when you think that one movie is 11$. I also found out that it’s free for teachers to visit the museum, anytime.

46. Go on a road trip.

47. Take a photography class.

48. Give blood.

49. Make soap.

50. Go camping.

51. Read “The catcher in the rye”

52. Watch Sleeping Beauty.

53. Build a snowman.

54. Get a massage.

55. Shoot a gun.

56. Cook with tofu.

57. See or be in a parade.

58. Play Monopoly.

59. See “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”

60. Make tiramisu.

61. Try a yoga-dance class.

62. See the sun rise.

63. Try a new kind of tea.

64. Do yoga on the beach.

65. See an opera.

66. Fly a kite.

67. Play hopscotch.

68. Give someone flowers.

69. Have a snowball fight.

70. Go to a concert.

71. Buy a “Dalida” album.

72. Do the hula.

Done! Sort of. January 11th, 2012. When I wrote this, I had the Hawaiian hula in mind, but I ended up trying a hula-hoop dancing class. I didn’t even know that sort of thing existed! I was a lot of fun, and a good workout too! I still want to do the hula, but I’m glad I tried hoop dancing.

73. Get my fortune told.

74. Donate to a good cause.

75. Host a dinner party.

76. For one whole day, give compliments to everyone I talk to.

77. Make a list of the books I read, up 101. (Started. I’m at 30.)

78. Read “Alice in Wonderland”.

79. Send a care package.

80. Go bowling.

81. See a musical.

82. Write a letter.

83. See Cirque du Soleil.

84. Write a list of 101 things that make me happy. (Started)

85. Go rock climbing.

86. Do yoga every day for one week.

87. Write a travel story and submit it to a magazine.

88. Fast for one day during Ramadan.

89. Send someone a card.

90. Not buy any new clothes for one week.

91. Watch the original Strawberry Shortcake.

92. Bake with kids.

93. Finish my chandelier.

94. Be a tourist in my own city.

95. Learn some sign language.

96. Sing with a group or choir. (I wrote this one while watching Glee!)

97. Attend or host a tea party.

98. Ride in a limousine.

Done! December 30th, 2011. it was my friend Caro’s birthday and her boyfriend planned a surprise, with a limo, champagne and dinner. I don’t usually like champagne, but it tasted different in a limo!

99. Run on the beach.

100. Try aerial yoga.

101. Say a rosary.

So there it is. My list. As you can see, it’s got a little bit of everything on it. 1001 days is about 2 1/2 years, so they can’t all be life-changing goals. The point of this list, for me, is to get out there and try new things and to make time for the things I love. If you have any tips or ideas about how I could go about getting some of these done, please let me know! Try writing your own list. You’ll see, the ideas will just some to you! And most of all, have fun with it!