Happy Blogoversary to me!

One year ago today I created this adorable little blog. I have made so many friends through it and it’s been extremely fun. But instead of celebrating myself and my blog on this, my blogoversary, I decided to give out some awards to my fellow yoga blog friends, who make blogging extra fun.

So here they are – in no particular order.

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The Ahimsa in Action Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Lisa at Eco Yogini in Halifax, Novia Scotia. She makes ahimsa (non-harming) her top priority every day by striving to be kind to the earth and sharing her journey with us. I especially adore her blog for her sense of humor and personal “overshares”. Also, she’s a newlywed! Congrats!

 

The Blog Commenter Extraordinaire Ribbon goes to Emma at The Joy of Yoga in New York. She is nearly always the first person to comment on my blogs and always has something witty to say. I love Emma’s blog because she posts creative sequences and heartwarming, funny stories about teaching yoga.

 

The Sass-asana Certificate clearly goes to Y is for Yogini in California. She manages to stay upbeat and lighthearted while always touching on real issues…with a generous helping of sass. Her tweets make me laugh and her ribbing of the boy yogis around us is good-natured and entertaining!

 

The Superwoman Medallion is awarded to Rachel at Suburban Yogini in Cambridge. Rachel is superwoman because she blogs more than the rest of us combined. It’s always thoughtful, composed, and honest over at her place. She’s already an accomplished yoga teacher, vegan cook, and partner, and is on her way to being a massage therapist.

 

The Kick-asana Commemorative Coin goes to The Misanthropic Yogini at Damn Good Yoga in Texas. Because seriously, go look at her asanas! She also maintains a kick-asana and enviable dedicated home and meditation practice while balancing the duties of teaching yoga with school, work, and life.

 

The Balanced Beauty Plaque goes to Heather at Namaste Heather in Ohio. There’s lots of beauty in this blog. Her ideas are beautiful and so is she, and she’s constantly witnessing the beauty around her. She juggles it all as she strives for balance between personal and professional.

 

The Million Miles Away Medallion goes to Bree at Yoga Gypsy in East Timor. Because she’s a million miles away but also feels like she could be my next-door neighbor. I love reading about life in East Timor and the important, interesting work Bree does.

 

The Change You Can See Commemorative Patch goes to Emma at Des hauts et des bananas in Brussels. Emma is using her talents to change the world one day at a time. She’s taking her life by the reins and trying to make more of herself and live up to her potential.

 

The Orange Awesomeness Award goes to Babs at Babs Babble in Montana. Orange is her favorite color and her blog is just full to the brim of awesomeness. She’s feeling out her way as a teacher and gaining quite a following.

There are lots of other awesome bloggers, but these are the ones who have been there since the beginning (or nearly so) of my blog journey. Thanks ladies!

Namaste,
Jamie

My vegetarian timeline

Day 1- This is awesome! I love vegetables! Who needs meat?
Week 2 – Yummmm I love cheese, cheese is my best friend. Mainly eating lots of snacks throughout the day in place of meals (apples with peanut butter, cheese and crackers, smoothies, etc).
Week 3 – Discover some really good vegetarian entrees, but still don’t have a lot of time for sit-down meals.
Week 4 – I REALLY NEED SOME CHICKEN, but I want to stick this out a while longer.
Week 5 – Start feeling kind of yucky. Stomach cramps and other digestive issues.
Week 6 – Eat meat for the first time: a chicken sandwich at Famous Dave’s, where the waiter’s t-shirt said “Vegetarians are free to change their ways.”
Next day – Wind up in the prompt care with abdominal discomfort (fearing a kidney stone or appendicitis), doctor asks me if I’ve made any large changes to my diet in the last month. Tells me to start eating regular meals at regular meal times and stop eating so much cheese.*

So, I tried vegetarianism and I’m very glad I did. I learned a lot of my favorite meals at restaurants (Flat Top, Chipotle, Noodles etc) don’t actually need meat and I prefer the vegetarian version anyway. I am still trying to cut meat out of my diet little by little and eat less of it, decreasing my demand. I’m also trying to make conscious choices. We bought some antibiotic-free, free-range chicken for dinner the other night and it was lovely. More than twice as much as the store-brand chicken full of all the junk ($6/lb instead of $2.50/lb), but we can afford it now and then.

I’m trying to assuage my conscious while also taking care of my belly. It’s about balance – just like everything else, right?

Namaste,
Jamie

*The visit to prompt care was serendipitous, because after going over my current medications, the doctor decided to share her infertility story with me. She couldn’t get pregnant (PCOS and some sort of awful embryo-killing antibody) but ended up conceiving through IVF at the age of 41 and again at the age of 44. What an incredible story!

Odds and Ends

happy Fall!

I am on my third week of my first ever “No Fear Yoga” session, which has confirmed my belief that beginners are definitely the most fun and most rewarding to teach. They are easily impressed, willing to try, and notice improvement almost immediately.

I have 13 people in my class (12 women, 1 men), ages ranging from early 20s to early 60s. About half of the class is friends/coworkers and half strangers who found me through the Parks and Rec catalogue. We do a lot of slow flow, gentle stretching, nothing too strenuous. My goal each time is to get them feeling good so they’ll come back. So far it’s working and I have two ladies in particular who stayed after class last time to ask me when my next session begins. : )

Private one-on-one lessons with K are going quite well. Two sessions ago we did headstands, last week we worked on shoulderstand. It’s lovely working with her!

Andy and I attended a community education class at the local community college on Saturday: “Massage Therapy for Friends and Family”. It was taught by a massage therapist/yoga instructor whose wife owns the fancy yoga studio in town (theirs is the 200 RYT I would be doing if you didn’t have to pay the thousands of dollars upfront!). For the first hour of class we discussed the background of massage and the instructor did a demonstration of his massage approach. Then we spent an hour giving and an hour receiving massage, playing around with approaches and techniques. It was really fun and relaxing.

There is so much overlap between massage and yoga. I’m sure Suburban Yogini could tell us more about it! His language and the overall principles he taught (breath deeply, move slowly, relax into every movement, follow your intuition) sounded awfully familiar.

Other than that we are keeping busy painting our bedroom, planning a Halloween party, and enjoying fall. : )

my view on a recent dog walk

Namaste,
Jamie

Happy Birthday to Andy

Happy birthday to my sweet husband Andy: my best friend and partner in crime.

Andy's birthday 2007

Chicago, 2010

Summer 2009

Here are some interesting facts about Andy:

1. Andy loves popcorn above all snacks.
2. He would do anything for our two dogs.
3. He does not snore. This is very important and a fact I greatly appreciate about him.
4. Andy has a brain like a sponge. He remembers any and all trivia he hears. You want him on your team on a game show.
5. He wears flip flops until there is snow on the ground…and maybe for a few days after that.
6. He likes watching Glee with me. He probably won’t admit this to you though.
7. He loves to watch movies…especially when there’s popcorn involved (see number 1).
8. He hates having his picture taken.
9. He has a very vivid imagination and I have already assigned him the task of bedtime story teller for our future children.
10. He hasn’t liked any new music in at least the past five years. That’s the first sign that he’s turning into a grouchy old man.

I could go on and on but that’s enough for now. Happy birthday to Andy!

Namaste,
Jamie

YTT continues

First, I just want to say thank you all for your support and encouragement on my last post. It means a lot. : )

Back to yoga.

This weekend I re-trained YogaFit Level 1, as required by the 200 RYT program. I was the only re-training participant, so I was with 9 newbies the whole time.

I took Level 1 for the first time last October, so it’s been almost exactly a year. It was interesting to notice the differences in my body and my personality.

First, I have gained a lot of strength. I remember feeling physically wiped out last year from the classes and the pose breakdowns. I feel fine today. I am stronger and I have also learned to pace myself for long yoga weekends now that I’ve been to a few.

Second, I was pleased to find out how many anatomy terms and concepts I remembered and could apply from my Anatomy and Alignment training in July. And I thought that stuff was all going over my head!

Third, I realized how comfortable I have gotten with teaching in the past year. I remember being terrified with the idea of team teaching last year, and this year team teaching was a breeze — I hardly even had to prepare. It really does become natural.

So overall, an encouraging weekend. : ) It’s exciting to think about where I will be next year at this time!

This Thursday my 8-week session of “No Fear Yoga” starts. This is yoga aimed at the “ultimate beginner” with no experience at all. I’m planning lots of slow flow for the first class. Shall be fun!

Namaste,
Jamie