Moving On From Moksha

As you may have known from previous posts, I have been an energy exchange trade at Moksha Yoga Brampton for almost a year now. It has been a great year becoming involved in that community, and I have met some amazing people that I will definitely be keeping in touch with.

Throughout my time there, I have struggled with actually practicing at the studio, because I never really felt a connection to the Moksha style of yoga. I wasn't being challenged enough, and I found myself picking and choosing which classes I would go to depending on the teacher or whether it was a more difficult type of class. I was practicing there maybe once or twice a week, shorter than the amount of hours I was volunteering by far. Eventually I realized that even though I loved going to the studio and spending time with my fellow trades, it just wasn't worth the time I was putting in anymore.  So I decided to resign, so that my spot can be used for someone who really truly enjoys the Moksha series, and will benefit from the trade program. 

Leaving the studio will be an adjustment for sure. I'm very excited to have my Monday nights back, I feel like it will put less pressure on me to cram a ton of things into less days. It was also a huge learning experience for me. I learned how much work it is to keep a studio running day to day, and how the trade program is a huge advantage.

My hope is that I will stay in touch with the many amazing people and friends I have met over the past year, and we will continue to enjoy yoga and other things together. 






Namaste!



My Mokshies and I at a Brampton Battalions game

Doing a demo at centre ice with my Mokshies

Goofing around

Moksha love: What I love about yoga- "I love that every yoga practice is as unique and challenging as every day in life. It allows me to let go of all of my expectations"

So what now? Where will I practice? What about the costs involved? 

I have gone back to my yoga roots! I started practicing at Power Yoga Canada again. After going through the Moksha experience, and realizing that I was always craving the intensity and atmosphere I had experienced before, I decided that the 30 minute drive was worth it. I have practiced at both the Mississauga and Oakville locations in the past couple of months, and I'm really glad I decided to go back. This is where my love for yoga began, and I have already made huge personal strides in my practice since returning. I love a more playful and challenging practice, and PYC gives that to me and more. In addition to practicing there again, I have done a few workshops, and have more planned in the future. In April I completed a 4 week advanced series workshop, and this month I have already done a balancing workshop and I have another this weekend for inversions. I think this will be the 4th or 5th workshop I have done at PYC and they have all been really amazing. 

On top of practicing at PYC again, I have turned to home practice a few times a week as well. A lot of people ask me how I am able to do home practice without a teacher guiding me. I still have a teacher, they are just not there physically. I use cds, podcasts, youtube, and dvds to lead me in my practice. I also sometimes just play and practice specific postures (usually balancing ones or inversions) with a little warm up first. I'm really hoping to build a better practice space in the future, because right now I am just practicing in the living room and there are tables and couches and things that limit the space I can use. Maybe once we have updated our basement I can make a special practice spot for myself down there.

 

My fairly new props-a block and a Yogitoes strap

Working on my hollow back pose



Working on my forearm balance to eventually move into Scorpion, using a block and strap (something I learned in the PYC Advanced Series Workshop)



Kathryn Budig's Aim True Yoga DVD

My last shift this past Monday was bitter sweet. I have my valuable time back on one hand, but on the other I am letting go of something that has been a weekly part of my life. But like they say, when one door closes, another opens. Thank you Moksha Brampton!

A bitter sweet end to a chapter of my life. This cupcake made it a whole lot better on my last shift though!

May Cause Miracles : Week One

The first week of this journey was very eye opening. It is so different than doing a yoga or clean eating challenge because you are solely focused on what's inside; your behaviours, thoughts and thought patterns, and your feelings. When you are asked to observe these things, an awareness is unlocked and you can learn so much about yourself. It can also be quite uncomfortable because now you have to face thoughts or feelings about yourself that may not be what you want to see.

Day 1 Affirmation

Day 2 Affirmation

Day 3 Affirmation



Day 4 Affirmation

Day 5 Affirmation



Day 6 Affirmation

The last day of the week, Day 7 is used as a reflection day. We can read through our week's journal entries, do some of the meditations again if we choose, and just reflect on how the past week has affected us.

Something that I realized after this week was that I really did need a small quiet space for myself for reflection and meditation. It is pretty hard to find a quiet space in my house because we have a pretty boisterous pup, so I settled on a little space in the office where he doesn't go very often. I picked up a nice big pillow from HomeSense, and arranged a few candles. I am also sticking all affirmations up on the wall, so that every time I am in this space I can really connect with them. It's just a tiny corner, but it will be a place where I can be still, and truly reflect on the work I am doing. This past week, I used my bedroom and kitchen as places to reflect, and there are so many distractions that it is hard to really focus. I'm interested to see how having this space will affect my growth over the next few weeks.

My little meditation nook

May Cause Miracles

After reading Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein last month, I was hooked on that positive feeling of knowing that my life is going to change for the better if I commit to putting in the work I need to. Before I even finished reading the book, I went and purchased her other two books : Add More Ing to Your Life, which was her first book and is the starting point to choosing love over fear, and May Cause Miracles, which is a 40 day transformational journey.

May Cause Miracles has got me very excited, because it gives you a daily plan to making subtle shifts in your thinking, to be able to live a life filled with love instead of fear. It brings me even more joy that I will be supported on this journey by a new friend. She too just purchased the book and was talking to me about getting started. I came home that day and glanced at my own book on my night stand that I hadn't started reading yet. It dawned on me that sharing a transformational journey with someone would be even more beneficial than going it alone. So we started the 40 days together so that we can support each other. AMAZING!

The premise of this 40 days, is that each day we are provided with a morning reflection, an affirmation for that day, and then an evening reflection. The morning reflection and affirmation set the tone for the day, and the evening reflection allows you to journal and reflect on your thoughts on the day with specific questions. She also advises us to set alarm reminders on our phones with the affirmation, so that throughout the day we are constantly reminded.

I will be posting a little reflection on each week as I work through the 40 days. I am at day 8 now, and I've already noticed and been able to steer my thoughts to a more loving place. I'm enjoying the daily affirmations because I am really starting to think about what they say, and I try to think about them throughout the day when certain thoughts come up. I have also been writing the affirmation on a sticky note first thing in the morning, and carrying it around with me in my journal all day. I upload a photo of the sticky note affirmation to Instagram and Facebook as well, and anytime someone likes the photo or comments on it I get a chance to look at it again. I also think that sharing the affirmation with others is a great idea. Maybe it will inspire someone else to think about  choosing love throughout their day :)

Clean Eating Lasagna

Any time I ask Mike what he wants me to cook he always says "lasagna" (like the kid says it in the movie "Big Daddy" with Adam Sandler lol). He LOVES lasagna. I'm ok with it, it's not a favourite or anything, but maybe that's because I feel like it takes so long to make. Or at least that's how I used to think. I made this lasagna in about an hour, not bad!

Ingredients:

-.5-1lb extra lean ground beef (you can use turkey)

-kamut lasagna pasta noodles cooked according to package directions (I used 9 noodles for mine to make 3 layers)

-1 can diced tomatoes (no salt added)

-1 can tomato paste (no salt added)

-3 cups fresh spinach

-mushrooms sliced

-1 medium onion sliced

-1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

-1 cup grated cheese of your choice (I used light medium cheddar)

-any other veggies you want to chop up and add into your sauce

-1 tbsp garlic powder

-1/2 tbsp onion powder

-fresh pepper to taste

-1 tbsp parsley

-1 tbsp Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Brown ground meat.

2. Add in onion, mushrooms, and any other veggies. Cook until onion is translucent.

3. In a blender, mix diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and all spices.

4. Add sauce to meat and vegetables. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

5. Add spinach and cook until it wilts in the sauce.

6. Layer sauce, noodles, and cheese until you run out of noodles. (I do 3 layers: sauce, noodles, cheese and repeat).

7. Bake for 25 minutes.

Healthy Slow Cooker Ribs

Ribs are a food I just started eating a few years ago. Mike's mom makes really good ribs (with sauce that I could drink!), and so I got her recipe and made them a little while ago. Of course with something that tastes as good as her ribs, it is not clean at all! Brown sugar, vinegar, and ketchup are the main ingredients of the sauce. I wanted to try to make a healthier version, and so I came up with this recipe for the slow cooker.

Ingredients:
-centre cut ribs (the smaller ones)
-1 cup water
-1 cup clean bbq sauce (I use an organic one called "Amazing Dad's BBQ Sauce" that I found at Fortinos)
-1 tbsp jerk seasoning
-fresh ground pepper
-1 medium onion chopped

1. Sautee onion until translucent. Place in slow cooker.
2. Rub jerk seasoning and pepper on ribs. Place in slow cooker.
3. Add water and bbq sauce and combine well.
4. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

I served mine over brown jasmine rice.

Rose Coloured Glasses

I have been trying to change my outlook to be a more positive one as of late, and this has made a huge difference in my life. Not only has my outlook been more positive, but I have really started to notice where my thought patterns are going astray, and that awareness alone has made it possible for me to ignore my ego from time and time and let love shine through.

After a very powerful book club meeting, and some conversations about teacher training at Power Yoga Canada this summer, I felt like I needed to make a huge change in my life. I got really amped up, and felt that the words of others were truly motivating me. I also received a message from a blog friend that evening asking me why I don't try to find a way to make my passion for yoga and fitness a career. That was it, I had the "signs". I was going to go to teacher training, at $5000, for 2 intensive weeks in August.

Of course this news did not sit well with Mike. He immediately questioned where this idea was coming from, how I would come up with the money when I am still paying off other debts, and why did it have to be now? Why not save? It is not logical. It's a bad time. Why haven't I talked about teacher training lately? Why all of a sudden do I need to do the training NOW? 

My bubble of excitement and happiness had burst, and reality set in. I had been looking at this through rose coloured glasses.
Yes I would have the training completed in only 2 short weeks (instead of the usual 9 week program they offer), but I would be further in debt, which would then cause me more stress. I would also be taking ALL of my available vacation time from work at once, and would not have any vacation time left to spend with my husband or family.

Yogis might tell me that everything will work itself out in the end, the money will come, and that may be true. But I want to be secure in the fact that I can pay off my debts first, save the full amount for whatever training I decide to do, and then be able to enjoy it without worrying about money. Things WILL work themselves out, the way they are meant to for ME. Maybe for someone else putting $5000 on their credit card now and paying it off later on down the road is ok, but for me it's not. I have worked SO hard to get myself out of debt, and the $0 remaining balance is so close I can taste it. If I continue to work hard, make the right money decisions, and save, my time will come. And that time will mean even more to me because I will be able to fully enjoy the experience and soak in all the training that I crave.

This has also opened my mind up to different training options that are really speaking to me.
I AM SO EXCITED about what is coming up in my life. I know what I have to do, I am so motivated to do it.
For now, I have decided to attend workshops that interest me, commit to more home practice, and continue with the positive books I have been reading. I have also started to journal, which has helped boost me when I'm not feeling so confident.

I have taken off those rose coloured glasses, that make you see a masked world.

I can feel a shift coming, and I am ready to propel myself forward and be the best me I can be!




Namaste!



Avocado aka. Mayonnaise Substitute Extraordinaire

Not really sure why it never occurred to me to use avocado as a substitute for mayo when making tuna or egg salad sandwiches, but I'm glad it finally did!

Apart from the fact that I'm obsessed with avocado, these were both so yummy, and almost as easy as scooping mayo out of a jar.

***use half an avocado, and mix into a can of tuna, or mash with 2 hard boiled eggs. 

Mixing with tuna

Tuna

Egg Salad