Goodbye 2011

Well where did that month go?

Looking back over the last month of 2011, I think it's fair to say that it was a month of ups and downs.  Highs and Lows. The first half had some rough patches as I struggled to get back to full health after my run in with laryngitis and the things that accompanied it. My month was a bit light on the teaching front because of it...well that, and the reduced Christmas schedule, which definitely turned out to be a blessing, giving me a little more time to rest and do all those pre-holiday jobs that need doing, no matter how simple you try to keep things.

As the Christmas week approached however, it was time for some fun. Another road trip! We enjoy road trips and we have taken 2 in the last 2 weeks! The first destination was Muskoka, our new favourite place to visit with a pit stop in Toronto first for a spot of business and pleasure. Just pleasure for me :-) I got to dance some Nia with my Toronto Nia teacher, Martha Randall and reconnect with some of my fellow white belt graduates for the first time since July...that was special and I almost got to connect with another friend too, but not quite. Next time hopefully. We took in a show...well, you have to when in the city, especially at Christmas time....

Muskoka was perfect for my birthday. A wonderful place to relax and get pampered. The only thing that would have made it more perfect would have been to see it snow...or to see some snow there! But alas, despite the -12 temperatures there was no snow in sight between December 22 & 24. Oh well. It made for a much easier journey, on the plus side. Beautiful weather in both directions for a road trip. Bright blue skies, sunshine and even some snow-topped evergreens as we made our way through the lake-ridden landscape, on our way home on Christmas Eve. Beautiful!

Christmas was quiet. Quiet is good but I did miss my family this year, and I'm looking forward to March.

Then came NewYear and road trip number 2, taking us to Massachusetts, over the border. It's never my favourite time of year and has always been a slightly tricky time for me, not really sure why but I suspect I'm not the only one. It is a time when we can't help but review the year that has passed and maybe even judge it just a little. Our achievements, or if we feel like being especially hard on ourselves, the lack there of. The sad bits, the losses. If we're lucky however, we don't forget to remember the best bits. The friends we've made, the love we've given and received. The simple pleasures. The life lessons.

I was happy to retreat this year, spiritually retreat....for the first time. It was wonderful to immerse ourselves into such a nurturing environment and let everything else go. To roll out of bed at some unearthly hour and roll onto our mats for a morning yoga class. To eat a healthy breakfast and to study with an inspiring teacher. To meditate. To meet some like minded people and to be surrounded by beautiful countryside. To welcome 2012 in with some fabulous and joyful music... and to not have a hangover on New Years Day. I enjoyed the simplicity of this NewYear's Eve. The shift to this new year was more about the letting go of last year and any challenges it presented and moving joyfully and positively into the year ahead. I think it can be very easy to forget the significance of this sometimes with all the hype around the celebrations...the parties and the alcohol. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Back to yoga class!

It's almost exactly 5 months to the day since we arrived back in Canada. It's also the summer Solstice. Midsummer's Day. The longest day in the northern hemisphere. I'm not sure that is relevant to my post, maybe on some deeper level...

Personally though, it was a fairly momentous day for me. Today I attended an actual yoga class in a downtown yoga studio. Something people do every day of course, but I haven't done this in over 8 months and more to the point, since landing back on canadian soil, I haven't felt much like it. Instead, I've been practicing yoga in the comfort and privacy of my own home. I got kind of comfortable with that arrangement too. Complete permission to do as I pleased, to truly listen to my body and it's needs on a daily basis and respond appropriately. It's great to have the space to do this again, and to be in a peaceful environment, a place conducive to yoga practice and while it's been great to nurture my own self and my practice at home in this way, in recent weeks I have started to check out the online yoga class schedules...noticing what appeals to me.  I've become rather fussy of course, being able to practice what my body needs at the appropriate time of day on almost any given day. Public classes have to operate to schedule and they don't know or care, that my body simply would not appreciate Power Yoga or any other vigorous class, at 9.30am and that my best time for yoga is the afternoon.  I could go on, but in short, I have come to know my body very well and I know what it likes and needs at different times of the day and it can be challenging finding the right class at the right time, in the right place, with the right teacher, despite the relatively vast array of yoga studios in Ottawa! Today though I was drawn to a Kripalu Yoga class with a teacher new to me, and it uniquely started at 3.30pm... my perfect time for yoga! 


I have a soft spot for Kripalu and their own blend of yoga practice. It always feels so nurturing, so allowing and so personal. Whatever you can do, is the perfect pose. There is no judgement, we are encouraged instead to notice and respect our body's needs. This is true generally of course, I don't wish to get into trouble with the yoga police, I'm just saying that Kripalu Yoga really works for me. 


I was actually nervous at the thought of going to a class. Sounds silly for a yoga teacher, even a "resting" one but according to a recent Yoga Journal blog I was reading a few weeks ago, I'm not the only one who has felt like this before!  So I went to class.  It felt wonderful. I needn't have worried, of course. The class was small, just 7 people, the energy felt welcoming, the teacher was friendly and smiley, with a gentle energy. Just what I needed today and I'm not sure I could have given that class to myself today, to have anticipated my own needs quite so well as the teacher did. It was 2 hours long but felt much shorter. It was luxurious to not have any distractions. To be led...all I had to do was listen; to the teacher and my body. Anything that popped into my head reminding me it needing doing, definitely had to wait, I was out...I was busy. This was my time and nobody could disturb me here. It was actually a bit of a revelation. Obvious when you say it out loud, but by going to class, you truly commit yourself to practicing for the allocated time, no excuses, no interruptions. That really is a gift that I've missed. It is all too easy at home to succomb to distractions on those days when your attention is not quite there.  Today the greatest challenge about yoga class, was getting there and not mentally, but physically! There is construction everywhere at the moment and new condo buildings popping up where all the public parking lots used to be. Oh to live downtown....or close enough to bike to yoga! 


Despite the parking dilemma, I will return. It felt good. Really good and I cannot believe how free my shoulders feel tonight.....thank you Kripalu Yoga!