Circles...

Black Elk of the Lakota Sioux said of the Universe:

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round...The sky is round, and I have heard tat the Earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours...Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.

- From the Sky Handbook by John Watson & Michael Kerrigan

I read this recently and fell in love with it and wanted to share!

Also follow this link to a Corporate Yoga Company that I work for and their current newsletter. I wrote the main article in the newsletter for October 2010! http://www.innergycorporateyoga.com/newsletter.html

Had a spectacular time studying with Nischala Joy Devi in Calgary from Sept 26-30th! Made some new friends, learned ALOT and just felt whole. Such a fantastic feeling. Having been home now for a week it's been so nice just enjoying the flow of life and those around me. Been really cultivating Gratitude in my classes this week in the spirit of Thanksgiving. I must say that it all just feels so much easier when I allow myself to go with the flow...

A photo of the sunset in Airdire, Alberta - stunning!

Falling in to Autmun

Definitely feels like summer time is behind us now and Autumn is here. Which I don't mind at all because I happen to love the Fall. Not the rain so much, but the rest ofit yes. Seeing as how Bernard and I didn't get much in terms of summer getaways this year we are off to Seattle for two nights next week. I am very much looking forward to it!

Here is the plan of attack:
Head down via car on Tuesday afternoon - make a pit stop at the outlet shops along the way
Arrive into Seattle around dinner time and check into our hotel - The Silver Cloud Stadium HotelWednesday morning is open for spontaneousfun,then it's off to see the Boston Red Sox beat the pants off the Seattle Mariners at Safeco FieldWednesday afternoon!
Wednesday night dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, which even the thought of it has me salivating (Who can say no to cheesecake when they have two full pages on their menu just for these?)Thursday: rainy day = Seattle Music Experience; non-rainy day = Woodland Park Zoo. My fingers are crossed for the zoo because it looks like soooo much fun.
Then get back in the car and drive home to Vancouver Thursday evening.

Not too shabby.

In other news....I am happily plugging away at an online Anatomy & Physiology course currently as part of the Yoga Therapy Program I am working towards through Mount Royal University in Calgary, AB. My first quiz is tomorrow so I should actually be studying right now rather than blogging, but that is what the rest of the day is for I say! This is only part 1 of Anatomy & Physiology so I will be immersed in this content from now until the end of February with parts 1 & 2. It is very interesting content so I don't mind it. Lots of review from previous science coursework. :)

Then at the end of this month I will be off to Calgary for just under a week to do an in-class course at Mount Royal. Should be good because a) it's school and I love school and b) it's yoga school so even better! This one is called Healing Relationships, level 2. So really that is a pretty vague course title but I like the instructor, Nischala Joy Devi, so I am sure it will be interesting and engaging. Plus I get to hang with my cousin while in Calgary so that will be nice too. I know people like to rag on Calgary sometimes but I don't mind it there, I will have to be smarter than

last time though and take some warm, winter type clothing with me.

The Vancouver Yoga Conference is coming up too - less than a month away! It's the first weekend in October here in rainy Vancouver. I actually haven't got my act together and registered for anything yet, but I do plan to do some of the workshops with Susi Hately as she works in the Yoga Therapy field. There is a full-day intensive session with her on the Friday and then some 2 hour sessions on the Saturday that I plan to partake in with Ms. Hately. I wasn't super stoked when the conference guide was released for this year's conference - but - there are still some interesting topics and teachers, just not as much as I had hoped for. Nothing like the Yoga Therapy conferences I have attended previously in LA - but then again California is the yoga capital so that's to be expected. I am sure the knowledge I can receive from Susi's workshops will be very valuable indeed and I may throw in a workshop with Sadie Nardini or Martin Kirk.

Anyhow that is what's on the horizon for me at this time. :) All good things. Plenty to be grateful for of course.

Here are some recent photos to share with you as well. The vintage effect on the photos is courtesy of the Iphone App called Hipstamatic, which quite frankly I am in love with!

Posing with the tree at the park

Me being a dork at the Park

Duck at Queen Elizabeth Park just Chillin

Bernard looking as cool as ever :)

B and I at Queen Elizabeth Park taking a self-portait.

Miss Kenidee Buttons

At the Vancouver Aquarium

Fall is upon us...

So fall is just around the corner now - well I guess if you want to get technical we have got until September 21st with Summer, but it feels like Fall to me now. I actually think Fall is my favorite season now. I don't think it was as a kid, with all the back to school hoopla, but now as an adult I really love Autumn. I get so happy and warm inside thinking about the colors of the leaves, cozy sweaters, the windy blustery days, the pumpkin pies and thanksgiving, yum! I do enjoy the transition from the high-energy busy days of summer to a more contemplative time of Fall. Atleast that's how it feels to me.

I do have A LOT on my plate for the Fall but I don't mind because I am super stoked for all of it! I will be heading back to Calgary for more Yoga Therapy training in late September. I will also be doing an online Anatomy & Physiology course starting September 1st - which is yikes! less than two weeks away! I will also be completing a 25 hour restorative teacher training with Heart Centre Yoga in Burnaby which I am really excited for. Then it's a medical terminology online course for late Fall (I know this one sounds sooo...exciting....well not exactly). For January 2011 it's starting a 350 hours of Yoga Teacher Training so that at the end of 2011 I can call myself a 500 hour certified yoga teacher!!

For those of you interested this is what my fall schedule is shaping up to look like in terms of teaching & classes, etc. :) I am happy to be teaching with the organizations I do teach with and am very grateful for my classes.

Tuesdays:

8:30am-9:30am Hatha Hour @ Kerrisdale Yoga

9:30am-10:45am Yin @ Kerrisdale Yoga

4:00pm-5:00pm Hatha @ Yogacara

Wednesdays:

4:00pm-5:00pm Gentle Hatha @ Canadian Mental Health Association

5:30pm-6:30pm Private Class

Fridays:

9:30am-10:30am Hatha @ Yogacara

4:15pm-5:30pm Vinyasa Flow @ Kerrisdale Yoga (As of Oct. 22nd)

5:45pm-7:00pm Yin @ Kerrisdale Yoga (As of Oct. 22nd)

That is what it looks like so far....still working on a couple more hopefully for the fall schedule. I am also happy to announce that I will be working in an administrative assistant role with Innergy Corporate Yoga! (check them out at www.innergycorporateyoga.com) This will be a neat and interesting role to work for a company that offers corporate yoga classes for businesses and companies within their own space for their employees. I am very glad to be on board with them.

Completely un-related to yoga teaching: I got my second tattoo this past Thursday! And if I do say so myself, it's freaking awesome! The artist (Jay @ IKandy Tattoo in Langley) did a super

fantastic job - better than what I had in mind when I described my idea to him. Here are a couple of photos for ya:

None of the photos show the complete color filled in - I will need to take some more after it's done healing and it's no longer pealing. Just wanted to share tonight with you all. I also just did a Shiva Rea yoga DVD at home with a couple of friends and we are feeling super quiet and peaceful and blissful. I will end on that note - goodnight folks :)

Disneyland - here we come!

So in just over a week it's off to Disneyland we go! I am such a huge dork that the other day I was at home watching videos of Disneyland on youtube and getting all excited about the adventure to come. I have been to Disneyland before - but I was 12 I believe, so it's been awhile and when I was there the California Adventure park didn't even exist yet so I am sure we will have plenty to explore. :) From what I remember there was really nothing about Disneyland I didn't enjoy....ha ha I guess I am their target then. But between the sun, the good company, the rides and photos to be taken I think it's going to be a well-deserved rest from "real life" in Vancouver.

I have been extremely busy as of late, teaching my regular schedule of classes on top of subbing some extras as well. Both Yesterday & Wednesday of this week were 3 class days whereas Tuesday was a 4 class day! I am a little glad I only have one to do tonight in Burnaby and one tomorrow in Richmond. :) I need to make sure I am getting enough rest for myself in there too! I do find it a little difficult sometimes trying to make a living as a yoga teacher. I don't mean to complain, it's just alot of running around firstly, secondly it pretty much always keeps you on your toes because especially with a drop in class you never know who might show up to class, and lastly it's that whole dilemma of "can I make a living of doing something that I love?" I find that money has been tight lately, well more than lately I should say and even though I seem to be teaching up a storm I still seem to run out of money before I run out of month. So I need to get it together and either teach more or supplement with something else (again). It just very simply sucks to be poor.

I completed a fantastic Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training last weekend!! I absolutely loved it. I don't think I will be rushing into teaching pre-natal yoga anytime in the absolute near future, but I do see myself pursuing it in the future at some point. It was such an amazing time to spend with a bunch of fab gals in a group setting and honour & validate women and the whole pregnancy/birthing experience. It did overwhelm me a little in the sense that it feels like the amount of information as a new mother you need to keep in the forefront of your mind is so immense that is the part that felt overwhelming. Lots to explore and play with. It helped me to re-connect with my feminine energy too, realigning some values and goals. It made me feel special and proud to be a woman! I feel like I had started to lose some of that confidence and strength that each woman does hold and it felt so very good to find my way back to all of these. I feel like these words aren't even doing my experience justice :) So in one word - fanfrickingtastic!

Be careful what you wish for....you may just get it!

So hello there, I have been slacking on the blogging front as you can see here from the lack of postings. I have made a new goal when it comes to my blog here, seeing as it's a new thing for me still and I have never written a blog before, my goal is to write once a week. If I feel like writing more then awesome - if not once a week seems reasonable. :)

So you know the saying be careful what you wish for....

Ha ha it's just that I have been really focusing on building my teaching schedule as a yoga instructor for the spring and now it seems like another saying, 'when it rains, it pours.' I just firmed up three more classes this week - right on! Don't get me wrong I am not complaining one bit, just noticing that the intention you send out there can come back to you in a very positive and fruitful way!

Here's a rough sketch of my teaching schedule for the next while:

Mondays : Teachers yoga in Burnaby @ Elementary school

Tuesdays: (as of May) 9:30am Yin Class @ Kerrisdale Yoga

(as of May) 4:00pm Hatha Class @ Yogacara

(April 13 - June 29) 7:00pm Candlelight Yogaflex @ Mt. Pleasant Community Ctr

Wednesdays: (as of May) 9:30am Yoga for Cancer Survivors @ Yogacara

(May 12 - July 28) 2:00pm Survivor Yoga @ Kerrisdale Yoga

4:00pm Gentle Hatha @ Canadian Mental Health Association

(April 14 - June 2) 6:30pm Healthy Backs @ New West School Location

(April 14 - June 2) 7:30pm Yoga Plus @ New West School Location

Thursdays: (April 15 - ?) 8:00pm Private class in West Vancouver

Fridays: 9:30am Hatha Class @ Yogacara

8:00pm Candlelight Hatha @ Heart Centre Yoga in Burnaby

So that is where I am with my teaching - not too shabby if I do say so myself :) I am very happy that I am focusing on myself as a teacher and growing and learning as much as possible in this realm to continue to expand and develop as a teacher. It really is an on-going process in which you are never really done (but between me and you that is perfectly ok with me).

In other yoga news - I am embarking on a Pre-natal teacher training course this week. It runs Thursday - Sunday and I am very excited to be completing this one. I love kids and I love working with women for women so I really feel that learning more in this specific area of yoga will only lead to greater things. Plus I believe this will also help me on my journey towards becoming a doula. I plan on working on the doula steps to certification beginning this year. It looks like with all of the steps required it will take me about a year to complete as long as I stick with it and keep on track!

I had been spending the last couple of weeks working a little less and taking the time to evaluate where I am as a teacher and where I want to be and go with my career. I came to the conclusion that it means getting back on board with the Yoga Therapy training program I had started with Mount Royal University in Calgary. I had been looking around at other trainings and programs, etc and it just became too much I felt. I am already apart of this program and have done a couple of their modules already so why not just back into the groove of things and re-committ myself to this program on my journey to becoming a certified yoga therapist. :) It makes me feel very good to have a clearer plan here now and I have dates for the upcoming sessions this year and will be committing myself to making it work. Enough said.

My long term goals still include working privately as a yoga therapist one on one with clients either out of a shared space or out of my home (when we upgrade to a larger living area in the future). So in order to get there I have got to focus on my training and make the necessary sacrifices when it comes to timing & $$$.

And completely nothing to do with yoga - we leave for our big kid Disneyland trip in 17 days!! I am getting very excited to spend time with my partner and our good friends roaming through the theme parks in southern california being big kids, laughing, being in the sun, eating and chilling together having fun!! I am a such a sucker when it comes to California as I absolutely love it there. :) I will be sure to share some photos of this on here when we return.

Peace & love,

Sara

Anatomy Trains...

Yesterday I took a 3 hour workshop on Anatomy Trains and what a fantastic way of looking at things! I quite enjoyed learning what I could in only three hours, but still it seems like a more cohesive perspective on stretching and on getting in and out of poses. Each time I take a workshop or read a book on yoga, I feel invigorated once again in my practice and as a teacher. It's very reassuring to keep learning and growing and trying.

I am definitely interested to learn more about Anatomy trains because in a three hour workshop I think we only began the exploration of this concept. There is so much to learn out there! That is one of the reasons I enjoy being a yoga teacher is there is a never-ending flow of information out there and different ideas and theories and applications....you keep what resonates with you.

I am embarking on a new yoga class for people with cancer. I am extremely excited to delve into this area and also expand my teaching limits as well. As long as I get enough students looks like I will have two weekly classes for people with cancer, in treatment or finished treatment or even just support people too. Looks like it will be in Kits and Kerrisdale through a couple of studios I work with so that's very exciting! Also seredipidously I stumbled across a two day training in Victoria in April specifically for teachers wanting to teach individuals with Cancer, so it would be super fabulous if I could make that happen for myself too. Have more info to offer and share with students.

I expanding as a teacher because I don't want to become stale or stagnant in what I do and it challenges me in a new and different ways which is good. Keeps me on my toes but also helps me grow at the same time. Felt the same way when I just started teaching a kids yoga class in January of this year. I love it now! But it's definitely different than teaching adults. Kids are soooo much fun, that's for sure. Always knew I was a kids person :)

I was re-watching Julie & Julia last night and thought oh yeah I started this blog, I should get back to it. Even if I feel like I am not writing anything super interesting, atleast it's something for me to express myself on in a different way than I have done in the past. I think it's good to write for yourself, whether it be a journal or a blog or whatever you like.

In other news.....I am doing this painting/collage course at Emily Carr University currently and it is amazing! Really great and different and fun and just makes me feel good to do something with my hands. Even just painting the backgrounds on the canvas is very fun, lots of color mixing and playing around and there really is no wrong way of doing it. It's whatever you want it to be. I enjoy the freedom of it and also the chance to be creative in an artistic way. I have been dabbling in collage for a few years now in my spare time but this is so nice to have a teacher offering ideas and suggestions and tools and odd supplies you can use - very helpful and inspiring. Oh what a life it would be if I spent all my time painting and creating.....

Well it's off into this sunshiney day here for me.

Peace out.

Finally saw Avatar last night and I can completely understand why it was such a big hit. I loved it, absolutely loved it. I believe I may have loved it for a bit of a different reason than most of the feedback I got from others about the movie though. I actually really liked the story and what it seemed to symbolize and how alot of it could be related to our current situation on earth as part of the human race. I mean yes the animation was bloody fantastic for sure. But I loved the way they showed the indigenous people's connection to nature and how they didn't see any difference between the trees and the earth and themselves, it's all the same. I couldn't agree more. :)

I could relate to their feelings of being taken over by forces seemingly so large and forceful that there is nothing one can do. It breaks the heart to think that such beauty is destroyed all in the name of the mighty buck! I know it's cliche but really I felt this being ground into me during the movie.

Parts I really enjoyed because they seemed so yogic: when they are all sitting around their most sacred tree moving in unison with the electric energy beneath them - so very cool. I also really liked when they all stood in one big group with eachothers' hands outstretched to the person's shoulders in front of them, very neat to see the connection as they pan up above for you to see.

Anyways, this is the beginning of my blogging attempts. Need a space to express and share and create....so here goes nothing!

-peace