Yoga and Knitting, is there anything else?

Mid-March and the beginning of Spring Break.  It's been a tough winter since Christmas.  My January Yoga Challenge resolution seems long gone.  I made it home on a Sunday morning after day 20 of my Bikram Challenge, back in mid-January, and was promptly taken down by pneumonia.  2 months later and visits to the hot room are still too infrequent.  I am taking it easy because my breathing is still laboured.  My flexibility is suffering so I can't wait until I can practice more often.

I'm thankful for knitting to keep me occupied while I was really sick.  One lesson learned from battling breast cancer is to have goals each day, no matter how small.  Battling pneumonia, I was too sick to read but the repetitive motion of knitting, along with watching PVRed Tour de France 2011 episodes kept me going for a few weeks.

With knitting Christmas presents behind me I was finally able to tackle a project for myself.  Last summer I stocked-up on a few skeins of "Meadow" from Tanis Fiber Arts before it was discontinued.   A bit of back & forth knitting and "voilà", a new Azzu Shawl for me.  I love it!  It's soft, squishy, and warm.

I was able to take part in the Tanis Fiber Arts Knit-along in January.  I had not signed-up at the beginning of January because I didn't think I would be able to finish a project in a month.  Funny how things happen sometimes.  My yoga goal went down the tubes but I now have a new shawl instead.  My first knit-along, it was really fun to watch all the projects evolve and I discovered many new beautiful patterns.  Wool + pattern + needles = Joy!

Day 7 - The last Xmas Yoga class

Today was the last day of the Christmas break.  Tomorrow it's roll your sleeves up & back to school baby!  Once again, it was a real treat to practice yoga during the daytime, at 11 am.  Starting tomorrow I'll have to either go before work @ 6 am or after school @ 3:45.  The trouble with waiting for 3:45 is that sometimes I get stuck @ school and can't make the yoga class.  So it's an early bedtime & early yoga for me for the first day back.

I. was teaching today, lucky us!  She always injects her classes with tips & inspirational words.  Today's tip was about Standing Bow - to really place the forward shoulder against the chin.  I thought I was already doing that but when the class tried after her demonstration, we all grew an inch and presto!  better balance.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a real live demo is even better!

Bikram teachers often have inspirational words during class.  I should bring a pencil & paper to class to jot those ideas down because I can never remember them afterwards.  Writing something down during class  would be highly irregular and I wonder whether the paper would stay dry enough.  Today's thought was F.I.P.  The only way I was able to remember was by repeating this acronym in my head a number of times.  I. says that the best way to improve postures is through:

1.  Frequency of practice - It's true, it doesn't matter how long someone has been practising, it's how often they practice that makes the difference.

2.  Intensity of practice - It's important to try hard, or else no changes will happen.  Timely advice as I was wondering today whether I should decrease my efforts while practising everyday to make sure I don't overdo it.

3.  Perspiration ... Actually, she said Persistence, but I thought Perspiration would be funnier.  Persistence goes along with #1 & 2, as does Perspiration.  Without Persistence there is no Frequency, Intensity or Perspiration.

Resolutions & a 30 Day Challenge

Happy New Year!

Some years I make specific resolutions, other years I don't.  Is it worth making resolutions if I'm not committed to them?  Probably not.  Some resolutions are standards year after year, but not necessary measurable, such as eating better and being kinder to others in need ...  Then there's the measurable/unattainable resolution - losing weight.

Last year I purchased my first Annual Membership from Bikram Yoga Saanich  so my 2011 resolution was to practice yoga enough times to make the membership worthwhile.  I'm happy to report that I reached that goal with 136 visits to the yoga studio in 2011.  By charting how often I practised I learned that I am able to attend classes often when I'm not teaching, not so often when I'm writing report cards & practically never in September when all hell breaks loose.

This is useful information for 2012.  I have renewed my Annual Membership.  I'm not going to beat myself up when I can't go to yoga, however, I will remember how great it makes me feel, and how it keeps me healthy.  So I'll try to make it to the studio as much as possible in 2012, at least 2x a week.  I was not planning on making a resolution for 2012 but that sounds like one right there.

My studio just started a 30 Day Challenge today.  The past 2 years I have regretted not starting the year with a yoga challenge.  So this year I decided not to wait until Jan. 1st for the studio challenge and to start my own personal 30 Day Challenge on December 27th instead.  I'm still on vacation right now and it's easy to make it to the studio every day.  Today was Day 6 of my challenge.  The real challenge for me will be scheduling family, work, & yoga.  I did a 30 day challenge in April 2010 so I can do it again.  The main benefits last time were more patience in the classroom, plus I kicked a winter-long cold.  Must keep this in mind to keep me motivated.

Benefits of daily practice (so far, in no specific order):
#1  Stillness
#2  Peace of mind
#3  Getting used to different areas of the studio
#4  Increased flexibility on backward bends
#5  Stronger thighs for Standing Head to Knee
#6  Letting go of being able to see myself in the mirror

Tiny bubbles

As a school teacher, sometimes I am lucky enough to receive gifts at Christmas from students.  One of these Christmases 2 years ago a few students gave me colourful, scented, and beautifully decorated soaps, obviously handmade because each was unique.  After some detective work, I found out that one of the Moms in my class taught soap-making classes.  So I quickly enrolled in her next class, a few months later.

There is no real expectation that I will ever be able to make soap on my own, so I'm not sure the term "class" applies here.  D. guides 4 of us through the whole process.  She has a variety of colours, scents and add-ins for our soaps.  She also pre-measures all the necessary ingredients for the soap base such as:  olive oil, vegetable lard, and lye.  Not being so good with details, I'm glad D. does all the measuring so that I can concentrate on the all-important mixing and choosing the colour/scents combos.  The whole process is quite technical, and there are many places where a distracted person such as myself could go make mistakes.  I learned that all soaps contain lye (which is caustic), and that caustic = dangerous (actually, I knew this already) so I really would not want to make a mistake because someone could lose an eye.

4 of us have made soap at D.'s house twice a year since 2009.  Every session brings new scents, colours and textures.  So far I have made lemon, peppermint, blackberry, tomato-fresh, espresso, cacao, and rosemary scented soaps.

Above is a pic of my very first soap, tucked in its butcher paper while it hardens.  Lemon?

This one remains my favourite:  peppermint with black rice.  I love how the rice sunk to the bottom of the soap and looks like Cookies & Cream chunks.  Too bad I stuck my fingers on the top to check for hardness prior to cutting.  A lesson learned ... perhaps it is a class after-all.

The Joys of Summer (part 2)

Walk + Nature = Bliss!


Just got back from a summer trip around the Cascade Mountains in what my American neighbours call the Pacific Northwest.  I think of it as the Pacific Southwest, but since it's in their country I will let them have their way.

Living in Victoria, on clear days we are often treated to this view of Mt. Baker:

So for a summer trip J. & I decided on a nature pilgrimage to Mt. Baker and see the area from up close.

Our trip started with a ferry ride to Seattle aboard the Anacortes ferry to watch a few Mariners baseball games.  We then quickly proceeded to the mountains, heading East to Leavenworth, Lake Chelan, Stehekin, Mazama, Concrete, and finally Mt. Baker.

Just outside of Mazama we found a trail called the Maple Pass Loop.  It was the most amazing hike of my life, taking J. & I up to the top of a mountain bowl, walking through alpine meadows filled with flowers, sometimes walking through snow and gazing down at glacier lakes.

 




We had planned on hiking a number of trails on Mt. Baker, but because of the 90+ feet of snow which fell this year, many trails were covered with rapidly melting snow, which could be dangerous.  We wandered around a bit and saw these views:

 

We have sworn to return soon to explore some more!

July = Yellow

I bought a skein of yellow Tanis Fiber Arts wool  last summer when visiting relatives in Montreal.  It was July, the Tour de France was on, the weather was beautiful, so I easily succumbed to the appeal of yellow wool.  Sadly, upon return to Victoria the newly rolled-up wool spent an uneventful year stashed awaiting the perfect project.

Last July I found Star Athena’s «Tour de France » sock pattern and first made a pair for socks for myself, then altered the pattern to make a pair of fingerless gloves for Mom last Christmas.   I love this pattern because of the cables and moss stitch representing mountains and cobbles.  Very fun to make!

So July 2011 rolled around and it was finally time to put the beautiful yellow wool to good use.  I don't know why it took me so long to put this pattern & wool together.  I should have seen  before that Tour de France = Yellow, so therefore sock pattern = yellow skein.  July was the perfect month to start this project because that's when the Tour is on.

I have finished the right glove and took a few pics this week while visiting the beach in Deep Bay.  Still working on the left glove but it should be finished soon.  

The Joys of Summer (part 1)

There are many obvious Joys of Summer such as:  vacations, heat, and sunlight.  I have a few of my own Joys, a variety of events I look forward to every year.

Joy #1 -  The Clothesline

When I was a kid in Montreal, my Mom used to hang clothes outside in the summer.  I think she probably did it to save money.  I didn’t particularly like the end result, especially not the sandpaper-like towels. 

Something happened since then, and now I can’t wait until it’s warm & sunny enough to dry clothes outside.  I could do it all year long, as one of my neighbors does, but that would likely mean bringing wet laundry back inside most days. 

My clothesline ritual usually begins sometime in June.  There’s something serene about hanging laundry outside and letting the sun dry it out.  Maybe it’s the slow mechanical act of hanging and folding clothes.  Maybe it’s because everything smells good once it’s dry.  Or it could be that letting the elements drying my laundry oddly fills me with glee.  I’ve even mysteriously grown to enjoy the rough towels.

My Mom still dries clothes out on a line, but places them in the dryer for 10 minutes when she brings them in “to kill all the bugs”.  I don’t have her bug problems unless the clothes spend the night outside.  Then I can expect small spiders or ants creeping out of the laundry basket.  I sometimes forget about this as in last week, when I went to my yoga class accompanied by a giant black ant who had hitched a ride on my towel.  Not cool.

Noteworthy:  My friend M.’s parents are in their 80s and have never owned a dryer.  They have a giant clothesline which runs through their basement.  They use it year-long.  Epic.

There was a time when neighborhoods would outlaw clotheslines because they were unsightly.  How 1^st World!  Not sure whether this is still the case.  I just know that when the air gets warm and sweet smelling, I can’t wait to start using the line again.

When I was a kid in Montreal, my Mom used to hang clothes outside in the summer.  I think she probably did it to save money.  I didn’t particularly like the end result, especially not the sandpaper-like towels. 

Something happened since then, and now I can’t wait until it’s warm & sunny enough to dry clothes outside.  I could do it all year long, as one of my neighbors does, but that would likely mean bringing wet laundry back inside most days. 

My clothesline ritual usually begins sometime in June.  There’s something serene about hanging laundry outside and letting the sun dry it out.  Maybe it’s the slow mechanical act of hanging and folding clothes.  Maybe it’s because everything smells good once it’s dry.  Or it could be that letting the elements drying my laundry oddly fills me with glee.  I’ve even mysteriously grown to enjoy the rough towels.

My Mom still dries clothes out on a line, but places them in the dryer for 10 minutes when she brings them in “to kill all the bugs”.  I don’t have her bug problems unless the clothes spend the night outside.  Then I can expect small spiders or ants creeping out of the laundry basket.  I sometimes forget about this as in last week, when I went to my yoga class accompanied by a giant black ant who had hitched a ride on my towel.  Not cool.

Noteworthy:  My friend M.’s parents are in their 80s and have never owned a dryer.  They have a giant clothesline which runs through their basement.  They use it year-long.  Epic.

There was a time when neighborhoods would outlaw clotheslines because they were unsightly.  How 1^st World!  Not sure whether this is still the case.  I just know that when the air gets warm and sweet smelling, I can’t wait to start using the line again.