I love yoga - but seriously?

One usually doesn’t associate a major luxury retailer like Holt Renfrew with yoga (other than potentially breathing deeply while they swipe your credit card through when you are purchasing that designer pair of boots that you totally do not need). However, a lover of all, Holt Renfrew will be carrying a brand called Beyond Yoga.

source: Beyond Yoga (stretch poplin adjustable pant)

I perused through the clothing available on the website, and the prices are comparable to your local overpriced-yoga store (ie: Lululemon) (although, probably slightly more expensive overall).

If you live in Toronto, Holt Renfrew is having a GWP offer on with the purchase of $85 worth of Beyond Yoga gear between August 31st and September 18th. You can get a free week-long pass to The Yoga Studio in The Yorkville Club - more details here!

I think that I’m probably okay with the yoga gear that I’ve got (I’ve acquired quite a collection, he says), but I’ll probably check it out.

Easter yoga

Outside of my friends and boyfriend, I don’t have any family in the city, so holidays like Easter is usually spent over homemade somethings that we slaved over, a movie and some good desserts (I look forward to white chocolate bunnies every year). Today was no different - except that I decided to finally go to yoga class… and what a treat!

I was the only person that attended class today and so I had the instructor to myself! She’s my favourite instructor (Davian @ Tula Hot Yoga), too, so it was secretly very awesome that I was her only student.

At first, I was scared. I’m in no way an expert, would she judge me?

She asked me what I wanted to focus my practice on today, and I chose backbends. As soon as I said it, I almost immediately regretted it. Backbends? I haven’t practiced yoga in weeks! Months? Maybe. And here I am, thinking I can just jump into backbends?

What I love about backbends is the challenge and the feeling of accomplishment when completed. I am in IT, so I am 75% of my day is hunched over a computer, and it is really taking a toll on my posture.

We went through the first part of class preparing for backbends - and we did some partner yoga - which I thought was uber fun. How amazing it is to have someone supporting you! We practiced some backbends against the wall, and that was unbelievably fun.

I can’t wait to start getting back into yoga. I really appreciate that extra care she put into our class today… and I’ll be seeing her more often!

After I got home, boyfriend & I shared a homemade pizza and now we’re off to watch a movie together… I couldn’t have asked for a better Sunday :)

Namaste!

Yoga classes! Crow pose.

I did Crow pose yesterday! Check it out. Okay, I held it for 1ms but STILL. This pose is on my list of 101 things to do in the next 1001 days. It was terrifying but yet still kind of exciting. It was probably one of the hardest yoga classes I have ever been to, but that will not stop me from going again tonight.

Also, I am really sucking at this photo a day thing. Sucking.

I feel like a yoga preacher.

It is a beautiful day outside, so I decided to walk to yoga class this evening. On my way there, a gentleman caught up with me on the street and started a conversation.

“Excuse me,” he started. “But, can I ask what you have in that bag?”

“It’s my yoga mat,” I told him.

“Oh, I thought it was weaponry - martial arts or something. But yoga’s cool.”

“Not nearly exciting as swords,” I said.

“It’s still pretty cool. So why yoga?” he asked.

“Well, it started off as a hobby during my quest to find a hobby, but it really stuck. I tried other things, like rock climbing and spinning. Not my thing.”

We walked for another 5 minutes or so together, walking down the dirty, filthy, garbage-filled Yonge street - I told him all about hot yoga (he was looking for a calorie-burning activity). He told me about how he started reading about Kundalini yoga and the seven chakras. I told him that everyone should give yoga a try - at least once. But I suppose that could be said about anything, really.

I guess it was nice to have company walking to my class today; pleasant company with someone I’ve never spoken to before - and will not likely ever meet again.

Summer, where are you?

This is irritating. It’s June, and I still have to wear a sweater outside (although yesterday was the exception, it was gah-geous - but rain today?).

My theme for this year is to go out and try out new hobbies, so a few days ago, my coworker took me to her Spinning studio. I had only gone spinning once before in my life, and it was at my gym. So, I figured, why not give a studio a try? Oh man. Not my thing. It was hot, sweaty, and intense. The music is as loud as the club-scene and the instructor was either really angry or was fond of using his angry voice to provoke us. FYI: I do not respond well to yelling. I am pretty sure that about half-way through it, I was going to pass out. It was a challenging 60 minutes - that I will probably never, ever do again.

Thanks to the spinning class, my ass has been sore ever since. It hurts to sit and it made it really hard to focus when I went to a Meditation clinic yesterday morning at my Yoga studio. We had to sit on zafu pillows to align our spine, and instead of focusing on the ambiance or my breathe, I found my mind scolding me for even trying to Spin. There was a lot of woosah-ing.

Fun fact: did you know that the city of Toronto is now charging .05$ for every plastic bag? That means if you go to the grocery store and you need a plastic bag for your goods, you are charged for it? For some reason, I assumed this new charge was for grocery stores only - but I was wrong. Bought a few pairs of shoes (mmmmm) the other day and I was forced to pay for the bags. This means that I should start carrying one of the eco-friendly foldable bags in my purse at all times. Which is a pain, but still good.

Hope you have a good Sunday :)

Rock climbing.

I went rock climbing with the Taller Half this afternoon (for the very first time) and I have learned one important thing about myself: i enjoy the ground much more than i enjoy rocks on walls.

It’s kind of nerve-wracking knowing that you are belaying (is that the word?) your partner down the wall, and their safety is in your hands (and in my case, incredibly sweaty hands).

The Taller Half seemed to really dig rock climbing, and I can imagine it to be a new hobby of his, but I can’t stand it. The combination of my poor dexterity, my sweaty palms and my fear of heights make this sport the worst sport ever. Thank God for my Chaturunga’s, though, I was surprised with my upper body strength.

I’m glad I was able to try it out, though, just to say I did. And to finally put that “potential hobby” to rest.

Mission relaxation has been foiled.

What a disappointment. I look forward to going to yoga class, and I have not had a chance to go in a week or two because of my crazy busy schedule, so my stress and anxiety built up inside and I was really looking forward to some Sunday morning detox.

I really dislike that the girl next to me had a bad habit of staring over at me. I’m no pro, at all, but she seemed to be very interested in my movements. This made me pretty uncomfortable and I couldn’t get myself to fully focus on my poses. On top of that, at the end of the class, when we were all laying there, blissful and enjoying Savasana, some chick’s cellphone went off, cutting the instructor short.

So I stayed in the restorative pose for just a little longer - I was hoping I could tune everything out and focus on the soft white curtains, the heat from the room and my breath - but I seemed to be the only one planning on practicing Savasana for longer than 3 minutes. I was interrupted by several females gathering their shit and stomping out of the room, some even slamming the door.

I sighed, gave up and called it a class. Quietly gathered my things and exited the room.

I am disappointed that I did not get enough time to myself today. So, I think I will go to the gym in a few to cardio-out some of that leftover stress. Can you bliss-out on the treadmill?

In other news, Martin & I spent the afternoon @ Yorkdale and I almost splurged and bought another pair of sunglasses. I am a fan of aviators but I find that I cannot pull off most - I finally found a pair of Raybans that are half decent on my face, but I couldn’t get myself to pay for it. I just bought a pair of D&G shields in January, and yesterday, I actually bought another pair of eyeglasses (this would be my 3rd pair of eyeglasses that I rotate through regularly). I have a thing for variety. I will probably buy them, it’s just a matter of time. Sigh.

Dreaming of yoga.

I haven’t practiced yoga in over a week (it has been an incredibly busy week), so it was only natural for me to dream of yoga (again). So, this morning, I woke up, crawled out of bed and somehow managed to complete a pose that I have been struggling with for the last month or so (half-asleep and in my PJ’s no less!): The Wheel Pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana). 

Photo source: FitSugar.com

Benefits of the Wheel Pose

I may not be able to go to Yoga tonight, but I will definitely do a couple Sun Salutations and flows with some of my favourite poses tonight before I go to bed. I have to get around the idea that I can only do Yoga when I’m in a class with other people.

Muscles in (good) pain; word up, Yoga lady.

Ever since I started practicing yoga pretty regularly about a month ago, I have been moderately sore the day after a good, sweaty session. I have been going to a few different studios around town (all hot classes), and have found one studio in particular to be an incredibly hard workout. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m doing the Flow classes there (connecting poses with half Sun Salutations) whereas at the other studio, I was doing a Hatha class, but I woke up this morning and every part of my body is in a great deal of pain. 

Iam Yoga is the studio and it’s located just south of Yonge & Bloor in Toronto. Linda Malone is the owner of the studio and is also one of the teachers. I’ve attended two of her classes and let me tell ya - epsom baths aren’t enough. Aspirin like whoa.

This would be a pretty useless post, except for the fact that for this week only, Iam Yoga studio is offering all free classes from March 1st to March 7th! That’s right, ladies of TO… get your sweaty hot yoga in before the end of the week! And if you buy class cards/passes during the free period, you will get 20% off! 

If I can recover alright, I will definitely be going to at least 2 more classes this week. What up free classes! Also, practicing my half sun salutation at home really helped me out!

Hot Yoga = an actual hobby? Perhaps!

In an effort to get some hobbies going (to keep me half sane), I decided to try out Pilates & Yoga. I am still trying to decide between the two (or if I will have the time/will power to do them both regularly), but this weekend’s focus was Yoga.

I went to my first hot yoga class yesterday - and as terrified as I was leading up to the class (will I slip on my mat and fall flat on my face? Break my front teeth and then whistle when I talk??), it was probably one of my favourite workout experiences ever. I was surprised with my endurance (where the crap did that come from? Probably from my work with my former personal trainer, the big-bad-Russian).

I am hella glad that I bought the Skidless towel by Yogitoes. It’s essentially just a towel that covers the length of a typical yoga mat, with grips underneath to prevent slipping. Holy smokes, I was sweaty, and I am so damn happy I had that to keep me from falling. It probably would have been twice as difficult holding a downward dog.

Yoga is definitely a top contender in my ‘find a hobby in 2009′ quest.