Spring is Springing, time for a challenge….

Hello Pupps!!

I don’t know about where you are, but here in Tahoe it’s pretty spring like these days. I know, I know, you might be thinking “isn’t Tahoe a SKI area??!!”…, it is, and there is still lots of skiing going on. But here in town, there is hardly any snow and the sun has been shining for days on end with nary a cloud in the sky! Everyone is talking about when we are going to get the next big storm (we’re due) and how it could snow for the entire month of March…awesome. 

However…in this moment it is as good as spring for me, and Mexico is right around the corner (32 days!), so it’s Bikini Challenge or Bust!!! The next 30 day challenge starts on Friday (March 1st)…you know how I feel about 30 day challenges…but this is what I have come to discover:

30 day challenges are about honing in on one specific thing or area of my practice and concentrating on that for a month. For instance, we started this year out as “2013 Year of the Locust”…and let me tell you, focussing on working as hard as possible in Locust and Full Locust for the entire month of January this year has changed those postures for me!! As I always say at 30 day challenge time, “they say it takes 30 days to start a new habit”. So, if getting INTO your practice is your goal, great do a challenge….or do a personal challenge of 3 or 4 days per week instead of 1 or 2. Choose a set of postures to work on every day for the month, regardless of if your brain is complaining…get the idea?

MY challenge for this month is water and juice. For anyone who has spent some time with me, you know that I love drinks. Liquids of many flavours and varieties. Water, however, is something I only enjoy for the most part when I’m in or near the yoga room. Last week I wore down my water reserves and I got really dehydrated. Because I am in the yoga room every day, after a few days of not building the water storage back up as well as replenishing the daily loss….well, it leads to getting dehydrated which for me slows everything down, causes back up and body pain and feels generally not awesome. So, my 30 day challenge is to drink more water (specifically, have TWO big glasses first thing in the am rather than just one).  The second challenge is having green juice or a green smoothie every day. I am pretty good with this now, but by making it my challenge and committing to it I will ensure that no matter what else I eat that day at least I’ve had my greens!

So, there you go. Many people at this time of year give things up for Lent. You could think of this as the same idea…only instead of giving something up you are gaining something more! Coolio.

Think of it, puppies, maybe you have a goal or two that would work for you. But remember, whether you decide on a challenge in your practice or in your life, be kind and generous with yourself. If you love you then you will love others too 

I love you.

Love,

Movies, Youtube, Steve Jobs, nerds…lots to cover!

hello!!

I have been enjoying some down time the past couple days…some alone time, sunshine time, body of water time…not that I don’t love to be with my favourite people, but sometimes it’s nice to be alone, isn’t it? Time for whatever you like…meditation, contemplation, breathing, cooking, walking, reading, tv…anything you like to do and not have anyone talking to you…or whatever…you get what I mean.

sunday by the river

nothing better than the givers of life…

So, yesterday I stumbled upon a link to a Steve Jobs presentation…maybe THE Steve Jobs presentation of all time…on FB and got enthralled with it and then found the second part on Youtube to finish watching. It is the presentation he did when unveiling the iPhone…for the first time…in 2007. Watching the presentation I was overcome with how amazing of an innovation it was (and still is, of course). He was such a great speaker and was genuinely excited to present it! It was very cool…and, in fact, I learned a few things about my iPhone 4S!! I only became an iPhone user about 8 months ago so in many ways I am still such a novice!! ha.

After watching it, I was so inspired by nerds…a cute crush on all the CEO’s of various companies that he brought up on stage to talk…long live the nerd!! I set off for some sunshine and ended up down by the Truckee River in a patch of pebbles and decided to listen to my audio book of the Steve Jobs book (the biography)…so, lets just say I got so inspired by the innovation and imagination of people in the world (namely Steve Jobs…and to an extent Steve Wozniak as well!)…made me remember my goal to at some point invent something really cool!! I’ll keep you posted 😉

Then lastnight I watched a movie called “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead”….wow, what a movie! I am already a kale juice lover so maybe it was easier for me to understand the use of green juice to heal a junk body-but on that same account, I have never had a junk body to the extent that the two characters from the movie had…seriously overweight, riddled with disease and breakdown of the body inside and out and taking a slew of prescription medications. I won’t get too deep into telling you about the movie, I highly recommend it for you to watch for yourself…but I will tell you that I was so taken and inspired by the willingness to take control of one’s life, no matter how bad it seems or how hopeless one feels…Bikram always says it, “..never too old, never to sick…to start from scratch and begin again”. It’s so true and the two guys from this movie are a testament to that!!

Truth of the matter is I get to meet so many inspiring people every single day!! I cannot tell you how many people I have watched completely change their lives with the help of (but not restricted to) adding yoga to their daily routine. Just this morning I was talking with a student about the age difference people go through when they commit themselves to a regular Bikram practice…I would hazard a guess as to say that 75% of people I know look ten years younger from the first day they walked into a Bikram class to today. Don’t fret, yogis, if you don’t think you look different or if you have been stepping on the scale and don’t see the difference you were hoping to see…the changes occur for people as they need to…perhaps your clothes fit better or you have more energy or you don’t wake up with puffy eyes or you can breathe or don’t get headaches anymore…or maybe you find an old photo and compare it to a recent shot and see the brightness in your eyes now…I guarantee things are changing…just be patient and learn to love yourself from this moment on and forever…and you will see and feel the differences.

So, here is a link to the webpage for Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. I highly highly recommend it.

And, here is a link to Youtube for the first video of the two parts of Steve Jobs 2007 presentation unveiling the iPhone for the first time! I am really enjoying the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson as well…I’m listening to it on audiobooks on my iPhone.

OK…that’s my geeking out for now. I have a crush on the nerds now…not any nerd in particular but for the nerd population…never under estimate the power and genius of ANYONE you come across in your life…you just never know which eccentric smart slightly socially awkward or over the top person is going to be one of the biggest influences in your lifetime…!!

Happy exploring, puppies.
Love,
Ida x