Seven Days and Counting

Oasis of an ocean port

Seven days seems like a such a short time yet so much can happen and change with in us during that time. When we take on challenges or do any kind of inner work, a lot can happen and quickly.  This past week I decided to part take in a physical challenge that I knew would have tons of inner work and challenges along with it. This challenge was a little new to me, but not so much that so, that I did not know what to expect. The challenge I am talking about is that of a yoga challenge, it is a 21 day challenge in which I would be doing bikram hot yoga.

The idea of this challenge is to help you to develop your yoga practice more; deepen, add focus, add awareness to both mind and body in practice, and of course to hit your mat daily! Week one is about adjusting, you practice in class for 6 days and then get one day off to rest and recoup, you keep hydrated and eat plenty of good for you food. Week two starts to intensify when you go to class everyday and once that week you go twice a day, you still have plenty of good for you food and hydration. Then week three comes, still class everyday and good food and hydration, the only difference is you now go to class twice on two separate days and get bonus if you go twice for three days! These challenges have intrigued me for a very long time but yet I had never taken part in them, until now when I was heavily guided to do so.

Mountain top tree pose! 

Because of all the awesomeness I have been experiencing I have decided to share with you week by week what is happening for me and what I am learning, both on the mat and within. I am doing this for two reasons; one to show you exactly what you can learn/receive from a yoga challenge, and two to show you what can happen when you commit and give your all to something. I will be breaking it down day by day and will post each week, I will share any feelings, profound experiences, and anything I feel of importance or am of needing to share. So lets start on this amazing journey!!

Day 1- This was just like any other yoga class for me, as I usually go twice a week. I went into class, set up my mat, meditated, did the poses, sweated my a$$ off, and then left. Every class I like to let a word just come to me in meditation at the beginning to focus on for the class and for this class it was "do". My heart wanted me to just do all the poses, all the exercises and take note within as to where I was in each pose and each exercise, so this was exactly what I did. After class I felt exhilarated and a surge of excitement at what was before me with this challenge.

Day 2- Got a brilliant idea, or at least at the time, to start going to morning classes as I thought it would be less hot. Well the classes are definitely no less hot than the evening classes, only difference is there are less people and waking up earlier to go is a struggle right now. My word for class was "strength", I focused on finding strength within my body, mind, and soul in each pose. Class appeared to be easier when I focused on being strong in each pose, no matter where I was at. All day after class all I could think about was how amazing it felt doing two days of class back to back, I had not felt swore like I thought I would, and I was mentally and physically more alert to everything going on around me.

My yoga bag and coconut water chillin on a rock

Day 3- Got up bright and early and hoofed it to class, almost literally!! This morning I missed my bus to take me up to the drive to get to class and the next one would not get me there on time; normally I would have just turned around and gone home but I was determined to make this class so I decided to run! I full out ran all the way up the drive to class with my yoga mat strapped to my back and my litre jar of water in my hand, I must have been a sight, but I made it there 5 minutes before class started, enough time to change, roll my mat out and meditate for about 1 minute. My word was "focus", focus on my breathing, my meditation, and focus on keeping my mind in the room. I worked hard and sweated even harder than any other class before. My mind stayed in the room the whole class, I was proud of myself, but I was finally starting to feel the "run down" feeling after this class. So I took time out from my busy schedule to grab an organic coconut water and sit in a near by park to re-energize after class. While re-energizing myself it hit me that not only was I more committed to this challenge than any other I'd done, example running to make class, but I was determined and committed to something that I whole heartedly loved that had been begging for more love, this its self made me feel awesome!

Day 4- Body was beat and sore, so I decided to skip the early class and head to class later in the evening with a friend. Class was a struggle and a half, I was falling out of most poses early and was struggling to do some that were normally easy. My word was actually two words this class, "get through". Half way through class the instructor noticed a few people getting frustrated, I am sure I was one, and told us "Each day is different for the body, just as it is in life in general. Honour what your body needs today out of this class, if it needs a beginners easy class do that, if it needs meditation do that, but do not push your body and get frustrated when it does not do what it cannot, honour where it is, not where it should be." This stuck with me for the rest of class and poses, even though they were beginner ones, came more easily and my mind was more at ease. At then end of class I stayed for a long time in savasana to not only rest my body but honour/appreciate all that it had done for me. I went to bed super early that night and rubbed a special mixture of essential oils and herbs all over anywhere I was sore.

Day 5- Woke up with super excitement for life and going to class that morning, I was not stiff, sore nor was I exhausted! As I was on my way to class I became more and more excited. I got to class rolled out my mat and as I lay in meditation the word "truth" came to me. For the 90 minutes of class I focused on finding truth in each pose, I worked on finding out the truth of my body and how hard it could truly work at each pose. I accomplished two new poses one which was the complete awkward series, which is just how it sounds awkward, and the toe pose, which is basically you start in tree go into a forward bend with hands touching floor and foot still in tree, then sit down on to your one foot with other foot still in tree and hands come into prayer and you balance on the sitting foots toe! Toe pose has been a pose I have been determined to accomplish for years, and today I did it with ease and no questions asked, I thought it was a miracle until I realized this was the truth of my body and it could do it all along all I needed to do was ask. Truth also hit me hard upon meditation when my mind was open I heard a voice deep with in me saying I needed to listen more closely to my heart as I was ignoring something important it was telling me, but it was not till after class that I realized exactly what that voice meant. While walking home through a park I was thinking about how I had to go to work, how I hated my job, and it gave me very little freedom to do all that I was being guided to do lately, it was then that I realized that I needed to quit my job, and quit it today, I needed to listen to my heart that had been telling me to do this for weeks. So I went to work quit and got sent home; it was all a shock to me, I was now jobless and scared.

Day 6- The night before had been a little hard on me as I was experiencing so many emotions and fears over quitting my job. I knew quitting my job was the right thing to do and it felt right but my ego was beginning to play tricks. I woke up feeling emotionally exhausted and debated taking the day off of yoga, but my heart sang for me to go so off I went. My word for this class was that of "release", it came full force at me during meditation and I did not know exactly how it would work in class but I knew it was what was supposed to happen. I made it through most of the poses, just going through the motions, until it came to two poses from the end, rabbit. I had always had a hard time with rabbit as it was uncomfortable and sweat always dripped into my nose but I eased myself into it. My teacher came over to me to give me some pointers to make it more comfortable, which worked, but as it worked and the back of my heart chakra opened up I was overwhelmed by emotion. All of a sudden I had tears flowing from my eyes, my heart beating rabid in my chest, and emotions flying through my whole body. I cried through the last pose and breathing exercise, just the tears falling down your face kind of crying not the sobbing kind, and I just let it happen because I knew it was supposed to. I had heard many stories in the change room and from yogi's of people and themselves crying during practice, but I had never experienced it before, it was new to me. The rest of my day was filled with moments of tearing up and tears falling from my eyes, I did not understand what was going on. My boyfriend planned a relaxing feel good night for me to cheer me up but I still teared up in the happiest of happy pixar movies. Then laying in bed listening to my love breathe beside me I heard my answer "You just released all the fears, emotions, and thoughts about quitting your job today. You needed to open up your back heart chakra to do so. These fears and emotions they do not exist anymore, they are released, gone. You will be fine, you are taken  care of and you have nothing to worry about." That night I slept harder than I had ever in my life, my boyfriend even said it was like I was lifeless.

The dock I laid on bathing in the sunshine in reflection

Day 7- My day of rest, from yoga that is. I slept way in, till like 11:30 and then got my day started. My love and I choose to take the motorbike on a little road trip to a peaceful little ocean port a little outside Vancity. As I sat on the dock of this peaceful place and soaked up the sunshine I began to soak in all that had happened this week; I had pushed my body and completed six, ninety minute hot yoga classes that were 105 degrees each and ranged in humidity from 48% to 53%. I had deepened poses that I had been working on and had been struggling with for years, while deepening my awareness of my body and the outside world. I had also released weeks of fear, negative thinking, and emotions from my body about quitting my job. I had come further than I had ever expected to and it was only my first week. On the way back from our little oasis ocean port I sat on the back of the bike and realized that this journey was just beginning and I could not be more happy to be on it.

Creating Balance in an Unbalanced Life

So last post I talked a little about how I was trying to bring back more balance into my world along with the heart chakra and opening/balancing it. Well this last week has been all about adding even more balance again into my life and creating balance in moments that I feel the most unbalanced in. I have been using a lot of different methods from energy work, mediation, nutrition, self care, ayurvedic medicine, and knowledge to create it and today I am going to share with you some of the things that help me to balance myself and my world.

1. Meditation- this one really should not come as a surprise to you all as I am a huge advocate for meditation. Meditation gives us a time where not only can we go deep with in our selves but it also gives us insight as to what may be causing us to become unbalanced, as when we meditate we can hear our intuition the clearest. Try meditating for even just 5 minutes and you will feel a difference in how you feel.

2. Eating less processed sugar!!!!- This one for me is crazy hard but a must, as sugar feeds any kind of unbalance or negative energy that you might have within your body. A diet high in processed sugar also is linked to all sorts of cancer as it feeds the negative energy that cancer needs to thrive. This week I have been trying to limit, and in the future, get rid of processed sugar. When I get a sugar craving I have a piece of  dark chocolate made from cacao, snack on dates, have some fruit, have carrots (as organic ones are nice and sweet), or have a teaspoon of raw honey.

3. Run more- Now that the weather is getting nicer out again I have been taking my runs outside off the treadmill more! Running has always been super balancing for me but running outside is even more so as I find it highly meditatve. Also running, just like any activity where you are moving your body for more than 20 minutes, helps to move stagnate energy out of your body. You do not have to run just move your body in a way that gets your heart rate up for minimum 20 minutes.

4. Salt water baths- Now this one I will warn you takes a lot out of you, I am highly exhausted after one of these and ready for bed. Salt water baths force your body to expel out any toxins you have in your body, which we all have tons of. To have a salt water bath fill your bath tub with the hottest water you can stand, then add in 1 cup of epsom salts and 1 tsp of baking soda, and any oils you choose (I use lavender or eucalyptus), then sit and relax for minimum 30 minutes. You can listen to music, read, watch a movie, meditate or whatever during this time just make sure that you try to keep your hands and feet in the water as much as possible as thats where the toxins will be coming out of. Then when you are done take a cool shower but do not use anything that has perfumes in it! Also make sure to drink lots of water during, before and after and DO NOT  eat within an hour of doing one of these!

5. Nature Love!!!! This one I must say has really been a truly big balancer. By getting out of the unnatural light and into some natural light with nature all around you, your body naturally balances its self as it is meant to be outdoors not cooped up inside for hours. I have been getting outside as much as possible this week and even went on a winter hike to Waterton National Park with my best friend, it was such a blessing!!

6. Sleep...zZZZzzz...- This is something as a species we do not do enough of anymore. The average adult sleeps about 6 hours a night when they need and should be getting about 7-8 hours a night. I know when I am not sleeping properly things in my life get crazy, I become moody, eat junk, low energy, mind fog, and so much more. Also when we are sleeping is when our body gets a chance to process any toxins and expel them, and balance any hormone imbalances as well. If you have trouble sleeping or getting to sleep try drinking more water, more vitamin D in your diet, creating a bed time ritual, or using oils. I also give you permission to nap!!!

7. Yoga- Of course I had to put this in here! :) There is no better feeling than the blissed out, up lifting feeling you have after a yoga class...it is almost the same kind of high that you get after sex. Yoga is very balancing as it makes you mind, body, and soul all work as one unit and the best part is you do not need to go to a class to do it!! You can practice simple, advanced, or any pose right at home. I personally get up every morning and do about 30 minutes worth of poses to start my day out feeling liberated.


There are plenty more practices that I use for creating balance within myself and my life but these are just a few of the simple ones I have been focusing on lately. Our bodies and minds can become unbalanced very easily which can create unbalance and chaos with in our lives. It is important to practice some sort of balancing practice everyday to prevent this from happening. I hope that you will use one if not all of these to help you to create balance and maintain it within your life.

Universal Love & the Green Goddess

Hey everyone, I really apologize for not posting the last few weeks but they have been crazy!! Between my boyfriend moving to Vancouver, working full time plus a few extra hours, being there for a few friends that needed me, and then just average everyday things, life has been crazy and the only down time I got was far and few in-between.  But after all the craziness I took the weekend to myself to re-centre, regroup, and just spend a little time with me! All of this me time this weekend really got me to look at what had been going on in my life lately and where all my time was really going, and this is what this weeks blog is about!

In the past year I have spent so much time focusing on myself, or so I thought, I forgot how exhausting it can be when you focus most of your time and energy on giving to others. Now focusing on others is what I kind of do as a job, after all I am a Life Coach and I am expected to help people out for 8 hours a day 5 days a week, but most of the time when I am not at work I am focusing on doing things I like and love, and spend a small portion of time outside of work trying to give to others. I know when I say it like that it sounds selfish and maybe it is but in a good way! You see when you give give give to others (and yourself) and do not take time to receive from others (and yourself) then you become out of balance. And what might you ask exactly makes us feel and become out of balance? Well I will tell ya!! There is this little energy centre in the middle of your chest cavity called your heart chakra that becomes out of balance. See your heart chakra is responsible for universal love and can only work properly when both giving and receiving in your life are in balance. We must be both open to giving and receiving in order for this chakra to work its wonders, open us up to universal love, and not cause us to become unbalanced or cause health issues.

Balancing the heart chakra is something that does not come easy to everyone, especially those who are in the helping profession, parents or who are extra sensitive to others feelings. When my heart chakra is out of balance or just needs some extra love and care I notice a lot of things in my life change; I begin to feel like I have no time alone/to myself, I am exhausted all the time, I begin to let negative feelings such as disappointment and desperation in, I begin letting negative self talk into my space and I get upper back tension. These signs that I experience are just some of many that you may notice but you can easily balance yourself to relieve yourself of any of these. I am going to give you a few exercises that help to balance and open your heart chakra:

1) Tapping!!! For those of you that know me I am a huge fan of EFT (emotional freedom technique) or tapping. To use this exercise to help open and balance your heart chakra take your index finger and your middle finger and begin to tap on your sternum for roughly two minutes while repeating to yourself "I am open to the love of others and I mirror the same love back". This will not only help to open your heart chakra but balance it so that you will not only receive but give love as well.

2) Eat some green food!!!! The heart chakra is also associated with nature as well as love, and green is a not only the colour of the heart chakra but is also the colour most associated with nature!!! So eat some green natural, organic goodies!!!! My favourite are green smoothies and kale chips. By feeding yourself good for you greens not only are you receiving the love that nature indented for us but you are also giving yourself love and respect thus opening your heart chakra.

3) Mediation, meditation, meditation. Now I know I say this is the answer to everything but it truly is. If you are feeling blocked or like your heart chakra needs a little love and balancing do a heart balancing/opening mediation. Get into your meditation posture (sitting, or laying down comfortably) and close your eyes, start focusing on your breathing, let your breathing get deeper and deeper, then start to focus on your heart centre, see your heart centre as a bright green light that is open and equally balanced, ask your guides (either spiritual or angelic) to help you to open your heart more and balance it. This mediation is wonderful and can be done in 5 minutes or an hour, it really depends on what you need.

4) Last but not least be open to all the giving and receiving happening around you. Be willing to give love to loves, such as opening doors, a shoulder to cry on, a coffee, or anything; BUT also be willing to receive a compliment, a prize, a day off work, any kind of help at all. If we are not willing to give or receive we close ourselves off to the most amazing kind of love there is, universal love and trust me you do not want to close yourself off to this!

Now I know I make it seem like you should be walking around hugging everyone, helping everyone out, and such but this is not what I want unless you can balance it with receiving as well. See a perfectly balance heart chakra not only gives and receives but it also has boundaries, it knows when to say when and knows what it is capable of and not. Boundaries are something each and everyone one of us can work on, even me. Learning to say no to something is not a bad thing, telling someone that you cannot help them move is not going to shut down your heart chakra because at that moment you are giving yourself love and thus still giving. I do not know how many times I have told people that I cannot come out with them or help them because after working with people and giving for 8 hours I just need a break and this is okay. Giving to yourself is just as important as giving to others as long as you are doing it with your boundaries in mind.

I could go on and on about balancing, healing, opening your heart chakra and same with boundaries but I will cut it short here. If you have any questions, or would like to know more feel free to drop me a line of some sort. Just remember to let your green goddess from with in you project her love for giving and receiving equally, so that you can become open to the amazingness of universal love!!! <3