Dedicated to every woman, mother, grandmother, aunt, sister or friend who has guided and provided. Especially to my mother Lori.
Mother's Day is just a few days away and its got me reflecting on how much my mom has impacted my life. My mom has truly and honestly been a life line, saving grace and an example of pure unconditional love. I am almost overwhelmed by what a strong woman she is, but I can see how this strength has translated into both my sister and myself.
Growing up wasn't the easiest for us as a family, but somehow my mom always made delicious home cooked meals appear on the table and in our lunches. My mom taught me at a young age the importance of good, healthy and nourishing food, that also came from the heart.
We all worked hard and together as a family, my sister and I were able to stay in competitive dancing for 12 years. Those 12 years must have been crazy for my mom, getting us off to school, lunches packed, arranging pick ups and drop offs right to dance classes for the evening. Getting us back home late at night and still completing homework. My mom did this day in and day out for us!
The girls on my dance team were my best friends and my instructors taught me what it meant to be apart of a loving and nurturing environment. Our studio was a place to learn, to play and grow. Being apart of my dance community made us incredibly happy as kids and my mom saw this. Are you starting to see some parallels?
My dedication and passion for dance landed me my first job as an instructor. By the age of twelve I was teaching other kids about movement and technique. Perhaps I was always meant to teach yoga, but had it not been for my mom, maybe my life wouldn't have moved in this direction. My mom gave me the opportunity to have a passion and now I put my heart and soul into In Fine Feather.
As an adult, I have a new appreciation for moms and I have been really inspired by my sister who is a new mom. I feel like I have a better understanding for what moms have to do everyday for their little ones, then their teenagers and then adult children. It is this amazing journey where you are apart of shaping someone's life and being a huge part of their existence.
Mom, I would not be where I am today without you and Kelly. You have both taught me the most valuable life lessons and we continually keep learning from each other. My niece Heidi is one years old, I have no idea what she will be, but if I can help her explore her passion, her talents and her aspirations I will. My mom taught me this.
Thanks mom for countless late night phone calls, the best home made soups I've ever had, MOM HUGS, movies nights, answering basic cooking questions, giving me advice, but also space to figure my stuff out, and when I fall, always picking me up. I love you and thanks for helping me become the woman I am today. I am so grateful for how you raised me and where its got me. Even though we might not have been practicing 'yoga'; we were always practicing yoga.
Thank you would never be enough. I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart.
Love and Gratitude to powerful woman who guide and provide, Helena
Hello You!
The clocks just went forward an hour. You can think of it as loosing an hour… or you can think of it as gaining an hour of sunlight every day. And sunlight does a body good. Sunlight is one of the many things I love about the In Fine Feather practice room. The huge front windows let in so much natural light that you can’t help but feel good in this space. And with the warmer weather approaching, it’ll soon allow in natural heat too. If you don’t generally sit towards the front of the room, I encourage you to try it this week – especially during daytime classes. You’ll love the warmth and energy that you receive from the sun.
Back to my Mat.
It continues to amaze me how the practice of yoga is always creating subtle shifts in my body and more so, awareness in my mind. I have hundreds, to thousands of hours on my mat as a student and as a teacher and I am still in love with the magic of yoga. I instruct daily and watch bodies move; this is in fact most of my day and most of my week. This attention to teaching has allowed me to notice that I face all the same challenges my students do; my body feels fatigued, I find certain postures so difficult and sometimes making it to your mat is the hardest part. But, I am also recognizing, personally, how essential it is to make that time and I am excited to get back to my mat as a student, I've got to. I can feel that it's time for growth, commitment and change. I've been trying to make some shifts lately to practice more, listen to my body more and change where I am investing my energy. So I have joined our 30 day challenge! I really have no idea how many classes I will be able to complete, but I am prepared to make my best effort. I did my first 30 Day Yoga Challenge at De La Sol and I can remember it being the most energized and inspired I have ever felt in my life. The practice is powerful and I love how it always shows you what you need if you just listen. My body and my mind have been telling me I need this for awhile, so here I go! It feels insanely remarkable that I have found and dedicated my life to something that continues to challenge me, but also fills me with so much passion, patience, forgiveness, understanding and persistence. I think this is what they call love and I am honoured everyday that each of you let me share this wild ride with you. To everyone else completing a 30 day challenge, good luck, lets do this!
The In Fine Feather Community,
I love this place. I love teaching here. I love practicing here. I love all the people here. I love the light in here. I just love the In Fine Feather Community and am so thankful to Helena for creating such an inviting space for all of us to enjoy.
The Christmas season is upon us, carols are on the radio, decorative, vibrant lights are going up and my secret santa has been drawn. These are some of the smaller things I enjoy about the season, but I am sure we have all at some point taken the holidays for granted and found them stressful, busy and financially draining. One year I decided to change how I spent my time, attention and consumer patterns. Leading up to the big day, instead of finding myself stuck in traffic and line ups I decided to give more home made gifts. I may not be the craftiest person, but it was way more fun getting my hands right into the making! I also starting purchasing smaller presents that supported a local business or found gifts that had a lot of genuine thought put into them. I noticed my family and friends really appreciated these gestures and I felt more excited even to give them. Each present was from my heart, contained a conscious effort and mindful reflection.
Moments of Bliss & Being in the Present Moment
It such a beautiful time of year, there is still a warm kiss from the sun in the sky, the tree tops are vibrantly changing color and there is a crisp cool breeze in the air. The other day this weather was calling me, every ounce and intuition in me had to go to one of my favorite places around, Christie Lake. Lately, life seems to be moving quickly and weeks have been passing by in what seems like a moment. We can all relate to the constant rush which we have come to consider as normal, but is usually a huge factor contributing to stress and feeling disconnected.
It’s officially autumn. The days are getting shorter and the nights longer. The air is cooling and the leaves are beginning to change. Our care-free summer days have ended and it’s now time to return to a routine.
If you’ve missed your regular yoga practice during the summer – now is the perfect time to re-commit. Reconnect with your mat. Reconnect with your body. Reconnect with your mind. As you begin a regular yoga practice, you’ll be surprised at how much freedom you’ll feel. When we make time to connect with ourselves, we often end up feeling as if we have more time to spare.
The last few days I have been reflecting on my summer, specifically an incredible season of outdoor yoga. I had the opportunity to teach in some really cool urban settings and parks; including Gage Park, Christie Lake for the Harvest Picnic, McMaster Campus, James Street pop up park, on Ottawa Street during the Pan Am games, Tews Fall and at YogaFest.
Each experience brings to light the beautiful connection between yoga and nature. It becomes difficult to describe the sensation you feel after an outdoor yoga class and it is different then a studio practice when you can feel the sun on your skin, the wind blowing, grass under your feet, birds chirping, looking up into the clouds and tree tops. LIFE happening all around. The focus of the practice, the consciousness to breathe, the mindfulness of movement; it creates this powerful connection to self and the natural forces of nature. I was always left with a sense of bliss, reassured by the stability of the ground beneath me and freedom from the vastness of the sky and in harmony with both sensations.
I am continuously exploring the driving force behind why I practice and teach yoga. What has this great journey done for my over all well being? I know that it has provided me with so much physical strength and an abundance of personal growth and this always encourages me to progress further! The more I continue to practice yoga and observe students practice, I can see a great connection between moving from your ego (inner self behaviour) or moving from integrity (a deep space of truth).
I believe the ego limits us from acknowledging our greater consciousness and even masks honesty with an egocentric sense of self perception. After years of studying I can observe the ego being broken down and integrity being strengthened. It started from asking the question; why am I moving like this? Am I moving with mindfulness or just to get into the deepest variation of the pose? Is the depth of my posture forced and excessive or coming from a grounded place of stability? Can I maintain this? Is it reasonable and within my range of motion? Is it based on habit and impulse or what is actually right for me? As soon as I start to defy or ignore these questions, the judgemental ego takes over and I've lost the purpose of my practice; true connectedness. The yoga practice keep us in check with ourselves, our ego and our behavioural responses/reactions. The asanas allow us to embrace our strengths but recognize our weaknesses physically and mentally. When we compromise our breathe, move too deep into a posture or ignore our bodily intuition, this is driven and controlled by the ego. The ego is a difficult thing to recognize but eventually we have to listen to our inner consciousness that is asking us to examine not only why we choose to do our postures the way we do, but also why we do anything the way we do.
And of course, don't forget Yoga In The Park every Sunday at 10am by the Rose Garden in Gage Park. We will be rotating teachers, so it'll always be interesting and fun. If you missed last Sunday - it was amazing. There were so many new and familiar faces. These outdoor yoga classes are a great way to connect with your community. And Community is really what life is all about.