On the Sunday before Rowan was about to start school on Tuesday, I got text confirmation that I’d be subbing two hatha yoga classes at a multi-franchise fitness centre. Two different locations, actually, in two different Metro Vancouver cities. My first subbing, procured through a Facebook call out. Yes! I can do it, I reply….
Tag: mental health
Autumn run through Cedar Cottage
I’ve just come back from my first run ever! Well, in a really long time at least. 10 years ago, when I was lonely in Scotland I started a one-minute-run, one-minute-walk effort on a trail along a disused railway line. And I’m sure I’ve made some efforts since, but let’s just say ever since…
Our Folk’s Fest
The first time my man and I went to Vancouver’s Folk Fest I was nine months pregnant with our first child. I was a fan for life. Not only are there five stages of music and so much good food, there’s a special hippy rule that pregnant women don’t wait in line for the porta-potties….
Secrets of a former loser
“And what was your high school experience like?” I’m sitting round a dinner table with three women I’ve only met once before. Two are my fellow volunteers for a poetry outreach society (how cool is that?!). The questioner is the society’s kindly executive director who pays us monthly with a savoury home-cooked meal, red wine…
Saying ‘So what?’ to flaws
(Halfway through our 9-hour flight home. Looking tired, but still smiling) One reason I keep comparing this recent family holiday to England with the one four years ago is because the similar circumstances let me compare the real-world effects of my work to deal with depression and anxiety. The first trip I was just about…
Travelling Crazy – a two-, four-, six-year study
It’s easier to travel while sane than crazy. As evidence I produce my two nearly identical holiday circumstances: 3 weeks with in-laws 8 time zones away, plus toddler(s). The first trip, four years ago, resulted in my decision to take anti-depressants for the rest of my life. The second, last month, with double the preschoolers, resulted…
Where does the body feel Unbelonging?
I’m taking a 5-week course called Trauma-sensitive Yoga for Depression and Anxiety at my favourite Vancouver studio, Ocean and Crow. This is a weekly record of my unraveling … and hopefully my knitting back together. In our first class, we learn that every emotion has a corresponding sensation in the body. Conversely, every bodily sensation…
Teacher training
Since graduating from yoga teacher training at Langara College and trying to find yoga work, I struggle regularly with my “right” to teach yoga. What makes me any better than the zillions of other yoga teachers in Vancouver? I can’t even do a headstand or an arm balance, or even a full forward fold. (Damn…
It’s okay to parent your kids to be introverts
I just love this blog I found on the Huffington Post. It’s getting at why I feel so uncomfortable with my child’s report declaring that he’s lacking in public speaking skills. Maybe it isn’t a skill I need to ‘work with him’ on, but a personality trait. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/tara-mandarano/introvert_b_9703690.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-parents#
Cure by Ocean
Mental health feels endless sometimes. I never really win. Even after therapy, meds, yoga, meditation, the weepies still come upon me sometimes. When that happens, the answer is a good dose of nature. The wilder the better. The Weepies The night before my husband and I were to take our first childfree weekend away in…
Wendy's House 