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: yoga
Visualize a butterfly birthday for 6-year-olds…
As my mother and husband will tell you (they’re always in cahoots) I’ve got a tonne of creative ideas, but often fall short on execution. So that means that whenever I propose something fantastic like turning our large balcony into a mini-golf course or painting the concrete with a pretty mandala (cheap and chic, right?),…
Chard makes my spirit level
Today’s happiness is the kind that feels like floating. Internally my spirit is level. There’s a little buoy inside me, bobbing about on a sea of incidents. Sometimes it’s pummelled by waves of children who hate my parenting, or knocked up against the rocks of an empty bank account, or just squeezed into a shrinking air…
Money mucking blues
The trouble is that I said, ‘Above all I will write authentically.’ I will not be afraid to admit I am broken or lost or failing, because then others will know its okay to admit their failings too. Only, when I said that, I was feeling pretty together. I was surveying my failures from a…
3 weird ways to spot anxiety
My old companion Anxiety turned up this week. It’s interesting because through yoga and therapy with a naturopath i’ve learned how to spot anxiety even when i don’t consciously feel worried about anything. My three weird anxiety symptoms Gnawing hunger. I feel gnawing deep in my gut, even if I’ve just eaten. Before I started medication…
How to talk to men. Or not.
I’m so excited that we are going camping tomorrow. Three nights in a tent at Lake Allouette. It’s all down to my sons’ caregiver being organized enough to book a Long Weekend site two months in advance, and being kind enough to invite us along. Camping is a big step in moving a relationship from…
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…
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 