half way through 2013 and...

I haven't forgotten the commitments I signed up for at the beginning of the year.   Remember my poo-pooing of new year's resolutions?

If you don't remember, check it out here, but this is the abbreviated version:

1) eat better
2) leverage yoga as the learning tool it is
3) protect and spend time with family

So, how am I doing?

Pretty darn good I think.

1) There is far less junk food in my life.  When I do eat it, I am quickly reminded why I avoid it (migraines = unpleasant).  Our CSA is producing lots of awesome stuff and I'm eating more of the green stuff that shows up than I did last year (green smoothies are my current obsession)

2) So many great opportunities for me to learn from my fellow teachers, but even moreso from my students.  I am no longer frightened by the prospect of who might show up to class and whether I will be able to help them through my class because I know I can modify, modify, modify.  I'm learning to trust what I know, comfortable saying "I don't know" and learning more with every question that falls into the 2nd category (and there are lots of them!)

3) It's been a revolving door here since, well.... May.  Family visiting us; we're traveling to visit family; weekends away with great friends; Bryan and I are planning out more house projects that we're going to attempt together (stay tuned to see how that works out); dogs are happy (especially now that it's not 45 degrees with the humidex - that would be 113F for my American friends); we're accompanying my parents for their first trip to NYC in 2 weeks - YAY!!!!   The yard is a bit of a mess right now, but family BBQ's and time spent together is way more important (though the weeds are annoying me).

Anyways, just a quick realization for me today that the things that were important for me at the beginning of the year seem to still be the focus of my attention mid-year.   It's also confirmed that just paying attention to those 3 little commitments - not in excruciating detail or obsessing over them to be "perfect" - has resulted in a REALLY enjoyable first half of the year.

Here's to the 2nd half - cheers!
- amy

looking for your fitness guru?

So, you're trying to find the perfect personal trainer / yoga instructor / fitness instructor?   More like who isn't, right?! 

There's no magic equation to finding the perfect instructor (hint: there is no perfect instructor either).   But there are some key takeaways you can consider when searching out "the one" that is right for you.

1) Ask about Certification.  Here's my position on certification - recognized certification bodies, for example YMCA, canfitpro, ACE, Yoga Alliance provide a baseline in human anatomy, modifying for client needs, creating a safe environment and proper form (and that's just to start).  My personal view is that these are critical elements not only for optimizing your time working out, but for ensuring you enjoy a safe and challenging environment while minimizing risk of injury.  Are some of these a money grab?  I think that's a matter of personal opinion.  I do know that the organization I pay my fees to regularly provides industry related information, ongoing educational offerings, workshops and resource information.  It also requires that I teach a minimum amount over a period of time and complete continuing education credits to maintain my standing.  And it's $55 per year.  Not much of a money grab there. 

2) Be honest and forthcoming about injuries or illness.   This is a big one for me.  As a yoga instructor, I've got modifications coming out of my ears!  But I won't know to use them to help you if you haven't shared your specific circumstances or challenges.  I'm always watching for struggles, but often they aren't visible.  As a teacher, the thought of causing or contributing to injury is heartbreaking.  If something in class didn't feel right, let's talk about it and address that.  Please ensure we are informed so we can make it a safe and enjoyable experience for you.  

3) Provide feedback.  Feedback is a critical element to improving.  Be open to providing feedback, not just about what you didn't like, but also what you do like!  Feedback allows me to consider what I teach, how I teach, when I teach and how I might modify those elements.  And if your studio or teacher isn't open to receiving feedback, don't give up.   If it persists, remember there may be a different teacher or studio that is a better fit for you. 

4) Trust your instinct.  We've all done it.  Walked into a class or studio and immediately felt "this isn't for me".   But we go anyways.  And we hate it.  And we think "this is why I hate working out".  And we stop working out.  Again, don't give up!  Every studio is different and every teacher is different!  There is a very personal element to finding a teacher whose classes or teachings you enjoy.  Trust that, but don't give up.  I've had students come to my class and I know that another teacher would be a better fit for them.  And I'm more than happy to suggest they try out that other teacher so that they can reap the rewards rather than struggling through or being bored.  

5) Check out the physical space.  Take a look at the physical space, whether it's a gymnasium, yoga studio, fitness studio or other space you go to.  Is it clean?  Is it well maintained?  Is the equipment maintained and/or replaced and at what frequency?  Are there sprays or wipes to clean down the machines after use?  

6) Remember physical size does not equal competence.  This one bugs me.  A lot.  You can be totally ripped, six pack and all and be completely incompetent as an instructor.  I've experienced it.  It's not fun.  Don't discount the rounder bodies at the front of the room because they don't fit the stereotype.  Do your due diligence, go back to #1 above and understand the qualifications of the person you are working with.  We are not perfect, we too have health issues, injuries, etc.  You'll be the one missing out if you think there is actually a correlation between size and competence.

7) Have fun!  Finding opportunities to be physically active with the intention of exercising shouldn't be a miserable experience.   If it is, you're unlikely to do it over the long term which is definitely not what we want!  Find teachers who make exercise fun!   And remember that your definition of fun is going to be different than your friend's/sister's/husband's etc.  It's ok if you hate a boxercise or kickboxing class; maybe spinning is more up your alley.  That was me - I am terribly uncoordinated so group fitness just ain't my thang!  I found yoga and crossfit and spinning and VOILA!  It took years of fighting through group fitness classes, but I finally found what works for me.

More than anything, the key to finding a great instructor or personal trainer is the personal connection you make with them.   When you do, you will feel inspired, awakened, ready for the next challenge.  Like me and so many others, you may decide to become an instructor yourself as a result of that inspiration!  Do your research and trust your instinct more than anything else.  Where there's smoke, there's fire.   We all know it, we just have a hard time acting on it.   Remember, this is about you finding a sustainable, long term fitness regime so you can be a healthier you.  

If you've found great instructors or trainers, what made them great for you? 

helloooo shoulders!

They're awake.  Or have been awoken.  Or something like that.   Whatever it is, I know they're there.  They're talking to me.  And they're saying "it's about time!" (or maybe they're saying get an ice pack...)

I have the WEAKEST upper body in the world (yes, I've been known to exaggerate, but in this case I think not).  Push-ups are my arch nemesis.  If I am ever able to do a full "real" push-up I will... actually I don't know what I'd do because it seems that unlikely - it's almost like the likelihood of winning the lottery. 

As a kid I swam.  And swam.  And swam.  I was the fish who would not get out of the community pool, pleading "one more, puulleease or I'll die!!!!" or something dramatic to that effect.  Our driving holidays included hotels with a pool because, well, it just wouldn't be fair if my brother and I couldn't swim at the hotel pool!  So thanks Mom and Dad for indulging us.  But I digress.  10 or so years later I started swimming again - I went once to swim laps and I thought my arms were going to fall off.  I left the pool, got in my car and could barely turn the wheel.  I laughed.  Mostly because my arms and shoulders were throbbing.  But also because it (and I by extension) felt ridiculous that my arms and shoulders were throbbing!  A week and a half later, after recovering, I ditched laps and instead signed up for aqua fit.  Fabulous exercise, but not exactly a strength builder. 

Fast forward another 15 years (you're starting to figure out how old I am aren't you?)   Introduce Cross Fit.   Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?  I sure thought so.  WRONG!!!   SOOO wrong!  At CrossFit Conexus, the owner is committed to creating an environment focused on safety, learning, nurturing and growing.  And so I started out learning the basics (pretty similar to the stuff I did as an 18 year old at the gym with a personal trainer), repeating over and over until it was second nature.  And then came the weights.  And for the first time in a long time, I was comfortable, confident and more than anything not feeling like it was a chore to work on upper body strength!  Added bonus has been no throbbing or pain - I realize that's not really in the bonus category, but relatively speaking, it feels like it should be.  

Here's the mega-bonus though.  Every day things like lifting and picking things up, hauling myself into the truck (maybe we don't need running boards after all!), carrying heavy items and getting that 15L water jug into the water dispenser are all easier.    My posture has also started to improve which is already having positive impacts on my back health.  

So, those things from a fitness and health perspective that you might be reluctant to work on for whatever reason?  Throw those hesitations out the window and experiment (safely and by doing your research) - find the thing or the trainer that works for you and dive in - the water's warm!  

Happy Canada Day!

It's that time of year - Canada Day weekend!   And for our American friends, Independence Day is right around the corner.

Extra time this long weekend to spend with friends and family, taking it easy or as we are doing this fine weekend, working around the house.

I think I've mentioned this before, but we bought an old Victorian fixer-upper 6 years ago; some days the fixer-upper part feels more front and centre than others - the plaster wall repairs, the roof replacement, the duct work, the electrical repairs, the soft pine floors that are ripped apart by the dogs and the wacky ways we've discovered that previous owners carried out "repairs" or "renovations" (cue the heaving tiles in my kitchen floor...)

But I love our home.  I love the creaks, the scratches, the imperfections.  They tell a story; that it's been a lived-in house.  For a loooong time.  You see, she was built in or around 1890 by a local merchant named Jonathon Gile.  The house has changed hands numerous times over the course of the past 123 years and every generation has left an lasting imprint.  It is a heritage designated home, recognized for the style of construction, particularly the 2 turrets, the front porch and the style of windows (which are still wood, by the way - yes, more to add to the fixer-upper list).

And it's home.  Our home.  It's comfortable and comforting; cozy and spacious; situated just perfectly to take in the morning sun in the front room and then in the dining room in the afternoon.  And we've been making it ours, slowly but surely.  The artwork is anything but Victorian, though some of our furniture is.  A good mix of old and new.

Here's a few snapshots of the old girl as we've been restoring her to her grandeur - no small feat but SO rewarding and fulfilling.

Top Left: The "Library" as we've termed it; also where we eat dinner and watch TV. Top Right: at night after installing landscape lighting. Bottom Left: the front yard after tearing out all grass and laying flagstone.  Bottom Right: the mantel, Christmas 2012.

And now, off I go to do some yard work on this oh-so-gorgeous summer day!  Whatever you're up to this long weekend or for Independence Day enjoy it fully, have fun and take some time to relax :-) 

my fitness trifecta

I've discovered the magic.  The perfect combination.  My ultimate fitness trifecta.

Yoga - running/cycling - crossfit.

The missing part?   It was crossfit.

I've enjoyed running since I was a kid running in grade school; cycling was something we did as a family - ESPECIALLY on Sundays when they closed the parkway to traffic for a few hours; yoga was something I started 16 years ago (I can't even remember now why I tried it) and was hooked.

All of these physical fitness activities I have participated in or practiced sporadically.   I got bored, so I stopped.  For a while.  Then I started again.  I hired personal trainers and worked with them for the 8 week package I paid for.  Then I stopped.  Then I started again.  Then I was bored again.  I had the list of exercises, I knew how much weight to lift, on which machines, blah, blah, blah.   Bored.  Again.

Enter crossfit.  You've seen the commercials, you've seen the youtube videos.  There is a degree of extreme in crossfit that I found mesmerizing.  And while I thought "nope, not for me!" I was intrigued by it all.  Then I tried it because the owner of the studio I teach at got her level 1 certification.  And that was it.  Fitness was fun again.

I'm not even sure what the difference is; most if not all of the exercises are ones I've done over the years.  Deadlifts - check; squats - check; pushups - check; sit ups - check and the list goes on and on.  But there is something about crossfit that just connects for me; maybe it's the applicability of the things we do in class to every day stuff, like picking up a box (oh, that's a squat!) or that it is modifiable and therefore accessible for everyone.  There is the team aspect of it, the challenge of it, the friendly competition, the support, the community, the absence of judgment.  THE VARIATION! I'm not bored.  I'm excited.  I can do it at home.  Like yoga, crossfit asks me to dig deep.  To practice with awareness.  And I do.  Every time.

All of a sudden and for a while now, I'm regularly engaging in all 3 disciplines.  Yoga practice daily, even if it's for 15 minutes in the morning before I go to work; running or cycling a few days a week; and crossfit a few days a week either in a class at CrossFit Conexus or at home.  I am sleeping better, eating better, feeling stronger.  I feel better.  I feel great, actually.  And that's the key indicator for me that I've struck gold.

I've not felt this excited or inspired about fitness.  Ever.   I'm curious to see where this leads.

What's your favourite fitness activity?  How do you get or stay inspired?

make your own almond milk - here's how!

Dairy is a big one on my list of no-no's and not because I don't love a nice tall glass of fresh, cold milk!  It does a heck of a number on me - think sinus cold to the max, massive headaches and breakouts.   Yeah, fun.  Doesn't mean I don't indulge from time to time (especially for ice cream in the summer), but my go to replacement is homemade almond milk.   It's quick and easy to make and tastes SO much better than the store bought stuff.   There's lots of discussion, particularly from a nutritional perspective around whether or not you should soak the almonds beforehand.  If you can find raw almonds, soaking kicks off the germination process which is believed to release additional nutrients and result in a product that is more easily digestible.   I've made almond milk with soaked almonds and with unsoaked and I personally haven't found a difference, except in how readily the almonds are ground up.  The soaked almonds are obviously softer which seems to result in less waste.   Note that soaking benefits are only achieved if you are using raw almonds (cooked ones won't germinate).

Here's what you'll need:

1 cup of raw almonds, soaked for 4+ hours, then rinsed
3 - 4 cups of water (depending on how creamy you like your almond milk)
3-5 dates, soaked for 30 mins (optional)
vanilla to taste (optional)
cinnamon to taste (optional)

Throw it all in a blender, whiz it up and you've got almond milk!  I love adding the vanilla and cinnamon for the chai-type flavour it adds, but if you prefer plane jane, just leave them out.  Dates are for sweetness, so again, depending on your palate, you may want to leave them out or add more.

Strain the mixture through cheesecloth, a nut milk bag or a jelly bag (the latter is what I use as I have them on hand).  Transfer to an airtight container - mason jars are always an awesome choice and cost effective.  The almond milk will store well for 3 - 4 days, though mine never lasts that long!   Use the leftover almond meal in oatmeal, sprinkled over fruit with some honey, in some homemade protein bars - the options are endless!  If I'm not going to use the almond meal within a couple of days, I just pop it in the freezer to use another day.

Here's to healthy choices and ones you can create at home!

time flies...

It's true, it really does fly by when you're having fun!  And the last few weeks for me has been FULL of fun.  

First off was Bryan's birthday - 50th to be exact!  I had been told no party or anything elaborate, but oh well... a party it was!  Nothing fancy, just a BBQ with friends bringing tons of food.   The highlight though?  The cake.  You see, Bryan works for a company that does work with Google, and he's just fascinated by the magic that Google produces.  So this was his cake, produced by a local cake designer, RMC Cake Creations (thank you Rachael!) and it was AMAZING!   Such amazing talent.  

The next few days was spent with family in from Winnipeg and it was fantastic.  Great weather, great meals and most of all, precious time with my sister-cousin (she really is the sister I never had), her baby boy and my Auntie.   We had a blast and I was reminded just how fortunate we are to get to spend time together, even if it's just for a few days once a year.

Fast forward to last weekend spent in Picton, Ontario with great friends (she, also celebrating her birthday) at the Great Canadian Cheese Festival!   Great location to stay if you're looking to make your way around one of the most beautiful areas in Ontario overlooking Lake Ontario.  Lots of cycling, lots of wineries (my personal favourite, Sandbanks Estate Winery - the baco noir is delightful as is the rose.  I mean, why try and decide?!  Another favourite, Buddha Dog for the most amazing gourmet hot dogs with the toppings to match.  Oh and homemade basil blueberry lemonade - YUM!  B and I each got the flight of 3 - the server picks the toppings for 3 hot dogs - one sweet, one savoury, one spicy.   They've got a good thing going here - we will definitely be back. 

And this weekend, a great fundraiser BBQ for the not-for-profit I volunteer for The Hub, a recreation association aimed at making fitness accessible to everyone in the surrounding communities.  Our first objective is re-opening a pool and the BBQ fundraiser was held today as part of Doors Open to educate people on what we're doing and give them tours of the facilities.

Pretty cool 3 weeks and though it definitely has flown by, I've truly enjoyed every busy, exhausting moment of it all!

Namaste