Project 2011

I had a great weekend in Toronto, including a walk on the Beaches boardwalk, a yoga class with my favourite yoga teacher, Bridgette Kortright at Carrot Common, my last hot yoga class at Bikrum Beaches and 3 visits with Livia Phoenix Fair...and her parents, of course. I have a little plan for 2011 you see and today I thought I would try to lay it out on this blog. This isn't a New Year's resolution BTW. It started on December 26th, 2010, when I bought a 30 day unlimited pass at the hot yoga studio in the Beaches where Dave and Thea go. I had been to a class there in May 2010 so I knew I could "stay in the room." Since I planned to spend the week between Christmas and New Year's in Toronto, while house-sitting for my friends, Chris and Shirley, I decided to see how much hot yoga I could do in a week. I went for 3 days in a row starting on Boxing day. By the 3rd class I told myself I needed a break. Skipped Wednesday and went back on Thursday. Went to a few tai chi classes in Toronto on my "off" days. Decided to stay for another week and go every other day to hot yoga, but I needed to go back to Kingston for my medication. Left on Friday and went back to Toronto on Sunday. Got to see James on his birthday as a bonus (7 years old on Jan 1st). Did at least one more tai chi class the next week where, by a stroke of great good fortune I got a "correction" that I have needed for over a year. A correction is when a tai chi teacher points out some adjustment needed to make your form work better for you. In this case it had to do with my knees. Hallalelja! On Friday evening, Jan 7th, I had the great good fortune (!) of falling down some steps. At first I thought I had only hit my right temple, but when I got home and undressed for bad, I found an even bigger lump on my hip. The good thing about my fall is that I noticed that I had relaxed into it and I am convinced that made a big difference in the aftermath for me. I had done a hot yoga class that very morning and I know I was in better shape than I have been in a very long time. It also convinced me that I really needed to start paying attention to improving my balance on all levels: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. So I went back back to Kingston on Sunday, Jan 9th with a few ideas...the combination of hot yoga, regular yoga and tai chi works really well for me...I needed a simple physical exercise to improve my balance and I needed to commit to doing it everyday...I needed to think about balance on all levels not just the physical. When I returned to Kingston and once again had access to my computer, etc. I quickly found a very basic balance exercise: stand on one foot for 5 seconds, repeat, alternating feet 9 more time. Easy! I have had no trouble remembering to do it everyday, which for me is HUGE. I tried a Yin Yoga class at the hot yoga studio here in Kingston and went back to my meditation groups on Tuesday and Thursday. Last weekend, I returned to Toronto for one last class (see above) and today I went to tai chi. My plan is to start hot yoga at Feel Yoga studio tomorrow and alternate with tai chi. I feel BRILLIANT!