Yoga Sanctuary

Lately I’ve been observing my yin / yang and feminine / masculine energies and I have noticed I am out of balance! Over the past year, I’ve been in a very dominant, fast paced or yang / masculine mode of life. It has been a terrific ride for sure, but without the balance of a touch of femininity it has resulted in me being tired, sick and injured. Last weekend I decided to make a few changes to create more balance in my life and I am expressing more of my yin / feminine side again. Once I did this an overwhelming sense of relief and ease washed over me. Here are some of the changes I have made:

1. I don’t have to attend every single social engagement. Rather, I am spending some quiet time at home. To honour my soft side I read, spend time with people I love, pad around the house in shorts and baggy t-shirt and get in the kitchen or garden to do some of the creative things I enjoy.

2. I have stopped hitting the gym (for now) to make way for a more gentle yoga practice at home or in the closed studio on my own. I am letting my body heal, rest and recoup.

3. I am spending at least three or four days at home, head down without distraction, appointments or engagement to catch up on piling up work as opposed to dashing from location to location, person to person to person whilst trying to fit it in the gaps. I am slowing down my schedule in order to feel a sense of completion of the things which need to get done. Ahhhhh!

As a result I have been enjoying teaching my yoga classes even more, really listening to and hearing people and absolutely loving my job. Neither female or male is better, rather they work in tandem to create power. Power is not only expressed through external force and coercion, rather can be expressed through the quiet inner strength of the feminine. Bring them together and bam! You’ve got a recipe for success.

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on February 7th, 2012 | No Comments »

I am a health fanatic, and part of my health regime is to not be obsessed about just that. Here are some easy health tips that help me lead a healthy, happy and successful life.

• Be a drama queen. When things go well for you celebrate for yourself with gusto (but don’t gloat to others… ew).
• Be understated. When things don’t go your way, who friggin cares! Get over it, and move on.
• Laugh once a day. If you have to, watch a funny sitcom, read a funny book, (the Far Side is one of my favourites to make me laugh), or hang around with a funny person.
• Eat at least one piece of fruit and one vegetable EVERY DAY.
• Don’t fill your body with toxic food.
• If you do, then don’t fill your body with toxic thoughts of guilt and regret (see point 2).
• Don’t fill the kettle, saucepan or drink water from the hot tap. Fill it with cold and heat it from scratch. Water which comes from the hot pipes leaches gross stuff, ie lead.
• Perfect is boring. Authentic is inspiring.
• Commit to your exercise regime, but make it realistic and attainable.
• Be wrong and accept that, or allow yourself to fail at something once in a while. It is soooo liberating.
• Do yoga at least once a week.
• Bring your yoga teacher gifts and lavish her with love (not the weirdo kind of love, and I was kidding about the gifts).
• Read the list of ingredients on packaged food. If you don’t know what it is, it’s probably not that good for you. Actually, it’s probably not even food.
• Remember what it is to love and be loved.

Happy New Year my friends. Here’s to 2012! Woooo hoooo!

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on January 5th, 2012 | 4 Comments »

Well the year is almost through! It has been an enormous year for me with alot going on and alot to learn.
Here are some cool things I have achieved in 2011.

• Started my level II teacher training in Bali (two modules over two years to go);
• Opened a second yoga studio;
• Sold 40% of my business for more than I bought it for;
• Had a bunch articles published;
• Fell in love with creating my own food;
• Did my first drop back;
• Turned 34.

Here are some not so cool things I did in 2011.

• Had a couple of meltdowns towards the end of the year;
• Followed (in my car) behind my best friend ‘Ex Party Girl’ as her and her baby were involved in a serious head on collision;
• Did not always work as hard as I believed was necessary;
• Suffered a six month wrist injury;
• Killed one of the plants that Ex Party Girl bought me for my birthday in 2010;
• Lost one shoe the day after I bought it, lost two sets of keys and an I-phone.

Some things I have learned, or affirmed in 2011

• I am strong;
• I am not perfect;
• I do not want to be perfect;
• I cannot do everything and I depend on others to help me;
• Owning a business with two branches is tougher than I thought (but worth it);
• Life is precious and at times, fragile;
• I am 34, still haven’t found the right man nor had children yet and life is still great;
• I can be blinded by love, then un-blinded by love, and still love;
• I can do the above and still love the same person, just in a different way.

I am in the process these holidays of getting alot of stuff done that, quite frankly I was too frantic, or too exhausted, or too stressed to get done throughout the year. I looked into getting myself cloned, but it was far too expensive and not that PC so instead, I will be re-organising my teaching schedule in 2012. I will be taking the time needed to expand the Yoga Sanctuary with the same high standard, attention to detail and respect for yoga, the people who teach it and the people who practice it, that helped it get where it is today.

I hope you have all had a phenomenal 2011 and if you haven’t, I hope you were able to find the joy hiding within the mundane. Here’s to many more years of authentic mistake making ahead. Here’s to developing the ability to laugh at yourself, not take things too seriously, delight in your achievements and accept your flaws. Whether you’ve had a crazy whirlwind 2011, a non eventful 2011 or a downright dumb 2011 count your blessings because we all have them. I wish you all a 2012 that is everything you wish it would be, but also I hope that you are also able to practice gratitude when things don’t pan out the way you had hoped. Above all else, I hope you join us all at the Yoga Sanctuary for another year of yoga!!

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on December 20th, 2011 | 4 Comments »

I am blessed to have a group of friends who I have known almost all my life. Every year we have an annual girls’ get together and this year it was my turn to organise it. Everyone knows I am not the organiser of things. That responsibility usually falls on ‘Camp Mother’ or ‘Backhand Bruiser’. So this year, when I got the reminder, the latter two jumped in and got the organising ball rolling to which, with my current organising skills I did very well at finishing.

‘Puna’ arrived first and as we sat and caught up we laughed about how if some of us met as adults, we might not even be friends because we are all so different.

‘Heck, I probably wouldn’t even like you’, I joked. Puna is a paramedic who still lives in our home town of Whangarei, my brother and sister were friends with some of her cousins and my mother and her mother were work colleagues. Towards the end of the night, several glasses of bubbles later, I lay with my head on her breast commenting on how much more luxurious it was than mine. Something I could only do with someone I grew up with.

Camp Mother, pregnant with her third child arrived with Backhand Bruiser and Ex Party Girl, who in appropriate fashion held them up because she was running late. We hate that about her. You can’t use the word ‘hate’ with anyone but family and get away with it.

Backhand Bruiser had too much to drink (as did we all) and at the end of the night, in absolute tradition of how she got her name, trapped Ex Party Girl and told her off for various things, while hitting her when she did not listen. We love to hate getting trapped with her. She is the sweetest woman in the world but a nightmare if she has too much to drink.

Camp Mother’s house just went on the market. Her and her husband, who we also grew up with, bought the house about ten years ago. It was the first house to ever host a catch-up that wasn’t owned by our parents. It has gone through two renovations and watched of us all grow into women. Camp Mother sent an email to me, Backhand Bruiser and Ex Party Girl showing the house’s final pictures. Here are our responses:

Denise: Phwoar, flash as!

Backhand Bruiser: Oh wow, if i won lotto i would buy it. You guys should be very proud it looks amazing xx

Ex Party Girl: Are you a little bit sad? It is the end of an era.

When I read all of our responses, I realised how so very different we all are. That is what I love about my amazing group of friends. We are accepted for who we are as individual people. We can joke about our flaws, we all love each other immensely and we are all perfect as we are.

Everyone is perfect as they are. You are perfect for the flaws that make you beautiful. You are perfect for the contrast you give other people to help them understand themselves more. You are perfect because you help to fill someone else up for what they don’t have. I love being perfect.

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on November 25th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

A typical day for many, last Wednesday was full of things to do. 2pm rolled around and I was walking along the path to my front door. I had a thermos of green tea in one hand, my handbag over my shoulder, a yoga mat under my arm, some books and paper somewhere in the lot and my MP3 player in the pocket of my yoga pants as I listened to music. The books fell and I dropped the yoga mat as it unrolled along the path. As I bent down to retrieve my belongings, the MP3 player fell out of my pocket as tea poured out of the thermos and onto the mat. I sat down. Right there on the path by the front door. I took some huge, slow deep breaths. It was my yoga in the moment and it felt amazing. I reminded myself of why I was so busy and took a moment to feel good about my dreams.

Here is an example of my morning prep for those of you who are busy beavers like me:

• Make pot of tea for the day: – For my favourite ginger tea you will need:
fresh ginger – grated
lemon (from tree) – use rind but not white stuff – then juice
Cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom pod – ground
Raw sugar – to taste

Toss in teapot with almost boiling water – steep for 15 – 30 minutes, add sugar. Strain into cup or thermos. Drink warm or as an iced tea.

hint i add a few drops of zinc to my liquids to help with dry skin x

• Set coffee for next morning :–
I leave the remnants of the spices in the grinder to flavour the coffee

• Grab ingredients for dinner, and set them on the bench-top. If there is any prep needed I may pre-prep (for the days I don’t get home until after sunset).

When I get home, weary and hungry, it’s all ready to go.

If you aren’t a morning person, you can do this right before bed. Getting organised helps to relieve stress and gives you a chance to take the deep breaths that you need in the day to keep going, stay kind and be more in the moment.

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on November 14th, 2011 | No Comments »

Spontaneous furniture shopping and tropical-like rainstorms don’t go well together. Carting bedside tables along flooded paths in jandals and socks don’t particularly go well together either but that’s what I did yesterday and now I have a partially re-designed house. It wasn’t particularly helpful when my neighbour waved and called out a jovial ‘howdy neighbour’ as I buckled and staggered along the path underneath the new book-case but here I now sit in my newly polished home study. I have moved books, novels, photographs and things for my heart into the bedroom and there will be no more tapping on the laptop in bed. I have cleaned up my surroundings.

It can be hard to get away from work and the complexities of life. Yoga Sanctuary timetables, fliers and used concession cards often litter the dining room table, there are direct debit forms, phone messages and ‘to do’ lists on the kitchen counter and my laptop often lays on the bed with the inbox emitting that little ‘bing’ that says I have mail. In the spirit of Saucha (Cleanliness) I have taken all work out of the bedroom, which is now a personal sanctuary of respite and has only the things a bedroom should have. The kitchen and dining room (not that I actually have a dining room) have been made free to create and eat great food and my laptop, paper and all things Yoga adorn the study. It is amazing how clear headed I feel already.

Avidya is a veil that hangs over our perception and yoga helps to clear that veil. Staying clean and hygienic are certain ways to stay clear-headed, but so is having appropriate and clutter-free surroundings. My kitchen is a place for my herb-friends to grow and provide fresh flavour for my organic cooking, the lounge has mess free couches to sprawl and fresh flowers to adorn and brighten up my day, and the study is a place of inspiration and empowerment to create my dreams. With cleaner surroundings, I feel fresher and more organised on the inside. Now if you’ll excuse me, another blog entry done and dusted, it’s time to start my day!

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on October 20th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Last night Steve and I attended a yoga class taught by Jennifer Allen, the latest addition to the team of outstanding teachers at Yoga Sanctuary. At one point I lay there, blissed out and thought to myself… I love my life. Then I thought… no wait, I love life. Splitting hairs maybe… I think not. Something yoga has taught me over the years, is that life is a beautiful and strange occurence, to be cherished, explored, embraced, laughed at and shared with ohers. If you can’t love your life right now (and trust me, I’ve been there), choose to simply love life itself. To enjoy being present in your body is to love life. To eat fresh, organic, environmentally sustainable food is to love life. To cherish and accept your friends and family for who they are is to love life. To laugh daily at something stupid is to love life. To breathe deeply and consciously is to love life (breath = life).

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. My first yoga class was the beginning of my love affair with life. I am writing an article at the moment entitled ‘Benefits of Yoga’. Problem is I need to say in 400 words what I can say in four.

Practice Yoga = Love life.

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on October 13th, 2011 | No Comments »

Errrr, not well. Is it the increased work load from the past few months, or the increased social calendar? Not sure, but I am absolutely exhausted. My head is blocked and my limbs feel heavy. All I want to do is sleep. It is time to medicate myself with some yoga.

1. Rest and surrender. I am spending alot of time in Shavasana;

2. Medicate myself with food. I will be feeding and healing my body with as much organic, fresh fruit, vegetables, grains, herbs and spices as I can, whilst eliminating anything which does not come from the Earth.

3. Baby steps. I am being more present and using Vinyasa Krama so as not to get overwhelmed. I can’t bear the thought of having loads to do, so instead I am focussing on one thing at a time, putting one step in front of the other in an ordered sequence. The achievement of a challenging pose can be overwhelming, but to break it down into elements seems achievable, it is the same with my To Do list.

4. I am content do to less.

I can’t struggle or deny what is, and the reality is that I’m simply not feeling very well. I have learned the hard way in the past: When I try to pretend all is fine when it is not, reality only slaps me in the face harder. What I DO know, is that if I accept reality and embrace it, it will flow through me like water and before I know it, (in the words of my late father), I’ll be a ‘box of birds’ again.

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on September 26th, 2011 | No Comments »

One of my lovely yogini students came up to me this afternoon before class with a gleeful look on her face. She leaned in and said “your blog is soooo juicy”. I smiled, a bit shy and said “personal init”.

When I first started writing this blog, I wanted it to be not only entertaining and inspiring but honest and candid. The first few times I published, what is essentially my personal journal of my humble journey in this life, I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if people wanted to hear my secrets, my thoughts and opinions and the silly things I do. I leapt into that unknown and was met with love, appreciation and gratitude for sharing myself with you.

No-one is perfect, and my blog entries are proof of that. To be inspiring I believe we should be authentic and above all HONEST about our humanness. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all hurt others and been hurt ourselves. We’ve all betrayed friends and been betrayed by another. We’ve all loved and been loved. We do not practice yoga to be elevated above others, we practice to come together as people, accept rather than judge and learn from our mistakes rather than pretend that we knew the answers all along.

I will continue to be who I am and share my honesty with the world. Be brave, join me and share who you really are too. You’ll be amazed at the support you receive in return.

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on September 12th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

When I moved into this house it was a HEAP. Never did I intend on living here for over two years, but here I am. And I’m happy. I remember the first night here, sitting in the newly painted lounge, eating takeout, watching a dvd on the laptop and feeling rather exposed because the curtains were still not up. It wasn’t my idea of living the dream. The next day, Mum and I worked hard to get curtains up and that night it felt sooo luxurious in the run-down little unit I had then purchased with my ex boyfriend. That was… until the neighbour became obsessed with me. He would peek through the hole in the trees that separated our sections and if he saw a light on, or during the day if there was sign of me being home, he’d jump the fence and come visit. Then he’d never leave. He was coming over as early as 9am on my days off and asking if i wanted breakfast cooked. Or as soon as I got home from work at 9pm there would be a knock on the door asking if I wanted to have a drink. I became a nervous wreck. The kitchen blinds were on order and being made, so eventually we had to pin towels up in the kitchen so that I could ignore him when he knocked. How hideous! Towels as curtains? It didn’t matter because I finally had total privacy and that made me happy. When the towels came down and the fresh new blinds went up (even though the kitchen was falling down), the place felt like a palace. How chic! Real blinds! This continued to happen every time something was fixed, replaced or added, my little falling down unit felt exquisite for a while.

The other day someone from Christchurch won tickets to a Taylor Swift concert in Auckland, complete with flights to our lovely city. The lucky winner was so excited and I thought to myself “whoop dee doo, I can think of much better reasons to get excited”. Then I realised… it’s all relative. It probably WOULD be exciting to get up to Auckland if your city is falling down around you. Just like I never would have thought getting curtains and blinds in the crappiest unit I’ve ever laid my eyes upon would give me so much pleasure. Then I started to think about people who have it all, health, wealth, friends and fame. For them to jet to London for an event, or a weekend of shopping in Milan may not bring them as much pleasure as a Cantabrian might get from a ticket out of the city for a weekend. A brand new Merecedes Benz might not give someone who has many cars as much pleasure as I felt when I switched out a smelly bathroom and replaced it with the cheapest but cleanest one I could find.

It is not what happens to us that makes us happy. It is our awareness and gratitude of the gifts we are given in any particular moment. Have a happy gratitude day today.

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on September 9th, 2011 | No Comments »