Yoga Sanctuary

Last night I went to a Step class. The instructor was a buff and cheery, perfectly waxed man wearing clothes a size or two too small. He also had the best co-ordination EVER so I’m not going to judge. I suspect Camp Mother’s TV is broken cause she’s relinquished working out with me in lieu of getting pregnant. You need workout buddies when you’re about to humiliate yourself.

Right, the warm up started…one foot up, other foot up, one foot down, other foot down. Sigh… I’m a natural. As things started to speed up, I started to realise that perhaps I hadn’t improved much from my last Step experience a year or so ago. I was doing the ‘Half Step’, step then realise you’ve got it wrong so abort the movement, the ‘Run’, quickly run around the step cause you tripped over it instead of stepping over it, the ‘Un-Co’, jumping up, while everyone is coming down, and the ‘I Give Up’, stand there and watch the instructor’s feet with intense concentration and wonder. Finally there was the ‘SOS’, arm actions which in no way resembled anyone else’s, rather looked like cries for help. I soon realised that my secret space to the side wasn’t so secret when it kept turning into the front of the class (we’ve all been there) and I was fully aware that I was putting people off when the instructor looked at me with an encouraging laugh after I tripped over the step again. Here we were in the room that I teach yoga in on Saturday mornings and I was torn. Do I keep my head down, or do I check (pray) that no-one in here knows who I am.

Finally, I started to get the moves. Tapping my feet to the music, flailing my arms in time with the beat, I started bopping away at my routine. This Step class is quite fun! Hmmm, is it a knee kick at this part or a hamstring curl? I looked up to check, they were doing push-ups… not sure how long they’d been there.

Stuff it, I’m sticking to Yoga.

To all the newbies still a little nervous about trying a yoga class, we were all beginners once! Ok, so I’ve never really been uncoordinated at yoga, but I did start somewhere. All teachers had to learn their craft and we’ve often been humbled when we discover people much more knowledgeable or able than ourselves. It’s how we learn! If you’re nervous about starting, don’t be. We’ve seen hundreds of nervous people embarking on the most amazing practice in the world. We’ll make you feel at home. And hey, we may be great at yoga, but we may be sh!t at step.

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on May 2nd, 2012 | No Comments »

I revelled in days one and two of Easter, spending time at the beach, eating dinner with family, and brunching with a best bud. Then the ‘Sickness’ came back. A relapse of the flu I had a couple weeks ago reared its ugly head when I began vomiting and shivering in the middle of the night. When I woke in the morning, I was balled up on the couch wearing socks, stretchy pants, a tee shirt, a woollen rolled necked top and a down jacket. I had blankets piled on top of me and the heat pump at 22 degrees. It was the only way I had been able to stop the full body shivers. I felt so dejected (and very unfashionable) and in the night whilst trying to get warm I kept bursting into tears. I just felt so rotten, like no-one understood how my body was feeling and how difficult it was for my immunity army to fight it off.

Sigh… but I am determined to live a strong and healthy life, so if have a bit of a precious body (and at the moment it seems that I do), I need to work harder to keep it strong and healthy. Have you ever had a sickness make you that much more determined to remain healthy? Perhaps you’ve suffered a wee bout of depression that has made you realise that happiness doesn’t always get delivered on a silver platter, or perhaps a financial scare that has hardened your resolve to be more financially secure? Here’s where some yoga philosophy comes in: Don’t be a whiny baby (that’s not yoga sutra verbatim by the way) when the going gets tough rather, find discipline and acceptance instead.

For me, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and the second hand stress of my long working hours has meant that I can’t take my health for granted. My darling health set-backs this year have made me love and want good health even more and even when I think I don’t have time for it, I am vowing to find time for yoga, which is at the core of my health regime. My goal is to be able to remain healthy, whether I swan about doing yoga, getting massages and shopping for a new outfit to go to the latest party, or whether I work an 80 hr week to achieve something I reh heh heeeely want! When I reach my goal of warrior like immunity and robustness, it will not only be the former that is stronger, but my mental strength too. Voila! Ability increases + Ease returns = Newfound strength!

Challenges are terrific ways to get you out of your place of ease and raise the bar on your abilities. Take them on with courage; find contentment in the midst of the fray; have the discipline to work though it and you will gain a new strength. Return to your place of ease and it will not only feel even easier than it was before but you will go there with greater understanding, appreciation and joy. We have a 30 day challenge for you in May at the Yoga Sanctuary. Are you up for it?

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on April 12th, 2012 | 2 Comments »

‘You’re too skinny. Next time I visit I’ll bring you food’.

We were sitting at the table with pizza and salad. Me…. washing down vitamin c and antibiotics with a glass of water, and my gigantic ex boyfriend wrapping a massive paw around the stem of a flute of bubbles.

My eyes drifted to the beverage….. and the glass, and I bit down tight on smart response.

We were having a lovely catch-up though. I was recovering from a nasty flu and Big C was over to visit his sisters, noting how crazy busy work in Australia has been for him. Our conversation drifted to health, managing stress levels and finding balance. I have always told him that his lifestyle and workload isn’t sustainable or healthy, however the past few months I haven’t been so good at finding balance myself (and I’m not referring to my teeter-totter faint episode at the doctor’s office eek!). Nope, I had slowed right down on my yoga practice in favour of working long hours to get the job done. Result? Sickness.

When we move and stretch our bodies, we literally squeeze out the stress and toxins from our muscles, tissues and organs. The inspiring environment provided in class is then able to flow into your body to affirm good health. The deep breathing accompanied with the slowed movement switches off the fight or flight response which actually notches up your immunity and tells your body to focus on healing, replenishing and regenerating. When we are stressed and in fight or flight mode, our immune system actually slows down, and the energy moves to the limbs so we can prepare for battle. The stress relief we’ll give you in class isn’t just mental my friends, it is physically healing.

The vitamin c, antibiotics and loving concern from my loved ones have done wonders for my recovery, but I wouldn’t have recovered as fast had it not been for my real saving grace. If you are in any way stressed or sick I have one word for you. Fine, I have two

YOGA Sanctuary (wink)

Filed under: Denise - My Life of Yoga on March 24th, 2012 | No Comments »

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 »