the ultimate yogi

do not try this at home...felines have a VERY flexible spine

I know, she may not look it, and she may not know it, but my cat Linxie...is a yogi.
Now, if you’re not a cat person, please don’t dismiss this post as a gushing declaration of feline-love. It’s no secret that I love the little fur-ball, but the kid has certainly taught me a lot this week.

It’s been a challenging week for me (Joanna). Among other things, I’m still mending a weak wrist, plus as I write this post, our site is still down. (If you're looking for the current class schedule, I've posted it here, until the site is up) And if you’re a small business owner, you know there is potential for lost business there...so, ya...NOT cool.

Back to Linxie. I sometimes fleetingly wish, on especially challenging days that I could switch places with her, for a few hours. Heck yes I’ll sleep 4 hours on a pile of newly washed laundry that hasn’t been put away yet! But mostly, I admire the yogic qualities of my four-legged friend. Here’s why:

She’s got the best downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana) I’ve ever seen...paws planted, waist and hips draw up and back...so good...

She listens to her body. If you live with a cat, you know that they don’t mess around when they’re tired; they will cut you off, walk over you, pay you no mind and ignore you...and bee-line to their bed. (Same goes when they are hungry).

One pointed awareness. Ever see a cat prowl after something? When Linxie locks her gaze on a spider, she will stalk that thing until she gets it. You can call her name a million times, you might see her ears radar in your direction, but her eyes will never leave the 8-legged arachnid. There is no distractions or chitta vritti (chatter of the mind) here.

Because Linx is an indoor cat, she doesn’t get out much. But sometimes we treat her, and bring her to my parents’ who have a nice big yard where she can play outside. In warmer months, she loves to smell the grass and dirt, chase the things that fly and just generally slow down to marvel and appreciate nature. Dogs too, right?

Show love with honesty and openness...no inhibitions . My feline friend will act a fool for love. No doubt your companion has their own coming home ceremony just for you. Mine does this thing where she stands in your way, lets her legs buckle and rolls uncontrollably for about a minute until you say hello. If you don’t say hello, the purrs turns to a fever pitch, until she squeaks, as if to say, uhm...hellooo, can’t you see me??

So, you see, every day, I am reminded that living yoga is something that happens off the mat. And yoga teachers, come in all shapes, sizes and furriness.

namaste Linxie, namaste.

notice the cat bed underneath the human chair

Silver linings, injuries, bandages, backbends, and ahimsa

If you’ve been to any of my (Joanna) classes this past week, you may or may have not noticed that one of my wrists is swaddled and bandaged up.

I’m okay! Thanks for asking. I wont bore you with the details of how it happened. I will say though, that sustaining an injury (especially when you guide yoga practice for a living) is one of most humbling experiences, ever.

What I found most interesting/troubling is how much I take my body for granted. Simple movement such as pushing open a door, carrying my cat’s 13lbs carrier (yeah, she’s kinda tubby), and yes, many many many yoga poses become the proverbial Mt. Everest for someone who is injured.

I come across a lot of folk who come to yoga with previous injuries, ailments which are much, much more serious and painful than what I have...I’m talking scoliosis, herniated discs, arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia...etc. Of course, here at the studio we help them modify and certain classes are better for them than others, but I can understand how frustrating it is being in a room with other people who are injury free, and being the only one in a modified version of a pose the entire time, feeling a tad rare, and on display.

For instance, I was in a ashtanga - vinyasa practice last week, and for those of you who’ve practiced this style before, your know it’s peppered with poses which rely on weight bearing on the arms...which wasn’t good for my wrists. So there I was, in shoulder-busting dolphin, while everyone was in their delicious, stretchy and gooey downward dogs. It was hard not to feel resentful at myself...how I could let this injury happen??!! I’m a yoga teacher for goodness sakes!

The mere action of being on hands and knees caused a searing pain. So I knew that I couldn’t handle another group vinyasa practice. I then got pro-active and designed a practice for myself which would involve absolutely no weight bearing on the wrists.

Therefore, all of the poses in this practice were either on my back, my stomach or on my feet.

For those of you who have a consistent home practice, you know that it’s easy to default to the poses that are your favorites (and by proxy, probably poses that come easy to you). You also probably avoid poses that you hate (poses that are difficult for you).

For me, I tend to shy away from prone backbends like shalabhasana, danurasana etc because, well...I find them not all that pleasant to be in. It’s like taking oregano oil when you feel a tickle in your throat...you know you’ve gotta do it, but you’re gonna hate every second of it!

Viparita Shalabhasana (Locust Pose)

Dhanurasana(Bow Pose)

So, reluctantly, I navigated through the above poses, which I regularly don’t spend much time in otherwise. And I’m happy to report, that since last Wednesday I’ve been consistently working through these back-bends every-single day! And yes...some soreness. And yes...I felt my breath getting slightly cut off at the apex of my edge. And yes...these poses are dang hard to maintain for more than 10 breaths! But every day, I feel by back getting stronger and my heart opening to the possibility that I may, in time, actually LOVE these 2 poses.

So, to make a long story short I try to look at this minor injury as a cloud with a silver lining.

First, I was humbly reminded of Ahimsa, one of the most important and relevant teachings of yoga - the teaching of non-harm...something that I thoroughly remind students of during class. Second, living yoga is about navigating through the rough patches or injuries in life with ease, grace and flexibility. Knowing that when old poses, or habits are no longer serving you...it may be time to give them up, if only for a little while, so that you can move on, and open to other possibilities.

Hey, get that gravy boat out of your nose!

Being a business owner, sometimes you may feel that you aren't allowed to get sick or take time off work if you've got the sniffles. False. First off, no one wants to be around you while you hack up a lung. Second, resting and taking time to get well, when you feel run-down is a smart business move since being out of commission while that nagging cough turns into full-blown pnumonia will only cost you more dough in the long term.

So for all you self-employed bosses out there, get plenty of rest, eat right and meet my secret weapon...the neti pot. Yogis of yore have been irrigating their nasal passages for a long time. Here's why it works:

• removes bacteria filled musus from your nasal passages, including the dirt and grime that accumulates from environmental toxins
• lubricates the sinus cavities which can become dry and raw from dry indoor air. This can leave us vulnerable to infections
• helps to eliminate or alleviate allergy symptoms (the neti pot helps to drain the sinus cavities)
• helps to flush the tear ducts – clarity of vision = clarity of mind

Mia describes it best when she shares her experience with the neti pot: She likens it to going swimming in a crisp salt-water ocean...coming out and feeling absolutely refreshed.

Here's an instructional video I found.

Go forth neti-potters!

BTW...ceramic Neti Pots are now back in stock at GL!

Guy. Don't be so cheap.

When I worked for Sobeys, I had the good fortune of working on the really cool categories. I worked on the Beverages, Salty Snacks, Tobacco (okay not so cool), Beauty and Baby categories. So, unlike Mia, who was in charge of useless things like garbage bags, jugs of bleach and generic brand bird food, I worked with glorious, high profile things like Chips, Soft Drinks, Shampoo and Tampons...you know, the essentials.

So, being on the Category Management team of a big retailer like Sobeys means that you get lots of samples of potential new items to carry as well as any new product launches. You normally get several samples to try...and it's pretty much yours, or you give it to a co-worker (someone you need to grease).

Perhaps, this is where I've been conditioned to think that providing samples of your product or service is a necessary evil read: expense, when trying to get someone's business.

Imma break it down...Mia came back from the Green Living show this year with a sour taste in her mouth. After she told me the story, I too needed a palate cleanse. Essentially, she found a pretty cool eco product, that we could potentially carry in our store. But with everything we stock in Green Lavender, we have to make sure that it works. Mia tells the lady at the booth that she owns an eco store in the Junction yadda yadda, we're interested in your product, it's seems cool, but does it work? So, blame it on our past training (as per above) Mia asks, do you have a small sample size, so that I can try it out? The lady's response, "Yeah...NO".

To make a long story short, we're going to hold off on carrying that product for now. The moral of the story: if you're a new brand trying to break into the market, and you're trying to get into retail locations...you might want to prepare a couple sample baggies.
This is why they have entire WALLS dedicated to colour swatches and paint chip samples at Rona. Also, think about Costco - why do you think they position a hair-net donning lady pushing bite-sized samples of whatever, at the end of every aisle?
Because FREE SAMPLING WORKS, and it's genius!

In her defence, she may gotten burned in the past by random jabronis trying to get free product from her, with no pay-off (kay, yes, on occasion, I've fed myself a dinner of free samples at Costco, and walked out, belly full, empty handed, no purchase made. Whatever, you've done it too.) . However, it would have cost her pennies to give Mia a sample, which could have potentially landed her brand on the shelf of our very awesome store...and into the hands and homes of you fantastic folks.

This also applies to you, fresh out of training yoga teachers. When I first started teaching, I hit the pavement HARD looking for studios and private clients to hire me....which meant doing sample classes, or sub classes sans pay. Studio owners, in turn will see your willingness and drive to really be part of their team and hire you. And even if they don't hire you, that's still another class taught and another notch under your belt...right?

Not to play out the point, but here's another example: I'm getting married in July, and though I generally hate taking pictures of myself, I've decided that I wouldn't be such a killjoy and get engagement photos done.

Cue, Neil. Neil, is a member at our studio, and the photographer I've hired to take said photos. He is super talented and has recently taken the plunge to take the photography thing to a professional level (he's booking wedding photos for summer by the by if you're looking for a photog). How did I come to know that Neil is a photograher? If you look on our website, he supplied the photos for these, and this. Nice right? If memory serves me right, he was still breaking into the biz at that time, building his portfolio, so he did these either free of charge, or at a minimal cost/barter.

So fast-forward to now...he's hired, he's my photogapher...and he's getting payed.

What I learned: Sample baggies folks...sample baggies.

Here's our sample baggie: Mention that you read this blog, and your first yoga class is on us! (Sorry, first timers only!)