Sunday, July 30, 2006
Relax in Sirsasana!
"The worse thing about sirsasana (headstand) is falling over and landing on your butt with a thud" This is what the teacher at the Yoga Intensive I went to this weekend kept telling us. "Relax in Sirsasana. If you hold your body as stiff as a board in headstand, then if you do happen to fall over, the floor will treat you like a board."
I attended a yoga intensive taught by Kofi Busia (www.kofibusia.com) this weekend. The intensive began on Fri night (the session was from 19 to 21:30 hrs) and then Sat's session was from 12:30 to 16:30 and concluding today from 9 to 12:30.
It was the first time that I studied with Kofi and he is excellent. He is interesting and keeps you interested without being boring. He took us through a series of standing, twisting, sitting, and inverted poses. In fact, we held the asanas for quite a long time while we listened to him talk. The subject for Friday night was about curiousity and the desire to learn. He spoke about the history of science. And about moving the hips.
Saturday, he talked about the foundation and history of ayurveda. He explained the origin of the terms. I wish I remembered more of it though :-( He also talked about how important it is to give life in the vertebrae and to nourish the disks between the vertebrae.
The secret of Youth is in a healthy spine!
Sunday: how to lift oneself out of emotional misery. And moving the 3 cavities of the body
Kofi is organizing a festival in honour of Guruji in July 2007. I am considering making the trip out to Santa Clara for it. I mean, how many lifetimes am I going to get a chance to study with some of the most advanced teachers around the world?? Here is the site: www.yogacharya.org
Namaste.
I attended a yoga intensive taught by Kofi Busia (www.kofibusia.com) this weekend. The intensive began on Fri night (the session was from 19 to 21:30 hrs) and then Sat's session was from 12:30 to 16:30 and concluding today from 9 to 12:30.
It was the first time that I studied with Kofi and he is excellent. He is interesting and keeps you interested without being boring. He took us through a series of standing, twisting, sitting, and inverted poses. In fact, we held the asanas for quite a long time while we listened to him talk. The subject for Friday night was about curiousity and the desire to learn. He spoke about the history of science. And about moving the hips.
Saturday, he talked about the foundation and history of ayurveda. He explained the origin of the terms. I wish I remembered more of it though :-( He also talked about how important it is to give life in the vertebrae and to nourish the disks between the vertebrae.
The secret of Youth is in a healthy spine!
Sunday: how to lift oneself out of emotional misery. And moving the 3 cavities of the body
Kofi is organizing a festival in honour of Guruji in July 2007. I am considering making the trip out to Santa Clara for it. I mean, how many lifetimes am I going to get a chance to study with some of the most advanced teachers around the world?? Here is the site: www.yogacharya.org
Namaste.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Updated my profile
I have updated my profile. Check it out!!!
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Progress of cardi and almost finished baby cardi
Here is a cardi that I started before going to Japan and the progress I made knitting on the plane. I haven't worked on it at all since I came back last month. :-( Novita Isoveli is really nice to knit with, even with the horrible plastic circs!
Hooray! hooray!! Almost finished the baby cardi from the Debbie Bliss "Easy Knits" book. All I have left is to knit the bows and then seam up the sleeves and sew on a button. I am wondering if I should block it before sewing? The edges are rather curly.More pix...
of Marlis, Daxton, Riley, Sarah, and Serita on the train, on the Staten Island Ferry and the water fountain in Battery Park.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Arigatoo gozaimasu Secret Pal!!!
My surprise from my Secret Pal arrived on Saturday morning!!! Here are some pix of my surprises (apologies in advance for my lack of photography skills).
Thank you very much, Merci beaucoup, Vielen Danke, Do jeh, Arigatoo gozaimasu, Kiitos!!!
I LOVE the gorgeous scarf, the colourway is perfect for me. Can't wait until the winter (I love winter anyway, growing up in Canada and all!!). Ihave been wanting to try out that pattern for awhile now so now I have an actual sample to follow.
The CD is also great too, great mix. It is funny that my Secret Pal put a Chris Smither song on the CD because me and my husband saw him in concert as our first date at the Outpost in the Burbs!!!!!!!!!
My Secret Pal also mailed me a postcard from Michigan where she was on holidays last month! I felt quite nostalgic when I saw the postcard. You see, I lived and worked briefly in Lansing in 1998 and took a weekend drive to Mackinaw City and walked up the Sleeping Bear Dunes (it was a quite a drive from Lansing: www.sleepingbeardunes.com ). I also remembered meeting up with a friend who lived in Novi for dinners in Ann Arbour. Fond memories, sigh.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Some pix of Marlis and Sarah
The photo on the left (icepop) is of Sarah and Marlis at the Montreal Jazz Festival. The middle photo was taken on the Staten Island Ferry. The photo on the right, they are at a children's art studio, Orange Kangaroo www.orangekangaroo.com
Marlis also got her haircut in Montreal, Sandrine, at Mod's Hair is an artist. www.modshair.com
Sandrine has been cutting my hair for over 10 yrs. She is from Bourgogne, France and will be visiting her parents for the month of August with her daughter, Elsa.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Case of the missing facial moisturizer and out of town visitors
I have searched high and low for my moisturizer that I bought from Fresh NYC: www.fresh.com
I remembered using it right before I left for work the day we were driving up to MOntreal for July 4th weekend. Of course, the cleaners did come to clean the house on July 3rd and I have not been able to find it since. So I suspect they put it somewhere unusual. erg....Glad they are coming again this Monday so I can just ask them.
Our cleaners (woman and man) are from Poland and very nice people. We met them thru the woman's husband who painted the inside of our house. His wife works together with her uncle. They are very hardworking. The uncle works during the day at a hospital and then cleans houses in the evenings.
Out of Town visitors this past week:
Nobody has ever come to visit us since we moved here 2 yrs ago. And all of a sudden, this past week, our little townhouse has been filled to its capacity with visitors. My very best friend (we've been friends since we were 13 yrs old) and her 3 yr old daughter, Richard's oldest friend and his wife and their 3 children, my friend from Tokyo, and also a friend/colleague from Switzerland.
It's been a very busy week. Glad it is over but also sad that my best friend returned to MOntreal to her parent's house and then will return home to Edson, Alberta in September. Her daughter, Sarah got along really well with Marlis.
I remembered using it right before I left for work the day we were driving up to MOntreal for July 4th weekend. Of course, the cleaners did come to clean the house on July 3rd and I have not been able to find it since. So I suspect they put it somewhere unusual. erg....Glad they are coming again this Monday so I can just ask them.
Our cleaners (woman and man) are from Poland and very nice people. We met them thru the woman's husband who painted the inside of our house. His wife works together with her uncle. They are very hardworking. The uncle works during the day at a hospital and then cleans houses in the evenings.
Out of Town visitors this past week:
Nobody has ever come to visit us since we moved here 2 yrs ago. And all of a sudden, this past week, our little townhouse has been filled to its capacity with visitors. My very best friend (we've been friends since we were 13 yrs old) and her 3 yr old daughter, Richard's oldest friend and his wife and their 3 children, my friend from Tokyo, and also a friend/colleague from Switzerland.
It's been a very busy week. Glad it is over but also sad that my best friend returned to MOntreal to her parent's house and then will return home to Edson, Alberta in September. Her daughter, Sarah got along really well with Marlis.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Montreal
No pix of my Tokyo and Hong Kong trip yet. We haven't even really unpacked. We were in MOntreal this past weekend. The Jazz fest is on until July 9th.
Everytime we go there, I think: wouldn't it be great to move back there again. Fleeting thoughts because Richard would (probably) not get a decent job there because he doesn't speak french. And judging from how much German he picked up while we were living in Basel, I can safely say that he is pretty much unilingual. sigh.
We had a fun time though even though we only spent Sunday evening at the Jazz fest. We had poutine there and a Mexican food stand was selling perfectly ripened and SWEET mangos on a stick, with the skin cut off and the flesh cut into petals for easy eating. OISHI (japanese word for yummy!)
I really miss the good food so we always try to hit some of our usual haunts:
Chao Phraya: http://www.chao-phraya.com
I have to say that this is the best Thai restaurant I have ever eaten in. I am curious to compare their food with the food in Thailand. Maybe next year, we plan a trip to Thailand!!!
Stash: http://www.stashcafe.com/
Delicious Polish food. We were there for lunch on Monday and then we spent the afternoon riding quadricycle and pedal boats in the Old Port.
I am pretty disappointed that we did not make it to Cafe Santropol for lunch: http://www.santropol.com/ Hopefully, next time. Maybe Labour Day weekend.
Boy, I am really starting to feel homesick for Montreal.
Everytime we go there, I think: wouldn't it be great to move back there again. Fleeting thoughts because Richard would (probably) not get a decent job there because he doesn't speak french. And judging from how much German he picked up while we were living in Basel, I can safely say that he is pretty much unilingual. sigh.
We had a fun time though even though we only spent Sunday evening at the Jazz fest. We had poutine there and a Mexican food stand was selling perfectly ripened and SWEET mangos on a stick, with the skin cut off and the flesh cut into petals for easy eating. OISHI (japanese word for yummy!)
I really miss the good food so we always try to hit some of our usual haunts:
Chao Phraya: http://www.chao-phraya.com
I have to say that this is the best Thai restaurant I have ever eaten in. I am curious to compare their food with the food in Thailand. Maybe next year, we plan a trip to Thailand!!!
Stash: http://www.stashcafe.com/
Delicious Polish food. We were there for lunch on Monday and then we spent the afternoon riding quadricycle and pedal boats in the Old Port.
I am pretty disappointed that we did not make it to Cafe Santropol for lunch: http://www.santropol.com/ Hopefully, next time. Maybe Labour Day weekend.
Boy, I am really starting to feel homesick for Montreal.
