New home at kareninyogaland.com, go over there to keep following me :)
Monday, March 26, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Glass will eventually be half full, just not right now
I started typing earlier on and after about two paragraphs, I realised what I had to say was very depressing and it was about to get worse. *hit delete all* I'm not a pessimist, I don't think... Yet I can't really call myself an optimist. I'd like to be all cheery and hopeful all the time, but when you get disappointed or hurt, it becomes difficult to remember that it does get better again. Right now I'm in that space, that space of feeling sorry for myself, wanting to crawl on my yoga mat and cry, that space of not remembering that I'll be okay again. Whilst this is not the smart option, it's the temporarily "easier" and lazy option. It's like giving yourself the thumbs up for staying in bed all day in your pjs and not brushing your hair and eating cereal at 8 o'clock at night. Then of course there's also the let's-think-over-every-tragic-incident-that's-ever-happened-in-my-life option, and let's be honest, there's no happy ending there.
I know I'm going to be okay, eventually I will get out of the pjs, straighten my hair with my GHD, eat cereal in the morning only and maybe even put on a pair of earrings. But today? No, not today. I need to lie around in my pjs for just a little bit longer...
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Everything keeps going right
Have you ever had those days where you think to yourself, "I'm the luckiest person in the world!"? Lately I've been having a lot of those days, and wondering to myself what have I done to deserve this? Everything lately feels like a Toyota advert (everything keeps going right!) and I just have to say, I feel lucky to be me! Did that come out almost a little bit facetious? Because I'm dead serious when I say that! Did I mention how lucky and grateful I am? In case I didn't get my point across in this post, well, I am super lucky and super grateful!
I don't think I can get over how well things have been going for me lately. In less than a month I've somehow managed to get almost 7 yoga classes to teach a week, and most just somehow landed in my lap. The people I've been meeting have been so wonderful in terms of giving advice and suggestions on how to go about getting more jobs etc.
The few classes I've started to teach have been wonderful. That feeling of indescribable satisfaction the first time a student came up to me after a class and said, "Thank you, that was a great class.". Just a few simple words yet it just made my day.
Apparently, this is what life is like when you do what you were born to do :)
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Happy List - Melbourne Life
There's been an overwhelming feeling of gratitude in my life recently, so I know it's time for one of these lists again :)
- Taught my first yoga class today and what a great feeling! Can't wait for tomorrow's class!
- Cannot get over how lucky I was in finding the perfect apartment for me with the perfect flatmate, and located just 2 minutes walk from the beach! I love it!
- New coffee table my flatmate bought! *love*
- Walking to the beach on a Sunday morning and lie around and do nothing.
- Podcast yoga class! Woohoooo!
- Having internet to download podcasts.
- Lovely walks in the morning with my lovely friend ALONG THE BEACH WHERE I LIVE NOW.
- Walking. Anywhere. Everywhere.
- Meeting new people - primarily yogi people, but such wonderful people!
- Hugged a koala! (okay I didn't do that in Melbourne but I hugged one!)
- Bought a car! Getting it this week yay!
- Walking on the street and taking public transport with my headphones blasting with Bruno Mars.
- Shopping on eBay.
- Meeting up with my high school friend in Melbourne after sooooo many years!
Okay I think that's enough exclaimation marks in one post but I'm just super duper happy and super duper grateful for how lucky I am that I have all these guardian angels looking after me wherever I go on this journey of mine! Wooooooo~
Monday, January 30, 2012
Just be yourself!
So I don't know why it took such a technology junkie like me so long to discover this, but yay to podcast yoga classes! In all fairness I did know about the existance of podcasts, I just never bothered to search for things on it before because for some reason I was under the impression that you might have to pay for them....... But noooooooooo and now I can just select a class, download, press play, and I have my own yoga class in my home!
Anyways, so this morning I did the 1 hour of easy power (this podcast) by Philip Urso and it was great. Sometimes I have difficulty focusing and 1 hour is just enough to hold my attention this morning, if you are looking for something more, most of the other podcasts on that page are 90minutes. I sweated a little, I was challenged a little, I was reminded to breath a LOT. Great stuff really.
During savasana, Philip reminded me of this idea that I think many people struggle with everyday, and it falls in line with one of my words for the year (which I will write about later possibly... eventually...). This is kind of what he said, "We already are who are. It takes no effort to be who we are, and the idea of efforting moves us away from who we are. It takes no time to be who we are, we already are who we are right now, right here. It is that simple, that it loses us. We spent all this energy trying to be something, and in the acting and efforting we move away from our true self. It doesn't take time to reach "enlightenment", and it shouldn't be hard. Yoga gives you a glimpse of yourself and your ego self - which thoughts are you, and which thoughts are your true self. You might hear yourself criticising yourself, judging others, and then one day, you see yourself doing that. Is the seer the same person as the one who is criticising? The voice might not go away, but you don't trust it anymore, and you doubt it, and with doubt, it will fade. That awareness that the voice is not you anymore empowers you."
I don't know about other people, but that's what happens on my mat a lot. It gives me insight into my ego self. That same ego self that is present when I get off the mat. And I let it go. The awareness yoga gives me makes me realise how much effort we make sometimes to be this particular person which is seemingly perfect, but we are just perfect the way we are. And yes, it really is that simple, it is us who complicates things.
Today, I'm just going to be who I am, right here, right now.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Let's get your Yoga on!
I've been living in Melbourne for 3 weeks now, and I've been fortunate enough to find some yoga teaching jobs and I will be teaching my first corporate yoga class next week! For some amazing cosmic unexplainable reason, the flatmate I found is also into yoga. And because I've been trying to find yoga teaching jobs in the recent weeks, it is no surprise that many new people I encountered now are yogis too. My India experience has shown me that yoga really does bring people together, because it is so much easier to make long lasting friends when you have similar values in life.
But what is a yogi? I saw this video on youtube recently - Shit Yogis Say - and I think that is the stereotypical yogi (I'm sorry if I offend anyone! Okay, actually I'm not, it's a pretty funny video!). But is that what you have to be like to be a yogi?
As much as I like to feel free and unrestricted, wear flowy cotton pants from India, anklets with bell attachments, and have long talks about the meaning of life, I really don't buy into the whole "oooh I must meditate and align my chakras and sing kirtans and give up all material desires to find enlightenment" thing (I really actually wanted to use the word crap, but I have nothing against people who do buy into it, and once again, I don't want to offend anyone because that would make me a bad yogi...).
I do my yoga practice to help me cope with life. It strengthens my body and my mind. Doing postures that are challenging not only helps me build muscles, but it builds my mental strength. The qualities I observe in myself when I'm on my mat are qualities I see in myself off the mat, and the yoga helps me work on the qualities I observe that might not be all that great. It helps me breath better and relaxes the tensions in my body. My body feels better, then my mind feels better. And all the yoga stories and the philosophy are wonderful and I believe they do help me become a better person.
But that doesn't mean that I have to be a vegan now, otherwise I'm not a true yogi. It also doesn't mean that I can't have any ill thoughts or talk badly of others, or else I'm not a true yogi. I will still wear leather because it's just sooooo amazing, and I will still love having a medium rare steak, alongside a glass of cab merlot, or maybe two glasses... I'm just human, I'm not perfect, and I accept that.
My one hour on the mat allows me to cope better in the other 23 hours then that's yoga and that's my yoga. Not so difficult to be a yogi afterall~ So let's get our yoga on baby!
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