Oxygen rocks!

Everyone I talk to is on a bloody diet!
You see, I told you January is a depressing month! We all seem to be obsessed with becoming healthy and thin in January, then probably again in June when we realise that we have put all the weight back on since dropping off the diet in early Feb but there is less than a month until we have to squeeze ourselves into some kind of swimwear and brave the beach! I must say I hate the word diet. I am constantly on one but like to think that the phrase "living a healthier lifestyle" is so much more user friendly, so much happier and embracing of all things good. "Diet" is a horrible spiky word with connotations of deprivation and misery.
And of course yoga practice features heavily in my new healthy lifestyle. Shocker!
The thing with yoga is that it can be whatever you want it to be. It can be powering through a hot flow class and sweating your little butt off, it can be a rejuvenating half hour meditation session to calm your mind, it can even be sitting at your desk, taking a few good deep breaths to wake up after a long business lunch.
Yoga encompasses so many things and there is something for everyone.
Yoga can help with weight loss and  not only because you are up off the couch, the ice cream tub is in the freezer and you are doing something physical! Certain poses actually aid in the the melting away of hip and abdomen fat... which some of us struggle with more than others! And every yoga pose works the core so you have to tone up your middle from a regular practice if nothing else.
Yoga can also help to boost your immune system. With good breathing techniques and regular asana practice, your nervous system gets a chance to relax and in turn allows your immune system to work more efficiently. And the better our bodies are at fighting off infection, the happier and more able we are to keep up with our fitness regime. Its a win, win!
I saved the best until last!
Yoga can actually help with slowing down the ageing process! I know I sound like one of those infomercials for dodgy cream made from the placenta of the female gibbon that will not only make you look younger, but also get you a higher paying job and a sexy new boyfriend! Believe me when I tell you, it is all in the breath! We can live for a while without water and even longer without food but a few moments without oxygen can mean death. Oxygen is the most vital nutrient for our bodies and critical to our well being. It nourishes the blood flowing through us and one of the major secrets of vitality and rejuvenation is a purified blood stream. Oxygen burns up toxins in our bodies and recharges the bodies batteries. Great breathing technique, where we are bringing in maximum amounts of oxygen can benefit all parts of our body and mind. It can help to clear up our complexion, reduce wrinkles, increase efficiency of digestion, lung capacity, heart health.
It really is a miracle worker!
So come on arm chair yogis, get up and get to a yoga class. Learn how to nourish your body, to make it more efficient and to keep you looking and feeling amazing well into your old age!

Scents and sensibility

I am happy to say, that I AM BACK.

And with a vengeance! 

I have been a bit rubbish on the blogging front...a bit rubbish on the everything front come to think of it for the last few weeks. I have only run once since the New Year, I have been lax on the returning of emails, I have eaten so much chocolate that the share prices in Cadbury must be through the roof and I have not done a yoga class in....well I am too ashamed to even say! Here is where that all changes.  After a shaky and massively busy start to 2011 I finally feel, 17 days in, that I have my head above water. I am planning and getting organised and making changes and it feels great. 2010 was both the greatest and the worst year that I can remember for various reasons and I am not planning on repeating any of the "worst" any time soon, so look out  2011 I am here to kick some serious butt. I shall do it with love and respect and a generous measure of human kindness but a butt kicking it shall be!

I had an email forward last week. Now I usually hate forwards, who doesn't, but I was intrigued by the title so I broke that promise to myself about wasting time on junky email and I threw caution to the wind and clicked. 

The title was "Four". A list of four questions complete with four answers to each question about the sender. Now the first 3 were as you are guessing pointless and just a bit more than dull, but the fourth was so wonderful: Four favourite smells. 

My anonymous forwarder replied thus

• Jo Malone Grapefruit cologne, 
• tomato plants (in the grow bag)
• Johnsons babies (all of them) 
• the sweaty smell of my leather watch strap which reminds me that I've exercised (freak)

I immediately had a wave of warmth wash over me as I smelt in my minds nose (well if you can have a minds eye...) the chemical whiff of magic markers, the gorgeous fragrance of sweet peas, the wonderful aroma of freshly percolated coffee and the scent of my Mum's incredible turkey stew.

We all tend to have very strong reactions to smells, we either like or dislike them and as you know, smells are also really evocative of certain times in our lives. 

Did you know that our sense of smell is 10,000 times more sensitive than our sense of taste? Amazing huh?!

The reason why smells very often give us an emotional reaction starts at the olfactory receptors - the hairy mucusy bits. Once excited by an odour,they transmit their impulses to the brain along a pathway that is connected to your limbic system. This is the section of our fantastically complex head that deals with emotional reaction as well as memory storage, hence the strong feelings of happiness when I smell freshly mown grass, taking  me back to long summer days in my Mum and Dad's back garden when I was a child. Likewise the vomit inducing smell of Peach schnapps which reminds me of a hideously drunken afternoon in the park on my last ever day of school. 

"So what are you getting at Fee?" I hear you ask

Yoga simultaneously stimulates, relaxes, energizes and calms the entire body, allowing it to work more efficiently as well as be more open. This includes your sense of smell. I don't know about you but I have lost count of the amount of times I have been half way through a class and thought, "You know what, that candle smells hideous" or "Wow that guy next to me smells great!" 

The other day after a really invigorating session I sprang out of the studio and immediately could smell the scent of the rain about to drench me as I wandered to my car. I had never smelt the impending rain before! 

In conclusion, shower before you go to class and don't  get all perfumed up, the people around you may not have the desired olfactory reaction to your favourite scent. If you run a studio, think long and hard about the smell of your space. Does everyone like a strong whiff of sandalwood by means of a 10 year old joss stick or even a faint aroma of fresh cotton form a modest candle? And finally, if you have had sprouts for lunch, give everyone's limbic system  break and take a rain check on yoga!

Namaste Freedom sniffers!

I bloody hate January!

2011 huh?!
January is one of those odd months isn't it? First of all we have the post Christmas blues. All the hard work, organisation and excitement over far too quickly...and was it really all worth it? For all the planning and stress in early December, did it all really live up to expectations?
Why did we debate long and hard over the colour of the thermal scarf when it has just been spotted gathering dust behind the kitchen chair, label still in place?
For how many more weeks will we be dragging the oversized smoked salmon and huge wheel of stinky cheese out of the fridge for lunch?
And what if the family cannot recover from the cross words blurted out over a heated Christmas contretemps?
Then of course January would not be January without a few New Years resolutions in the mix. Naturally, New Years day doesn't count because who wants to start a fitness regime with the mother of all hangovers, or get stuck into spring cleaning their lives when the fire is alight and there is a half a tin of Quality Street to finish? Then undoubtedly there comes the guilt when it is now the 5th January and you still haven't started the clear out, no run has been completed, and you have had three rather large arguments with various people after promising that this year was to be the most serene, calm, grown up version of you of all time!
Shit!
So by the time January ends you have most likely thrown out the bloody resolutions along with the salmon. You have decided for the tenth year running that they serve no purpose other than to make you ridden with guilt when you cannot stick to them. You are cranky and annoyed and disillusioned with life!
Or maybe that's just me?

So this year, I am going to pretend its February already! I will skip the days of feeling bad at the already broken promises to myself, I am going to ignore the lingering doubts about the merits of Christmas and I am going to jump straight into looking forward to spring. To the daffodils poking their heads through the soil, to new buds on the tree branches, to longer days and warmer weather. With this attitude I am hoping will come a glow of positivity. The idea is that with no January to depress me, I will get excited about pulling on my Nike's and trotting out for a run, I will relish the thought of de-cluttering my junk, I will only want to put healthful goodies into my post Christmas body and I will be a happier, calmer, nicer, more patient member of the human race.

My 39 years on this planet have finally made me realise that you are always going to be you. No matter how hard you try to change, your character and personality are always going to be the same. So instead of trying to change, just be you, but be the best version of you there is. And how you do that is not by beating yourself up about all the bad stuff but buoying up all the good.

Happy New Year Freedom Lovers! 

Say No To Shovelling Snow!

Let me start by telling you that I absolutely lurve Yoga Journal.
I have a years subscription and I hover at the mail box around the 10th of the month waiting for the delivery...and also so I can tell the mail man off for ruining the front lawn as he wheel spins onto the main road like he is gearing up for the Daytona 500. Only in America do we have a mail delivery where they don't even have to leave their vehicles to deliver the post! Together with the drive through bank, dry cleaners, ice cream stand and pharmacy, soon babies will come out of the womb in a 4x4 with standard fat arse and Dunkin Donuts coffee cup in hand!
I digress!
So, then with my lovely mag in my hot little hand, I tend to sneak into the loo, the only place where I am guaranteed that the ever conversational Mr F will not disturb, and settle in to a good read. And Yoga Journal never disappoints. It is always packed with inspirational stories, great posture clinics, fabulous sequence ideas, yummy recipes and interesting out of the box articles.
Can you tell I am a fan?
However, when I was poring over this months issue there was one small, half page piece that really made me laugh. It was intended as a serious piece, with tips on how to use your yoga practice to help you cope with the Christmas season, specifically, on shovelling snow and being injury free. Great idea in theory but...really?! Now let me set the scene.
You are out in freezing temperatures, bundled up in a thousand layers, probably late for work or a party or simply just a little bit peeved, having decided that if you don't bloody well shovel the drive then no-one else is going to. Are you thinking good posture and sound technique? No, you are thinking, "Why am I out here freezing my butt off while my husband is skulking in the warm cosy house pretending to be on an important business call which will miraculously end as soon as the  path is clear and the shovel is safely back in the garage...git!"
I simply cannot imagine that at any time, "core, posture, breath" is going through your mind!
You may wish it had been, the next day when your shoulders feel like they are falling out of their sockets and your lower back feels like a rusty hinge that is in dire need of some WD40.
I love the thought that us yogis are using our yoga tools to live our everyday life, making it easier, happier, smoother, keeping us all healthier and more balanced, but is it just me, or does everything that make sense for the rest of the year go out the window in the silly season?
Maybe I am just a bad yogini!
However, now writing this post, maybe I should be more aware of the yogic me over the Christmas period. 

• Like when I am precariously balanced on my grandfathers rickety wooden step ladder, with a tangle of LEDs in my freezing cold hands dropping twist ties on the drive, spewing swear words from my foul mouth while attempting to hang my parents outside lights. 
• Or when I am very grumpily, twenty minutes into the 3 mile long queue in Zara, sweltering in my boots, coat, scarf, gloves and hat in the shop's tropical temperatures to buy an outfit for New Years eve, which may not even fit by then anyway after all the turkey and roast potatoes and Quality Street and booze. 
• Or when I am the wrong side of an afternoon of Bucks Fizz on Boxing Day being competitive in The Cereal Box game showing off my bendy, but generally not warmed up body!

Nice thought yoga Journal and although I think of yoga as a way of life, December is my month off!
I will be bending down without engaging my core and keeping a micro bend in my knees. I will be over-indulging, waking up with a hangover and then doing it all over again the next day. I will be stressing and swearing and probably swapping a hot yoga flow for a hot mulled wine flow.
But most of all I will be skidding across the snowy driveway and going off sledging with my Nephews!
Say no to shovelling snow!

It appears I am on a holiday go slow doesn't it? Sorry about that lovely Freedom followers. Please excuse my lack of posts this week. It has been a little manic to say the least. I shall endeavour to post very soon with good yogic vibes and holiday cheer. Until then, wish me luck on the Christmas shopping on which I am about to embark.
A good few rounds of Kaphalbhati are in order I think before I brave the throngs of grumpy consumers!
Isn't it the season to be jolly?!

Gnarly Biker Dudes

Sometimes you see stuff in life that makes you stop and smile and for just a moment, the cynic in you is silenced and you regain your faith in the human race.
On Sunday, I had such an experience in a mall parking lot of all places!
On the first Sunday in December every year, thousands of gnarly, scary, hardcore bikers gather in this parking lot in Merritt Island. They decorate their bikes and themselves for Christmas and most importantly, each has a toy tightly strapped to their machines. Then the powers that be, close off all the streets from Merritt Island to Melbourne and led by the very serious and impressive looking Sherriff's department on their cruisers, Santa rips out of the parking lot with a wave and a rev of his huge Harley engine followed by the throng of 6000.
This was the 29th annual ABATE Toys For Tots bike run which benefits the Shriners Children's Hospital amongst other local charities and it has to be the coolest event I have seen in a long time.
The bikes are amazing and I am certainly not a petrol head, but they all are immaculate with gleaming chrome and enviable paint jobs. (Well I wasn't envious but John who has a 1974 Triumph TR6 was green!) Then of course you have the bikers, tattooed, leather clad, weather beaten, tabacco chewing. And that's just the women! You certainly would not want to mess with any of them outside a bar or in a road rage incident but here they totally went against any stereotype you ever had for them. They were madly polishing their engines (!) whilst wearing Santa outfits and elves ears, attaching bells to their handlebars and checking that the Tonka truck or the giant teddy bear was securely fastened for the ride.
John and I wandered around playing paparazzi for an hour before the kickstands went up. We saw some unbelievable sights. Lots of guys who could legitimately be Santa, many women in chaps, some who could pull them off, others, not so much! We saw, Harleys, Triumphs, Kawasakis, Ducattis, Vespas, bikes with side cars, 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, and the list goes on. Let me tell you, the noise of the engines and the smell of fuel was intense and the buzz of excitement was just as intoxicating. The sheer volume of people and the good will behind the event was, I hate to sound American but here goes...AWESOME!
We took some great pictures and had a front kerb seat as they all pulled out, rather fast and rather close to my toes in some cases.
A great morning all for a great cause.
Hope you like the pictures!

Triumph engine

Gnarly Biker Dude

This will get very tangled on the ride!

Mr and Mrs Clause?

Leader of the pack

resting up for the big ride

Toys

My friend Rhonda

me shinning up a lampost to capture it all  on my Flip

Imagine 100 times this

"Merry Christmas Man!"

Mighty Magnesium

I am floating!
I didn't realise quite how tense and knotted up my whole body was until this morning and after an hours worth of a firm yet "kind" massage. I feel like a different woman, thank God!
You see yesterday was my Birthday! Boo! I was planning a non-Birthday as the advancing years are really too depressing to keep on celebrating, but  I guess everyone else thought differently and I had lots of lovely cards and messages (thank you Facebook) and it turned into an event after all. A low key one but an event none the less,with singing and wine and gifts. Thank you everyone!
John bought me amongst other things, a hot stone massage. I managed to get an appointment this morning and it was the most amazingly gorgeous experience ever! It was one hour of being totally blissed out.
First  of all I had to strip off...obviously! I always get worried at that point when they don't specify. Strip off completely? Leave on the under-crackers? Of course prior to that there was the initial dilemma at home, which undies to wear! Then, after I decided to protect my modesty (first time ever I hear you say!)  and I was in place on the table, there was the awkward prolonged wait. How will she know when I am nakedy and under the covers? Do I need to cough or yell out? I opted to do nothing but lie there, relax and send out psychic vibes that I was ready...It seemed to work but maybe massage therapists have a 6th sense about that!

Imagine a normal massage but the warm, oily hands were interspersed with hot flat stones. She actually used the stones to massage me and it was the most intense wonderful heat that went deep down into my used and abused muscles. She broke up crunchy lactic acid crystals in my neck and my middle back, my overworked calves (bloody running) and my feet. It was one of those experiences you just don't want to end and when I dragged my butt off the massage table I felt like jelly. So relaxed and so pampered!
I was then presented with a bottle of liquid magnesium with a wink and a smile and was told that it could work wonders for me.
This therapist was like Glenda the good witch!
So true to form I came home, took the dose and then Googled magnesium!
Did you know that headaches, muscle fatigue and cramps, high blood pressure, sleep problems, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart arrhythmia and a number of other common diseases and ailments can be helped by getting a regular daily dose of magnesium. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but the magnesium in take for American's has dropped 50% over the last century. Also, many people are loading up on calcium which actually flushes magnesium out of the cells.
Now don't ditch the calcium, its important too but make sure that for every 2 milligrams of calcium you treat your body to 1milligram of magnesium. "How do we measure that Fee?" We don't! Well you may be able to but I am too busy! I am just going to take a supplement like all  lazy 21st century people should! I am also going to up my intake of all the good magnesium loaded foods, like spinach, cashews, yoghurt and chocolate pudding (gotta love that!)
I am told by Glenda that I will sleep better and my headaches will disappear, as will the majority of my aches and pains.
You can't get much better than that, right?!
So here's to hot stone massages and mighty magnesium!