Last week I was at Costco and I was debating whether or not to get Wayne Dyer's latest book or Billy Blanks' newest Tae Bo DVD. I didn't want to get both because that would just be too much. I wanted to put my hand on Wayne's book and just get all of the knowlege without having to actually do the reading of the book. And I've seen Billy Blanks' stuff around for years but have never bought anything by him. He's even been faculty at Omega some years ago and I thought I'd take a listen.
I started his program that has this "amped" helper. Accelerator maybe. And I did it for a couple of days and it was fun. I felt really goofy doing a work out in front of my TV. I even had my spandex pants on and was working up a sweat. But the "set" I did on Sunday killed me! I had to put the accelerator down and just do the moves without the 3 pound workout wand. Crazy stuff. I was always uncordinated in aerobics classes and I felt a bit off in the virtual gym.
I must have done something wrong though because I hurt my shoulder! I didn't notice it right away but yesterday and today my shoulder has been killing. So I have a Tae Bo bo. :(
I think I'm taking it back to Costco. Maybe I'll trade it for the Wayne Dyer book. Or the organic bread I like get. Or maybe just get my money back and put the money towards renewing my membership at the gym, which ran out at the beginning of the month.
Billy Blanks sounds like a neat guy. I watched the interview with him and checked out his website. But he's not here in Ottawa. I like taking classes in person and being with people live. Bye-bye Tae Bo.
So Wednesday, I'm teaching one of my favourite groups, the teens in the EDP at CHEO, and one of them says, "Jamine, are we going to do wind-relieving pose today?" And I said, "sure, we can do that." There we are lying down holding a leg into our torso, and one of the girls starts making body noises, let's say. And I have encouraged these girls to let 'em rip when they need to and gosh, there's one of them doing it now. My, she really has some awful gas. Wow, that's pretty serious. Hope she's wearing...then one of the other girls starts giggling and before you know it, they're all laughing and it's revealed that Sabrina's got some Flarp and is using it. Ha ha. The joke was definitely on me.
That was funny. I got to try it too. We talked about whoopie cushions and other toys that make good sounds and how to get the most out of them. Flarp in a yoga class. Look out. (I mentioned the incident to one of my classes for the patent office and someone said, "I'd hate to look at the patent for that stuff!")
Farting happens in yoga. It's going on and you know it. It's just one of those things...
So John's making jokes today about how he went to yoga but he didn't see any sparring and he's wondering how long it takes until he can get his black belt in yoga and I'm laughing but you know, that's what we're up against here. When I teach yoga in schools, invariably somebody, and I'm sorry, but it's usually one of the boys, says, "can we do karate?" School's starting school soon and I'll be faced with the kids who do and don't want to do yoga.
Maybe there could be levels and we have belts and stuff. Whaddyathink?
Omega was a lot of fun. I'm posting two videos of Sister Alice and her Gospel workshop participants just to give you a taste of the scene. One of them still makes me cry as she was soooo awesome.
We left Omega on Sunday and drove to Little Compton, Rhode Island, where my friend from Recovery Yoga, Peter, has a summer place. We spent two nights there and drove home on Tuesday. It was a long drive for us - 11 hours altogether - and Remi was great for the whole time. She is old enough to be my copilot now and can read the directions from the computer, which she usually has in the back seat because she can watch DVDs on it. We were a great team.
As I was driving home, outside of Montreal already, I got a call from Rama Lotus. I checked in with them when we got to Harvey's outside of Rigaud (if you haven't had their veggie burger yet, I recommend you try one) to discover that I had completely forgotten to get a sub for my Tuesday intermediate hatha class and that fortunately Ichih was available at the last minute and they combined our classes and it was handled. Phew. That kind of thing hardly happens to me and when it does it feels really awful!
I got around to checking my www.capitalyoga.com mail, which is mainly spam, and there were some compliments from people who had been to my classes at Omega and a request for my DVD. For some reason I have trouble releasing my DVD to the world. It's like it's not good enough. While I was in Rhode Island Peter and I talked about how people don't sing anymore because recordings are so good and people can't recreate that sound and so often don't even try. I think I did the same thing with my DVD. Instead of letting it be what it is, a straight run-through of my beginning yoga class, shot with one camera with me talking and doing poses at the same time, and my hair is my hair and my face is my actual face, and my shirt rides up, just like it does in real life, I compare it to Yoga Journal and Gaiam productions and think it's not ready.
Well, I'm ready to give that up and I'm letting the DVD out. If you want a copy let me know. The few people that have it already have said they like it and can do the class no problem.
On another note, I took out a DVD from the library and watched it today. It's called The Fire of Yoga, and it was a good look at yoga and how it helps people improve their lives, not their bodies.
It's really wonderful teaching at Omega. The space is really beautiful, there are mats and props for everyone, there are nature sounds coming in to the rooms, and the people who come to take yoga are unbeatable. Open, relaxed, ready, and very appreciative. So, thanks Omega, for making these 2 weeks really fun. Even though I didn't have a day off (people keep asking me how my vacation is going), it's been good to be teaching in a different space.
And being with my daughter has been wonderful. We've had a great chance to connect and it's been wonderful seeing her run and play and climb trees and go off with friends and have sleepovers and meet me at breakfast and just run wild.
And I went up to Deepak Chopra last night in the dining hall and muttered something to him about hearing him speak at Kripalu back in '91 and how I like the part about how we're not the TV but being broadcast and all that stuff and I saw him on The Hour on CBC and how his shoes are cool, those Nikes he has made for himself, and that I'm a yoga teacher here. So when the class I was teaching this morning ended up being in a different room and his class was supposedly doing something different, I figured it's because he thought that if that babbling fool (me) was the teacher that they'd better offer something else. That's not what happened, but I did get moved and the thought crossed my mind. There was a room mix up and I was the teacher and it was all FINE. GOOD even.
I haven't seen him close up again today but if I do, I'm going to try and get my picture taken with him ;)
Family Week just ended and Remi's workshop is over. She took lots of pictures and the whole week was wonderful. Elizabeth Lesser said "next year when you teach yoga, we can tell people it's okay to bring their kids to the morning yoga class." She had heard that people liked my class and I guess it would be good to go again next year.
I was going to have a bit of a rest this weekend because I was told that Deepak Chopra is coming and that he's bringing his own yoga teacher and they had forgotten to mention that to me and I could still teach my staff class but I wouldn't need to do the early morning and pm classes. Oh, Deepak doesn't need me, fine, I'll sleep in. Then they're chasing me down before lunch, "Jamine! Did so and so tell you? The person who was supposed to teach in the morning is stuck in California, and there's more to the story..." So I'm teaching in the am after all. The Main Hall holds a lot of people and if 200 people want to do yoga in there, they can. So I'm going to do down there in a while and practising using the mike. I wasn't using the mike for the other classes.
It's hot out. It's really hot here at Omega. I'm not sure how hot exactly, but it's very, very warm out. So doing yoga is hot and sticky. Some people like that, and some people don't.
Luc and I spent some time together this afternoon in Kingston. We took my un-airconditioned car over the Hudson River to the nice and cool Kingston Mall and did a little shopping. Came back just in time to teach some extra hot yoga.
I figured I'd go to whatever was happening at the Main Hall because it would be nice and cool in there. I was pleasantly surprised at the great entertainment. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I heard "the mask guy" was going to be performing. But it wasn't what we got, which was very funny and highly entertaining.
From his moves, I would guess that the "mask guy" is majorly into yoga. He had some wild positions and got a lot of laughs from the kids here at family week. By the end of the show he was completely soaked and we were all tired from laughing.
Remi's having a sleepover at the trailer park, which is adjacent to the Omega campus where some of the staff live. She's having a blast here.
Teaching yoga at Omega got easier. It's actually a delight and is lots of fun. Everybody who comes to the class is motivated to do yoga. They've travelled far to get here and then they're taking their own time to come down and take my class. So they really want to be there. And even with the wide range of yoga experience people have, they seem to be open to what I teach. So that's good and splendid, really.
I'm not used to teaching so early (7 am) and that's actually been nice. My daughter, Remi, has joined me each morning in class even though she has permission to stay in our room at Crossroads and wait for me to come back. She always wants to get up at 6 and come down there with me. It's been really nice having her there. She gets my mat for me and puts it away at the end of the class.
It's Family Week at Omega and kids are welcome to come to the evening class with their parents. Yesterday no kids came except for Remi and her friend, Amber. I'm hoping to actually get some more kids in class today.
This is such a wonderful place to be. Kids feel safe and they run around in packs like in the olden days ;) Adults are generous and kind with each other. It's a treat to be here. If you haven't been to Omega, I recommend that you take a trip down and go for a weekend or 2.
One of the people here on camps this week is David Wilcox, the american one, not the canadian one. He has set himself up in the Garden Cabin during the breaks in workshops when people will be wandering around and can pop in. He calls himself the Music Doctor, and when the doctor is "in" you can pop in, tell him what ails you and he'll sing you a song for it. If he doesn't have a song, he'll make one up on the spot.
Last night I was walking down the garden path (heh) and I stopped in and had a listen. Someone was feeling like they were afraid to sing out in their singing workshop so he sang them a song about getting confidence. Another guy had something going on about fear of the future and David sang another song. He looked at me and said, "what's up with you?" I told him. I missed my boyfriend. I've been gone for a week and I've got another week to go and I miss him. He asked a few more questions about the situation and then David Wilcox sang me a song that made me bawl my eyes out. It was the medicine I needed. So I listened as he made up a song for me about looking through my eyes, and feeling love, and other things that hit the spot. It was magical. After he finished, I got up and wiped my eyes some more and headed to a phone so I could make that long distance call. It felt really good.
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