Sunday Snow Day Yoga

It's snowing out. I'm definitely going to teach my yoga class but I'll be honest, if I wasn't as committed to being there as I am, I might just roll back into the covers in my warm bed and skip the class. So I know that whoever shows up at today's class is probably a lot stronger than me. It takes a person with a lot of tapas, burning enthusiasm, to melt the snowy haze of a cold Sunday morning and get into yoga clothes and on their mat at a yoga studio across town.

If you are like those yoga students who will be in class in an hour, see you there. If you're a little more like me, you could always do some yoga on my app, or one of the other apps that CYP published for you to use at home. There's even my DVD that can encourage and lead you through some yoga poses, but you'll have to contact me directly if you want one of those :)

Portable Yoga

This week saw the release of a new app that actually appeared as a blip on the world's radar that my little company made. That's Happy Hips Yoga with Tania Frechette. When I looked up "yoga" in the app store on my new iPad last night, Tania's was the first thing that popped up. So cool!

In response to that, we immediately dropped the price of Yoga with Jamine and Louise's Hot Yoga to $1.99 to see if that price will move them a bit more. Sorry if you paid more - it's definitely worth it! - we're just trying to find the right spot where we can hold the pose and let the energy flow.
And of course, there's still the free app, if a buck 99 is too much to try.

More apps will be coming out as we can get the content from people and get all of the bugs fixed. It's been an interesting process and I'm definitely impressed with the products we've turned out. As I sit here in an apartment in Gatineau sitting on the floor with shag carpet listening to the click click of my programmer's keyboard, I reflect on how far we've come. It's been amazing to watch my dream become a reality!

Yoga App Poem

I want to tell you about the new app that was released last week by my brainchild, Capital Yoga Publishing, but I'm also feeling a bit poetic so I'll see if I can use my words differently. If you feel moved, snap your fingers. (I think this might be the first poem about an app...)

A new yoga app was released last night
pictures, sound, stretches will delight
your arms, legs, torso, organs
spine, skin, what rhymes with organs?

A portable, mobile, current invention
to take with you to your next convention
in Toronto, or Russia, or even online
these poses will go with you every time
on your floor, your carpet, your hallway, your lawn
plug in your speakers and press play to go on.

The app is not free it is something that costs
just the price of one class or less it is thought.
Please "Like" your yoga teacher by buying her app
even if you only play the end to take a nap.

----Jamine Ackert Tuesday, 10:05

This was inspired by the new release of Louise's Hot Yoga late last week and I hope you like it.

No Computer = No Blogging

I know, some of you are thinking this is not possible. No computer? Why, Jamine, we know you to be a person who has at least five devices at her disposal that could send your data to her blog, so why would you even type such a title?

It's true. I have lots of computers and other things that could connect to the internet but you know what? Sometimes they don't. I have a Bell Sympatico modem cranking away so I have wifi all the time, except it doesn't work so good if I have a laptop out on the couch instead of in my office on the desk. I've been using my neighbour's unsecured network for ages so I didn't really need to move my modem. Up until now.

Something happened and if I'm not at the computer plugged into the wall, I get no signal. Or spotty signal. Someone who knows more about these things said it's because there's a fridge between me and the modem and that's what's blocking it. I don't know. But what I do know is if I can't sit at the computer and just type away in this box, I don't do it. My Blackberry can't log in to my blog so I can't even do it with my thumbs. The iPod Touch screen is way too tricky and the spelling helper never supplies words I'd use, so those posts are really short. So my blog is for the moment, computer and internet dependent.

Why was my main computer occupied for most of the day such that I could not blog, you may be wondering? Well, we're working on some yoga apps! Capital Yoga Publishing is in the process of publishing! Yay! Yoga with Jamine has hit the streets (at the App store) and next up is Yoga with Louise or Hot Yoga with Louise, we haven't decided. And there's Yoga with Mark on the way too. So that's what's going on. You'll know when there's more.

Oh, and the Ottawa Fringe is back. I went to the media launch today. So exciting! It's like travelling to far away lands without having to go myself. It's a whole new thing to do, people to be with, sights to see, all starting June 17. Check it out. There'll be lots more about it here on this blog because that's what I'll be up to for the next few weeks!

Getting There...

So the App I've been telling you about is undergoing a change and its new incarnation will be available any minute. We're uploading it to Apple as I type, so when they're through with their process, there will be a new, free app to try. It'll look a lot like the one I've been telling you about but that's because I'm using the same pictures and content.

What's happened is that I've been approved by IRAP (Industrial Research Assistance Program) to hire someone with skillz to do the programming for me. I found him a few months ago and he's been working steadily for the past few weeks while we've been waiting for the official word to come from Toronto that we'll really be okayed. He did not work on the original app. We found out last week that we've been approved and my programmer will actually be paid to build more apps as well as build an interface so you yoga teachers out there can create your own mobile apps for your students.

The new app will be available when Apple has reviewed it. The status we just saw on the screen said "In Review." Whoohoo!

Next steps are to finish my full app so my students can have the whole class as the free version will just have a few sequences. I need to find teachers who are willing to come up with content so I can provide them with apps. And we have to build the input system, but that will take quite awhile. It's a behind the scenes thing that when it's rolled out, will make so much sense. But for now, we've got our first one ready to go and it's cool!

Yoga on the go - really!

You can "like" Capital Yoga Publishing on Facebook if you want to follow the progress from there and see more screen shots :)

Yoga App

So you know I've been working on a yoga app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. And it's just sort of in the background. I'm not thinking about it all the time or obsessing about it. I'm just making plans quietly for it and appointments and going to work on it and it's coming along. Not like other things in my life, which I think about and don't plan for and get all excited and weird and everything (see the karma installation below).

And yesterday I actually got tentative funding to make this thing happen. I've got some paperwork to do and a couple of hoops to jump through, but I'm quite confident that I can muster up those things and get the thing approved. And then there will be people helping me and you'll hear more about it, because there will be something to show and talk about.

But that's not what I think about. I think about what's not working. I don't focus on what is working. Hmm. Interesting. It's what I think I want that I don't have that I worry about. That's what takes up my mental space a lot of the time.

I know I'm not alone in this mental pattern. I get emails all the time and all sorts of messaging from motivational speakers wanting to coach me into focusing on being positive or something. There's some big Secret - I know - I watched it, read it, blogged about it, appreciated it even. And still, I think about what's not working. Or I just think about what I think about and sometimes it's in a state of working, and sometimes it's in a state of not working.

Sometimes it's pleasant. Sometimes it's unpleasant. That's life.