Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Current music obsession




Barton Hollow, The Civil Wars.  Love. Maybe listened to this song (and the whole CD) like a 100 times. 

Thank you to my friend, Kate, for sending me so much amazing new music lately!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Hooked!

About 2 months ago one of my fabulous clients at the stable was getting her yoga instructor certification and needed to practice teaching someone and offered to teach me yoga.  I told her I'm super in-flexible and don't know anything, but she said that was perfect and that she needed to teach a beginner.  So, we started weekly private yoga classes and for the first time yoga was explained to me in a way that I could relate to and I loved the way my body felt afterwards.  I'm hooked.  I love it!  Last month at the barn we had an adult camp weekend and Jill came in and did a yoga class for us at the barn.  It was so fun! 

Now in addition to our weekly sessions, I practice at home and have tried going to some yoga classes on base.  I never knew yoga was such a workout!  She loaned me a book all about bio dynamics and which muscles are stretching and flexing in each pose and it is so interesting!  My yoga instructor, Jill, has made yoga feel accessible to me that I didn't need to be a "pretzel person" to benefit from yoga. 

She's at the end of her course now and asked me to answer a couple of questions:

1. What drew you to a yoga practice?

I was drawn to yoga because my doctor recommended I stretch more when I expressed my concerns that my father and grandmother have had double knee replacement surgeries.  I love running and she told me that when I was younger I may have gotten away with running without properly stretching, but as I get older stretching properly is very important to prevent injury.  I did not think yoga was for me, but Jill happened to be getting her yoga instructor certification and she offered to teach me yoga and it totally changed my mind.  I love that yoga is low impact and I can still get a great total body workout. She re-defined what I originally thought about yoga and explained things in a way that I could relate to.  I thought to be good Jill motivated me to expand my awareness, stretch, learn and pursue yoga. 

2. What do you expect to get out of it?

Through our practice together Jill has taught me to learn breathing, and correct postures and movement.  I love how yoga is a mind and body experience.  I would like to strengthen my body and bring attention to my mind and my thoughts through yoga practice.  I hope yoga helps me to gain more flexibility, especially in my hamstrings.

3. Do you feel yoga helps you "off the mat"?  How or why?

I am completely absorbed by yoga and very open to it's possibilities.  Yoga has helped me accept myself for the person I am and has helped me gain self confidence.  Yoga has helped me center myself in life, in my goals and in every day moments.  I find myself focusing on my breath and on my state of mind even off the mat.  Yoga has helped me to find joy in my bodies capabilities.

4. What would you like to learn more about in yoga?

I ride horses and I find that yoga is very similar in it's infinite possibilities.  I am open to as much knowledge as possible.  Jill has expanded my knowledge base considerably, helping me to understand biomechanics,  alignment and basic yoga principles.  Jill has also inspired me continue my self practice and grow as a person.  I will continue my yoga practice and gradually increase my strength and discipline.  I am fascinated by yoga, the principles and the fundamentals.  I will continue to learn and grow through mind, body and spirit. 

5. Where do you see your yoga practice one year from now?  5 years from now?

I hope that yoga helps be be healthy and strong in mind and body.  I believe yoga, in these 2 months, has helped me considerably in my day to day life and I love learning something new.  I can already feel my body getting stronger and less stiff.  I can only imagine, and look forward to, the positive effects of yoga over a span of a year or 5 years. I would like to gain more flexibility in my hamstrings and perhaps be able to do a handstand one day.  I've bought a mat that is supposed to last me a lifetime, so I am all set!

Can't wait till my Manduka stuff gets here!



Saturday, May 19, 2012

Vacation Part III - Halong Bay, Vietnam

Attention: this is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been!  Halong Bay was breathtaking and a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget.  It is no wonder why this place is a UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

As I mentioned in my previous post, while in Vietnam we were spoiled rotten.  We had our own private guide, Nancy, and our personal driver to take us around.  We left Hanoi early in the morning to make the 4 hour drive to the bay.  This wasn't a typical relaxing drive, this was grip your seat, close your eyes and try to keep breathing kind of a drive.  Our driver was fantastic and must have been fully aware of the terrified American (as in me) in the backseat and he was always calm and somehow resisted laying on his horn like the rest of Vietnam drivers and just deferred to flashing his high beams repeatedly when driving into oncoming traffic or vice versa.   Vietnam is full of crazy drivers, too many motor bikes loaded down with families of 5 or over piled with farm animals or other various things, and other cars and trucks in various states of disrepair, or super nice cars thinking they are on the autobahn.  Traffic lights, stop signs, lanes?  Meh, who needs them.  Everyone just drives (at great speed) and somehow it all works out.  And not to mention the roads are in terrible shape, so it's not like your traveling at great speeds on nice roads.  We were bumping and jostling down the roads and I learned pretty quick to keep my head leaning to the inside of the car after my head slammed into the side of the car a time or two.  But, on the plus side the car was nicely air conditioned and there was a ton to look at.  Water buffaloes eating grass on the tiny median of the road, endless rice paddies, duck farms, cows, I even saw some ponies grazing on the side of the road (Safety?  Fences?  Nah.)... it was quite pretty, really.  



We arrived at the pier mid-day and were taken by boat out onto Halong Bay for our 2 day/1night on the Indochina Sails cruise. 



This boat was so beautiful!  Heavenly.  Our stateroom had nice big windows looking out onto the bay, a big comfortable bed and a surprisingly large bathroom for being on a boat and of course it was a place we could crank up the AC.  The boat was all dark wood and elegant.  The top of the boat was the best part with comfy lounge chairs and umbrellas to escape the mind numbing heat. 





We arrived on the boat and were served "welcome drinks" and then sat down to an amazing 7 course lunch (and of course the accommodated my food issues making me special dishes!).  The food was ahhh-mazing. 





We headed out past Head Island, Turtle Island, Heaven's Gate Island and arrived at Luon Cave.  We got to go kayaking in the bay to explore the cave and coves.  This was my favorite part of the whole trip! 






Then we got back on the boat and sailed over to Tiptop island where we hiked to the top of the mountain for fantastic views of the bay and then went swimming and relaxed on the beach. 











We had a delish dinner buffet on the boat and anchored in the Luon Bo area for the night.  After dinner Brad got out his ipad with this cool astronomy app and we sat up on the deck looking at the starts and identifying them with the ipad.  You point the ipad at the sky and somehow it knows what you're looking at and it tells you what's up there... my dad would love this. 




We slept comfortably on the boat, but I woke up really early and quickly got up on deck so I could enjoy the quiet early morning.  I got some coffee and sat up on the boat deck, watching boats and islands pass and I don't think it could have been more peaceful.  Brad joined me after awhile and we participated in morning Tai Chi on the sundeck. 


Our last excursion was Surprise Cave.  I am NOT a fan of caves, but did not want to miss out on this opportunity.  It was a million degrees of tropical heat as we set off for this cave and climbed the stairs with massive amounts of other people.  Claustrophobia was already setting in and I wasn't even in the cave yet.  Once in the cave at least it was cool and we got a break from the heat, but I was fighting the urge to turn around and run, so I just told myself to stop being so ridiculous and stuck my face behind my camera.  The big spaces and the cave itself wasn't too bad, I only had one really bad border line panic attack moment when we were smushed between tons of people and had to go through a tight spot in the cave where you had to bend down and go through a little tunnel ... dislike! But there was this teeny tiny little old lady getting piggy backed through the cave by her grandson! If she can do it...! My irrational fear made me enjoy getting out of the cave a lot more that touring the inside, but at least I can say I did it and was able to have mind over matter! 











It was time to go back to the harbor and on our way we enjoyed a big breakfast on board, as well as some breakfast beverages (a pina colada is pretty much a smoothie, right?!) and then went up on the sundeck where we hovered in the shade under the deck umbrellas (one million bazillion melt your skin off degrees) and enjoyed one last tropical drink. 


Of course we had our exciting 4 hour drive back to Hanoi where we saw the same crazy drivers, animals and rice fields, but in reverse.  I was sad to leave Halong Bay, I would have loved some more time on the boat and beautiful bay! 

So, that concludes my summary of our amazing trip.  I am so happy I got the opportunity to see Taiwan and Vietnam, especially so luxuriously.  I could get used to 5 star hotels, 5 and 7 course gourmet meals, art, music, culture and first class plane seats (on one leg at least)!  Glorious.  It was such an incredible experience.  It's easy to have the travel bug when you get to travel like this! 

So what's next on the travel agenda?  I get to have a trip home to the States in a little over a week!  Excited is an understatement.  I can't wait to see my family and friends.  Then skiing in New Zealand is tentatively scheduled for August.  It's going to be a great summer!