a step outside the comfort zone.

"To be beautiful means to be yourself. You do not need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself."
-Thich Nhat Hanh

I just absolutely love this quote to start off day twenty six of the challenge. It's amazing what this thought can bring to your practice - especially as someone who tries not to glance around at how much better everyone else is. I have learned not to do that so much, to try and stop comparing myself to others. It's hard to focus on myself in the mirror, but usually it just makes me laugh so it helps to remind me to loosen the eff up! 

All of that being said, Sunday was a little belated spring cleaning in our apartment; new entertainment stand and speaker system, rearranging the entire main level and the most daunting task - cleaning out the fish tank. Luckily we powered through all day with snacks throughout the day (corn chips and guacamole ... muy bien!) and some more leftover vegan alfredo for a hearty post-cleanup dinner! Jamie finally got to set up his barbecue. I'm excited to try some grilled veggie-tofu skewers ... any good suggestions ?? Also just excited to be able to eat some MEAT!! I know there are tons of things we can barbecue other than meat - I am excited for corn, pizza, veggies, fruit ... this will be fun! I love this whole learning to cook thing. Anyway Sunday was a long and tiring day, I had full intentions of taking a break for the 4:00 class, but I completely lost track of time (how often does that happen cleaning??) and missed it. Then I had full intentions of doing my evening wind down practice. And then I collapsed on the couch and fell asleep, and I think Jamie did the same. It was worth it, the apartment looks fantastic! 

Day twenty seven I couldn't wait to get into the studio, and got there to learn that one of the instructors, Melissa gave birth to a healthy baby boy yesterday! What a wonderful thing to carry with us into practice today. 

I actually felt really strong in my warrior series today, which was a really great feeling as I often feel tired arms and legs. Sometimes I feel like I'm regressing in some poses, but I have to keep reminding myself of the overall progress I've made, and that every day is so different for my body. Prayer twist continues and probably will always be the bane of my practice. It's like ... I know I need to work on my leg strength and my arm strength. Probably my core strength too. And I think there must be other things I could be doing to build strength. But I don't do them. Then in yoga once again I feel weak if my arms drop in warrior II or if my garudasana (eagle pose) hasn't been nearly as strong as it used to be. I try to remind myself that doing this every day is definitely a huge step from where I was before, so that I am doing something to strengthen my practice. Kirsten taught a wonderful practice, as always! It had been slightly overcast when I walked to yoga just before nine am, but it was sunny and warm when I left closer to eleven! What a gorgeous feeling to walk out into that radiant sunlight ready to take on the day.

The challenge has been such a good incentive for me to go every day, or at least make up for classes so it's equivalent to every day. As incredible and motivating as that has been, I'm excited to just go every day for the sake of going. I feel like this has helped make yoga the integral part of my life I've been wanting it to be. The challenge has really been the kickstart I've needed to maintain a daily practice, and set aside that daily time for myself. The real challenge will be maintaining it - I figure this is a good way, because if I'm making myself discuss my daily habits in a public forum (because I'm so trendy like that) then it will be that little extra encouragement to maintain the things I'm doing. Maybe that little extra encouragement for others to do similar or completely different life-changing things. If that happens for one person I would be doing a good thing! If it happens for no one that's okay too - I'm still doing a good thing for me! The inspiration for the day just really stayed with me in my thoughts through the day, and so did Kyla's words that came along with it ...

When you do what you've always done, you get what you've always gotten. If you're scared or tentative to go somewhere new, go there anyway. It is then that you begin to realize the possibilities of your life. There are great opportunities waiting out there but you'll never experience them until you take that first step.

This challenge has been exactly that for me - the first step, the step outsize my comfort zone. It's changed a lot about the way I look at my life and the way I go about my days and I'm so grateful for that.

I was inspired by the beautiful warm sunshine today and have been dying to make a pico de gallo for what seems like ages now! I pretty much followed this one I found from Emeril Lagasse on foodnetwork.com. I also added diced cucumber to mine because I just love cucumber in everything!! For lunch I used it as a fresh topping a kale-garlic saute. Soo simple but soo delicious!! The earthiness of the kale was wonderful with the fresh, crisp taste of the pico de gallo - and it was so easy to make! I still suck majorly at cutting tomatoes, but what can I say. I'm getting there, slowly!

Tonight was also my first of five weeks of a free meditation course being offered at Dalhousie by the Sri Chinmoy Centre. I had seen a flyer around on my walks to yoga and figured I'd give it a shot! It wasn't quite what I expected (although I wasn't sure what I expected - candles? dimmed ambiance? tibetan chant background music? big fluffy cushions). There was a small altar with a photograph of Sri Chinmoy, some fresh flowers and two candles - oh I guess there was candles - and rows of chairs where a multitude of different people were gathering. We were talked through a bit of the history behind Sri Chinmoy and did two exercises - a deep breathing/relaxation meditation, and a 'concentration' where we all had to focus our gaze on one of two candle flames in the room. I will admit I got a little restless. I love the idea of a meditation workshop, but I'm not sure how I feel about this atmosphere. All knowledge is good knowledge though! Next week the discussion is mantras and chanting, which I am excited to delve into! It will probably be weird, but I'm looking forward to trying it. Who knows!

Oh yes, and as for the colour change - purple is pretty much my favourite on everything, an inspiration and my favourite colour since I was about four years old. I just felt like it better captured me and was nicer to look at. For me anyway. Just playing around with this blog thang. (Dork?)

I hope everyone had a beautiful Monday, and maybe this will help you wonder about taking a mosey outside your comfort zone and see how that tickles your fancy. You just might like it ...

Namaste.