Life Happens...

Hello out there!
I know I haven't been the best at keeping up to date, promise I will try harder this week!
More importantly lets talk about where I went this week!! 
* Wednesday I went to the 3:30 class at Rama Lotus and the style was Bikram... It was hot, and my friend Ellen and I had to sit literally beside the heater so we deffinatly got our sweat on! I can't say that it was my favourite style so far, but something that I would consider trying again for sure! One thing that I didn't like in particular was the turning around on my mat?! We would do a balance pose or something and instead of just laying back, we had to turn around and then lay... it just seemed weird to me (but maybe that means I need to do some research before jumping to a class) I really like the studio though, it was really cool to be in such a huge room with all the mirrors! I LOVE having mirrors around, not because I like to look at myself really, but more so that I can see if my back is straight and to see what other people are doing (or even what they're wearing haha)
* Friday I went with some amazing lululemon friends and one new friend inparticular, Rhiannon, she is our Regional Manager for our section of Ontario... it was pretty cool being beside her too because she used to teach yoga and therefore is so graceful while she moves, it was inspiring and uplifting! We went to Santosha at 5:45 for Ichih's hot yoga class... MY FAVOURITE! It didn't exactly follow my goal for new studio or new class... but I was there and I loved it! I didn't get as sweaty as I did in other classes of Ichih's, but I'd blame that on the super full class that I was in when I first went!! Hot bodies = more hot bodies thats for sure!! (P.S my shoulders still hurt today...YAY!)


Does anyone else sometimes find that they plan out their week so well, but somehow life happens and you don't exactly make it out to all of the things you want to? Yep... it happens, and realizing that that's what life is all about! So go with the flow and keep it real!

Anyone want to join?

Hello out there!
I'd like to extend my hand and invite to all or any readers that are out there looking for a yoga buddie! Last week I faced life... you know that life where all of a sudden it's the end of the week and you haven't gotten to your second yoga class. Yeah so I'm planning my yoga classes in my schedule so that it's out there on paper for me to see (and not just in my head)! 
Here's my yoga classes for the week:
Tuesday (tonight) at 4pm at Moksha yoga on Preston St
Wednesday at 3:30pm Bikram yoga at Rama Lotus (340 Gladstone St)
Friday morning 8:15 Shanti Yoga at Santosha on Richmond Rd (upstairs) 
And of course SMY (Sunday Morning Yoga) at my home... lululemon Westboro at 9:30am


I'd love to have some friends with me... so if you see me out give me a "HELLO!"

First class, first day... waahooo!!

Well this is pretty darn fun! I just created this blog this morning ( I'm really quite surprised that it only took me about 10 minutes!) and I figured I'd write about my first day of November and first class!


I joined 4 of my lulu co-workers and friends and even a Rideau lulu at Moksha for Amber's power yoga class at 9:30... holy smokes it was hot yoga too!! I've done hot yoga before so I knew what to expect (and though I wasn't dressed very well my lulu garments still held tough!) but this hot power yoga was amazing! I haven't sweat that much since doing my first ever spin class months and months ago!!! It was great! Sweat in my eyes and going up my nose while I was in downward dog, literally dripping sweat down every part of my body... you can't beat that!! 


One thing I was very surprised about was how many people were out at 9:30pm to do such a late and hot class?! I feel like there were 50 people there? But realistically there were probably 20-30 troopers, all shapes and sizes and genders... which is great to see :)


So thank you Amber for kicking my butt! I really enjoyed her class because afterwards I had some questions and she totally took the time to explain everything to me, about why I find pigeon pose so darn hard, and why some poses I feel really flexible and some I feel like I can't move at all! 


If you were there too... holla atcha! What a great time! I'm off to do a step class at 9:30am in Kanata... 


Namaste
Stephanie

The begining...

Hello everyone out there! 

Let me tell you how excited I am to be starting this new month! So far this year I have accomplished a bunch of new goals, and I thought to myself: "How can I make November be a month full of doing new things, while still achieving my goals?". This is where the idea of doing a new yoga class, at a new studio, in hopes of finding a new me (which is quite a quest on it's own).

I realize as I'm writing this that many of you readers out there probably have no idea who I am, so how could you know if I've found a new me at the end of the month right? Well my name is Stephanie Berry and I am 22 years old (almost 23!!) I moved to Ottawa in 2006 to attend Algonquin College where I studied Early Childhood Education and graduated April 2009. Before moving to Ottawa I lived in London Ontario with my mother, Andrea, and I was a huge figure skater and synchronized skater (think synchro swim team on ice with 23 girls). When I moved to Ottawa it was going to be my first year EVER not skating... which was really quite scary to me. I cannot even begin to explain how much I loved skating, and the thought of a new city, new school, and no skating really was an eye opener. Of course we have the amazing canal every winter (which believe me, I have taken more than advantage of every winter that I've been here!) but nothing has ever been the same as skating. So I decided I needed a new passion...and following in my mom's footsteps (no pun intended) I started to run! Of course I use to run when I was training with my synchronized skating team and ran in public school on the cross country team, and have done the Terry Fox run every year of my life (even before I was born, complements of my mom!) but now I wasrunning!! I've since run the Army 5km, new years resolution run every year, Ottawa Race Weekend full marathon, Rattle Me Bones 5km, I've completed two triathlons and the list is growing! 

Here enters lululemon and yoga... I started working at lululemon this August, and was fully introduced to the art of yoga. Now I've done every fitness and spin class offered at GoodLife, including yoga and bodyflow, but the first time I went to a yoga studio and experienced the wonders of the om prayer... now THAT was incredible! I have attended quite a few classes or various styles of yoga, but this is were my new November challenge comes in! I have been working on re-vamping our community board (check it out!!) and when I was looking at all of our affiliated yoga studios and all of the types of yoga that they offer I thought: "Man, what have I been doing this whole time? I'm missing out on a LOT of cool things here!!"

So here's my goal for November:

1. Attend two yoga classes a week (on top of other fitness classes and running... of course)

2. Attend a class at a new studio each week, until I have been to EVERY affiliated studio in Ottawa

3. Attend a new style of yoga so that I can successfully choose my favourite style (or top 10 list anyways)

This might seem easy to some of you, but it will be very interesting to me to see what I can learn along the way! And one of my goals for the end of the year is to lift my leg above my head (like I used to be able to when I figure skated) without bending my knee. If you see me in the store, please ask through out the month: "Hey Steph, how high is your leg? How are the classes? Can I join you?"  I look forward to meeting new people, seeing new places, and being sore...very sore (and HAPPY to be sore)

I have one request of all you readers (you out there??) If you have some favourite classes or locations, please let me know and I will be more than willing to join you!

Happy November everyone, keep reading as I will be posting a weekly update!