Sacrifice

For those of you not fully versed in the history of yoga, I offer you a very brief intro:  A thousand or so  years before Christ (isn't that still what BC means?)  There were a bunch of teachings or "vedas."  They said all sorts of crazy stuff.  The really early ones (3000 BCish)said a lot about fire sacrifices and chanting priests.  But then after that stuff, the "Upaneshads" offered some new theories about what sort of sacrifice was necessary to connect to your Divinty.  There is the all-so-important sacrifice of the ego or closely related sacrifice of your actions (ala the Bhagavad Gita), but to many of the early followers and students, there was also the sacrifice of "earthly pleasures."  This meant that to truly study and and find your higher Self, you should remove yourself from society and go off into the woods and study and wear simple clothes and basically starve yourself all the time.  It looked like this:






Luckily for me, most modern "Westernized" yogic practices have moved past this understanding of sacrifice.  A lot of Tantric practices even encourage you to partake. Read some Osho stuff... he's ALL ABOUT THE PLEASURE (sometimes to a gross point).

Anyways, this is all only pertinent because I unknowingly signed up for A LOT of sacrifice.  There is obviously the sacrifice of a bunch of time and money, which I happily signed up for, but I have also come face to face with a real and difficult problem.  I cannot get a job.  I have one part time job that DOES NOT pay my bills, and I really don't enjoy but am hanging on to for long-term reasons.  I actually would happily quit that job if something better came along, but I'm not even upset that I still don't have a "career."  I am upset because I just want to be a barista (or a bartender).  I thought it'd be no problem to pick up a couple shifts somewhere.  But apparently, noon to 6 on Saturday and Sunday is an unacceptable time to not be around. This week alone I had three great interviews, each ending with the inevitable "We think you would be a really great fit here and would love to have you on, but we can't hire you with your 'limited availability'."  Which 1) that's using "limited" quite loosely.  There are literally 12 hours I can't work all week and am completely available at all other times and 2) fuck you.

I am an awesome employee.  I FUCKING LOVE making coffee and getting up at 5:30 in the morning to do it.  I am way too smart to have career aspirations like barista or bartender, and will be able to run your store more efficiently than you are currently running it in less than a month.  I honestly like smiling at everybody who walks in your door and trying to help them have a great day.  I know that it makes more sense for them to hire someone who can work whenever, so they can be a lazy asshole when they make their schedule and not worry about thinking too hard about it.  I completely understand where they are coming from, but FUUUUUUUUUCK.   I am so tired of resumes and interviews (which why don't you just ask me on the phone if I'm available weekends, or better yet, read the goddamned online form it took me 45 minutes to fill out that asked for my availability?).  I am tired of not being able to buy new clothes when all my old ones have holes.  I am tired of staying home to save money, and skipping brunch, because what do I look like a Customer Service representative?  I don't have that kind of cash!  I am really tired of craftily convincing people to buy me beers at bars and then being sheepish about accepting them.  I'm tired.

So anyways, to do my YTT I am sacrificing a lot.  It kind of blows. 

Sorry for whining.  Namaste.

I'd like to file a formal complaint #1

 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!! THESE ARE NOT RECIPES! 

Can you seriously not figure this shit out on your own?  Have you never put avocado, tomato, and mozzarella cheese together?  Has a chicken pesto sandwich actually never occurred to you before?  When you saw these images (and the countless other idiotic ones like them) your reaction was "Holy shit!!  BRILLIANT!  Chicken with pesto?  Wait, and you put it on bread?  Oh I'm never going to remember this.  Better save it so I can find it later." or "What did you do there?  To the avocado?  Oh cut it up, I see.  And then you also cut up the tomato... wait, you are losing me.  I need to save pictures of these steps so I can remember them later."  Pinterest is really damaging my opinion of society.

Namaste.

Yoga Teacher Training. It's all happening!

So I have decided to blog my Yoga Teacher Training (and life stuff that happens during it).  Why?  Because I have lots of things to share.  Advice, gripes, love, etc.  Also you hear a lot about how Yoga Teacher Training "changes your life" so I thought if that was going to happen I should write it down.  Also, I have a lot of free time due to my lack of suitable employment.

The Basics: I will be doing my 200 hr yoga teacher certification through a YogaWorks program in Seattle.  It will take 2 or 3 weekends a month from now until mid-June.  I have only been practicing yoga regularly (aka almost every day) for about 4 months, so I am not a seasoned veteran, but I like it. (My ego wants to tell you that on the first night, when I admitted I had only been doing a dedicated practice for 4 months in a circle of people who were saying things like "12 years," an instructor who knows me said, and I quote, "she has a beautiful practice, don't let her fool you," but whateves ego, shut it.)

I really love my studio.  I go to the YogaTree in Seattle.  The instructors are all absolutely amazing people, the kind of people you meet once and just want to stare at and hope one day you can be as awesome.  They do mostly Hatha and Vinyasa classes.  They are not "hot yoga" or "power yoga."  Teachers often don't even use music.  They aren't trying to help you feel like a rock star or a gym rat or a lululemon bitch.  They just want to teach you yoga, with proper alignment and some philosophy and occasional pranayama (controlled breathing) and chanting.  And if, in turn, you end up feeling like a rock star, it's all good; truth is you were a rock star when you walked in.

I just completed my first weekend of my Yoga Teacher Training [YTT].  To be honest, I haven't done much reflecting on it yet.  I do however have some reactions:

1. Holy shit, 200 hours is a lot of time.  I kind of can't believe how many more times I have to have a weekend like this.

2. Actually, to me, 6.5 hours is a lot of time.  That's how long the longest day (Sat.) is.  And it felt like forever.  Even though we were doing different stuff and more than 2 hours of it was just a practice with an amazing teacher, I rarely have to sit and pay attention to something for that long.  It's hard. 
By the last hour of that day I was definitely fading and shutting down. 

3.  I am very quickly remembering how much I hated school.

4.  People are so different.  Oh my god.  So. Different.

5.  Annoying people will always show up when you really hope they don't, and they will probably ask if you want them to stay and help you.  {Side Note:  I actually got a sort of work-study scholarship for this program which means I take attendance and stay late to clean.  It's cool.  Its saving me a bunch of money.}

6.  I know, I know, the annoying people are there to teach me something. 

7.  My actual instructors fucking rule.


That's it for now.  I'm sure I'll talk more about my journey with yoga that brought me here and all that other stuff soon.  If I dont, remind me.

Namaste!!
  

Northern Lights: Update

Of course tonight I saw them out the apartment window.

norðurljós

So I saw the Northern Lights last night, or Aurora Borealis for all you scientists out there. I took the above picture... I did not take the below one, but merely post it to show you what they looked like (because there are so many possibilities). I also must admit that while it is really beautiful and amazing to see... cameras do a much better job than the human eye. What we saw wasn't nearly as colorful. It looked at first like maybe just weird clouds lit in the sky by light from a city. But there was no city there, and when someone took a picture, it came out looking bright green (like below). I would admit in reality however, that it was green twinged (though i hear it can be much brighter in color).

Five of us rented a car and started driving out to the national park where they take tour buses full of people to see them. While we were on the road there--going about 25 mph because the girl driving was somehow a worse driver than my 80 yr old grandmother and i was silently banging my head against the window asking that i just be put out of my misery--my prayers were answered as someone saw the "arc" out the window. This is the northern lights precursor and we pulled over onto the side of the road and jumped out. As we stared (and FROZE... not exaggerating... it was -4 C and WINDY) the light slowly moved across and around the horizon. Some big and spreading, some smaller and bright and reaching upwards. A few extended high across the sky. It was a sight to see. It lasted probably twenty minutes of slow moving ebbs and flows of light.

I would not proclaim to be a changed person now, nor have I somehow become addicted to finding them, but I truly look forward to seeing them again someday, and invite you all the join me.

Sunrise, sunset

These pictures were just taken out my window at 10 am this morning. The sky is full of the blueish glow of daybreak...

Being so far north, Iceland deals with much bigger shifts in the amount of light it receives than most Americans are used to. In mid-summer they experience the infamous "white nights" of the north (which i actually got to live in in Russia in 2004) Upon choosing to come here in January I was interested, even excited, by the prospect of days with very little light. Maybe I'd even be trapped inside painting all day. But the truth is, they get light. They get truly beautiful light. It just starts a little later and ends a little earler.

The sun comes up 10 or 11ish. This means hauling yourself out of bed before then is almost impossible. All the residents agree. For special events and trips we can do it. And a girl who just was studying in school here swears you are expected to be in class at 9 (when it is still mostly dark out.... beginning to hint at a day). But we generally don't see much activity in this house until 11 or 12. (Personally, I set alarms for 9 to get up and do yoga : P )

Then, because the sun is so low in the sky all day, you don't get much direct light. Instead, you have lots of amazing, piercing, gorgeous, magical, ambient light. Or clouds. Lots of clouds. Sometimes the mountains across the harbor will glow golden, seemingly from the inside out. It really is quite a feeling. I try to go out every day its remotely sunny just to walk around and bask in the city lit entirely like an independent film. Around 3 or 4 the sky starts to glow pink and orange in parts and by 5 its dark again. Although the days are getting longer. My first day here, I watched a very slow sunset at 3:15.

So the shortened days aren't really a problem. Just another amazing thing to be a part of; and a brilliant excuse to sleep in every morning. Stores have shorter hours than I'm used to and everyone warns you to take vitamin-D or use the crazy light box thing at the pool, but that's about it. So Good Morning!!

When in Rome....

So I've always been a huge fan of the notion that to truly travel, you must be willing to immerse yourself in the ways of a new place. Hell, I ate raw Salmon in Sweden... icky. But never has it really been more true, than figuring out how to exercise in Iceland.

Although a self-proclaimed "gym rat," my usual go-to while traveling is some ole timey running. You can do it anywhere any time and the worst that has ever really happened is Africans staring at me like I am nuts... no wait... the time I got lost in Kiev for 2 hours and cried til someone helped me use the internet to find a phone number to call a friend to give me the address so i could take a cab. But besides that time... its a relatively simple exercise plan. Except this year in Reykjavik they have had the most snow since 1920. Everything is covered in ice. People fall all the time. (not me yet of course!) The sound of a car spinning its wheels as it attempts to pull itself out of a parking space is almost constant. So i have dubbed running currently too risky (although like the magical creatures they are icelanders can do it no problem). So what is an endorphine addicted, beer and cake loving girl to do?

What Icelanders do... PUBLIC GEOTHERMAL POOLS.

So tonight (it was 4:45 but def. dark) I went to the pool. outside. in the cold. and dark. It was awesome. Also because these are salt water, not chlorine based pools, you are required to wash yourself nakey before going in, which means lots of nudity in the locker room. just another reason icelandic people are better than americans. No weird gymnophobia (real phobia name). see this for proof. http://blog.icelandexpress.com/iceland/2006/11/24/reykjavik-swimming-pools-the-naked-truth/

So i got a workout in! Yay! And even if I still don't know how to breath on my left side and can't back stroke in a straight line, I feel pretty good about the prospects of staying fit Iceland style.