Thursday 16 September, 2004
Lack of yoga and worries
In addition to all the commotion about moving, I've also been doing long days at the office as we've got a deadline closing up. This unfortunately means I haven't had time to go to yoga classes for several weeks now... I'm working around 10 hours a day, plus driving to work and back which takes me about 2,5 additional hours... when I get home pretty much all I can think of is food and sleep, so I don't practice at home either. Unfortunately I can feel it in my body: neck, back, shoulders all tense up and I wake up all stiff every morning. I also miss my "me time" at the club, going to sauna and just relaxing. I'm finishing work in another three weeks (gasp!), but because of moving and going to Finland I probably won't be able to go to class for at least another month or two, although I will make time to go and see my teachers before I leave.
Which brings me to my next worry. Apparently Canada is pretty big on yoga, and based on some googling on the subject, Vancouver seems to have several yoga studios that teach ashtanga and other styles of yoga. So... it shouldn't be a problem finding a place to go, but as usual I'm worrying about finding a suitable teacher for me. It's not just about finding a good teacher, I believe that there needs to be a chemistry between the student and the teacher, teacher's style needs to be right for the student, and they need to be on the same wave-length for the practice to beneficial. And it's not necessarily something you can tell after one or two lessons, either.
We'll see.
Later: I had pretty much forgotten that Canada is the base of operations for the Taoist Tai Chi Society. There is a strong presence in Vancouver, and I wonder if I'd like to take Tai Chi up again...
Posted by kolibri at 16 September 09:13, 2004Canadians are tremendously friendly people. I am hopeful that you will find a really good teacher. Hopefully in a cosmopolitan city like Vancouver will offer plenty of choice.
# 2 - rannva (on September 17, 2004 06:31 AM):
Welcome to North America to both of you! If you ever find your way to Los Angeles, please let me know and we can get together and gossip like proper Finns!
# 3 - kolibri (on September 17, 2004 07:53 AM):
Los Angeles bloggers meeting! Now there's an idea ;) It might indeed be in the cards, so we'll keep you posted!
# 4 - Julie Desjardins (on September 17, 2004 11:37 AM):
I'm sure you can find great yoga studios in Vancouver, but I've also taken Tai Chi with the Taoist Society, and they're fantastic...
It's just not yoga. ;)
# 5 - kolibri (on September 17, 2004 12:17 PM):
Exactly :)
It's not that I'm not a "purist" - I am, in that with my chosen type or style I want it to be as close to pure form as possible. So when I'm practising ashtanga I want it to be "pure" ashtanga and not mixture of different asanas from different styles. When I'm doing Tai Chi, I want it to be pure Taoist style and not a mixture of different styles of Tai Chi.
But I don't need to commit myself to just doing ashtanga or just doing hatha or Tai Chi. Diversity is a spice of life, too.
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