Life

Here's how my life has been lately:

(Adventure down to the water with Derek)

We have been trying to go on so many adventures lately, and this was the one that kick started it. It was a beautiful day and the most amazing time spent. The feeling I get when I'm by the ocean is unexplainable. I get butterflies in my stomach and I feel more at peace than in any other circumstance. I am meant to be by the ocean.

 

 (keeping up on yoga)

Yoga is something I practice almost every single day, but my back pain makes it had to do certain pose. I have made it a goal to start practicing those poses as best I can to get my back into shape and to start improving so that maybe one day I can do amazing poses and to be motivation that anything can happen if you want it bad enough.

 (Another example of practicing advanced poses)

 (I love him so much)

Being able to share everything positive happening to me with this guy. He is the most amazing thing in my life, he is my motivation to push myself. He accepts me for who I am and loves that I'm different, that I'm weird. He is my best friend and my soul mate. 

  (Watching a million interviews of Rachel Brathen before I got to see her live and get my book signed by her)

Having the time to finally have  "me time" a few mornings a week. I get to sit back after house work is done, drink a coffee or a tea, and do whatever I feel like. I used to feel guilty for having time for myself  when I was jobless for a few months. Even though I was applying everywhere and trying very hard to find a job, it wasn't in my luck for the longest time and it made me feel guilty putting any time into doing something for myself -- aka not doing anything at all. I wouldn't allow myself to paint, to write, to spend too much time on the internet. But now that I am working great hours, I can finally do these things without giving myself such a hard time about it in my head. It's relieving and has helped with the stress factor greatly.

 Getting to meet my biggest inspiration and getting to be in a yoga class taught by her. When I heard that Rachel Brathen was coming to Vancouver, the only stop in Canada for her book tour, I knew it was a sign and I had to go. And I am so fortunate that I did, it was one of the most amazing opportunities I've had my whole life. I will never forget it.

Writing myself little notes throughout the day, mostly at work or if I am having a bad day. For me, they are just as useful as meditation. But if I am just on a quick break, having the worst day, it is calming to write myself these notes to look at through out the day.

(Mine: Turtlenut and cookie monster Dereks: chocolate explosion and maple bacon)
We have been loving to go out for donuts lately. We even decided to make it a sunday tradition to get donuts and coffee for breakfast. Not only is it ridiculously delicious, but sitting down in a coffee shop first thing in the morning and just talking is a great way for us to appreciate eachother and really get to spend quality time together. No distractions from home.

~~ Justine

Butchart Garden Adventure

So, like I had hoped, we went on another adventure. Not a planned one though. For about a week prior, we were planning to go swimming and then go out for dinner with some friends. I wanted to get some use out of my new bathing suit and we both love swimming. So that morning, we packed our towels, and dry underclothing, put on our bathing suits, and headed for the bus.

As soon as we got to the swimming pools parking lot, we overheard an elderly couple mention Butchart Gardens and immediately we changed plans and turned around for the next bus to Butchart Gardens. I had only ever been once and we were excited to be doing something spontaneous.

We spent a few hours there, and loved soaking up the beautiful sunshine. It was the first hot sunny day this year and it went away fast, so it was much more enjoyable spending that day outside rather than in an indoor swimming pool. After we walked through the whole thing, and decided to head back, we made another stop.

Our friends last minute cancelled on us so we had the whole afternoon to do more things. So bother being sushi fans but never having gone to an actual sushi restaurant, we decided to go downtown and pick a random sushi place and eat there for lunch. The place we picked had the most amazing yam rolls and it's the first place I had ever gone where they had the option of brown rice. And let me tell you this first, they were HUGE rolls! We will definitely be going back there!

After walking around downtown in the sun, and stopping by china town to look for mala beads for myself, we headed back home. It was dinner time at this point and we both agreed that we would indulge and order pizzas! A Caribbean pizza for him, and a pesto, soy cheese pizza for me. It was the perfect ending to a fun day.

~~ Justine

Yoga Girl Book Review

 Yoga Girl by Rachel Brathen

So I've been a Rachel Brathen fan since last summer when I discovered her on instagram under yoga_girl. Seeing her motivational posts, I decided to start doing yoga, something I am glad I did. Her pictures and blogs not only help you to see how healing and wonderful yoga is for the body and mind but it also makes you see how much of a real person Rachel is. She doesn't hide behind her fame, she doesn't hide her pain, and she shows us who she really is through the web. She makes is so anyone can see her motivation.

Since I discovered her, I have used yoga and meditation to help with many aspects of my life. I was doing a painting job that summer and was stressed beyond relief. Being able to step on my mat and breath through any issue helped a lot. Our summer lasted a couple months past August and I was able to go outside near this trail to do my yoga in the warm sun and it was amazing. Just me, the sun, and my mat. I felt so at peace during those moments. and I thank Rachel and her way of showing the beauty of yoga.

I have gone through many ups and downs since discovering yoga that had stopped me from doing it for periods of time. My back pain got worse, I was trying to move out, was out of a job for months, and had tremendous amount of relationship stress. The last thing I wanted to do was take some time to myself. Those were the hardest few months of the year.

But my boyfriend and I finally moved, I finally found a job and I wasn't scared to give myself alone time. I found love at the mat again and started doing my yoga. I started reading Rachel's blogs again, started watching videos on yoga and I was happy again. But what made it all worth it, was receiving Rachel's book in the mail. I had been waiting for months since I pre ordered it and it was a better read than I thought it would be. And I also read it quicker than I thought I would. The night I got the book, I finished reading it.

Rachel became even more of a real person. Her pages from her past were so touching and so relating to my own. To see her transformation from her teenage years to what she is like now was amazing to read. To really see just how important yoga and meditation can be if you need it.

She explains how she had back pain and severe asthma, both I can relate to! Just like Rachel, I am struggling with scoliosis which, as a result, has had me in pain every day for the last year and a half. After one physiotherapist, two chiropractors, many x-rays and body scans, seeing a spine specialist, I am still in pain and have no answers for my pain except my mild scoliosis. Mild enough it shouldn't be causing me as much pain as I am dealing with anyway.  I thought there would be no answer on how to deal with it. But then I found out just how healing yoga can be for back pain and scoliosis. Reading a true story on how yoga and meditation can help has motivated me to step on my mat every single day no matter how I'm feeling.

One thing the book really touches up on is the importance of meditation and breath. I do more yoga than meditating and I now understand that yoga is nothing more than an exercise without the meditative side. One step at a time I will work towards meditating daily, even just for 10 minutes.

If you are looking for some motivation, or some help on dealing with stress, loss, pain.. you name it, this book should be your go to and you will feel like a different, more relaxed person.