Yogalicious!

Monday, 10 September 2012

My Top 5 New Reasons for Lovin' Yoga

1. You can go almost anywhere in the world and find a yoga studio. Before you've even left home, just give a quick shout-out to your Omies on FB and you'll have a personalized yogi Rolodex of studios and teachers to check out while on your travels. That's how this summer I was blessed to meet and share space with such amazing teachers as: Rockne White at Reflexions Yoga in Penticton; Dana Skoglund of Mission Yoga in Kelowna; Melissa Kavanagh of Shanti Yoga and Elissa Gumushel at The Studio in Nelson, BC. Better than Expedia or Google by quantum leaps.

With Dana Skoglund at a studio in a garage,
Mission Yoga in Kelowna, BC

At The Studio in Nelson, BC with
Anusara goddess Elissa Gumushel

2. You can do it anywhere: in your bedroom, on a deck, in a hot spring, at the mall, under a tree, in a vineyard, on a bridge, sidewalk, fire-escape; at work, at an ashram, atop a car, on a country road, inside someone's garage, at school, in a library, park, parasail seat or playa!

Bridge session in Nelson, BC.

3. Sharing yoga with a child is better than bribing them to like you with a toy or candy. They will loooove yoga, intuitively feel more connected to you and you keep your karma clear. Plus, you'll hang your ego out to dry as you watch this little person effortlessly twist and bend into shapes you've only seen in your Dharma Mittra Asana book. Check out my friend's daughter, Ava, taking her afternoon nap in Yoganidrasana (Yogic Sleep Pose). My Inner Child didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Little people are amazing!

Yoga play in Fort St. James, BC.

4. As much as I love words, sometimes, often, words simply fail to express satisfactorily the heart's deep joy, an inner peace, a playful spirit, a quiet mind, a raucous, reflective or restless, renegade soul. When at such synaptic crossroads, busting into a spontaneous yoga pose can sum up in an instant - in speechless superlatives - what the mind cannot think, the heart cannot sing and the body cannot dance alone. Yoga is a true conversation with the moment; one I never get tired of having.

At Mission Hill Vineyards in Kelowna, BC.

5. It's a practice. That's all. Not a religion, dogma, bond, competition, immunity or make-over. Like any practice, it won't really make you perfect but it will make you a prac·ti·tion·er

[prak-tish-uh-ner].You are already YOU, anyway. But beware! Yoga has been known to have the side effect of making you even more perfectly you. Exercise caution-asana towards anyone who tells you otherwise, and then there's only one thing left to do: practice. Then practice some more. And keep practicing. Period.

Thursday, 30 August 2012

Love is a Circle

This summer - from Montreal, Quebec to Nelson, B.C. - an epic journey.

I am so full ...

... of mountain peaks, totem poles, sunshine, sand, Lakeshore Boulevards and rocky glacier-fed streams ...

Woodbury Resort, B.C.

Reflexions Studio, Penticton, B.C.

... campfire cloves and fine wine, Rocket Stove popcorn, tent windstorms, the new scent of polyvinyl air mattresses baking in afternoon heat ...

Camping in Woodbury, B.C.

... sweet sun-kissed skin, goose-bump rousing watery baptisms in nature's aqueous hot springs, caves, baths, basins and tributaries ...

Soaking at Ainsworth Hot Springs, B.C.

... millions of smooth and mineral-rich rocks to collect, scintillating sparkly fractals of light and loveliness, holy unscheduled time, laughter and silence ...

At the Beach.

Nelson: Spontaneous Fire-Escape Yoga

... Oso Negro fresh-roasted coffee, Vegetarian Hippy Poutine topped with Mushroom Gravy, Nutritional Yeast and Hemp seeds, emergency roadside ice cream pull-overs, Wild Sockeye Salmon and Kombucha kicks into high gear, writing in wired cafes ...

Kaslo, B.C. cafe, riding an elephant chair.

Ice Cream: Anytime, Anywhere.

... slow strolls, simple talk, meaningful connections, old and new friends, bare feet, grit in my hair, make-up breaks, forgetting Self in Spirit, remembering how to tell time again like a kid (a freckle past a hair!) ...

My friend, Neely, and Alison Rubin at
Harmony Yoga in Spokane, Washington.

Playing with my food.

... blessed beauty, growth, experience, with the one I love - Ash - and flowing with Grace, on the mat and off, with the other One I love to infinity - yoga.

After my morning Americano at Fruit of the Moon,
a roadside cafe outside Woodbury Resort, B.C.

... on the beach, in the grass, upon solid rock, cork floor, bridge, fire escape, water, air ...

Shanti Yoga in Nelson, B.C.

Bridge yoga in Nelson.

Ash getting his Zen on.

Dancer: Fire Escape Yoga Sessions.

Bridge on Bridge.

Om Om Om. Nom Nom Nom.

xo

Check out info on my fall retreat here:
http://www.facebook.com/events/267072033410506/

http://www.jenniferparks.ca/Retreats.html

Monday, 27 August 2012

The Greatest Escape

Wherever you go, there you are.

Sun or stars, shadows or high noon;

The same knowing moon shines on you.

Whether in Paris or Peru.

You may visit exotic places, meet new faces.

Be a stranger in a strange land, act stranger still;

Chase your passions and dreams,

Run from your heartaches, boredom, troubles, fears,

But through and through, they know no borders.

Wherever you go, there you are;

Incontrovertibly, you.

Your Grand Getaway, then, my friend,

Is not to Giza, West Ed. Mall or (Insert Desired Destination of the Day, Month, Year).

Here's a hint: it's much nearer.

It's not a vay-kay, but a stay-kay,

Global in reach, but locally made and consciously grown.

It ain't to Kansas, in "Seven Sleeps,"

Destination: Retirement-Ville,

or Any Other Perceived or Pined-For Utopia.

Your Holiday Haven,

Your Greatest Escape ... to unshackled freedom,

Available en momento ("in this very moment" en Espagnol) ...

Is back to

~ Jenn xo

Monday, 20 August 2012

Livin 'n' Lovin

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Re-treat Yourself

I'm lovin' this sunshine, and these long days of low stress, chillaxin', all yogi-like, in my coveted mobile office. Some days it's on a sticky mat wearing Lulus. Other days I set up my proverbial ink well on a patio or beach, in a backyard or cafe ... wherever I can order an Americano, access WiFi, submerge my senses in a little white noise, breathe like a boob-drunk baby and write my little ol' heart out.

That's how I roll: like a Dixie Chick high on Kombucha, battin' average outta Rat-Race hell.

ॐ ॐ ॐ

Summer is a dream, but fall is, and will always be, my favourite season. I love the shift to cool, crunch, and colours; the slow transmutable glow from mellow-yellow to soothing orange to crimson red - like Harvest sunsets that stir the heart into unbridled, exalted prayer for all that Is, May Be and Once Was, upon two times called Forever and Nevermore.

But my favourite thing about fall is retreating!

Yes, folks, mark your calendars for the Fourth Annual Fall Soul Yoga Retreat, Nov 2-4, 2012 at River Lodge in Stony Plain, AB. Join me for a weekend of vinyasa flow and yin-style yoga, organic harvest wine-tasting, nourishing soul food prepared by local Red Seal chef Sally Vaughan-Johnston, in-house spa services and more.

Treat body and soul, relax and rejuvenate, celebrate Nature's abundance, inner spirit and yoga's clarifying gifts. I can't wait to share this amazing weekend with you! Check out all the deets on my website and the poster below.

And thank you so much to the following Edmonton and Area studios and shops for their gracious and open-hearted continual support in helping me spread the word about these retreats. Namaste ॐ

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Five Things I Learned Today

Actually, it was yesterday, but I'm just getting around to posting.

1. Don't shake your bottle of Kombucha tea (pronounced kom-BOO-cha) before you drink it, like you might an O.J. or Gatorade that's sat too long on a corner-store shelf. This tart trendy nouveau-hippie bevvie is loaded with active enzymes, viable probiotics, amino acids, antioxidants and polyphenols, that froth, grow and explode EVERYWHERE when agitated, like your big-fat-'F' high school science experiment. Not cool. Especially in places where urban tree-hugging hipsters co-nestle and congregate. I did it twice yesterday.

2. Make time for your friends. I'm bad for this. I love them to death, but often get too wound up in my work, projects and need for solitary down time. But just a phone call or visit, a laugh, shared story, five minutes of connection in the middle of your hectic afternoon will put a smile on your face, pull the plug on stress and become the day's highlight ... if you let it. We are not our jobs, to-do lists or over-scheduled lives. We are human beings who need time for just being human. (P.S. Thanks for the hugs and stories, Joe!)

3. Give people the chance to do the right thing before busting in like the karma police. During my rental property check-out inspection a few weeks ago, my landlord (a real-estate agent acting as a multiple property manager for his client) tried to bully me into believing I should not be reimbursed my $1550 damage deposit due to what was clearly only minor wear and tear.

After refusing to sign the inspection document, I left the premises, distraught, bewildered and spiritually near-broken by what my gut told me were seriously honed manipulation tactics and systemic abuse.

For 10 days, he ignored my emails and texts and I received no cheque or Statement of Accounts in the mail. So this conflict-phoebic yogi bit the bullet and sent him a note stating "Tomorrow I will take legal action, and if I don't hear from you, my former editors at the newspaper will hear from me." A bit dramatic, I know, but effective, I hoped. I could see the headline now: "Fat-stacks agent swindles frugal yogi-tenant."

I wasn't gonna let him break my spiritual bank or steal my hard-earned paycheque.

The next day, before serving the legal paperwork, I gave him one more chance. This time when I called he answered, sounding tired and slightly more humbled. He said he was settling the account and would send me "something" shortly.

I hope I've helped him do the right thing. But only Karma knows what really went down.

4. Always maintain an interest in your work. Whether you wait on tables, push paper in a corporate office or run your own business, taking pride in what you do and staying clear and passionate about your purpose, is something you will always have when the winds change or times get tough. If you don't like what you do, change your work. Life's too short. "Work is" not drudgery but "love made visible." (Kahlil Gibran)

5. Trust in yoga. If you're a yogi, you get it. If you're not Down, Dog, why not meet me at the crossroads between spirituality, science and serendipity, tomorrow night @ 6 p.m., Lotus Soul Gym on Whyte Ave., and find out why the practice of yoga is so amazing, and will teach you all that you ever need to know about yourself, life and the unseen universe! Seriously intergalactic stuff, yo.

Monday, 23 July 2012

Get Inverted

This week’s playlist is inspired by the theme “Upside-Down!”

It’s summertime - the perfect time to take a holiday and get inverted! We will turn our mats into the grassy fields and backyards of our youth while invoking the spirits of play and curiosity, in a safe and sanely structured class.

Tonight at Yoga Within's Summer Hatha Yoga Series (5:45-7 p.m.) you will be guided through a flow sequence of asanas that root you to the earth and challenge your core so that you may free the body, mind and heart to shift perspective and soar!

We will commune with the animal kingdom through postures like Bird-Dog, Down Dog, Dolphin, Camel, Cobra, Crow, Rabbit and Locust, working our way into Chair Twist, Triangle, Bridge and/or Full Wheel, variations of Shoulder Stand, Plow, Headstand and/or Handstand.

Learn to listen and trust your self. Break free of fear-based patterns which clamp the spirit and limit expression of your innermost joy and freedom. This class is suitable for beginners and regular practitioners. Modifications will be offered and, as always, I encourage you to show up and challenge yourself with discernment, while observing the body’s response and navigating the voices of Ego and Inner Child, both of which have so much to teach us.