Confessions of a busy person

Okay I know I keep banging on how busy I am. Why doesn't she just stop I here you say. I'm sitting here writing aren't I? A little time out for myself. It is revolting outside. High speed winds, rain and a chilling 19 degrees C. I'm teaching a back to back double this arvo. Might be busy as it's definitely not beach weather.

I'm feeling well rested this weekend. I had a lovely chilled day off yesterday which involved a trip to the North Perth studio for a change of scenery and a good ass whopping from Joe. I needed it, my practice has suffered a lot of late, three a week is too little for me. With the crazy planetary activity going on I have literally had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I grind and scowl through Half Moon, by Eagle the pain in my shoulder blades is horrific. Good pain though, after all Eagle does 'open up' the shoulders. Yesterday was hard. I needed the corrections I was given so bad I was very grateful. 

It was nice to share my practice with my fellow TT buddy Kana too. Her mad giggling fit in Camel was awesome, set me off. I don't recommend laughing whilst upside down, it's kind of hard to breathe but at least it relaxed my face! Good fun, followed by a quick sushi lunch before we all headed off for our own afternoon activities.

As usual due to my insane schedule my house work has suffered. This week I shall share what a state my bathroom is in. Back in the days of OCD Kat this was scrubbed within an inch of it's life every week without fail. Living on a farm dust and sand get everywhere very quickly so it is hard to keep o top of it. Now it's more like two weeks, gross I know. It's just not right the room where you get yourself clean be allowed to get dirty? Here is it.... I have cleaned it since these photos it's shiny and the grout on the tiles had at least 20 minutes of personal attention! 

Mess

Dirt, dust, hair on the floor

Grimy sink

The Man's clothes pile

The final picture is the bane of my life. The Man does not put his clothes away, never has, probably never will. His father is the same. When we upgraded the bed to Super King Size there is no longer enough room down his side of the bed to keep this pile. It did get put away but there is just not enough storage space for all his crap. He's a hoarder, he has so many clothes, 100's of t shirt he can never possibly wear, one for each day of the year. But he will not throw anything out. I've tried, I've snook a lot of stuff out to the charity bins but that is soon replaced. All the clothes he wears and washes weekly live in this pile. It's just easier to access apparently. 

Anyway the pile moved to the foot of the bed to the point I could not get in my drawers and I had to climb over it to get out the room. Not good. So I bulldozered it to the lounge and onto the day bed. Here it is and here it has stayed. Clothes come off the line or the drier and onto here. I will not and have not the time to re house this mess into drawers that are full anyway. 

Lucky we do not have people over as it's a disgrace. They wouldn't have any where to sit anyway!! I can not be arsed with it, not my mess, I have more respect for my clothes than to treat them like this. I can lay on my sofa with my back to it all!!

There we go people. The life of a busy person who yes, needs a cleaner!


 

Chakra Balancing

It's been a crazy few weeks. May was a bonkers month. Twists, turns, ups and downs. This is obvious as my writing here has been very neglected. I've been wanting to write, I have lists & lists of potential posts ready but just haven't had chance, time or energy to get them posted. 

Funnily enough I'd booked myself in early for a Chakra balancing treatment at Bodhi J. I was feeling frazzled. Emotionally I'd been on a roller coaster. Self inflicted I know! I was so ready for this treatment. No surprise which of my energy points were out; root, sacral & throat. First two are definitely down to my hormones getting back to their natural state after years of being pumped with false ones. Throat, well, I've not been speaking up for myself, sugar coating and even yes small white lies have been told to cover up my real feelings or thoughts. My aura was still glowing with genuine intention, my heart is in the right place. 

I certainly felt more centered after wards but totally knackered. All I could do was get myself home and collapse! I think this must be usual, after all suddenly having your personal energy tapped into, moved and adjusted it is going to be draining. 

A couple of weeks on I'm feeling good. Things feel more settled. It may be because of the Venus Transit that came through this week. All the recent craziness has come to a head and dispersed. Truths are out, problems have been recognised but solutions still need to be put in place. 

Gritty truths

Cards on the table I'm wacked today (Sunday). A post by Lisa at Just Here, Just Now inspired me to write an upfront piece. I do feel I paint a sunshine & rainbows account of my yogi life here. I skip the downsides or skirt over them too often.

I woke up at 11am, yes how late is that for someone who usually is up hours before sunrise. I pulled a crazy, teaching late night Thurs & 5:45am Friday. Being a little wired after Thursday's class I laid on the coach watching tv for a while to come down. That must have been 10:30pm, I woke up at 12:15am, crawled into bed for the total of four hours before my alarm went off. Or didn't coz I actually woke up naturally before the alarm at 4am. Hmm maybe not that natural as I always get alarm anxiety before teaching an early, petrified it won't go off & the students won't get their morning yoga fix. 

Saturday I woke refreshed without an alarm & headed to BYSB for class. Randomly I ended up helping with sign in. This is happening a lot recently, I turn up to practice & end up working. It's not a problem, I am happy to help when help is needed. I can't just stand there watching someone struggle just because 'it's not my shift'. I had an awesome class with my dear TT bud Jas. I smiled my way through a steamy, juicy, 90 minutes of yoga joy. 

After class I hit the Sheridan 80% off sale. Snagged $600 worth of fine bedding for $80!! Happy days. Except my detour left me with less time to get the food shopping/last minute Bali bits n pieces in. I ended up with 45 minutes to unload shopping, make lunch, unpack practice bag, repack teaching bag, dress for teaching & get on the road again. 

The 4pm class was awesome. Great turn out. I did make some scatty tongue twisted oppsies which I managed to laugh off. My three newbies survived & did great. It was brilliant to see a few familiar faces I'd not seen for a while too.  (*waves* Coral & Kellie)

6:15pm back on the road home again. Quick turn around, a can of diet coke (Emergency caffeine needed!) and back on the road to take The Man to a gig. For a stoner rock band I had no clue of. We met up with some of his old friends which was great. About an hour in I was done. I stuck it out as I had to. Home at 2am after a detour to Alfred's for a steak burger I didn't end up eating!

No wonder I slept in till late! I seriously felt I'd be run over by a truck this morning. I'm skipping yoga today despite I really wanting to take Kana's first class at BYSB. There will be other times. I have so much to do. I need to pack for Bali! I've ended up writing instead. 

So here is the truth. Don't get me wrong I love my life right now, I am more than grateful for the cards I have been dealt. This is what has suffered whilst I've been out & about yoga-ering/working full time. My house isn't as shiny as it should be. The Man has been busy outdoors winter proofing the chicken yards and fixing up his bike. (This is his yoga so I will not deny him his hobbies) Neither of us has had time to tend to the house work. Ready, wait for it... the gritty truth.... photos of my disgusting, filthy kitchen. No washing up has been done since, let's see possibly Tuesday.

Pure filth, we officially have no clean forks.

Anyone in the Perth area feeling like doing some cleaning - knock yourself out!

It's next on the list. I reordered the linen cupboard already to fit in the new bedding. Mean feat as it's Super King Size, that's a lot of linen. Small piles of packing are scattered around the spare room. Five days in Bali is a no brainer: shorts, singlets, bikini's, a couple of sundresses - check! I will get everything in order this fine Sunday so I can leave for my holiday happy everything is clean, shiny, tidy and DONE!

Madness Goodness

This week started with a nice long public holiday weekend & a migraine. Super! Left me with a migraine hangover that lasted nearly all week. Lots of water & less sugar. In an ideal world I would have spent a day in a dark room sleeping it off but that wasn't a option. I soldiered on. 

The title of this blog is spot on, after a slow, sickly start to the week it turned mad but in a good way. I taught Sunday, Monday & Tuesday which was great I don't usually get consecutive days. Wednesday off but I practiced. Then taught my usual Thursday night class. 

I'd heard one of my dear friends and colleagues was sick, sore throat, fever, cough = not good for teaching. I casually offered to cover her 5:45am on Friday morning. This broke my rule of not teaching an early after a late. (Only because I still have to do 8 hours in the office day job) I got the text as I was getting home at 10pm. Quick re order, grabbed some clothes for the next day (in the dark as The Man was sleeping), threw together my bag, lunch food & was all ready to go. 

Five hours sleep & some Energy Tea off I went. Class was great. Everyone arrived under ten minutes before kick off, total of about 14 students. I was worried no one would turn up! Finished on time, everyone was showered & out the door so I could do the same with an extra five minutes to spare. Usually when I teach I can't get parking at the station & have to park at my friends house & walk down. Not today! I got parked. Bonus. Day job was nice and stress free. Not much going on & some down time to get some in house work finally finished.

About lunch time I got a text from another instructor who needed cover for the 6pm at Scarbs. Usually I can't teach 6pm, especially at the beach, as I wouldn't get there on time but as it was Friday and work was quiet & managed to get off a little early and cover the class. Unfortunately I had to wear my teaching clothes from the morning that had been festering in my hot car all day. Gross!!! Stinky, wet tops are not nice.

Pulled it off, taught a good class, I wasn't flagging as I thought I might. I had left my teaching notes at Joondy that morning so was without anything interesting to read out in savasana so let them be in silence which was probably fitting.

The night didn't end there. I hot wheeled it down to Cottesloe Beach for a drinks party with the other instructors. One is leaving full time teaching to get a city job in order to stay in Australia a while longer. Really fun, great to get to know the girls on a personal level. Instructors come and go at top speed, the way of the gypsy traveling teacher. The teachers we have now are sticking around a while which gives us chance to get to know each other. You never know we might end up on the same coast again, building global friendships. 

Finally making it home at 1am. Grand total of 20 waking hours. I have no idea how I did it. I even woke up on Saturday morning feeling quite chipper. Must be the Full Moon working in my favour this month!

It's a Moon Week

Time has flown! It's been over two weeks since my last post. Not that I don't have anything to write about, I do, lot's, so much has been going on in my world. Mainly yoga based of course.

I am flat out again. Day job has been insanely busy, busy, busy. All good but very little down time. I've been pulling ten hour days to make ends meet, even sacrificed practicing the new 5:45am Wednesday class at BYJ so I could be at my desk bright & early at 7am. 

It's a Moon Week. Full Moon was on Tuesday. I don't really follow moon cycles, it's more of an Ashtanga thing. However, I feel I can pin point some of my scattered-ness, crazy busy-ness, general feeling out of sorts on the Moon this week. It's not just me who's had a bonkers week, others close to me have had their tribulations.

Teaching is going well. I have a whole new post lined up to cover the past two weeks adventure's in the room, it's been an interesting few weeks. I'm back on the mat practicing more consistently. No massive breaks in between classes. (oh I know four days is hardly massive but for me it is!) Quite spectacularly I fell on my arse in Eagle in Monday mornings class. Hilarious. My instructor buddy was right next to me & I bet she she was dying to join me in laughing out loud. In all fairness I was trying to sit down deeper and work on my alignment when BAM my foot slipped straight out, threw me off balance, I toppled backwards, as of course all my body weight was back on my heel ;-) & landed flat on my butt. I picked myself up & carried as you do.

I had set myself up for a busy weekend but waking up this morning with a yoga hangover I'm going to reshuffle. There are a few appointments I need to keep but I am planning on taking some me time. Mainly get a good nights sleep & wake up naturally. Rest & revive is in order, and possible a nice crispy glass of white tonight to get the ball rolling.

Have a great weekend everyone & I shall return very soon with something more interesting to write about!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Here we are January 3rd 2012, a new year has begun. Thinking back to what was going on this time last year is pretty much the same as today. I'm back at my day job, it is very quiet, I'm planning my week & drinking tea. 

2011 was a great year for me. It was busy, very busy but full of excitement and challenges. New friends were made, dear old friends were visited, I traveled to three continents clocking up a lot of air miles. I saw my family!! I spent a LOT of money, investments for sure, no regrets. I had my struggles but over came them. I believe I have come out the other side a stronger and more focused person. Prioritizing what is important right now & what can wait is a new skill I'm developing. Having the ability to say no, instead of spreading myself too thin just to please others because I think I have to is another thing I'm working on. 

Obviously one of the best things about 2011 was becoming a certified Bikram Yoga instructor. I'm still in the honeymoon stage but every time I teach it keeps getting better and better. It doesn't feel like a job. Probably because I have my full time job for security it takes the pressure off teaching. I can teach for fun because I enjoy it. I have the luxury of not worrying how many classes I teach a week to make ends meet. The bills are covered. Lucky me but it's never all sunshine & rainbows or where's the challenge. 

It is hard work. Our house is a mess, seriously thinking of getting a cleaner. My personal practice has been sacrificed in order to fit everything in. A knock of effect of this is my waist line has expanded because I've not reduced my food intake to fit. I'm still eating like I'm practicing 6 days a week & things are not as toned as they were six weeks ago. I'd love to teach more but it's just not possible right now, I'm not ready put all my eggs in one basket. Some weeks I can go days without teaching & I'm itching to get back on the podium asap. At least I'm fresh & raring to go when I do. It will be very easy to burn out if I'm not careful. Therefore I need to stick to my guns and prioritize! I wouldn't change my life right now for anything, I am extremely happy & grateful to be living here in the moment. Here's to 2012 a year for good health, travel, friendship & fun!

Teach - Work - Take

The title of this post might be a little cryptic, in short it sums up my day on Tuesday this week. Last week I mentioned in a post about making sure I keep up with my own personal practice. Easy as last week. This week a little more tricky. I scored five classes to teach!! Quite the increase from two or my expected three. I'm itching to teach as much as humanly possible. The only way to learn and grow as a teacher is to teach, teach, teach.  Apologies if I'm repeating myself, I have permanent yoga brain. 

Tuesday was an experiment. Teach the 5:45am class (4:15am alarm!), work all day at design job 8:45am - 5pm, then scoot down Scarborough & practice the 7pm. I've started a new energy boosting food program (whole post dedicated to this at some point) so with my mind programmed it would have enough energy to do a 17 hour day off I went. I survived nine weeks of 17 hour days, one day wouldn't kill me. It was fine. I did have the energy, my practice was strong and I'm seeing breakthroughs and improvements. Cramping was a slight problem, I'm sweating when I teach so I need to hydrate like when doing a double. Hands up it was a long day, I got home at 9:15pm, The Man had cooked me dinner but left the washing up. No big deal, I ended up washing up at 10pm as evening classes leave me a little wired. 

However. This will not be something I'll be doing every week. I was a little frazzled come Wednesday morning and crashed in the evening. Occasionally, once or twice a month at a push if I have to to get my own practice in. I wouldn't do this in reverse order, teaching last. I owe it to my students to be as fresh and alert as I can be. Successful experiment but won't be adopting it into my weekly routine unless absolutely necessary.

Hitting the ground running

The title of this post sums it up really. After five leisurely jet lags days I have literally not stopped. Nearly two weeks back at full time work, four yoga classes taught, eight practiced, I have been busy, busy, busy. 

Last weekend for example I left the house at 8:30am Saturday morning and didn't get home till 7:30pm Sunday night. I literally lived out my car but did get to sleep in a real bed Saturday. (my friends guest bed to be precise) But I'm loving it. Fast pace and furious is how I like it. If I'm not kept on my toes I get bored.

I am learning that I need to keep everything balanced. Setting up new files for teaching invoices/tax recipes is top of the list when I get a spare second. Christmas card writing took priority over that. Most of this will be digital but I still  have some actual paper work to deal with. Don't mess with the tax man. I'm making time for my personal practice. It's so important and will help my teaching. I like having the 'face time' with students too so they just don't see me on the podium but being a student as well. Too many teachers have told me they find it hard to keep up there own practice in order to teach full time. As I'm not teaching full time but working full time it still will be a challenge. So far, so good.

I started having Reiki healing which hopefully will help relax some of my mad energy. There was mention of post traumatic stress disorder as a result of attending TT. I laughed this off but I have had some nights I've woken up bolt upright in bed thinking I was sleeping through a lecture!! Even though I was one of the few who had a sunshine & rainbows experience I feel there was some dark energy I absorbed or was exposed to. That needs to be exorcised!!!

A few people have that they have found it hard to integrate back into real life after training. I've been too busy to have a choice, head first back into it. One weird thing is though I have found myself distancing myself from my fellow trainees. Of course there are the friends for life who I personally have emailed to touch base with. I've been keeping up with my posture clinic group in our own private area too. I mean I'm not really going into the general Facebook Group and mixing like I did before I left. Maybe it's the lack of time. Maybe I've just closed that circle. Everyone is on their own journey now. We shared the 9 weeks, now its time to move on. Just like training some will struggle, some will cruise it, I just haven't had the energy to follow it all online. I hope each and every person finds their way and finds their happiness but my way now is back in my own home space. I have let go, moved on and send them all good vibes.

With Christmas just around the corner I can't see things slowing down just yet. My day job closes for Christmas week, perfect opportunity for me to teach more! We are having a charity class on Christmas Day which should be fun. Not sure if I can mention what we are doing...I might leave it as a surprise but I'm really looking forward to it. A class with a 'twist!'

Survival

Time is so so short here in LA. There is barely enough time to blink an eye. I am snatching a quick five minutes whilst I dry off from my shower before I try and force some food down myself which I have no interest in eating. I cannot reveal the secrets of Yoga Boot Camp & I don't want to, hey you pay your 11k & get your butts down here & find out!!!! bahh haaaa.

It's all down to survival. I feel like Bear Grylls. Do anything to stay alive, stay hydrated, stay sane. Sanity has not been an issue for me as yet. Nothing has yet apart from serious sore muscles.

I am surviving thus far and I am loving every moment. I have stayed in the room, I have not puked but I have pulled back so far I'm on the verge of being called a lazy arse. Hey if it keeps me in the game it'll be worth it. My new friends are awesome, sweet and kind. It's amazing that being so busy and rushed leaves little time for anything else. You can switch off & tune out. I have not been outside into fresh air for three days. No time for air there are 1000 other more important things.

More at the weekend with my report of the first test: Half Moon delivery to Bikram. If you haven't seen on FB, I loved loved loved my 1 minute in the spot light!
  

When it all gets too busy

Just as I'm going away things pick up in my day job. It's been super busy the month of August. Our franchise finished number one in the state for revenue made. Makes sense as we've been flat out busy, busy, busy. Sadly not a great deal of super creative work for me but I did have one solid project to get my teeth into. My freelance work quenches my creative thirst too. At least with the work coming in thick & fast it's a good sign there will be a job to come back to in November. Just means I'll have some major prepping to do with the lady who's covering me as I'll be leaving a few projects half way finished.

I saw these cute little stamps in a funky stationery shop here called Typo. They are very fitting with our current busy status. Have to be careful not to actually stamp anything that goes out to the clients. Just my personal job bags!!!

Only two weeks till I'll be making my assent into LA. Teaching training is so close now it's kinda surreal after all the preparation and build up!!