Fresh Fruity Spa Water

I hear Vancouver is finally getting some heat! I feel like our summers never really get started before August anymore so hopefully we have a nice warm fall again. It's pretty hot up here in Kelowna, this week it has already been at 37 degrees which is almost the same temperature as inside the room in a Bikram Yoga class. We experienced similar conditions the first week in I was here and one day during the 5pm class the room was so stifling the teacher decided to let us practice with the windows open!

It's taken a lot of adjusting for my poor confused body and I'm still finding it challenging to keep myself hydrated. Today I taught the 12pm class and wanted to take the next class myself which was at 4pm. I quickly went to a cafe down the street and ate something so my food had time to digest. I had a nice Tiger Spice Chai Latte then went home to re-hydrate.

I had sweat out a lot when I taught the noon class and knew I had to put the moisture back into my body so I drank a liter of Gatorade-infused water before walking down to take class. I know Gatorade is not recommended by yogis because of its' high salt and sugar content but when I'm really feeling parched it seems to be the only thing that works for me. When I was at Teacher Training I had to drink a Gatorade every day just so I wouldn't feel weak and dizzy in class. I try to avoid it normally and drink Vega Sport Electrolyte Hydrator instead, which is a nice clean product. However I believe we're all a bit different and you need to find what works for you and when I'm desperate my body reacts well to Gatorade.

Lately I have been getting dehydrated at the stragest times. I usually drink a ton of water before yoga class so I don't need to have any when I'm in the hot room. I also drink a lot afterwards to replenish everything I sweat out during class. Yet in the morning I have been waking up feeling very dizzy and nauseous, sort of like you feel in the middle of a Bikram class when you know you didn't drink enough water beforehand. The first thing I have to do is run to the fridge and drink coconut water until I feel more energized and my head is clear. I finally realized the best thing to do is drink coconut water before I go to bed and today I woke up feeling better. (Thanks Elsa for the coconut water!)

I also have been making some chilled spa-like fruit water, hoping the vitamins and minerals from the fruit will help a little bit. I have been hearing about this everywhere and it's easy to make if you have a big container and a few different kinds of fresh fruit. You can combine different fruits to make new flavours, here's what I tried:

Cucumber and Kiwi

Cherries

Lemon and Blueberries

Kelowna Farmer's Market

Saturday two of my students from Coquitlam, Elsa and her husband Steve, were traveling through Kelowna and we met at the yoga studio to take class together! I arrived at 8:45am and it was so nice to see their familiar faces. I'm used to going by myself which can be a little bit lonely and I was glad for their company. The teacher was bubbly and knew everyone's names, it was a lot of fun. The class moved together without effort, what a great way to start the weekend! Afterwards we felt relaxed and energized and my husband finished work right as we were done so the timing was perfect.

This weekend in Kelowna was the Centre of Gravity Concert and there were so many people from out of town it felt like the population had more than tripled with partiers. We wanted to eat brunch but I thought it would be wise to steer clear of the restaurants downtown because they would be filled with people nursing their hangovers. So we went to the Farmer's Market for snacks. The Kelowna Farmer's Market is the biggest in BC.

The day was already getting hot and we were thirsty after class so the first place we stopped was the smoothie stand. We all got fresh fruit smoothies, I tried the coconut and pineapple Pina Colada. It was the best thing ever to order after yoga. It was pure fruit with a little bit of cane sugar and was so hydrating and delicious. It was exactly what my body was craving and it helped keep us cool as we walked among the various stalls.

Then we all decided to try the crepes. My husband and Elsa couldn't resist the Nutella and banana crepes and I ate a buckwheat crepe with eggs, cheese and peppers. Steve also got a breakfast crepe and they were all delightful. I ate the best crepe in Paris in May so can't help comparing to that one but these were perfect, just as good as in Paris. Elsa and Steve had to leave then so we said goodbye and walked around looking for more snacks. We found an all-vegetarian foods place where my husband got some steamed veggie buns that were very nice, especially the pulled pork one.

After walking around some more and buying some fruit and cookies and more snacks for the week, we wanted something else to drink. There were fresh squeezed lemonade stands everywhere and it looked tasty but I couldn't get the thought of that wonderful smoothie out of my head. When he said we should almost get another smoothie instead of lemonade I jumped on it and we went back for more! This time I tried the Mango smoothie and although I liked the Coconut one better I could taste how fresh the smoothies were with this one - it was simply a whole cup of squeezed and diced mango.

I think the Farmer's Market was actually a great place to go for breakfast. It was so fun to walk around in the heat and look at what everyone was offering. We ate whatever we thought looked good and had lots of little snacks. The smoothies were a highlight and the people were friendly, I think we'll go again next weekend (or I'll sneak there myself on Wednesday)!





The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul

The first time I took class in Kelowna, I had just returned from traveling through Europe. Although I did take class over there, I think all the wonderful food and wine I consumed didn’t help my practice. So there I was... full of toxins and out of shape, in a new studio with full dialogue classes.

By the time we got to Standing Bow I was doubled over, feeling nauseous and trying to catch my breath. It seemed to make me feel better but I noticed that every time I took a little break to clutch my stomach, it got harder and harder to talk myself into starting the posture again. My breaks became more frequent until we finally got to the floor and I could rest.

The next time I took class the teacher rather pointedly enouraged me to keep going and stop looking at the floor. She had me all figured out and the second I dropped my eyes she called out,

“Why are you looking at the floor? There’s nothing to see there!”

You can read about how much I enjoyed that class here:(http://yogateachersecrets.blogspot.ca/2012/07/the-devil-wears-shakti.html).

However I did notice that for the first time in a long time I was able to complete every posture without taking a break and I even had more energy as the postures progressed. Could it really be that looking in the mirror made such a difference to my class? It took me back to another time when an inspirational teacher reminded me to look in the mirror as I was struggling...

In 2008 I went to Teacher Training in Acapulco. Mexico in the fall, in rainy season, was unbearably humid. The yoga room was filled with more than 400 yogis and in the first few classes I found myself kneeling on my mat, just trying to breathe. It felt like someone was stepping on my chest.

The turning point for me happened when Ulises from Mexico was teaching. He was encouraging us to just keep going no matter how hard it seemed. He told us to use our Jedi mind strength and always look at our eyes in the mirror. He said,

“When you look in your eyes you will see things are not as bad as you think, because you will never make a horrible face at yourself”.

Besides making me laugh, I found his advice very useful and started completing stronger, more focused classes.  Over the years I forgot all about the lesson he taught me but was reminded recently when I took that class in Kelowna and was forced to stop looking at the floor.

I was almost scared to look in the mirror in case I looked exhausted. Yet when I raised my gaze to my eyes I experienced  shock, awe and inspiration. Instead of seeing a pathetic looking creature begging for a stop to this torture I saw strength, determination and passion radiating from my gaze.

Throughout the rest of the class I used the mirror as a way to directly tap into my inner strength. It was like sticking my finger into a socket, the energy inside me was crackling through the mirror and invigorating my postures. Now I noticed that when I let my eyes drop down to the floor, even for a couple of seconds, my energy went down as well. I would quickly look back into my eyes and before I knew it, I had completed a strong standing series.

I said a silent little thank you to the teacher for reminding me of this valuable lesson and promised myself I would not forget it again.

We are the mirror as well as the face in it.

We are tasting the taste this minute of eternity.

We are pain and what cures pain both.

We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.

I want to hold you close like a lute so we can cry out with loving.

You would rather throw stones at a mirror?

I am your mirror, and here are the stones.

- Rumi

Cora Restaurant, Kelowna BC

There's nothing like weekend brunch when you live in downtown Vancouver. There are so many restaurants that serve variations of Eggs Benedict, Omeletes and French Toast and it's a Vancouver institution to take a walk downtown, sit on a patio and enjoy a fabulous breakfast late in the afternoon.

A couple weekends ago we wanted to keep up our Vancouver tradition of brunch on Saturday so we went to one of the big brunch places around here, Cora. It's a bright yellow building that you can't miss on Harvey Street (Hwy 97).

The interesting thing about Cora is that it is a Canadian-based business. Cora Tsouflidou opened a diner in Montreal twenty-five years ago in 1987. Over the years her breakfast business has expanded to now include more than 130 franchised restaurants (two in the Lower Mainland - Richmond and Coquitlam). Cora still  keeps the business family-based, with her family personally training new business partners and her son recently taking over as CEO.

Cora herself still tries out new menu items in her own kitchen before approving them to go on the menu. The restaurant's service model is based on the idea that customers should be wowed by the extra steps that staff take to leave them feeling at home and satisfied.

When we arrived the restaurant was packed and there was a lineup but because there are so many tables we only had to wait for about ten minutes. The hostesses were friendly and the inside of the restaurant matched the outside with cheerful yellow walls featuring cartoons of smiling suns and menu items written in bold lettering. Everything seems geared towards kids and families and the decor makes you feel at home and happy  in the morning, sort of like having breakfast in a kooky Aunt's farmhouse kitchen.

When we were seated our waitress was personable and told us the specials of the day. The menu has quite an extensive list of unique breakfast items as well as a few lunch meals as well. The nice thing about this menu is that with every meal you are guaranteed to get fresh fruit. It is a heavily fruit-based menu with several particularly french-inspired items including Crepes, Omelets and lots of Nutella. I chose the Strawberry Crepe with Vanilla Pudding and my husband chose the Crepomelette.

Crepomelette

My husband's meal was delicious! It was a spinach and cheese omelet that had been rolled in a crepe and covered with hollandaise sauce. It came with a side of toast and of course a side of fresh fruit. The fruit included kiwis and strawberries and was not your typical canned fruit cocktail that many places serve. I tried a bite of his Crepomellette and the flavor of the spinach and cheese really came through and mixed well with the savory crepe and light hollandaise. If you can get over the hard-to-pronounce name this is a tasty item to order.

Strawberry Crepe

I ordered the strawberry crepe and as you can see from the picture, it was huge!!! The plate could not even contain it. When I first tasted the crepe I was delighted because it was light, fluffy and crispy all at the same time and had a pleasant vanilla flavour, delicious. The crepe was stuffed with sliced strawberries and I chose a vanilla custard filling rather than Nutella. There were three generous dollops of whipped cream on top and it was lightly dusted with icing sugar.

As I munched my way through I started realizing that this breakfast was an overload of sweetness! It was more of a dessert than a breakfast and the combination of the vanilla pudding and the whipped cream made me feel a little bit sick. I love sweet breakfast on the weekend and to be honest, I was out-sweetened by this one. A half portion would have been better because it was delicious at first, but just too much by the time I got more than halfway through. If you want to try it, I would recommend asking for it with no whipped cream.

As I mentioned before, sometimes I like to indulge with a sweet breakfast and cut it with the bitterness of a decaf coffee and I was craving this particular combination that morning. Our waitress brewed a decaf just for me and surprisingly, it was sooo tasty. Usually decaf coffee tastes like over-brewed watered-down dishwater but this was full flavoured and didn't have the metallic aftertaste that I hate in coffee. I also noticed they have an espresso machine and was delighted to have the option to order a latte or cappuccino.

To sum up, the staff did make the extra effort to be friendly and accommodating, the coffee was great and my husband's meal was outstanding. Although mine was too sweet, there are many other breakfast options to try so I think we will go back for another dose of early-morning cheer at Cora's.

Overall: 7/10

Surprise Weekend

Growing up, every summer my family went camping in Osoyoos. We stayed at Shady Lagoon, a terrace-style campsite located on Osoyoos lake. The grassy levels were cut into the hillside to ensure that every campsite had a view of the lake. Campsites started up high in the orchard and ran all the way down to the beach. Every year we all took off work and brought up our significant others to spend time together and not only relive but also make new memories.

All that came to an end about three years ago when the owners suddenly decided to reduce the amount of campsites open to the public and even us long-standing visitors had to go. Since then we haven't gone camping together as a family and we all miss those fun summer times.

Last week my parents came to Kelowna to visit. A friend who grew up in Kelowna recommended Bear Creek Park as a nice campsite for them to stay at. Unfortunately all the 122 spots were fully booked. A few days before they were due to arrive some of the campsites had cancelled and they were happy to have a place to stay.

My parents drove up on Tuesday and surprise Number One happened when I opened the back door of their truck - my brother jumped out of the backseat! He had told me he wouldn't be able to come so it was a nice shock to see him there.

We drove across the Floating Bridge to Westbank and arrived at their campsite. It was surprisingly spacious and located right on the lake. There was a large grassy area in front that led to the water and the view was stunning. My brother and I were so excited to be camping again.

Surprise Number Two happened on Friday afternoon I was walking along the downtown strip. I saw a girl with her hat pulled down low who looked like my brother's girlfriend. I called her name as she walked by but she didn't answer. I kept looking back and could have sworn that it was her.

When the girl walked past us again I saw that her bag looked a lot like the one I had given my brother's girlfriend as a gift. I called her name again, loudly, but she still did not acknowledge me. I didn't want to go up and grab a stranger by her arm so I was forced to accept it wasn't her. She disappeared into an office building in front of us and as we walked by I turned to look in the doorway and out she jumped - it WAS her! My Mom had organized for both of us to have our nails done at the spa so we had a great time there.

Later in the afternoon I went to visit my family at their campsite and as I was talking to them two more brothers suddenly leaped out from behind a bush and surprised me again. They had both come up just for the weekend so we could all be together on my birthday! Later that night my best friend arrived from Vancouver and it was officially a party. We had a fabulous weekend and on Saturday night went out for an amazing dinner at Quails' Gate, the most beautiful winery I have ever been to.

Every night after spending the day in the sun and the city we went back to their campsite and had wine, ate smores and acted silly. Although they had to move around a couple more times over the weekend, every spot was spacious and private. Many of them had stunning views and lake access and there were no loud campers so it was very relaxing.

I recommend Bear Creek to anyone wanting to camp in the Kelowna area and I think we are going to make this our new spot to keep up our family tradition of summertime together.

Cracked Cuticle Control

When I'm at home in Vancouver I teach eleven classes a week and take three to five classes myself so I'm in the hot room a lot. That means a lot of sweat, a lot of water and my nails suffer as a result.

I try to put nail polish on to protect my nails a little bit but I find that after just one or two days my manicure starts to crack and chip off. If I take class my manicure is usually ruined by the end of it because there are many posture where you have to step on your hands and use your arm strength to get a stretch. If you practice Bikram Yoga the best way to keep your nails looking nice is a shellac manicure that lasts for several weeks.

Yet I always get embarrassed when I go to have a manicure. Without fail, the esthetician tells me my nails are too short to do a nice manicure. They look at my poor dry nails and cuticles and start asking me what I am doing to them. I have tried out so much advice ranging from foods to eat and vitamins to take but recently one manicurist gave me a tip that really works. 

She looked at my cuticles and told me they were unusually high on the nails and she would have to cut them back. They were growing very thick to try to protect the nail bed from the heat, moisture and excess dryness that all the yoga was causing. She told me that ideally, healthy nails should not need to have the cuticles cut back every time you go in for a manicure.

The best way to prevent overgrowth is to moisturize your nails with oil. There are many products out there, I use Aveda Cuticle Control.

You just use a little dot in the centre of your cuticle, rub into your cuticle, nail and surrounding skin then let it sit for a couple of seconds before pushing the cuticle back. Once you have pushed the cuticle back, rub a little more oil into the exposed nail so that every time you use your hands the oil will be pushed further down into the nail bed to moisturize it.

When the esthetician told me how many times to do this I was shocked, apparently you have to do it at least once a day! She said if I take the moisture out... I have to put it back in. I can actually feel my nails are very dry after class and this feeling reminds me to apply the oil. I bought a second cuticle treatment from Bath & Body Works to keep in the car for after class. For the last couple of weeks I have been using the Aveda product every day and it is working because my cuticles have stayed down and my nails are starting to look healthier and stronger.

The Devil Wears Shakti

Yesterday I went to the beach across the street. It is a beautiful grassy area on the waterfront that reminds me of English Bay.

It's not too crowded so there is lots of room to sit down under a tree to enjoy the mountains and the lake.

I spent most of the afternoon reading my book and just relaxing in the Okanagan heat.

 

But before you think life is too easy up here, you need to know that the Kelowna studio has one of the toughest yoga teachers around.

The first time I met her I was just dropping by the studio to check it out and pick up a schedule. My husband warned me she was sizing me up and I better watch out. I just laughed him off but secretly that made me nervous.

Then I went in last Wednesday and took her class for the first time. I was hot and nauseous, my standing series was weak and I even had to take a knee by the time we got to Tree Pose. When we were lying in savasana she started telling us how we should keep doing the postures even when we felt tired or like we couldn't do them and then we would be getting mentally as well as physically stronger.

I thought I DID push through it but couldn't really think much else as I lay in a deep savasana.  I pulled it together for the floor series and completed the rest of the **hot** class in fairly decent form. By the end of the class I felt wrung out, satisfied and like I couldn't wait to try again the next day.


I felt good after class but then I couldn't take class for two days afterwards!! All I could do was lie on the couch with a major case of yoga brain. I literally could not do anything, could not focus on anything. All I wanted to do was just sit in one spot and contemplate a leaf... or something. I was feeling so relaxed to the point of being lethargic that I was actually a bit worried. My husband came home and told me I was probably just dehydrated and I realized I would need to stock up on electrolytes now that I was in a warmer climate.


The next few classes were easy in comparison.

Yesterday I went to the 5pm class with the same teacher, feeling up for the challenge. The warm up went pretty well and although my breathing was challenged at times I still managed to keep it flowing steadily through Eagle. At party time I was feeling exhausted as I grabbed a quick drink of water. This is when we just start to get into the tough cardio part of class so I knew I was in trouble.

Sure enough I crashed at the same point that I did last time I took her class - Standing Bow. But this time she would not let me stop!!!! She kept telling me to pick up my foot.. try again... don't give up... she was on top of me every time I even tried to take a break. At one point I just dropped my head a bit to catch a quick breath and she caught me and said 'look in the mirror, there's nothing on the floor!'

I was exhausted and pushed pushed pushed to the point where I mentally thought I could not go... but then I pushed past it and kept going and even though every breath was a knife in my lungs and my legs were a little shaky, I found I could keep going. And this time when Tree Pose came along I somehow felt strong!!!!

We lay down in savasana and I realized that there are certain areas in my practice that I have gotten used to slacking off in and Standing Bow is one of them. This teacher challenged those patterns and would not let me wallow in my laziness, she would not even let me look at the ground! And I thought to myself - that is a real teacher. She cares about me and won't let me defeat myself. She was bossy and pushy but she never said a mean word or got frustrated or rude at all. She was always positive and encouraging and acknowledged the small victories we all had in our class.


Again I left class feeling happy, challenged and ready to keep working on my postures. I also was excited to connect with this teacher because I feel she can help take my practice to the next level. This is something I have been needing so the timing could not be better. 

But for today I think I'll swap in my yoga towel for a beach towel...