A brand new day!

I went training, and I mean real training, yesterday!

Weight lifting with a dear friend who I call P :) I was a bit afraid since it has been a while since I have actually worked out hard and when I did in the past I always got sick the day after, down with the dreaded cold and or sneezing attack, a response from my immune system to the stress of hard training.
I do Yoga, Qigong, etc but haven't done any Martial Arts, Boxing, Running or high impact/strenuous activities in a while, way too long for my liking!!! And since the doctors told me to start building up my movement and to use my good judgement and expertise to re-train myself, I have been doing exactly do silently, methodically and fiercely, like ninjas do! *laughs*

So, yesterday, P and I went to the gym and we did 3 sets of 20 Squats (first two sets was body weight and last set with 10 lb) then we moved into Walking Lunges, 3 sets (I did only one set), Hamstring Curls (Standing and Pronated) 3 sets with enough weight to feel my hams burning!!! Chest Press with 10 lb dumbbells, Bicep Curls with a 15 lb bar (I felt a bit like a wimp, I used to lift double that!) Shoulder Press with 15 lb and finally Crunches and a good stretch session at the end.

It felt good to be back in the gym, and the idea that I will be getting stronger gives me hope that soon, very soon, I'll be back in the ring, boxing my way up and even sooner I will bring my kicks to TKD, my Gi to the tatamis and soon, very soon I'll be choking people out and kicking some real @$$ (I'm watching my language, someone I respect asked me to)... And of course let's not leave Qigong behind which is the power of building and strengthening my Qi, the source of all power!
OK, maybe I won't choke anyone out but it is fun to say it, and we actually practice all sort of chokes in BJJ, so watch it!!!! HA!

So, moving on to what matters, how do I feel today? I am feeling just a bit sore, not enough though, I don't feel like I had a big workout (I know I did) maybe because despite my "thing" I am in great shape, I mean, I still look good if that counts in any way... maybe the cardio will be another story and I will build that up too, so no worries! Now, seriously.
I woke up sneezing this morning and for half a second I was scared. I did my best to relax and do my morning meditation, some sort of ritual I do every morning to control my sneezing, it works, don't ask me to explain, I don't know exactly how it works, but it actually does.
I lay still on my back, something like Savasana, I breathe the best I can, into the Dantien (belly) first (Qigong style) even when my nose is blocked I find my way through it and I breathe in and out through the nose and building up my Qi. Then I direct the breath into my organs, first to the right side (liver) and then to the left (spleen) and I keep alternating the breath between sides feeling the air going to this organs and doing the work (I think of it of a massage to my organs), then I bring the breath to my back (kidneys), feeling the air going right into my back and finally I breathe into the thoracic cage, filling out my lungs, not the belly anymore, I do the breathing for about 5-10 minutes depending on the severity of my morning sneezes. Through this breathing exercises I fill out my body with Qi, with energy, with air, with prana, with strength, with love! call it anything you want! And just so you know, nobody told me to do this, I have learned techniques through my Yoga and Qigong practice that I kind of mixed and this is the result, what matters is that it works for me! I also make sure that I am not cold, ever! I drees well to go to bed, I cover myself very well too, I wear a merino wool undershirt at all times to keep my core warm, wool/warm socks as well, just because as soon as I feel cold, my sneezes go wild!
And Ethan (remember the Chinese doctor?... who is not Chinese) told me to protect myself from the cold since I have a Qi deficiency and I might suffering from a cold liver and/or spleen, so man, I better watch it!

And to complete my day today, I went to Yoga. After my morning sneezing started I did the meditation and even though it worked well I was still sneezing just a bit, so my mind starting racing and I was getting worried, so I gathered all my things and went to Yoga, hot Yoga and had an amazing class, it was a Power Vinyasa Class and that was hard, I was looking for something gentle to help me restore and I found a killer Yoga Class that left me energized and fully awake and... sneezing who???? not me :)
I also had a laser treatment appointment right after Yoga to get rid of unmentionable hair *sush* and right after I taught a class, one of my corporate contracts.
So yes, I had a full day, yet I feel great right now. I can say I had a wonderful day.
I am making big progress and I am proud of myself!

I really hope you had a great day too.

Peace xx

As of today

I am feeling better, almost no pain, still sneezing but if I had to put a number on how I feel today it would be about 6-7 compared to 2-3 some months ago, that in a scale of 1 to10.

I am still taking medications, three pills a day, the doctor said that it is a very small dose and that I should not worry about it. I was also given the green light to excercise again and I am extremely happy about that, imagine my life without movement, oh no! I don't want to go there right now!
I was aked to refrain (actually, I physically couldn't do it anyways) from high impact activities, martial arts (explosive movement) weight liftgting and anything physically demanding that would affect my immune system, anything that would make my body react to the stress from exercising. It has been excruciating, I really love movement, exercise for me is an outlet, is sometimes all I have in a place where no family or dear friends are available, and yes I have some friends here but people are busy and don't take much time to share, so for me excercise is a way to connect with my inner self and with people around me, excercise is what I do, it is a HUGE part of my life, without it I am a  bit lost... but wait, I'm finding myself in the process and there is more to my life than just that, so no worries here, we are cool!

So, last october I was told that I could do some Yoga (not Ashtanga), to keep doing QiGong and to use my good judgement on what I can do on a given day. I can now recognize how I am feeling on certain days and so I choose either to rest or to move, and so far, I am doing between 2 and 4 yoga classes a week, I lift weights once a week (very light and very little) and that's about it.. is a good beginning I think. I am also teaching 6 classes a week and two of them are a bit demanding but I don't do much, is my specialty class, a boxing/kickboxing inspire cardio class and I really don't do much, I mostly explain, cue and motivate, people know exactly what to do and I don't have to do the whole class, I love this class, my favorite, about 40-60 people in class, screaming, jumping, having fun, it gives me lots of good vibes, I am grateful for it.

This coming week (from dec 12th to 18th) I am planning to take 4 yoga classes and lift weights at least once...

Soon I'll be back with updates on my allergy treatment.

Love xx

lululemon Ambassador Summit. Summer 2011

 I was asked to be an ambassador for one of their stores and it has been an amazing thing! I get to spend time with lots people, I teach classes in store, I meet other amazing ambassadors and get to learn about what they do, we go to each other's classes, we organize and participate in awesome events in our city and we meet amazing people that become part of our lives, really, I have made great friends throughout this process and for that I am grateful.

And, to make a long story short, I was invited to the Ambassador Summit 2011 in Vancouver, three days of lululemon culture, development, and fun. It is the way lululemon celebrates how amazing the ambassadors are and how passionate we are about creating strong relationships within our communities and for being role models and a source of inspiration to those in our community. Three days of elevation, inspiration, and relationship building. The most fun three days of my life, a truly elevating experience!
Three days with another 100+ amazing people, we did Yoga with the local stars, we met the master minds behind lululemon, we had access to personal development workshops, we played games, we visited the city, yummy food, a comfy bed to sleep and best of all, we wore Luon all three days!!!
yeah, Luon, one of my favorites fabrics! actually my favorite is Luxtreme.
OK, don't know what that is? check www.lululemon.com this is the gear I wear, the brand I so love and the community I represent. It is more than just clothing, it really is!

Here I am with Chip Wilson, founder of lululemon athletica,fellow ambassador Baskhar and lovely Amanda, store manager from Montreal.