Running and fasting

It is indeeed quite a task to be running during this holy month. i have yet to run since the fasting started almost two weeks ago. Almost every evening after savouring the 'delicious' food ( that i cooked), i would tell myself that i would be going for running the next morning or evening just before 'buka'. That has yet to happen. i was a lot stronger before whereby i would run just before 'buka' much to the displeasure of my mother. But these days, i busied myself with the preparation of it. I would attempt to run sometime before end of ramadhan while fasting that is. I look at it as a real test and challenge. The last run that sis and i took part was the Mizuno Run, around Bukit Tunku, which we both finished the same time. Have to admit, kinda like having her around.

Running for your life!

I started running when I was 23 and at 35, I'm still running. Not quite sure how and why i started.
I've always been an active student in school taking up several games at any one time. From badminton, volleyball (the coach was cute), table tennis(yes, table tennis..hard to imagine, right??!),softball which wasn't that soft really, and few track and field events. The last time i remembered running was way back in primary school, darjah enam, 4x400m. I had a good team so we won quite a bit. In secondary school, for badminton and volleyball, we had to run around few courts, few rounds as part of the training. And after almost half dead, we then asked to run around the court chasing shuttlecock/ball. It was fun because after that we would go for 'ais kacang' a.k.a abc (in kl) and of course, checking out boys from other schools. You see, we were in Convent schools, both primary and secondary, so being able to feast our eyes is a definite privillege! So, back to running. Then came uni where I was still playing badminton (my first love) and volleyball at first. I progressed to squasy in a short time and was even approached by the squasy captain to represent uni. i honestly believe it was because i had strong serve, technics wise, well, there was plenty of room for improvement. Then, somehow, I met someone who runs marathon and i was inspired. yeah...that was how it all started. and i've been running since...
and now, my laid-back sister has successfully became a 'running freak' and registered both of us for almost, i say almost, every run in kl and selangor and not to mention the annual 'penang bridge run'. to make things worst, she is, at the moment, as fast as i am and will not stop reminding the fact that she finished 1second behind me during our last run, 'Adidas King of the road'. After the run, I felt nothing like king or even a queen as i fell ill for 3 days right after. Moral of the story, running is good as long as you don't have a highly competitive sister tailing behind you. Gone are the days when running used to be all about fun and excitement!

p/s: the photo was taken during the last 'penang bridge run' on 24 june. sis was 4mins behind me and she wasn't at all impressed.

Tired of the Yogi thing

Over lunch today Min and I decided that the yogini tag ties this blog too closely with just yoga, we meant this to be a blog for friends to get together and share,vent, preen and rant.

I just googled warrior goddesses and came up with Athena, Ancient Greek warrior goddess , any other suggestions for name changes are welcome.

So now please feel free to talk about all issues related to women- food, love, fashion. sex, Jude Law,books, movies, pole dancing, cupcakes whatever.

Oh yeah you can talk about yoga too.

And then I went and googled Mistress Athena and ... ah well, so the name is probably temporary...

Picture does speak a thousand words...

This is one the bridges that provides the link between Rishikesh which is divided by beautiful Ganges River. Here, there ashrams everywhere even the one that 'The beatles' went to though I wasn't quite sure where it was.
What I wanted to say is, I like the facts we are using more pictues for our blogspot. I would encourage everyone to do so. i love pictures and would love to see more of it especially those pictures that relates to the subject matter. After7 once asked if it's ok to write something which is not related to yoga. The main reason why verity and I wanted to start the blogspot so that we can write about yoga and how it affects us and other around us. And that would mean our friends who may not think about yoga as much as we do. So the answer is 'yes, please do'. As what I wrote earlier, yoga is very social. I've taken yoga as part of my life, as a practice, a discipline. Other than that, I'm still me.

Droolicious

Hello you naughty girls. If you wanna check out a really incredible cupcake blog get onto cupcakeblog.com. Man it's pretty amazing with lotsa details of how to make and interesting recipes. I'm going to alert our Chef in Residence on this- yes we have a title for her. Any ideas on a Food and Cooking Blog?

Sorry totally irrelevant but this blog is so good. Perhaps we can think of ways to make our yoga blog this good. That picture up there is for a Lemony Ice Cream Cone Cupcake with Lavender and Rose Frosting.

I Wanna Wanna Model in a Furry Bikini

Now when I first started yoga and was actually going to classes regularly, I did feel that I was getting more toned. Sadly recently with getting busy bee with work and travelling all those dreams of going for a week in deep India and being a yogi is probably going to be relegated to next year. Seriously, last thing I need is to be in a class full of yogis standing on their heads while I can't even put my legs in the air without two men and a dwarf assisting me. And that is a whole different story altogether.

Anyway finally met up with an old buddy of mine for lunch yesterday and was astounded to see how fit she looked. Now girls I know most of us would give out the 'I want to get fitter' mantra but seriously who doesn't want to loose a few love handles and fit in your college jeans? Hence I was intrigued. Amazingly this friend of mine who is a cynic and a foodie to boot is spouting fitness babble. In the words of Chicken Little, the sky is falling.

Yes... we have a casualty. She actually tried a two week Nazi plan (what other diet plans are there?) and lost over 5 kilos- more importantly she lost inches and I mean INCHES. The culprit of this said convert is Mr. David Kirsch- the man behind Victoria Secret models able to strut down the smallest runway in the world wearing the world's smallest knickers. Now here's how it goes for two weeks:
- Obviously no carbs, no fruits (huh?) because of the sugar content and no carrots (apparently the most fattening vegetable there is- who the heck comes up with this?)
- Pretty much protein and a side of vegetables (nothing really new there)
- No alchohol, no yolk and no coffee (yup I lost you there didn't I?)

Exercise
- 45 minutes of cardio for six days
- cardio toning exercise every other day
- alternate with upper and lower body exercise

Now before you go off and eat a doughnut from sheer exhaustion, here's the fascinating part. It's not boring and you don't get cranky, you have tons of energy and it works! You also get fabbo side effects like thighs you can bounce fifty cents on, more upper body strengh (always good for Yogis) and healthy nails. I was stunned... and this friend of mind is not one to embellish.

Morbidly fascinated and a bit of a masochist for punishing gym sessions, I followed her today to the gym. Anything to get me exercising now is my fitness plan (even a potentially Nazi gym buddy, {I wish I can say it's the cute guy with killer buns doing squats at 10.34am every morning but gym goers nowadays are a sorry lot}). And thus we did 45 minutes of jumps, light weights, medicine ball, fitness ball and strange, butt out duck walks. We were very popular at the gym for comic relief I must say- glad to put a smile on sweaty people's faces. And here's the verdict:

- the cardio toning though not easy was actually great, wasn't boring at all, varied so you don't have to repeat too many reps and kinda fun. I was however sweating like a pig at the end and felt a little faint at one point (but on occasion very fast sun salutations in the morning after a night of drinking can have a same effect)
- thought I was going to keel over afterwards but bizarrely I was rather perky for my meeting later. I did not feel like taking a nap in the afternoon that always follows after a tough workout. The energy stays with you for long after

Who would have thunk? I am making plans to gym with my convert buddy once a week. However on the diet thing- puh-lease life is just too short. And despite waxing lyrical about David Kirsch with a lot of cult woohoo after reading my friend's blog, it was obviously not all sunshine and crunches either. You can check her story and progress at www.cyberdurian.blogspot.com

But if you can't be arsed, just run marathons like Minah, gets you outdoors and you'll definitely loose weight.

After7 out and feeling the burn

MMMMMarmalade

My new fave place Marmalade

Minah and I met for lunch at Marmalade yesterday, my first time, seen it often enough just never looked tempting enough for me to go in. I have to say I was impressed, finally we have a restaurant that caters to the health nuts of the world where the food doesn't taste like a cross between cardboard and sawdust. Had a great salad, fresh fruit juice with a lousy name, and of course the desert du jour -cupcakes (shared). Felt so virtuous the whole rest of the day. Thanks Minah

Good style, good stuffs

Good style as well as good clothing is essential for everyone and start by getting a good material, if you are into tailoring your own clothes or perhaps for the upcoming festive seasons. Jetsetqueen, i agree on holding a tea party or better still cupcakes and get our own martha stewart a.k.a Kak Tet to prepare her own delicious cupcakes and other stuffs that she's brilliant at. Yummy.... Sorry. Back to my main topic, the materials, well, would be great to see the photos of the materials for a start...See, yoga is very social. Yogis are not freak that only meditate under big trees or some mountains somewhere. The modern yogis love cakes (that would be me),love coffee (me,too), love to eat (me,again) and other things that people do. I was tempted to do use the word 'normal' but who wants to be normal anyway. Since I was small, I told myself that I wouldn't want to be normal. Everybody want to be normal so forget normal. Let's be different. For a start, I don't look like an average Malay so why bother trying.
So, yogis, let us be true to our practice and still have a life! A great one I may add.

Kain Kain

I know this is irrelevant to yoga post but after we sweat so much and somehow have the curves....let's flaunt our curves by wearing new clothes.....jetsetqueen is selling kain kain for raya or any special occassions ;) I will upload the piccies once I have the stock! Range from RM80 - RM120 from Korea....silky and matte type of cloth...easy to wash :)


Oooh...I must say that out door yoga is simply great! Must try once a week with minah yoga....just ignore the onlookers....let's wow them and get them to jump on to the bandwagon :)


Anyhoooo....I am happy with the new yoga home....i used to do hip hop there...errr...i am the oldie amongst the teeny boppers as young as 7 years old :)

We Have a Home!

Finally, after months of uncertainty and stretching in dark cobweby corners... we have a home! Yey yey. Although last Saturday we did it at TTDI park and I must say either than the slopping venue and muddy tracks on my mat and strange people sniffing around our vicinity it was rather nice doing it outdoors.

Okay, okay- the kids screaming on the monkey bars was not exactly zen but hey, beggars can't be choosers. And gals, what's with the Silence of the Lambs? Why no posting? Think we have to make this site a bit more lively so next post I will write about the elusive Yogasm- yes gals I'm afraid it's sex a nd hot men that are going to get repeat viewership on this site so I will begin the sordid business. BTW... don't hold your breaths for this yogarticle yeh? It's coming soon, I promise between my deadlines and all sorts of small stuff life demands of you.

Cheerio!

New yoga classes, new place

After few months of uncertainty over the future of our yoga classes, I am happy to announce that the classes will resume starting August.
The new schedule will be every Wednesday evening (6.45-7.45pm) and Saturday morning (9-10am) at Havana Dance Studio, Jln Persiaran Zaaba, Taman Tun Dr Ismail. For those who are familiar with restaurant/cafe 'Santai' in Taman Tun, well, the studio is on the same row.
Enter the class with open heart and leave the ego at the door.

A Short Movie to go with 7's 'tini'

Yogatini Anyone?

As I was walking down the road trying to take deep cleansing breaths a thought occured to me. Yogini sounds close to Yogatini which I believe is a fabbo name for a cocktail. A cocktail enjoyed by sleek, sexy yogis sitting at a health bar in their designer tracker dacks and halter neck dry fits (right must stop watching reruns of Sex and the City). Think about it girls. After a good balance/ stretch session what better way than to get your slinky relaxed self to a place where there ar no cheesy chat up lines (just gorgeous people to ooze your eyes on) and sip from a highball or martini glass a Yogatini. I'm thinking something fruity and fresh with a dash of cranberry- to offset the alchohol. Here's a Mock Yogatini Recipe. Feel free to let your imagination run wild!

YOGATINI ON CRUSHED ROCKS

Sugar your glass with lime and sugar
6 parts gin
1 parts unsweetened cranberry juice
A squeeze of lime
A dash of sugar syrup
A topping of crushed mint and ice
Oh yeah this is not served stirred or shaken but stretched... a steady stream of the cocktail poured from high above like Teh Tarik and then dash in the crushed mint/ ice. Hmm... now I'm thinking of a YogaTeh Tarik now.

Okay, okay I stole part of a Crantini Recipe for this but I swear the rest is my creation!

Chink Chink!

Off the Mat and into your Life

When I finish a class, I always tell them - take your yoga with you, off the mat. Keep it with you all the time. Keep this inner silence, this inner balance, and this clarity. When it leaves you, bring it back, coax it back, and then, eventually it will become a part of you.

If there is one thing yoga has brought me it is a little more calm, a sense of "this too shall pass". Some of my friends can't believe (and some can't take) this change from the alpha A+ person they knew to the to aspiring B (or C or Z). I'm not completely there yet, may never get there, but the journey is sweet.

And my favourite poses? Balances of course. Yours?

Yoga as weight loss scheme

I've often been asked this question "can i lose weight with yoga?" and my answer will always be the same....yes, you can. Next question is "how?" and my answer, practise the poses diligently and you'll lose more than your extra kilos. For example, you can lose your temper (over time, that is). What i really want to emphasise is the gain (plenty to gain) and this can only be experienced...again, over time. Are you game? Let's focus on the gain as Karin will say...it'll come to you.

Right at this moment

Right at this moment I am sitting in front of my computer and I'm doing little stretches with my toes. I'm trying to breath deeply to keep down the panic that I have hardly started on my deadlines. I am putting my arms up in the air doing a mock chair pose. Anybody? Do you have a home for our floating yoga class? Save me from doing mock poses like a donggoi in my cramped bedroom. Perhaps if I think yoga therefore I am yoga... Afterall sometimes all you need is a little faith... and space... Anybody?

Breathing for life

I would like to start by saying that yoga is not 'just' an exercise...it's a way of life. you commit to change the way you eat, sleep, talk, act, react, think, feel, and finally,the most importantly, breath. Are you game? Is it worth it? You'd ask yourself. It is.

First Blog is the Loveliest

Well, this is nice, Like coming into a new house, that's all your own, smelling fresh paint and shellac. Waiting for ideas and words to form. Sentences to magically snake their way round the mind, tongue, and keyboard. To sound suddenly profound and meaningful. To say things that make a difference.

No, not really. Just a place, a secret hideaway for the aspiring yoginis and friends to rant and rave, share a few laughs and show a few asanas, and maybe make new friends.