Some like it hot

I taught my first hot yoga class on Sunday! Urban Yoga Spa (where I attend classes) graciously allowed me to use their studio to host a free private class for my friends and family.

I had twenty students which was a nice size, and they had all different experience levels which made it really fun. Two of my coworkers came - one for his first yoga class ever (awesome!), and the other who just got back from maternity leave (rock on hot mama!). Plus a former coworker who I used to do yoga with at lunch (yay reunion!). A couple people had done Bikram yoga before but this was their first time doing Vinyasa (which is a completely different style). Most everyone else does yoga on a regular basis, including three of my favorite yoga instructors (love you guys!). One friend who is moving to Vail this week (so cool! but I will miss her), and another friend in town from San Francisco which made the day extra special! And of course all my Bali yogis were with me in spirit! 

It was my first time using a headset microphone so it was funny to hear my voice over the speakers. I felt like Madonna or Britney when I saw myself in the mirror before class - all that was missing were my backup dancers, ha ha! The only glitch was that the display screen for the sound system wasn't showing my music playlist, so I had to do a little bit of last minute scrambling to get it working. Once that was squared away, everything was smooth sailing. Well, unless you ask the two people who overlooked the line in the invitation stating it would be a hot yoga class - surprise! They survived though and everyone left class smiling.

This morning the studio manager said she heard really good things about the class and she invited me to teach again, woo hoo! I don't know the exact date yet but I'm thinking of doing a class focused on giving and gratitude. Perfect for the holidays...I might even throw in some Christmas music...

Speaking of holidays, here are some cute gingerbread yogis :)

Class #1

I taught my first official yoga class this week - woo hoo! It was for Yogis at University of Washington which is an awesome non-profit that provides free yoga classes to college students! I didn't even know what yoga was when I was at the UW so these students are already miles ahead of where I was at their age. I'm super excited to volunteer my time teaching classes for them because I know yoga will help with their studies, relationships, decisions, health, happiness and more!

I had no idea what to expect when I showed up for class. I thought there would maybe be 10 people there...or less because it was pouring rain. I was shocked when people kept coming and coming - pretty soon we were moving mats to make more space and add more rows. I ended up with nearly 40 students - fantastic! I was thrilled that so many people came - plus they were very welcoming and eager to learn.

They earned points with me right away when they asked if I was also a student at UW...and then were surprised when I laughed and said "yeah, but it was 10 years ago." The class itself went really well - this was my first time teaching an entire hour (our "final exam" during training was only 17 minutes). I decided not to plan out an exact sequence ahead of time...I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or just plain crazy, but it ended up working out! I felt like if I had a memorized sequence, I would be focused on "getting it right" rather than just teaching. I think I was able to feel the room better this way, and speak from my heart rather than from a script. I was worried I would either run out of time and feel rushed to finish, or I run out of things to do and leave them laying in Savasana for 20 minutes. Miraculously the timing went smoothly and I ended right on schedule!

I had quite a few people come up after class and say how much they enjoyed it so that made me very happy. They also liked my music - phew! because I seriously spent forever debating over the playlist, ha ha. I left on a complete high - it was crazy how much energy it gave me! I offered to teach twice a month for them so hopefully they will take me up on it :)

This Sunday I'm hosting a free class for friends & family at Urban Yoga Spa (where I attend classes). They generously allowed me to use their studio - love them! So far around 20 people have RSVPd so I'm excited! I also started teaching in my office once a week for two of my coworkers. A couple other people found out and started asking questions about it, so hopefully they will join us!

Integration

I've been back in the states for three weeks now so I'm integrating back into regular life. It's been easy in some ways and challenging in others, which is no surprise. What I find interesting is that some of the things that I thought might pose a problem have gone smoothly, while I have been triggered by other things that never occurred to me.

For instance, I thought I was crazy for booking the Las Vegas conference but it ended up being great! I didn't experience any jet lag - I think having the adrenaline from speaking at the conference actually helped give me energy so I easily adjusted to the time change.

Once I was back in Seattle, one of the first things I did was go grocery shopping. While that seems innocuous enough, it turned out to be really overwhelming. I was in the produce section trying to decide what to get and all of a sudden I started feeling really emotional and I didn't know why. I stood there looking at all of the choices and I just totally froze. I realized afterwards that I hadn't made any decisions for myself in six weeks - in Philly, Bali & Vegas I had a schedule laid out for me that in addition to all my activities, it included when, where and what I ate. It was fantastic to have all those details taken care of, don't get me wrong, I just hadn't realized how accustomed I had become to following what was decided for me rather than making decisions for myself.

My first day back in the office turned out to be an emotional day. I was really happy to see all my coworkers - I am very lucky to work with wonderful friends! However, even though I work with forty people, our office is divided into sections so there aren't a lot of people around me. This is the opposite of Bali where I was constantly with other people - we ate together, had classes together, worked on projects together, lived together, etc. There was rarely a time when I was alone - even on the days of silence, we weren't speaking but we were with each other. Anyway, my first few days back at the office brought up a lot of emotions for me because I was feeling really isolated and lonely. It helps to leave my desk periodically and walk around to chat with people, so now I incorporate that into my day and it provides a better sense of community.

The second thing I noticed about being back at work was that it was hard for me to be inside all day. In Bali we were always outside - even when we were inside, it felt like we were outside because the buildings had open walls. We were in the middle of the jungle so we were surrounded by lush green trees and vibrantly colored flowers, we were constantly breathing in fresh clean air, and I was barefoot the whole time (flip-flops were the closest I ever came to shoes). It is a huge difference to now be inside all day, with circulated air, wearing jeans & shoes. Also, the tallest building at Anahata was two stories so I felt very connected to the earth the whole time I was in Bali. My office is on the 29th floor and my condo is on the 33rd floor, so in Seattle I spend most of my life up in the air. I never thought about it before because it was what I was used to, but after being grounded for a month it felt very strange to be back in skyscrapers. I can help both of those issues by remembering to take breaks outside. Even if it's just for a few minutes, it makes a big difference in my day.

Anyway, I'm feeling settled in now and things are back to normal...well, as normal as they will ever be. I will always have Bali with me and my life will forever be changed :)

Bali Pictures

I've been home for a week now and I'm starting to settle back into a groove. Las Vegas was fun and both of my presentations went well at the conference! I presented one session on using social media for advertising and another on conducting firm compliance training meetings. I received positive feedback from the participants so hopefully I'll be invited to speak again next year. There were 300 compliance officers there and I ran into a few that I knew from Seattle so that was nice. Marc was able to come with me and work remotely while I was at the conference. It was great to have him there after being apart for a month. We went out to a couple of nice dinners and saw a Cirque du Soleil show called Ka that had incredible martial arts and acrobatics. So fun!

Now I'm back in Seattle and starting to figure out when/where I want to teach yoga. I'm not planning on working at a studio - right now I'm just looking for non-profits that I can volunteer my time to teach classes. There is a new group that just started this fall at the University of Washington that offers free yoga classes to students! I didn't even know about yoga back when I was in college and it would have been a great thing to have in my life so I'm excited to be able to give back in that way. I lined up my first class teaching for them next week, yay!

Here is a link to my pictures from Bali. I was only able to post a few at a time while I was gone because the internet was so slow, so now I have them all online.