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Recently I received a beautiful call from someone from my past. …one of the funniest people I know, actually. We have a friendship that spans decades and although we make sure to reconnect a few times each year and have shared many personal stories (the good and not so good), our friendship mostly resides in seeing the humour in life together. It is really great to have a friend like this.

A couple of days ago though this same funny friend sincerely owned behaviours from the past (which was very brave and definitely would have been a difficult thing to do without joking about it all) and then as if that wasn’t enough, shared that I have been an important person along the way.

I don’t even have words actually to describe how this breaks me open. And it makes me truly consider in my own life ways I can practice vulnerability. I want to take more risks that matter whenever the opportunity presents itself…with my family, friends and all those I come into contact with each day. I want to practice being the most authentic version of myself and to do that requires the kind of vulnerability my friend has so lovingly role modelled for me. It makes me think of a Brene Brown book called, ‘The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.’ If you are not a big fan of her work but haven’t read this book in particular, give it a try. It is a beautiful and practical book that I am going to revisit too.

Soooooo, I am adding, ‘practice vulnerability’ to my habit tracker list this month.

Much love and I hope to see some of you in yoga classes this week 🙂

I have given a lot of thought to adding another healthy habit in February.

I like themes. I like Valentine’s Day. In fact, I like to think of the whole month of February as a perfect reason to act more loving. (It’s okay if you are rolling your eyes…I won’t know for sure).

So this week, I am giving out little hearts in yoga classes that have been folded with a lot of love. This has a built in reward of just being fun.

I will also reward myself with a check mark on my healthy habit tracker chart for intentionally loving acts like…listening with my whole heart when I might not feel like even paying attention, giving hugs instead of my opinion and watching for what others need with a deep curiosity with the intention to respond in a way that is full of love but also respectful of my own limits (practising love toward myself).

All of this is a TALL order. Wish me luck.

Sending all of you lots of love. Happy Valentine Week!

Okay, here is one of the daily habits I am working on…

Have fun outside this winter.

I love the outdoors. I do. I swear. Something just happens mid-winter (especially when it is really cold) that makes me want to cocoon inside with a cup of tea and a good book. Getting out in it though makes winter fun. I am happier. I am also more likely to notice how beautiful winter is and far less likely to wish away the entire season.

I officially kicked off the cultivation of this new healthy habit on Friday, January 31st. After teaching yoga on Thursday I headed to Ottawa for Winterlude with my husband and daughter. Once we arrived, there was so much going on that it was impossible not to enjoy being part of it all. We went tubing and skating and saw lots of snow sculptures and ice sculptures and we listened to some bands after dinner. I loooooooved it. A big check mark on my Habit Tracker on my first day. Yay!

On Saturday we planned to go cross-country skiing with another family for the day (with a packed lunch even to eat along the way) but there were some hiccups with that plan so we ended up having a long lunch with them indoors instead…so sadly, I didn’t even earn a teensy check mark that day. After lunch we headed back from Ottawa and we were in the car for hours.

Today back at home the universe conspired in my favour though and provided some amazingly gorgeous fresh snow…wooohooo.  The whole afternoon was just spent cross-country skiing locally. I earned my second check mark.

Tell me how you are doing with one of your new healthy habits. I would love to hear about it one day this week at yoga or here on the blog.

Happy, happy winter day,

Katherine

I like the idea of officially nurturing healthy habits once January is well underway. All of that January 1st stuff is way too much pressure. So, if you haven’t received your Habit Tracker Challenge booklet yet….it’s coming to you soon during a yoga class this week. We are about to cultivate some serious amounts of joy, energy and all around wellness THIS week and for at least the next 31 days.

If you see me at a yoga class, please tell me the healthy habits you plan to track or leave a comment. I really want to hear about what you are working on. Sharing with each other creates community and accountability. Check back and read other people’s comments. I will write blog posts now and then over the 31 days. If you leave a comment you can choose to be alerted when I post. Or just check back when you think of it.

Let’s support each other and good luck!

Love (lots of it),
Katherine

What will you do to ring in the new year?

Whether it is a quiet night in or a night that will reach into tomorrow, I hope over the last month you experienced the magic of kindness and presence enough to carry this practice into your night and into the rest of the year.

Opportunities to be kind are everywhere. Let’s intentionally bring more kindness into the world in 2020.

Thank you for all the feedback over the last month in person and through email. It has made my heart very happy. I have also really enjoyed the process as a participant. Intentional acts of kindness simply spread joy. One of my favourite quotes this month was on Day 23:

“Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.” ~Bob Kerry

I couldn’t agree more.

So much love to you and have a very Happy New Year!

See you on the mat, Katherine 🙂

Yesterday’s invitation for kindness :
Notice the natural world all around you even if you are indoors. Really see the trees outside your window, look closely at the plants inside your house, the produce in your fridge. Be aware of the miracle of aliveness. Be aware of your own aliveness.

My husband and I finally used a gift certificate we were given a few years ago and went to the Scandinavian Spa in Collingwood yesterday. And once we were there it was lovely. There were opportunities everywhere to notice the natural world around us in the outdoor pools. It was an incredibly beautiful time of year to be there. Inside the eucalyptus steam room, I could hear my own breath and other people breathing but I couldn’t see them for all the steam. Then from there we would go into the cold water pool. All of it made me feel alive, alive, alive. So gorgeous. Go if you have the opportunity.

But I also want to back up a little and tell you about awareness on the way there.

We left for the spa after school drop off and it was softly snowing. The trees were so pretty…heavy with snow in the branches. Gradually the snow fall thickened. My windshield wipers started to freeze clearing away the windscreen above and below my line of vision. The wind picked up creating whiteouts. The drivers ahead and behind put on their hazard lights. We were all crawling. Then the road we were on closed. We turned around and went down an unplowed side road. There were A LOT of cars in the ditch or stuck. The way I started to ‘see’ really shifted. It narrowed. My body was tight. I didn’t feel my breath. I’m not really a nervous driver so it wasn’t an off the charts thing but I wasn’t just appreciating the beauty around me. I noticed the snow but I was more intensely focused on seeing through the windshield and keeping the truck in front of me in focus. I felt so much gratitude for the driver in front who was leading the way. I was also nervous about the guy behind me who kept wanting to pass. He hopped out agitated a couple of times when the car in front of me stopped because cars were stuck or in the ditch.

There is nothing dramatic in this retelling aside from what I think are the tangible benefits of practising presence. I was aware that I was aware of the tension in my body, I decided deeper breathes were necessary, I noticed my need to turn off the music, I realized I was open to have my husband make suggestions about driving which is not always the case 😉 .  I was aware of the unfolding events (weather, cars in front etc.) without blocking out everything else. It isn’t a huge thing. More years of meditation and maybe I wouldn’t tense up at all. Many, many more years of meditation and my husbands driving advice might not ever ruffle me. But still I know this is different from a twenty year old me or thirty year old me.

A yoga student gave me a card on Thursday with this quote he sourced by Albert Camus. It is incredibly beautiful and so perfect to describe what presence gifts us each time we choose to reside in the moment. Magic is right there when we are willing to experience it. The miracle of being alive is in our breath and our heart beat, in the natural world, inside every relationship…with ourselves and others and the world.

I wanted to use this post today to share:

1. this quote (thank you, Jeremy)
2. a kindness experience this week
3. a link to a broader story that made me smile.

I enjoyed Tuesday’s kindness invitation (leave random notes of kindness) so much that it flowed into Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I loooooove leaving surprise notes as some yoga students might guess and having an extra reason to do so was a lot of fun. I left notes for friends, in a few library books and notes in lunches. I also bought some post-it notes and my daughter and I left them randomly in surprise places around our house. The best one I found from her was this one:

• 

So much love to each of you this weekend. I hope yesterday’s quote was an inspiration (“Be kind to unkind people. They need it the most”). It sometimes isn’t easy but it is such an opportunity for presence if you can respond instead of react to negativity.

Today, please take a moment to write a positive review about a product or service you appreciate. I am going to do that now.

Enjoy this youtube link that I came across about a random act of kindness.

My recipe share didn’t happen yesterday but right now as I type this I have muffins baking in the oven. My daughter is still asleep and will looooove to wake up to the smell of these 🙂

This is a cake recipe that I often use for birthday cakes and for muffins. It is a treat for sure since it calls for lots of maple syrup. This single ingredient equals a yum-fest in our house. Here’s what I am baking….

Vanilla Cake Muffins

Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients: 2 cups of spelt flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil, 2/3 cups of maple syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 cup of vanilla almond milk (or whatever you have), chocolate chips…however many you want 😉

I mix everything together in one bowl. I made 24 mini-muffins with chocolate chips and 6 bigger muffins without chocolate chips. The smaller ones are just ready and they took 12 minutes. The bigger ones will take a bit longer at around 15 or so. Enjoy!!!

So today’s act of kindness was so terribly written it was a teensy bit cringeworthy when I saw it this morning. Here it is:

Let someone move ahead of you in line and while you are driving, buy coffee or tea for the person behind you in line. 

To that I say, “Yikes.” Here is a fresh version of the same idea: 

Let someone move ahead of you in line, let someone in while you are driving, or buy a coffee or tea for a random stranger who just happens to be behind you in line. 

Better? I think so.

Here is my quick story. My husband, daughter and I go to see Sparkles in the Park each year. We started doing this when my daughter was really small and I always wanted to have her ready for bed before we went so that she was bathed and ready for sleep as soon as we returned home. This meant she was wearing her pyjamas in the car and she thought it was funny if we wore pyjamas too. Sooooo, we all wore pyjamas (and still do) and to make it more fun we started to go through the drive-thru at Tim Hortons to get a hot chocolate and we pay for the order of the person behind us. This is still one of my favourite things to do leading up to Christmas. It feels so good knowing the person will be surprised. It makes the lights at Sparkles in the Park shine brighter somehow. My daughter is beyond excited that we are surprising someone we don’t know. It is pure joy. All of it.

“We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.” ~ Mother Teresa

Good morning! Today I was lucky enough to start my day with other yogis at an early morning class and see some beautiful smiling faces (even in side plank).

I wanted to share a few quick things….first, thank you for already sharing so many stories with me about our month of kindness. I have had a couple of comments here, loads in person and other requests to be part of an email list for those who missed out on the envelopes. All I can say is yay 🙂 I am smiling even while I type this.

I also wanted to share a gift I received from a very talented artist and friend of mine on Tuesday. It is a sketch which is perfect to post after teaching at 6:15 a.m… it is called, “Early Bird Yoga.” I hope this makes you smile too.