Making decisions that will alter the course of your life

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to decide on a yoga teacher training course, a location for the course and the school I'm going to train with. Seems like an easy decision, but it is in fact one that will alter the course of the rest of my life. 

There are so many options, but so few viable choices, as I had a few list-whittling challenges:

• Can't take time off work during the week as it would be a logistical nightmare. 
• Don't want to give up my weekends (and need them free in case of work).
• Don't have $7000 lying around and won't be taking out a loan. 
• I won't be giving up my day job. I love it too much.
• I need time free to work with my coaching clients to pay for the course fees!
• Needs to be either close to home (already impossible) or an inexpensive overseas destination where I can combine it with a holiday.
• Dates need to synchronise with my schedule.
• I can't really do a whole whopping great length of time away from work at once.

I need a qualification from a widely respected school that is affordable in terms of time and money, fits my schedule and will produce the desired outcome. It's not about getting a fast result, it's about making this fit with my already pretty awesome life.  

So, I narrowed it down to two possible options - Santosha or Byron Yoga. 

Santosha do a month in Bali or a full distance learning option. It's at Canggu, where I could also learn to surf. But, I'd still have to finish the course in Australia.

Byron does 12 days intensive in Bali with the rest of the hours as distance learning. It's in Ubud and I could still go to Canggu and learn to surf.  

Byron is a very highly respected yoga school and is the longest established school in Australia. That's quite the pedigree!

I spoke with my yoga teachers and the director of my studio and did lots of research. I finally decided on Byron Yoga. 

Doing the YTT200 through Byron means I get two weeks in Bali, at half the cost of doing the course in Australia. I can do the remaining 80 hours in Australia and get to enjoy a few days either side of the course in Bali to chill out. I have plenty of time to save up and airfares to Bali are dirt cheap (cheaper than flying to NZ return, in fact). 

Yoga teacher training is just one more feather in my cap, as my Granny would say. It fits nicely with the coaching practice, fits nicely with my day job and will enable me to help more people. 

It will still take me around 12 months to complete the YTT 200hr certification, but I get to combine it with a holiday and develop my own practice further between now and the end of July 2014.

Winning.

No means NO!

Today I had a particularly ugly situation to resolve.  Someone on the fringes of my life got a little over-amourous, then got very possessive, then jealous, then nasty and then started to exhibit violent behaviours towards me. I decided that enough was enough two weeks ago and started the process of having their behaviour quashed legally.

Let me make my thoughts on the subject of violence absolutely crystal clear.  I believe that violence of any kind towards another human being is never, ever okay. Furthermore, violence towards women is extremely abhorrent and this person needed to learn that in Australia, their behaviour is illegal, intolerable and inappropriate. 

Bullying, harassing, intimidating, menacing, threatening and stalking behaviour is NOT OKAY!

This person was asked nicely by several people to leave me alone - including by me, five times. They chose not to heed the warning and today they found out what happens when I am threatened - you get an unpaid day off, in court, accompanied by a rather dimwitted lawyer. 

This sojourn to court was quite possibly the most stressful five hours of my life. Worse than the two breast cancer scares I've had. Worse than knee and shoulder surgeries. Not as bad as having shingles, glandular fever AND recovering from knee surgery at the same time - but it was definitely up there. 

I kept as calm as possible. I read yoga magazines. I breathed deeply. I chanted mantras in my head. I shuffled the 87 pages of evidence I'd taken with me to court. I couldn't find my headphones and nearly had a category five meltdown over that before leaving for court, so music was out, but I got chatting to other applicants and then met a nice Court Support Network lady who supported me for the whole process. 

To cut a long story short, good triumphed over evil, despite the respondent and his equally dimwitted lawyer trying to screw me over on a condition that I had very kindly compromised over. No way was I going to let that happen, so I let them have it, via the Magistrate. 

The Magistrate was in no mood for the respondent's trackpants and runners outfit (he got the thrice over, I nearly peed my pants -seriously, how disrespectful turning up to court looking like a bum off the street) the repeated disrespectful and nasty looks in my direction and his constant interruption shenanigans, so he let the respondent know in no uncertain terms that if he plays up, he's in big trouble.  

The respondent now can't try anything stupid or commit any of his previous behaviours towards me or have anyone else try it either. If he does, he gets arrested, goes back to court and gets a filthy great fine, possible jail time and a criminal record. Good job I say. 

I got a nice thick wad of papers and a 12-month reprieve from the respondent's blatant stupidity. The respondent may finally get a clue, or perhaps not, but seriously - I really hope they learn the lessons I tried to teach them. Society at large should now be a better place because this person needed to learn that this behaviour IS NOT OKAY!

Just because carrying on like a rancid pork chop towards women is deemed acceptable by some people in the lower levels of society, it doesn't mean it's okay in general or that it will be accepted, tolerated or approved of by the majority of society. There are serious crimes against women every single day in some countries, like acid attacks, dowry murders, gang rapes, murders, severe beatings, setting fire to your wife, etc. I didn't want to end up another crime statistic. 

I hope this person leans how to behave properly and learns that the word no, means NO! I hope they learn that when they are asked or told to leave someone alone, that it means that you stop calling, texting, visiting, starting, stalking, harassing, intimidating, following and otherwise annoying that person. 

I went through this so that this person could learn how to behave properly, to protect myself and to protect other women from being subjected to the blatant stupidity of actions and words that I suffered for almost four months thanks to the uneducated, unwise and foolish behaviours of this person. 

If you've got an over-amourous admirer, be careful. There's a fine line between good and evil, don't let them cross it. 

Just be there...

One of the greatest lessons I've learnt from enjoying nearly 40 yoga classes in the past few months is to "just be there". Okay, so that line comes from a previous Yoga Teacher, Tom. But this very concept still applies three years later and, quite frankly, it always will. 

Life changes in an instant. One second you're on top of the world, the next minute you're underneath it as it rolls over the top of you, flattening you like a pancake. You can choose to "lie back and think of England", or you can choose to roll up and get back on with life. 

Life is about choices. I choose to roll up.

I choose to enjoy every day. I choose to be happy. I choose to do something each and every day to move myself closer to my goals. I choose calm and peace. I choose to be a free-spirited, sandal-wearing, chai-drinking, semi-vegetarian, organic-selecting, recycling bouncy person who lives to inspire and encourage others. 

I choose to no longer allow anyone to squash my spirit, trash my dreams or silence my inner voice. I choose to be the best me that I can possibly be, in public and in private. I choose to achieve my goals and find something every single day to be grateful for. I choose to live in the moment, to be present, to cherish others and to cherish myself. 

I choose life, with all of its inside-outs and back-to-fronts and upside-downs. 

Wringing out your digestive organs

I woke up at 4am today in a bit of a flap and I could not get back to sleep. I wasn't feeling too flash (for those of you not of Kiwi or Aussie extraction, this means I felt "like death warmed up in a microwave") and I wanted to curl up into a little ball and rock back and forth. 

You all know about my evil FODMAP intolerance. Well, I thought I'd have a couple of former favourite items for dinner last night and in the words of Eliza Dolittle, "it's my belief they done the old woman in". You just never know exactly what is in a dish that doesn't have an ingredients list and that you haven't cooked yourself, until you eat it and it comes back to haunt and torture you a few hours later. 

I read some articles on Elephant Journal, tossed and turned, watched a couple of internet videos, tossed and turned some more and then at 7am I was horribly unwell. I was really, really struggling and thought I might actually have to forget going to yoga. I did manage to pull my little socks up and get on with it though - I had a nap, then a lukewarm shower, smashed down half a chai and took a slow walk to the studio. I survived the class and felt much better afterwards - like I knew I would!

Sometimes when you least want to drag your carcass out of bed and get on your mat, that's when you need yoga the most. 

The thought of not attending a class I was otherwise perfectly capable of doing just wasn't palatable. I know I have a love/hate relationship with the Warrior series poses but the idea of missing them today really got to me. I don't normally do the Saturday class but I'm well and truly hooked on yoga so whenever the opportunity arises, I'm on the mat, hanging out upside down (and occasionally, feeling like I am inside out while I'm back to front).

I did the Saturday class last week because the Sunday studio class was cancelled for a charity event. I did it today because I had to skip Tuesday night's class for a work function. I can't go to the Saturday class next week because I'm off to the Lego expo and then I'm having my hair done. I think Saturday will be an optional extra class for the time being - or at least until the 21 day yoga challenge I've joined starts! 

So after wringing out my digestive organs with yoga poses, I think I've found the cure to practically anything. It's called yoga and I love it!