Couch to 5K Week 8 and 9 updates! Plus 75% OFF Sadie Nardini's yoga course!

I've just completed my Couch to 5K final Week 9 run today, and gosh the end is so near I can feel it! I'm very pleased with my progress so far, I've been sticking to the program and doing my three runs a week - my pace has improved so much!

I think I'm going to be in good shape for my first charity run at the end of August. Yes, I'm finally going to do it... my first charity 5k run! I'm so psyched, my running buddy and I did the race route this week and it wasn't too bad. We'll definitely squeeze a few more in before event date. 

Here's my Couch to 5K summary 

Week 8 Run distance 4.4km with the 5min warm up and cool down. 

Day 1 Distance 4.44km, Pace 6:11min/km 

Day 2 Distance 4.43km, Pace 5:57min/km 

Day 3 Distance 4.44km, Pace 5:57min/km 

Week 9 Run distance 4.8km with the 5min warm up and cool down 

Day 1 Distance 4.83km, Pace 6:19min/km - This was test running the race route, which was unfamiliar... we got lost a few times! Hence the poor timing. 

Day 2 Distance 4.83km, Pace 5:50min/km 

Day 3 Distance 4.83km, Pace 5:47min/km 

I know it's not a truly fantastic pace yet, but I'm so thrilled with my final pace. I've also improved more on my form I think, because I've got much less shoulder and back aches now. I've only got one more final run to do, which is the 5km run to "prove that you can", according to the app. I'm hoping to be able to do my 5km run in under 28 minutes, that would really make my day! 

In other news, Udemy is having a whopping 75% off on most of its courses, including Sadie Nardini's 14-day course, which I have reviewed and love! 

Just use the discount code HEATUP. Please note that I'm not affiliated with Udemy or Sadie, I really do love having so much information at your fingertips. I've purchased quite a few courses from Udemy, they've really stepped up their game and videos are now much better quality, and you have the option to download some of the content too. 

Great course, complete wellness package 

Fantastic for meditation newbies

Other great courses that I can recommend if you're planning to get into the sale are the Love, Peace and Stillness Meditation Retreat by Teagan Fea (review here), and Yoga for the Career Woman by Taryn Hughes, which is a much more beginner-friendly yoga course than the Sadie one.

Happy shopping, and have a great weekend! I'll be heading to PAX Australia, and spending my time in ultimate nerd-vana.

It's now my turn to sit next to Big Daddy
(Source)

Review: Learn How to Meditate

You can access the course here 

This is a free course on Udemy. For a free course, it's really quite good.

The course consists of six 2 minute recordings showing you the basics of meditation

• proper posture 
• deep breathing 
• alternate nostril breathing nadi shodhan 
• use of mantra (in a similar vein to what transcendental meditation teaches) 
• candle gazing 
• empathy meditation 

All the meditation techniques above are accessible, and easy to follow. You can choose to do just one of the above, or combine methods such as use deep breathing and alternate nostril breathing to prepare you for a mantra meditation. 

As it's a free course, it's also a great way to see what Udemy is like. I have purchased a few courses on Udemy, so far I have yet to be disappointed. 

Review: Love, Peace and Stillness Meditation Retreat

I signed up to this Udemy course at half price as it was on special, and never regretted a moment of it. Created by Teagan Fea of the Bodhi Connection, these meditation exercises provide an easy, accessible introduction to meditation itself. And no, it does not cost $1500, unlike some other types of meditation courses.

Find this retreat here on Udemy 

What's great about this course?

The meditation audios can be downloaded to your computer as mp3s, which means they can be loaded onto a portable device, so you can meditate anywhere and anytime you desire! 

The content of the accompanying notes is great. I discovered that I have a blocked root chakra, and now am more mindful of this. These notes are concise, and full of good information. 

All of the audios last between 14-19 minutes, which means you do not have to sit for very long. Great for a meditation newbie! 

What's in the course? 

Without giving away too much, this course takes you through the basics of meditation, and then walks you through different types of meditation focuses, including chakra exploration, and connecting with the divine feminine and masculine. 

What could be better? 

Teagan speaks a little too slowly in the first few audios, which makes my mind wander sometimes, but the pace does pick up towards the end. A small thing really, and it helps me sharpen up my concentration skills.

All in all 

I really, really enjoyed this course. I've tried very hard to get into meditation and have had a difficult time, until I found this. It's not expensive, and you can listen to it as many times as you need. I still have much to improve on, so will be repeating this retreat a few more times. Every meditation session has made me feel calmer, clearer and more open. You should try it! 

Till Nov 23, Udemy is having a sale on ALL its courses. Use the redemption code BLACKFRIDAY. Savings drop 3% every day until Nov 23. 

Review: Maya Fiennes A Journey Through the Chakras

Prior to this year, I had never even heard of Kundalini Yoga. I had always been a follower of vinyasa and its variants - yoga just didn't feel complete unless it involved a series of sun salutations.

When I developed ulnar impaction syndrome and a TFCC Complex tear in my right wrist (a common yoga injury, it's similar to traumatic arthritis), I couldn't do anymore vinyasa for awhile... in fact, I couldn't type, let alone do anything with my hands for awhile. I went through a low period, not really knowing where I would go, feeling depressed that I could barely do a chaturanga, let alone any headstands or arm balances.

Then, a friend recommended that I read Maya Fiennes Yoga for Real Life. Great book, with great recipes, and all these Kundalini sequences that to me, looked simple and really relaxing. Upon further research, I chanced upon A Journey Through the Chakras. It's a 7-DVD box set, and it briefly describes the function of each chakra before going into a series of kriya for that particular chakra. The poses look deceptively simple, perhaps because Maya executes them with such ease and grace. They are in fact, very vigorous.... one warmup involves spinning around in circles with arms outstretched, which got me very dizzy... admittedly it wasn't my favourite warmup and I don't attempt it much.

The beauty of kundalini is the use of mantras. Every set is interspersed with a mantra, and after a Kundalini sequence, you would be asked to sit and meditate. I thought this was a beautiful thing to practice. When the exercises became more physically challenging, she would normally ask for you to silently vibrate particular mantras, which I now apply to any other physical activity I am doing when I struggle, such as crunches. I love how Kundalini is described as a moving meditation. It makes it sound so peaceful and calming.

The exercises become less physical and more of a mental and ... for lack of a better word... pranayama (or more of the creation of a life force) exercise, as you climb higher in the chakras. My favourite DVD though is still the one that tackles the base chakra.

Best of all, every kriya sequence is unique. Nothing repeats, all the warmups have been specially drawn up to well... warm up that particular chakra. This is by far, my favourite yoga DVD.

Retail: Approximately $95 through Maya Space, possibly cheaper through other alternatives.

Would you put a price on happiness?

I attended a Transcendental Meditation (TM) introductory session today. Believe me when I say, I went with an open heart and an open mind. A friend and colleague had recommended this to me, and I really hoped this would do for me what it had done for her.

The place was hard to get to, so it may have put me in a bit of a mood. 1 hour driving one way, in heavy traffic. When I arrived, I just didn't know where to go, the centre was a primary school. I was slightly disorientated from the journey, and I was late, so I was worried I'd have missed my opportunity.

20 minutes later and two phone calls, I'm comfortably seated in a meeting room, and watching two DVDs introducing TM. Neither talked much about the meditation technique itself, only how it was better than other meditation techniques and medications. In fact, the first video was nothing but bar graphs and charts, but with no references attached (which immediately triggered my skeptic's brain). After the second one, we spoke about the cost and the time requirement.

It costs $1500 to learn how to meditate.

Now, I am all for paying for courses. I readily paid about the same amount for my yoga annual pass after going for about a year. Apparently, this $1500 is a lifelong once only fee. So, technically it's not so bad. 

But, coupled with the non-referenced bar graphs and pie charts and putting down other meditation techniques, something's not feeling quite right here. The other nagging feeling is how secretive they are about what exactly TM is. It would make sense in an intro session to actually get a taster... apparently, everyone gets their own unique mantra after the first paid session, of which they are not to tell another person. But I don't see why not? Why not make the intro session a personal interview, followed by giving them the mantra, and then maybe 10 minutes of how to use it... if they like it, they will come back. And perhaps, be willing to part with $1500. 

The truth is, when I left, I was ready to part with $1500. I just wanted a way of fixing my life, and the promises they made... it sounded too good to be true (red flag!). Luckily, the drive back through traffic took a whole hour, and I could contemplate. 

Believe me when I say I'm all about complementary therapies. This whole blog is dedicated to complementary and alternative therapies. However, I'm also a skeptic. I know how yoga helps me to deal with stress, just like I am aware of how different herbal supplements are meant to change your body chemistry. But placing my eggs in a basket, a basket I'm not sure anything of... that I'm not willing to do. A short Google search made me feel more at ease about my decision. I'm sure I'll find something similar, and definitely cheaper, that works. 

Would you pay $1500 for a promise of a better you? 

The Yoga Retreat Closest to Home

I've been feeling like I needed to get away for awhile, and longed so much to go to a yoga retreat. I went once to the Ghost Hill Road Retreat on one of the yoga detox packages and it was ah-may-zing. Beautiful scenes, delicious catered vegetarian food every day, fresh breakfast using home grown vegies and herbs...

After wallowing in self-pity for a bit, I had the lightbulb moment:

The home yoga retreat! 

In fact, it's not hard to create a yoga retreat at home, particularly if you are someone who lives alone. It will cost about 10% of the cost of going to an actual retreat, and you can do it all year long!

Suggested home retreat ideas: 

• DIY pamper session once a week. Light some candles, dim the lights, and have a warm, relaxing bath. Follow it with indulgent body butters like the Natio Meditate range.
  
• Do a yoga session a day, even for 30 minutes. If you're familiar with yoga and can work your own routine, then do this. Otherwise, check out inspiration on The Yoga Journal or yoga videos. My current favourite is Kundalini Yoga with Maya Fiennes: A Journey Through the Seven Chakras.
  
• Squeeze in 30 minutes of meditation daily. It's really not a lot, and there are many kinds to be explored. I'm currently in the process of checking out the Transcendental Meditation method.
  
• Go for a walk 2-3 times a week. Take a new route to the supermarket, or drive to your nearest regional park. I'm lucky enough to live by the beach... once on my walks, I saw this and it made my day.
  Envious much? 
  
• No take out food, no junk food. Prepare all meals yourself and enjoy the process!

Hope you find some benefit to establishing your own yoga retreat. Any more ideas to add?

The Meditation Quickie

I've been trying to meditate.

I have to say it's definitely a lot harder than it looks. I can barely do it for 10 minutes. Most times I find that my mind wanders off and I start thinking about things in the future, or in the past. And then I worry that I'm not concentrating. The little voice inside my head just refuses to be silenced. Even when I redirect my focus to the music or my breath, my mind wanders after 30 seconds.

And that's a huge part of me though. That's almost exactly how I am with everything in life. Even while killing Diablo in Diablo III. My mind just could not focus for the 5 minute boss battle. I like everything fast, and I do everything fast. Meditation hopefully will slow me down, and help me to simply just be.

Much easier said than done though. I've purchased the Rushing Woman's Syndrome by Dr Libby Weaver. Haven't gotten to reading it yet, there are too many books on my to-read shelf, but seeing as how personal development is currently on the agenda, I may look to reading it after I'm done with Diablo III.

Rebirth

Today is Day One of my brand new life. I decided to give my life a rehaul when a few nights ago, I discovered that I had been teeth grinding so hard in my sleep that I had cracked all the teeth in my lower jaw.

This calling is probably long time overdue. While I have not been unhappy in my life, I think a huge part of how I have dealt with past unhappiness has been to suppress and deny it. I really believed that if you didn't talk about the elephant in the room, no one would notice it is there, especially since it's the elephant in my private quarters, barred from the prying eyes of the public, where no one but me is allowed to tread.

And that's where the problem lay. I could see my own elephant, and while I refused to acknowledge it, subconsciously it was gnawing away at my inner peace, disrupting my health.

Recently, I've been feeling a heightened sense of isolation and loneliness. Perhaps this was what made my anxiety levels sky rocket, perhaps it was something else completely. I still do not know what it is that has made me so stressed that it is affecting my sleep at night.

I've always wanted to reform my life though, so tonight, I started my new program of eating healthily, yoga, meditation, exercise and taking time to appreciate everything I have in my life.

Today's meditation session lasted for 10 minutes. I'm still exploring the best meditation method to suit me. I've found meditating to music so far to be most preferred, although even with music, my mind was constantly scattered. I found thoughts of the past and future battling to dominate, and every now and again, I'd remember to be in the now. I felt calm when I finished though, and it left a positive vibe around the room.

So, these are my thoughts on my journey. I'd like to say something philosophically astounding, like it's not the destination that matters, but the journey... however, the destination does matter to me. I know where I would like to head and hopefully, I will find my path there.