Happy New Year
January 2, 2012
Welcome to 2012. May your year be filled with gratitude & peace, and may our eyes be open to the wonder around us.
We hope you enjoy this beautiful video, enjoy the time to sit and savour it.
The Great Bell Chant (The End of Suffering) from R Smittenaar on Vimeo.
Pictures from Member Appreciation Night
June 25, 2010
Here are a few pictures from our event last Friday. It was a lot of fun!
Self-awareness, Yoga and Lists
May 3, 2010
Thanks to Entrepreneurial Moms Ottawa for a great event in April, where I was asked to be the guest speaker. This is an amazing group of women, fun, supportive and lots of passion for what they do, and Janet and Carolyn do an amazing job heading up the Ottawa Chapter. The above photos were taken by Anna Epp, check out her blog for more pictures of the event, Anna is an amazing photographer.
Big thanks to Hillary for including this write up of my talk in the EM Ottawa newsletter, enjoy.
Self-awareness, Yoga and Lists: Keys to success for Donna Davis
Donna Davis, the owner of Movement to Health (http://www.elationcentre.com) and creator of Powerful Woman Boot Camp, is at once joyful and inspirational.
With refreshing frankness, this yoga devotee shared her personal journey from a failed clothing business, debt and discouragement to fulfillment as the owner/operator of a successful yoga business.
Today, the flow between what Donna believes, how she lives and how she works is almost seamless…the result of intensive and honest soul searching. And, as Donna tells it, lists.
Donna writes lists about what she wants to do, where she wants to live, who she wants to meet, what she wants for herself, her family and her business. Whenever a problem arises or an inspirational idea springs up, Donna gets out the pen and paper. “There’s something very helpful about getting things down on paper,” she says.
Donna typically acts on the list items she can control. The rest she puts out to the universe saying, “I need help here.” Then Donna’s phone rings or someone walks in the door, and the challenging item is resolved. This serendipitous sequence of events has happened so often for Donna, it is almost comical. Is there a message in this for EMs?
Besides food for thought, Donna taught us a series of yoga stretches and breathing exercises to remove built up tension and enliven the body. We needed no special equipment or clothing. The moves were easy to perform but effective, making them useful de-stressors in the workplace or as relaxation techniques before bed.
EMO sincerely thanks Donna Davis for sharing her inspirational journey to fulfillment and success in business as well as her vast knowledge of healthy living through yoga
Written by Hillary Kemsley.
Potluck Dinner Dec 14, Photos
December 18, 2008
The Pot Luck was a great success! Lots of fantasic food and conversation, we all say a quick ‘hi’ in class, this is a great way to get to know your fellow students. Did I mention the food was amazing?!
Below are a few photos from the evening, notice or youngest Yogini 
Please see the recipe section of the blog for recipes from some of the great dishes we all enjoyed
Trail Running Fall 2008
December 9, 2008
From the sun of September to the snow of November, we had a great trail class this fall! Here are some great photos of our last class. A big thanks to Barb and Sue, aka Poison and Ivy for their great leadership and coaching. The next class will start Summer 2009!!
”Hello fellow trail runners and evil task masters (yes, I’m referring to Poison & Ivy), Just an update on my trip to Berwick, Pennsylvania for the Run for the Diamonds, which is a 9 mile race, held on the American Thanksgiving. The weather was cold but clear; the course is relatively flat for the 2miles followed by the next 2 miles all uphill with the remainder mostly downhill. I felt better than I anticipated and did not need to invoke my customary hill climbing mantra of “I hate Barb” or “Barb is a liar”. The gentlemen (and I use the term loosely) that I travelled down with had inflamed my fear of the hill and on race day it ended being not nearly as bad as I anticipated. I finished in an hour and 17 minutes and I had been hoping to stay under and hour and 30 minutes so I am quite pleased. This was the 100th anniversary of the race while nextyear will be the 100th running of the race (they didn’t hold the race for a couple of years). Enthusiastic crowds for the race (large # of people out on their front lawns drinking beer and cheering us on (or maybe they were heckling), the race has a start time of 10:30am) and 1200 finishers made for a great event. Am now recovering from the downhill phase of that race, and hoping to be able to start running again soon (or perhaps I will just eat, drink & be merry through the holidays, Take Care, Christina”
MTH @ Wine Glass Marathon – photos
October 10, 2008
The Wine Glass Marathon and Marathon Rely takes place in Corning, New York. October 5, 2008 was the 27th annual event. Our members who attended had a great time – even took home some medals!
Berlin Marathon Race Report -from Isabel Cruz
September 18, 2008
Helloooo,
My legs are hurting, I can’t go out. I can only watch CNN so much (the other channels are in German), and I think I’m catching a cold. Thanks God I have my laptop and friends to write to.
The race was a PR for me and my new friend Haile! If you follow sport news you might already now that Haile Gebrselassie has won his third straight Berlin Marathon and broke his own World record becoming the first runner to finish under 2 hours, 4 minutes. He clocked 2:03:59, I clocked 4:17 ; ). And he is in this year medal, which celebrates his last year record! How much more exciting can this get, I actually shook hands with the person pictured in my medal!
Extremely organized–What else to expect from the Germans? Absolutely nothing to complain about the race, which is in fact flat as a pancake. No up or down hills, just flat, no wonder World records are set here. They had bananas, apples, water, tea and massage tents along the race. It is a good Boston qualifier if you have previous time to put you ahead of the crowd, otherwise like it happened to me you’ll waste a lot of time zig-zaging people. My plan was to brake the race in 5Km that I was going to run under 30min each. I followed my plan diligently, everything was under control until I got to 35Km at 3:31, from there on people started to slow down a lot and walk, I just didn’t have the energy to pass people, I could only run straight. I totally lost my concentration at 40Km (4:02) as the view was as fantastic as I describe below, to finish at 4:17.
Berlin is the most history filled course I ever ran. The whole race you’re seeing something of historic importance, but the finishing is something cinematographic, out of history books, beats the New York finish at Central Park 10:1. The finish is just after you cross the most well-known landmark in Berlin, the Branderburg Gate (1791). The grandeur and historic significance is overwhelming, specially after you have ran more than 40Km. Napoleon took the Quadriga (the statue on top of the gate, the goddess of Victory driving a chariot drawn by four horses) to Paris in 1806 as a spoil of war after conquering Berlin. It was returned to Berlin in 1814 after�German victory over France. It went from being a symbol of victory to a symbol of the Third Reich when the Nazis reached power as it became the starting point for Nazi parades.The gate was heavily damaged during WWII East Berlin restored the gate, while West Berlin recast the Quadriga from its original molds. It was incorporated into the Berlin wall in 1961 when East German soldiers closed off their half of the city and started building the Berlin Wall at this point. For 28 years, the Brandenburg Gate was a symbol of a divided Germany. When the wall fell in 1989 the people in their enthusiasm to bring down the wall damaged the gate and its statue on New Year’s Eve 1989.Today it has been restored to its original splendor and as a symbol of the reunification of the two sides of Berlin and a place for celebrating marathon records. The massive number of runners (~40,000) crossing the Brandeburg Gate towards the former East Germany is kind of symbolic of the people tearing down the wall, liberation the East Germany from the soviet�oppression. WOW, who said history is boring?
Enough history, did I tell you there were FREE GOOD BEER waiting for you at the end? I had 2, it was the first marathon I actually didn’t want to go home/hotel and drop dead after. They don’t rush you home, they want you to stay around and celebrate. There is a lot to do around, food and drink stands (is not illegal to drink in the open) , bands and performances. At least 1/3 of the bands playing at the race were Brazilian drums. There are parties going on everywhere, now I understand why they like Brazil so much. They might just build a new wall around Berlin and declare it part of Brazil!
Interestingly the people running here never heard of the concept of run 10 walk one, besides the quick stop at the water stations (I saw very few runners carrying�water bottles, or gels or anything else). I was impressed that very few people were doing walking breaks (until they start to annoy me after 35Km).
Ok, I have bugged you enough, back to CNN.
Isabel
P.S. I had a goodlaugh with this Berlin runner dressed as Frenchman carrying flowers and the sign: Don’t make war, make baguettes!
Holistic Skin Care night with Oresta
September 9, 2008
