Grouse Grind - Part Deux

Vrksasana - Tree Pose

Today, we hiked up Grouse Mountain's Grouse Grind during the kids' nap.  I thought that we could get back in time for Amélie's next feeding, but no such luck.

I came with the "I got this" attitude, so the first 1/4 was fine.  Then, I went into "oh shit" mode when I realized we'd only gone 1/4 of the way up Grouse Mountain.  Also, I saw a couple of my yoga peeps coming down as they couldn't make it up the mountain, so then I was a bit discouraged.

Well, long story short, we made it up, but I didn't beat Melvin's time - we did it in 1 hour and 27 minutes though.  I also got my Lululemon gear all dirtied up, which was unfortunate.  Note to self: no need to wear leg warmers just to look cute.  I decided to do the Tree Pose and practice oneness with the trees about 3/4 of the way up.    

It was a good time.  

To summarize for anyone planning to do the Grind anytime soon, here's my take on it:

1/4 - the longest trail, zig zags and is less steep

1/2 - getting a bit steeper and where most people lose hope

3/4 - point of no return and straight up rock climbing, there are ropes to help people along

last 1/4 - steepest and the point where people fear leg cramps

Full Circle

It's funny how some things in life come to a full circle.  There will be a huge Yoga Convention in Vancouver the weekend of October 1st, which I don't plan on attending as that is my "graduation" weekend for the 200-hr teacher training program.  In any case, I was browsing through the catalog just to see what is being featured when I came across a name and face that looked so very familiar.

One of my old yoga and pilates teachers from Philadelphia is teaching a couple workshops at the convention!  I find this to be so strange as she was one of the reasons I became interested in yoga.  Her teaching was so distinct that I remember her 11 years later.  I just recently learned how to teach Anuloma Viloma, (a fairly complex alternate nostril breathing exercise) and she is the only teacher that has ever taught it in a class that I've been to.  I discovered her specialty is the Prana Flow Hatha Yoga that I am learning now.  Pretty crazy how things in the past turn up like that.

The same thing has happened with work.  One of my old contractors that I used to hire for meetings emailed me on Sunday.  It turns out she and her husband live in Vancouver for part of the year and have a business here.  She heard through the industry grapevine that I moved here and wants to see if I'm interested in working with them.  Anyway, I'm meeting with her on Sunday to find out more details, so we will see, but again, very weird how things like that happen in life.

Be nice to your co-workers.  You never know when one might end up being your boss.