6 posts tagged “yoga”

As any adult webcam chat room will show you, we’re asymmetrical, we have scars and lumps and bumps, we gain weight or become gaunt as we age, and if we’re American women who get naked around other people — online or off — we probably treat our pubic hair as topiary.

That was a surprise for me at the spa. All of the women, mature as well as young, maintained some kind of hair removal ritual. Most were completely bare; those who weren’t had delicate hints of landing strips.

The only exceptions were an eastern European lady and yours truly. It’s been months since I have tried anything more exotic than a shower.

If you look back through the history of nudie pictures, you can see the changing fashions for pubic hair over time. But with the advent of the web in the mid-1990s, suddenly everyone could see how adult entertainers trimmed, shaped and buffed. Formerly exotic practices like Brazilian waxes and stenciling your partner’s initials into your personal parts became The Thing.

In fact, it’s so The Thing that last year Missouri passed a law requiring parental consent for minors seeking to be waxed “on or near genitalia.”

[source: Wired News]

the spa culture?

The ‘topiary’ bit made me snort water. Maybe this is so funny only to me.

I have been lucky enough to not have the experience of prolonged exposure to topiaries at the spa because for some reason, the steam rooms, saunas, and shower rooms at the places I’ve been to have been virtually empty when I was there. However, the past month of sharing communal showers at the yoga studio has changed my odds completely.

It’s not that I try to look really. I mean, spare me, it’s the least of my interests. Sometimes you have no choice because they’re just…out there! Surprisingly, I’ve gotten used to randomly chatting with other women whose names I don’t even know–in the buff. It was weird but I guess I had to get over it. And get over it I did in one day. I adapt easily.

Since then I’ve had interesting, uncomfortable brushes (pun intended) with female topiaries (hmm…I’m really liking the term! harhar). Now I don’t want my blog to be the ‘tales from the shower room’ nook of the ‘Net, but here’s one incident:

I was talking on and off to someone beside me in the shower stall. I stooped down to pick up my conditioner bottle, and tried to figure out for a quick second which one was the shampoo and which one was the conditioner (they’re both purple liquids). From my peripheral vision, I could see a mass of hair on my left side so I assumed the woman I have been chatting with was at eye level with me. So I turned to continue our conversation.

GAH!!! It turned out I was trying to talk to pubes! :(

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I mentioned this blooper to one of my gal pals…

T: “I DARE you to give her a gift certificate for waxing!“
Me: “No way! I pay $80**. They don’t call it the West Coast Forest Fire for nothing–it burns a hole in your wallet.”
**relaaaax, $80 includes tip and taxes

Sometimes, I have to say, I feel like taking some of ‘em on a field trip to the spa and introducing them to the world of waxing. Or shaving. Or damnit, I just have to accept the cultural differences and preferences…because I don’t have to deal with them/that on a personal level anyway. Man, it’s winter now…you know, frizzies season. Ugh. Don’t want to go there…

One other thing, I’m curious to ask at my spa whether they refuse waxing for underaged girls. I’ll get back to you on that!

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Ok, that’s my weekly contribution to grossing you out. You can stop screaming “TMI, TMI, TMI!” now.

Happy weekend! HAHAHA.

While taking your well-deserved shower after yoga.

“I’m sorry ladies, but we have to evacuate the building NOW!”

K, thanks, I’m naked.

As promised, I took photos at the Western Canada Yoga Hatha Championship yesterday afternoon. This is just a preview of the competitors

In the photo are David Groves and #1 among the females this year, Ida Ripley.

Unfortunately, my camera died as soon as the 2nd female competitor was onstage. :( The male competitors were on first so I have photos of them. I blame it on the fact that I took photos of the 26 postures during the demo portion. At least, I can show you the postures done during Bikram yoga.

I’m glad I went and allowed myself to be coaxed into going by a yoga classmate, and BOOOOOO to the freakin’ rain! It was inspiring (the competition, not the storm) to watch and it made me want to practice more. The mental stamina, more than the physical, is what eats me on some days of yoga.

Thereafter, I had a nice Korean dinner of warm, spicy soup with my friends and winded down with some hot choco at Starbucks. These were perfect for a rainy night. I was too tired to go to the championship’s after-party at my yoga studio so I passed. I’ve been there for 31 days straight and today is my break…first time I wasn’t there! Hehe.

Anyway, I’m too tired to edit and resize photos from the afternoon at 2:00am in the morning. I’ll do that later tonight.

Hope you all had a good weekend!

P.S. And while ALL of you may have watched Borat, do not ruin it for me and tell me the good parts! I have yet to watch it with my boyfriend next week. See, I’m a nice girilfriend like that. =D

I don’t know if I posted about this but I bought a travel skincare kit from Skoah last week, hoping to try their products at the eternal gushings of one of my yoga instructors. At that time, my skin was beginning to flare out because of hormones. Y’know. So I was thinking that maybe, a change of skincare regimen would do my skin good. Anyway, zits just presented themselves one after the other. And I began getting them in places I don’t usually get them, and in sizes that are reminiscent of forgotten high school catastrophes. After getting the facial and getting additional bumps on my eyelids (my eyelids for crying out loud!), I decided to ditch this trial and go back to my beloved Philosphy line.

Overnight my skin looked better and my red minions were not as enraged as they were. Today, my skin is doing even better. It’s like my face is breathing a sigh of relief, “It’s good to be back home!”

Locker room/shower room stories were never a part of my life. First of all, I wasn’t athletic that I get to hang out in those rooms for the most part of my life. Second, I seem to be around men more than women. I missed a lot of days, weeks, years, of bathroom talk, girlie talk, shower talk, locker room talk. Yoga has reintroduced me to this world of vanity that I am missing. The world where we discuss concerns like weight, flabs, lip balms, weight loss, and did I mention weight? Things that I don’t usually discuss or delve into.

Yesterday a couple of women were asking some of us whether doing the 30-day challenge makes a difference to your body. Based on my personal experience–

1. I dropped a full size for both tops and bottoms.
   
2. Being pear-shaped I am not grossed out with myself anymore when I look at myself in the mirror when in skinny jeans. The concept of wearing skinny jeans was once lost after my 3rd year in college.
   
3. My whole body is now toned compared to a month ago. I flinch at the thought of how it was before.
   
4. I lost some of my belly and love handle(s?) (a challenge for someone who sits in front of the computer all day).
   
5. My clothes fit better, if not looser, especially around my waist and hips.
   
6. My ass looks perkier, I think…if you could even use that adjective for your butt.
   
7. Related to #3…my legs look better…erm, thinner–thighs are not as jiggly anymore. HAHA. I’m short and I’m pear-shaped, so you can just imagine. I’m not overweight, but I pack it up in my thighs and mid-section.
   
8. I was describing to my boyfriend about that scary muscle action on my calves, and according to him, it’s called soccer calves. When I flex my legs I can see my hard work and those standing postures that make me want to cry and call my mommy.
9. My shoulders are now more defined, too. Really cool, I love it. =)
10. My back pains are gone.
11. I get a really good sleep every night.
12. My hip pain and sciatica-ish pain are gone.
13. I don’t crave for junk food (chips) anymore.
14. I eat healthier.
15. I feel I have more energy.

After exchanging these “changes” with other women who are on the 30-day challenge as well, the 2 women were motivated to get on the bandwagon and do it. Mind you I got my mother to do Bikram yoga everyday when she saw my very loose pair of pants. My other friend goes regularly now, too.

And I told them, “This just proves that one of the major motivating factor for women to try something…ANYTHING…is proven weight loss!”

One of my other yoga-mates also approached me about her winter chapped-lips problem. No problem! I told her my holy grail of lip balms is Aveda’s Lip Saver so I told her I’d get her one since I’m always in Metrotown passing by the salon that sells it. I ended up going to Eccotique and buying myself a Lip Saver, a dark vampy lipstick to match my hair, and dark vampy nail polish to match with the lipstick.

Based on my boyfriend’s standards, I’m getting girly with all that makeup. Funny. I’m still TOO lazy for makeup. What I need is a “smart” makeup cream that I put on my face and it will just magically turn into blush where I need it to, turn to dramatic eyeshadow on my eyes, rearrange and line my eyebrows, curl and thicken my eyelashes magically, and make my lips redder according to my body heat. Now wouldn’t that be something to charm me into the world of makeup.

Helloooo November! I can’t believe the year is almost over. What the hell?

I think I signed my life away by signing up for NaBloPoMo. Haha. Blogging every day for the whole month of November would be especially tough because I’ll be in AZ half of the time. And you know how often I blog when I’m with my boyfriend! Hah. We’ll see what happens.

In other news, THREE more days and I’m done w/ my 30-day Bikram yoga challenge. Woohoo! The pain on my left hip also disappeared miraculously last Monday. Effin’ weird. It looks like it just decided to quit on me because I won’t quit moving.

More yoga…I’ll be watching the Western Canada Hatha Yoga Championship this Sunday so expect photos from the event later that day. I just hope I remember to charge my digicam’s battery.

Nothing much happening here. Oh wait, I’m preoccupied to say anything much. Yeah, that’s it.

I’ve pretty much survived 14 days of yoga. Not without stumbling, though. There are just some days when I couldn’t focus my energies and concentration that damn, I just about fall out of those standing poses as if it were my first time to stand on either of my two feet. Kind of reminds me how off-balanced I was when I did rollerblading. Helloooo.

The Dandayamana-JanuShirasana (Standing Head-to-Knee Pose) and Dandayanama-Dhanurasana (Standing Bow Pulling Pose) are kicking my ass. The former, quite literally, which makes my hips and my butt cheeks feel like they want to pry open. Not the best feeling. I’m learning, though…quite painfully. The latter pose I could hold for 60 if I’m standing on my right leg, NOT on my left. I feel like my left leg is somethin’kindoflazy sometimes. Oi.

Patience is a hard thing to learn. :(

Is it just me or is your bank (so much) nicer to you when you have a business banking account with them? I finally opened one after months and months of procrastination and for the past few weeks I’m almost treated like royalty compared to the so-so service before. I should have done this a long time ago. Haha.

I am absolutely drooling over the iPod Nano (PRODUCT) RED special edition. Making puddles of drool (gross!), I say. But I’ve spent so much on yoga classes, clothes and gear this month that I simply must look the other way! Eek. [Not to mention the color iPod that I bought last year is just slightly used. Hee.]