RHIOT school in Bamfield

CLEAR! zezeZIT! haha, that's the sound of the heart shocker thingy's bringing this blog back to life.  I knew I'd fall off track sooner or later with all the traveling and craziness that my life has been lately.  But it's all good, jumping back in.

So what's happened since October 5th?  Hmmm, I spent an amazing 2.5 weeks at the Sivananda Yoga Camp in Val Morin, Quebec.  I had an amazing 30th birthday celebration in the middle of Navaratri - the 9 night celebration of the Divine Mother.  I did a weekend long juice fast and I also met an amazing man :)  More on all this later...sorry - gotta lot of catching up to do.

I also did an amazing 3 day workshop with Chuck Spezzano of Psychology of Vision.  He came to Prince Rupert from Hawaii to facilitate his last First Nations workshop in the region, Embracing our Spiritual Destiny.  There were 135 people, mostly First Nations of course, our Steps to Leadership class, the Steps class from Vancouver and then whomever else.  It was such a powerful weekend.  I had a billet from the Vancouver Steps class and we hosted a dinner party at my place on the Saturday night then went out dancing - also lots of fun.  More on this later too...

Now I'm at RHIOT school!  What the heck is RHIOT school? The 75hr (in 6.5 days) Rigid Hull Inflatable Operator Training in Bamfield on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  So, basically it's an extreme boat handling course for search and rescue personnel.  The RCMP, the Navy, the Marines and DFO also do their training here.

What can I say - wooo freaking hoo!  Wow, what an amazing, crazy, intense course.  Today is day 5 out of 7 and it's the longest day - we'll be out training for 18hrs in total today.  Yesterday was a 15hr day ending at midnight after our dead reckoning night run - which means we ran the boats at 25 knots, in the pitch black with no electronics, only using time, speed distance and our own pre-planned courses.  Pretty amazing.  I know it's how they used to run all the time back in the days before electronics, but they definatly weren't running at that speed!

The 2 course instructors are awesome and I'm in with a really good crew.  There are 6 of us in the course - 2 of us from Coast Guard Auxiliary, 2 from Coast Guard Fleet (Sir Wilfred Laurier) and 2 Fisheries Officers.  We're staying at McKay Bay Lodge in Bamfield.  So nice!  We each get our own big room, meals cooked for us everyday (the cook has been so good about my "special" diet - no meat, no eggs, no dairy), a nice fireplace, living room and HOT TUB.  Lots of good times to be had :)

Off to pop a wheelie!!!!
Missed you!  Love B

inspired in Montreal

Having such a great time in Montreal!  I love this city, it almost makes me wonder if I really am a small town girl at heart.  I really dislike Vancouver, but this city is so vibrant and alive.  It's a city I could live in for sure, there's so much going on all the time, lots of great classes to take, great food and it's the most bike friendly place in North America.  I'm loving the "real" fall days too - crisp mornings, sunny afternoons and lots of crunchy leaves to jump on.  I'll admit, It's got me questioning if Prince Rupert is really the place I want to settle down in.

I'm staying with my friend Kanti Devi in our friend Vishnu's house.  Vishnu is off on a RTW trip and is at an ashram in India right now and Kanti is staying in his apartment while he's away.  It's been such a blessing to stay here with her.  It's in an amazing location for one thing, right at the base of Mont Royal.  But the real treat is Kanti herself.  She's an amazing cook, musician, artist and yogini, totally devoted to her yoga practice.  She lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps it - nothing sways her.  It's so inspiring.  For me, my practice comes and goes in waves; I can be right on it for one week and right off it the next.  It's hard not having a yoga support system at home - yoga classes I can attend and yoga friends, but I'll leave here inspired to work on my self-discipline.

Highlights of the past 3 days:
Sunday:  hike up Mont Royal to enjoy the view of the city, Sunday Satsang and dinner at the Sivananda Centre, the Depreciation Guild at Casa del Popolo and the fun people I hung out with that night
Monday: 4hr bike tour which included all the sights, plus a delicious coffee and croissant in a beautiful hidden garden cafe and later stone-fired pizza and microbrewed Montreal beer at the Atwater Farmers Market, a yoga class at the centre en francais,  yummy homemade dinner with Kanti followed by guitar playing, singing and chanting
Today:  my first Moksha yoga class (a type of hot yoga-loved it!), shopping on Ste Catherine and in the underground city

That's all for now.  I wish I had pictures to add but I haven't been taking many and I also forgot my cord for transferring them onto my computer - sorry!

lots of love - Bhargavi

Busy Bee

The past week and a bit has blown right by! wawawowza! 

I worked 6 12hr dayshifts in a row, volunteered 2 of those nights at hockey games, went out for some night training on the rescue boat 4 of those nights and each night we were out until about midnight, and last night I went to my Steps to Leadership class for 3.5hrs.  Whew!  Thank goodness I have a nice restorative vacation coming up!  It's fun to be busy for a bit, but I was so grateful for a night shift tonight so I could sleep in, mow my lawn, clean my house and run some errands in town yesterday. 

The good thing about all this busy-ness is that I haven't had any time to spend money!  In 6 days I've spent $16.  That equals $104 of savings into the ski fund!!  Only have to save another $595 bucks and those sticks are mine!! That's only 30 days of not spending any money...totally doable.  Keepin' the dream alive!!!!

I've been planning all sorts of fun stuff for Montreal tonight, and I'm getting so excited.  I leave tomorrow morning, right after my last night shift.  Sunday is my first day there and I think I'm going to rent a bike and tour the city, head to the Sivananda Centre for drop-in yoga and Satsang, and then I'm going to check out some live music.  It's the last day of POP! a 4 day International Music Festival, tonnes of amazing bands playing at venues all over the city.  I bought tickets to see Film School, Depreciation Guild, and Receivers at Casa del Popolo.  Should be a good day :)

Stay tuned for lots of Montreal updates and have a smashing day! Shanti B

Reality Check

Ok, so getting new skis this season is so not going to happen.  I just did a HUGE budget for the next 3.5 months because I was (finally) starting to worry about having enough money for all the upcoming fun and goodness: Montreal, RHIOT in Bamfield, Christmas with my family in Kamloops, and my trip to the Bahamas for the Advanced Yoga Teachers Training Course.  All I can say is that I'm glad I had a good hard look at this now and didn't wait even 1 more day. 

For the last 10 days I've been on a $20/day budget and I'm going to have to continue with that until the ATTC starts in January.  The $20/day doesn't include my mortgage or my bills and might sound like a lot for one day, but it takes $60 to fill up my truck, $40 to buy a bag of dog food, not to mention how much I can spend on a sushi date with the girls!  Haha, my lifestyle is definately going to change,  and I think it's a really good thing.

My new super tight budget fits in nicely with my need to purge/cleanse right now.   I feel the need to give away or reconstruct the clothes I don't wear, sort through all my outdoor gear, eat all the food in my cupboards and fridge, use all the toiletries that I've acculated over the years...simplify and purify.  I want less clutter and to be surrounded by only what I need.  My senses are overwhelmed at home, I have way too much of everything. I need to start using and being grateful for all that I do have instead of always chasing the bigger and better.

I'm going to use my new budget as the jumping off point for simplifying my life - ride my bikes more, walk more, cook more, commit to my yoga practice, pull out the sewing machine, get back into soapmaking...appreciate all the little things that make my life real juicy and sweet!  I'll be turning 30 in just a few weeks, so it's such a good time to take stock and set some good intentions for the upcoming year and decade!  Another one of those intentions will be to ski hard all season on the trusty ol' Jils and have my heart overflowing with gratitude at every turn :)

Om Shantih Bhargavi

I want new skis!!!!

Rossignol S110W Freeski

I want new skis so bad this year! I can't stop drooling over the pair of Rossignol's I want and fantasizing about what a ripper skiier I'd be if I could just get my hands on them.  **sigh** It's such a dilemna though...I seriously can't afford them right now, I'm not even going to be skiing mid-December - mid-February because I'll be in the Bahamas and I'd also have to buy new skins and new bindings (more money!!). 

If I did have a moment of weakness and totally just splurged and got them (AND the bindings AND the skins of course) I probably wouldn't be able to afford to drive my broke ass to the mountain to ski on the dang things.  Bah!

But I've been so good! I've had the same skis for the past 3 season's!  I'm totally due for a new pair, right? My Jill's are practically a safety concern at this point.  The thought of skiing another season on them makes me want to cry.  I've out grown those rusty edged noodles and I wanna move up to some bad ass fatties!! FATTIES!

In Financial Frustration - B  ;) 

Falling from Heaven

Had a great day on Friday - got up nice and early and took the T-dogs for a bike ride along the waterfront before meeting up with some friends for a paddle.  We kayaked to The Man Who fell from Heaven in Venn Passage and then over to Digby Island to explore the old Doctor's house.  After kayaking I met up with another friend and we took our dogs for a 2hr walk around Morse Creek Pond, then it was home for quick shower before meeting even more friends for an awesome dinner at Prince Rupert's best restaurant, Cow Bay Cafe.  From there we kept the good times rolling... the Crest (where I managed to avoid dessert!), Lush for more drinks, the Belmont for dancing and finally Zorba's for post-bar mingling and snacking. 

I also managed to avoid the post-bar snacking! Yay!  However, I have to admit that that was unintentional.  I did have a bite of a veggie samosa, but I ended up wearing the rest of it when I tried to break up a fight between 2 girls.  I also managed to have my wallet and Iphone stolen during that whole shamozzle which was obviously a big upset for the rest of the weekend, I got so down and out about it.  Still managed to get out for a day of fishing on the bar on Saturday and lots of bike rides with the dogs though AND I got both my wallet and Iphone back from the police late Sunday night with everything still in it!  So lucky - thank you universe!

I have been on a serious losing streak lately!  I've been losing everything, it's been crazy.  I've lost my keys numerous times, lost two cameras - only got one back, lost my wallet & my phone, lost a pair of sunglasses today (didn't get those back either, but that was just because I didn't go back and look for them - lost them biking).  I've been so lucky to get mostly everything back, but I wonder what kind of a message this is for me.  If the world outside of me is me, where am I lost?

The Man Who Fell From Heaven

The Story goes...

A young man was exiled from the village of Metlakatla for a forgotten transgression.

Days later he returned to the village, mad with hunger and raved that he had

journeyed to the sky and observed many wonders and feats of magic.

He lamented that he could have remained forever but somehow fell and

plunged from the above back to the village.

The elders, while amused by the audacity of the young man's tale, were about to cast him

 out again when he offered, unexpectedly, proof of his unlikely exploits.

He escorted the bemused villagers to Robeson Point and there showed them

 the crater his body had made when he struck the shore.

He was not only allowed to return to the village but was given a position of honour as shaman.

xo B

flowers in my basket

New Obsession?  Biking!  I've been biking everywhere - I love it!  I've always wanted to live in a rural little place where all the roads are packed dirt and I would ride my blue framed, 1 speed bike with it's brown leather seat everyday.  Every morning I would wake up,  drink a yummy tea, put on my big straw hat (to hide my unbrushed hair) and jump on my bike. I would steer with one hand and eat a piece of toast with jam with the other.  I would ride my bike out to my favorite wild flower field, lean my bike against an old wooden post, hop the fence, do some twirling then collapse amongst the flowers.  Then I would daydream the morning away and sometimes make up silly songs.  Then when my tummy starts rumbling and grumbling I would pick some pretty flowers and ride home with them in a wicker basket attached to my handlebars.  Except on Saturday mornings instead of going to the field, I would ride my blue bike to the farmer's market and my wicker basket would be overflowing with yummy vegetables and I would have one big baguette poking out the side.  Like in the movies.

Love and light - B