Author: ying yoga

As you know whilst on lock down I dusted off my bike and cycled more than I ever had before.

As lockdown begin to relax, I went back to hairdressing work, as well as doing yoga via Zoom. I want to keep this cycling in my life while juggling my work life too.

I have done quite a few things for different charities over my life and I haven’t done an event for a while, though I’ve donated money or given food for homeless people.

I came across this cycling event and I thought why not? Yes, I’ve started the challenge late, as its meant to be April to August and I signed up on a Sunday in July, but I just have less time to cover 500km before the end of August!

Believe me, it will be a challenge to get all this in in my free time, but I love a challenge, and better still, it’s for charity. This event is not just to help me keep up with cycling, but to help raise awareness of dementia.

I know you may not have money to donate, but also remember every little helps. There’s no pressure, but if you can’t donate, it would be great if you could share my page for me instead!

Thank you so much for your support, and wish me luck!


https://cycle.thetreblechallenge.org/pages/ying-chan

Looking back on full lockdown, my main takeaway is to not spread myseldf too thinly. I don’t want to be running round all over the place, and lockdown made me pause and realise I was doing too much. I’ve considered my working schedule, re-evaluated it, and changed it.

I need to be strict with myself and not add hairdressing clients at the end of the day! (Every now and then is fine, but I was doing it far too much!)

Another thing I found was that I want to have more time to just stop and *be*. To learn that it’s ok to have nothing to do every now and then. Spend more time in and with nature – sitting in the garden or out on a bike ride. Time at home to do the fitness I want to do in my own time; not what I feel pressured to do or show on Instagram.

Do you have any lockdown reflections?

This is a daily morning ritual I’ve followed for a few years now. The ingredients change by season, but I keep it organic, and as you know I take Juice Plus. As you’ve read in my previous post, it gives extra nutrients and is not a supplement.

To be honest probably the the key ingredient, as it’s the only constant! Other common ones are spirulina and chica seeds, a bit of protein powder, and occasionally macca powder.

For the past few years, I’ve mostly made mostly green smoothies. I found trying to not mix too much acidic fruit together challenging to start with, but it did get easier.

I limit the fruit these days because otherwise the fructose level is too high for me. I find I use one or two pieces of fruit at most.

So now mainly it’s vegetables, like celery, kale, spinach, lettuce, sugar snap peas, and cucumber. Sometimes I also add fresh ginger in it!

And to make the mix into a smoothie, I always add filtered water rather than milk, so it’s not too heavy, and we stay hydrated with the water intake!

Happy making and drinking… what are your smoothies like?

Let’s firstly clear up a common misconception! Juice Plus is not a supplement – it’s extra nutrition, just in capsules.

So it doesn’t mean you don’t have to eat your fruit and vegetables! It gives us more.

Even if you eat a varied diet already, the fruit and vegetables we buy are not always as nutritious as they should be, because they are not picked as freshly as possible. The supply chain means they’re often picked much earlier, and stored longer before they make it to the supermarkets for us to consume.

The fruit and vegetables that go into Juice Plus are picked as soon as they are ripe to make sure there are the most nutrients, then taken straight to the factory where they are crushed. The resulting fructose is taken out, and put in to capsules.

I’ve taken these for quite a few years now, and it’s really helped me get my health back on track!

If you’re interested, have a look at http://www.yc32913.juiceplus.com

During lockdown, I gained my TRX certificate (suspension training)! It’s one I’ve been meaning to do but never got round to it. Having this time pressed upon me allowed me to complete the course online rather than in person.

I love this tool kit; it allows you to do so many different exercises, and has fantastic applications in yoga. It uses body weight, and can involve functional movement for the whole body, but the thing it works on the most is your core.

Finding this core stability in your body helps with strength and flexibility. We can gain these attributes when targeting all muscles, big and small!

TRX training is perfect for everyone, and you can use the strap anywhere – home or away, in the gym or a park!

I want to offer small numbers TRX yoga classes in the future – would you be interested?

Morning all! Just wanted to post a few updates about yoga classes going forward. Since the government announced the various business openings, including hair salons, I’ll be shifting classes slightly:

– Monday 29th June will be the last Monday class – no future Monday classes planned

– Saturday 4th July – NO CLASS

– Online Saturday classes will resume on the 11th July, from 8-9am. Please note the new time!

– Wednesday Zoom classes will still be 6.30pm for an hour. They will move back to the White Tara Studio when it is deemed safe to do so.

From the 1st of July, all classes will be £7 each.

Thankyou for your patience as we learned how to do online yoga together! I hope you can still join us for lessons, and that we can meet up in person one day soon.

Stay safe and well, and remember to find a bit of time to just be still and present.

Another vegan recipe I love to make, with loads of variations depending on which ingredients you like (or can get hold of!). Great for breakfast with your favourite milk or yoghurt!


Ingredients

1-2 cups nuts (your favourite, or a mix)
1/2- 1 cup seeds (your favourite, or a mix)
1-2 cups rolled oats
3 tablespoons coconut flakes
2 teaspoons chia seeds
A couple of pinches salt
3 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons agave nectar (or you could use honey if it doesn’t need to be vegan)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 140C and line a baking tray with parchment paper
2. Heat the coconut oil and agave nectar in a saucepan over a low heat
3. Add all other ingredients to a bowl and stir to combine
4. Add the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well
5. Pour the mixture onto the lined tray, and spread evenly
6. Bake, stirring regularly, until the granola is slightly golden all over

Leave to cool, and store in an airtight jar.

Enjoy!

Isolation has given me time to self enquire via meditation, and write blogs (maybe I should do a meta blog about blogging one day!)

As you probably know I practice trancendental meditation, but I’ve also taking time to follow guided meditations from my yoga teacher, who I’ve just done an online course with.

It’s given me time to delve deeper than usual and work through my most vulnerable feelings and emotions within myself. I had already done some of this before, but I got busy again with work and life, and meditating got put to one side. It was good to take time to really honour my emotions and work through them. I enjoy doing this, and love how I feel afterwards. I’ve done lots of different types of work on myself over the years; various therapies, all types of healing, homeopathy, and obviously yoga!

But sitting with my deepest feeling, and listening without judgement is not easy! (It might sound simple but it’s not!). I thought I had listened, or not judged, but no, I hadn’t! Sometimes I found I had only started, but barely scratched the surface. I spent time peeling back the layers to get to the core, and I have to say it’s blown me away. Intense feelings washed over me, but I was able to dedicate the time to process them, and appreciate what my body and mind were going through. I love that I feel I can move forward now!

I know I’ll always be working on myself, and it will be neverending! Plenty of things will pop up in life, and even as I deal with them, more new things arise. The good thing is that this gets easier the more you do it! You learn to keep more space within, and not fill yourself to bursting point!

Take time, feel what’s needed and breathe!

Some of you may not know that as well as teaching yoga I’m a hairdresser with a seat at Bamboo on Mill Road. As the lockdown starts to lift more, I’m starting to book clients in for their hair to do done.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been busy in the background trying to get ready to start working back in the salon. One aspect of this is ordering PPE for myself and clients.

I’m thinking of the environment as much as I can to get back to work by limiting the plastic. The disposable towels and gowns are biodegradable, but sadly not everything can be this way.

The hand sanitiser and my workstation and tools cleaner has no scent or harsh chemicals in it, while still being hospital grade. It’s won’t harm your pets once on your hands in case they like to lick you!

The PPE is not only for mine and your benefit, but others who are in the salon at the time. Thinking along this line, I have also bought a no-contact thermometer, which I’ll use on entry to the salon. Face masks need to be used and worn properly, and I’ll be able to sell one to clients who don’t have their own.

It’s hard for all of us in the industry as there are no real guidelines to follow, so I’m doing everything I possibly can to make this work, and I really appreciate your cooperation at this time.

So as soon as we get green light I’m ready to just start. The date at the minute is the 4th of July all being well.

I started to get in touch with my clients at the start of June, when the lifting phases were announced.

I am (understandably!) going to be busy, but we’re not going to be silly in the salon. There will be fewer people in per day, and we are allowing longer time to clean and get ready in between each client. We won’t be seeing other clients while colours are developing unless a stylist is not in to work, to keep your experience 1:1.

There will be appointments only (i.e. no walk-ins),and rebooking and payment will happen at the work station to have fewer people in the reception area.

It will be a big change getting back to work, and hopefully will feel more natural once everything gets back to its new normal, what ever that may be.

I understand it will feel strange for a while (for me too!), but I hope by doing this it puts your minds to ease to come and get your hair done, for a feel good factor if nothing else. We definitely all need that right now!