First off that's prob'ly the worst title for a post in blogging history and secondly I have no idea how I am going to tie the two together. Yikes.
Do people even still blog any more? I am feeling so out of touch with all the new apps and gadgets, I think the new thing is Vlogging - it's like video blogging and then there is this other thing Perisope? Is that right? Wait lemme look it up...
Good thing you aren't reading this in real time it's taken me ages to find it. So it's an app that let's you broadcast live video and let's followers comment in real time. These all seem like really cool things however I am a strictly behind the scenes kind of girl, so if you're looking for videos and live broadcasts about stuff, you will have to look elsewhere as I am old-school.
He Who Shall Not Be Named calls me a Luddite. I still read books on paper, Yo!
So speaking of books, one of my old time fave girlie-girl books is called Hope In a Jar by Beth Harbison.
Such a cute story that I think would make a great film but this isn't a book review post, I just stole the title because it fits in with my Virtue of the Month for December. Now might be a good time to mention that I am really sick, so I am at home hopped up on cold & flu medication and like that great Prince tune croons -- forgive me if I go astray.
Oh what the hell since we're here, lemme tell you about the book. I'll just give you the cliff notes off the back - A Hilarious touching novel about friendship, Love's Baby Soft perfume, Watermelon Lip Smackers, bad run-ins with Sun-In, and the healing power of "Gee your hair smells terrific." Hope in a jar: We all need it.
If you're anywhere close in age to me, all of that stuff will ring nostalgic. Oh Sun-In, how orange you turned my tresses. The book is about these two best friends who had a fight in high school and now on the eve of their 20th high school reunion their paths once again cross and hijinx ensue. An amazingly fun beach or holiday read if you're looking for a laugh and some light entertainment.
As an aside, the cosmetics company Philosophy makes a moisturizer called Hope In A Jar, and yeah, I'm not too proud to admit that I tried it after reading the book.
Okay, best be getting on with the post I intended to write.
When the month of October dawned I was determined to make it awesome!
And baby it was! It was the month that I got to fly to New York my favorite city and I got to meet Tracy Anderson, my favorite trainer and hang out with some of the coolest women I have ever met in my life, talk about blessed. The virtue for October was Believe. It became apparent through circumstance and self-reflection that I hadn't really believed in myself so the Believe Jar was born. It worked such wonders in my life that I held it over for November you can check it out HERE. Now it's just a part of daily life. Can't get on with my day until I drop a note in the believe jar.
The fact is, believing in myself has made that much of an impact that it has become one of my ten personal commandments, or what I like to call the Shamandments.
I'll get there in a second, so stay with me here.
It's one thing to think up a monthly virtue or a behaviour that you'd like to cultivate and write it on the calendar for the month, but it's quite another thing altogether to really live it. Making that believe jar helped me to practice believing in myself in a physical way. I had to physically write down on a piece of paper (yep, Luddite) one thing that I believed about myself every day and add it to the jar. It's hard. If you've never done it I'd suggest trying it. I got my BFF's from the Metamorphosis Social Club (thanks for that Title Nat) Natalia and Sophie to try this with me and they struggled too. It's easy to pick ourselves apart and find fault with who we are, much harder to find nice things to say about ourselves. So, it is a practice I will continue. I will have to empty the jar now tho because it's stuffed to capacity.
It got me thinking about what other virtue I might like to practice in a physical way that would sew some light into my life... and Hope in a Jar was born. Plus what better time to be hoping or making wishes than at Christmastime?
I also think that hope and belief go hand in hand. For example you might believe that you have potential but what about success?
You can't fake your way into that. You can't say "I believe I am successful" if the standards by which you measure success (whatever they are) are not being met. But you can hope for success can't you? Hope is a very positive feeling and who couldn't benefit from more positive in their lives right?
So HOPE is my virtue for the month of December.
I feel the need to expound upon this concept a little further and tell you why I chose hope. I believe in the law of attraction - that what we think we become, what we believe we achieve etc. Using positive intention I've attracted a good many things into my life and the evidence of this work has never been more apparent in my life than with the believe jar. I believed myself into a writer's room on a TV show, which has been a long-standing goal for me for the past three or four years and I even made it a new years resolution for 2015. I'm in a room and could not be happier!
But if I may backtrack a little, year and years ago, my best friend Yania was single, had been through her share of rotten relationships and she'd just lost her dad. It was a tough time for her. She could have allowed herself to spiral downward into a very dark and lonely place, but instead she did the work that generated the life of her dreams. She started a journal called Hope for my Partner. In it, she started listing the things that she hoped her potential future mate would have. She hoped that he'd have a love of the outdoors, that his enjoyment of physical activity might spark her own, that he'd have sparkly eyes that crinkled at the corners when he smiled (I dunno if that was actually a hope) but the man she attracted, the guy who is now her husband and the father of her child has these remarkable blue eyes that transform his whole face when he smiles and yeah, he trained the Austrian snow board team - the guy is super sporty and outdoorsy.
The point is that it worked! Her "hopes for my partner" journal really worked. Yan if you're reading this, I hope I didn't bastardize the story too badly - can I have a pass on account of the cold meds??
So don't tell my Manager or my Agent this, but when I was looking for representation both in LA and here in Toronto - I did the same thing. Hopes for my Manager, Hopes for my Agent - I hoped that they'd love the work they did, hoped they'd see the potential in my voice and be eager to match that with other creative types etc. So you may have guessed I not only have reps but I love them! Like love love them! They rock. When I hear other people complain about how shitty their agent is, or how they don't do squat for them (hey I used to be that writer) I just say nope, I love my agent, she's the absolute best. Because she is as I hoped she would be - she's simply amazing.
So... Hope in a Jar this month anyone? Who's with me? Imagine what we ca dream up together. It's going to be fabulous. Let me start early by saying I hope I feel better by tomorrow so I can get back into the writer's room and not make anyone else sick! Yikes.
Hopes and beliefs, it's a pretty weak segue into the Shamandments but nevertheless that's what's next.
If you're a reader who's been with me for any length of time, you'll no doubt be familiar with the Shamandments from Mastering The Method - THIS is where they all started with Gretchen Rubin's book The Happiness Project. They grew into more than five and revolved mostly around my workouts with the Method. But since then I have grown and evolved - like you do - and I thought it was high time to update those personal commandments.
There's this amazing quote by Steve Jobs that says:
"Your time is
limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by
dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let
the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most
important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow
already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
I just love that. But you need to think about it, you need to consider what your own heart says, what rules does it want you to live by so that you can be your most authentic self. I came up with some rules that suite me. Feel free to steal, use or borrow any of the following and make them your own, nobel reader.
The NEW Ten Shamanments
1) Be Shannon (This is Gretchen's golden rule, mine too with good reason, don't try to be somebody else you'll never find happiness there)
2) Find a reason every day to believe in myself
3) Write it down (that's the tricky part because it makes you actually have to put number two into practice)
4) Act the way I want to feel (I think this is also one of Gretchen's rules)
5) No being a hateful meanie to myself
6) Do my best and forget the rest (I think this dove-tails nicely with #1)
6) Make it my own. Whether it's my workout, my diet, my look or my life, personalize it to suit me and then I can own it)
7) Let love be the boss of me rather than fear
8) Set achievable goals. It's the first step to self improvement.
9) Remain humble no matter what your achievements or successes, simple living leads to higher thinking.
10) Feed the hunger in my belly, not in my head. (This is a holdover from the original rules, I kept it because I need to practice it daily. Emotional eating is a killer and we need to be vigilant.)
So that's it, that's all. Welcome to December (well nearly) I'm going back to bed. I do realize that this isn't my most eloquent or well-written post but you have my good intentions and all of my heart. Hope to see you again soon.
xo
Shan
If you'd have come to me on September 11th, 2010 when I wrote The Challenge, my first ever blog post about my journey into The Tracy Anderson Method and said: "Hey in five years, you're going to meet this group of women through an online photo contest and then you're all going to go to New York and workout together with Tracy Anderson in her Tribeca studio and she is going to know who you all are."... I'd have been like, yeah right, I want whatever you're smoking!
All I can say now is Alice has got nothing on me. She might have fallen down the rabbit hole into Wonderland and seen some pretty amazing stuff but this? THIS?!?
I never saw THIS coming!
You know how I like to digress, right? You didn't? Oh, well then you should go to the top of the page and click on What's This Blog because there is a clause in there that states: "I reserve the right to meander, waffle on, whinge, moan, crack myself up, etc. etc." So with that in mind...
Happy November!
Let's talk about November. It's the first of the month. I love the firsts of the months because they allow us to start fresh. To come up with a monthly virtue, to have some resolutions, and they basically give us (ME) permission for a do-over if we so need.
So last month I chose BELIEVE as my virtue. I don't think I wrote about that, I'm sorry it was a crazy busy time. I chose Believe because my friend Jackie said I needed more self-esteem, that I didn't believe in myself enough and so she had me create my Believe Jar. I feel like I posted about this, so if I did and I am being repeaty repeaty, forgive me. Here's my jar.
The idea is to put in one thing into the jar that you believe about yourself each morning to build that "believe in yourself" muscle. Harder than it sounds. I am not sure I'm quite there yet so guess what the virtue for November is going to be?
BELIEVE!
Believe you're amazing, Believe that you can do anything you put your mind to, Believe everything is possible, Believe you are worth it!
And keeping that in mind look what is beginning tomorrow (November 2nd)....
Eeeeeeeeeeee I am so excited and I really do feel like I am Alice in Wonderland just following the White Rabbit to where I am supposed to go. How fitting and fortuitous no? Join me as I meditate the next three weeks away with Oprah and Deepak, you can sign up HERE if you want to.
So, you wanna hear about my weekend with Tracy now? I am so excited to tell you all about it, but I also didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to think I was bragging or something, or that I think I'm all that now, because believe me (ha, believe see? It's everywhere) I am more humbled than anything by this whole experience.
I don't want to go into detail about how it all came to be. So the Cliff Notes version is this. At the end of December last year, Tracy came out with Streaming where you could sign up and get a new class each week working out with her in the studio. So fun, right?
Then in January she launched this Instagram contest where you subscribe to Streaming, you follow her on Instagram and post weekly pics of your streaming experience - mine looked a lot like this...
You see? Not much has changed from my Meta days where I was completely convinced that Tracy was trying to kill me. Even the dog was exhausted just from watching.
Anyway through these posts and pics I got to know several of these amazing women who were also into Tracy's Method and they were nailing it, hitting the mat every day and sending inspiration across the Instagram web waves. At the end of the month Tracy and her posse chose the winners, and while I was not one of them I still felt like a winner. One for having worked out every single day in January and not dying, and two for having met these "girls for girls" kind of women. So much love and support. Well all of that love and support led to this crazy spectacular idea from Emery, check her out HERE, that wouldn't it be cool if we could ALL workout with Tracy. So she asked and Tracy said yes and this happened.
If you look at the very top of this pic, you can see my huge grin as I hold up my iPhone. This is the tiny change room at the Tribeca studio. Would you like me to rewind slightly? Okay then I will.
You still here? I wasn't sure if that was a **Yawn** sure go on, Zzzzzz, snore, or a: YEAH woman how did this happen???
So our Emery set the wheels in motion and the weekend event was on, it wasn't on, it was on, drama drama drama - then finally "We're doing it!" But I wasn't sure that I was. I was so scared. In fact I almost didn't go. Honestly, Tracy is super amazing, but all that heat? Those crazy moves? Half the time at home I'd break out in tears because it felt so hard I believed I was in over-my-head. (Oh my beautiful Believe Jar, how far we've come together.) A close friend along with He Who Shall Not Be Named convinced me that I had as much right to be there as anyone else, I was invited after all, wasn't I? Yes I was. So I decided to go, but that wasn't the end of my terror, it actually got much worse.
I mean to tell you I was scared shitless. You know me, I have always been a half-ass-er. My rapper name is Lay-zee for crying out loud.
I never do cardio, I never work out with shoes on much less weights, now I was going to have to put on sneakers and weights and try to keep up with these Super-women who seemed so much more hard-core than me. They did hours of working out - full double weights and hours of cardio. I was going to be Billy No Friends, after-all hadn't I always been? I'm used to being the odd man out, the loner, hell it's why I chose the Method and Streaming and all of it because I got to do it alone.
Anyway if I wasn't nervous enough, I went and dislocated my rib the very week before going.
It was (and is still) super painful. (Honestly I thought it was a sign that I should not be going.) I didn't have range of motion, it hurt to breathe, but thankfully my masterful friend/chiropractor/witch-doctor was able to tape me up for the event so that I could stand up-right.
So we all flew from our respective homes as far away as South Africa and as close as Queens - okay Agi didn't fly she drove, and we met on a Friday night in Soho. I was worried. What if we didn't connect? What if it was just an online thing and when we met they'd all be like who the hell are you? I don't post a lot of selfies, so a few people actually didn't know who I was.
But the first meetings looked a lot like this....
There were tears, there was laughter, there was a whole lot of hugging. Oh my ribs!
You might know many of them from their sweaty posts but look at these girls all dressed up...
It was real, the connection, the love, the support - I've never felt anything like it.
Until stepping into that room the next day. The energy was like being at a massively connected spiritual retreat of some kind. I mean, I lived in a yoga ashram and didn't feel this intense pure love and joy.
I know you cannot see me in the class that is currently online because I like to stick to the shadows and prefer to be BEHIND the camera, but can you pick me out? My where's Waldo moment here - I'm under the clock next to the beautiful Erica. Look at this group. So I guess you want to hear about the class, huh?
I was super nervous, I had total butterflies, but when Tracy walked in and greeted us, her voice set me at ease. I'd been listening to her for the better part of six years. It was going to be okay.
Me, always with the camera. But isn't it cool that she has more or less kept me/us in shape all these years? So cool. You rock Tracy Anderson! She was so generous and warm. She took all our hugs and squeals in stride.
But then it was time to move. I thought I would die. The door closed, the temperature rose, I was in the very back corner right in front of the heater, humidifier AND speaker - holy shit talk about sensory overload. But the first thought that ran through my head was: "Hey, this is just like what I do at home, I can do this." It was a rather shocking moment. I was capable.
It's hard to see because it's a screen grab, but that is Clinsay in front of me and Nadineandrea13 next to me. Those are their IG names if you want to check them out. It was super surreal since I'd been following them online for months and now here we all were. WITH TRACY! Omigod.
I had been trying to avoid looking in the mirrors as much as possible but at one point I caught my reflection and I though, "Yo, Masters you have never looked this good at home" and then I realized that it wasn't my reflection lol - it was Lorettasfitnesslife. Omigod. Hilarious, she looks so great.
It was hot in the room but not too hot to stand it, so if you've been putting off going to a Vitality Week or visiting a studio, don't. If I can take it so can you. Just bring lots of water. The heat made me hurt less and move more so I think it is something I want to introduce at home, just not so much the humidity because I am afraid of mold. I don't think I could replicate that sort of heat and humidity anyway. But I quite enjoyed it while there.
There was of course those moments where I was thinking fuck we've got a whole 'nother side to do yet, but you just get so caught up in the music and the movements of those around you that you go with it, it feeds you. The biggest take away was that yes, ladies, online streaming is just like what Tracy is doing live every day. The only difference is that at home I can actually see her. In class I was following either Gillian or Gippersmith (Karen) to know what to do next.
My advice or what I would know what to do next time is never fly out right after class. We had an afternoon session on the Sunday and I flew out right after taking a shower. I was so ill by the time I hit my gate.
The class really takes a lot out of you, more than at home I think because I tended not to rest in class whereas at home, I might take a break or do less reps. The heat sucks everything out of you. It's better to be able to grab some food and re-hydrate and just chill rather than haul a bag through a crowed airport and stand in endless lines. Especially when injured, duh!
At the airport as I was sitting at the gate I really thought I was going to faint or die. It was so bad, it got to the point where I felt like I would never ever do another live class again, but it's like childbirth. The second the pain is gone, it's forgotten and you cannot wait for the next class.
I'm more inspired and reinvigorated than ever. Still got a bum rib but I am going to try and learn the cardio. You'll believe it when you see it? I know, me too. ha ha. So not a dancer but since Tracy has gone to all the trouble of creating new content with breakdowns, I kind of feel like it would be rude not to.
She spoke at length answering tons of questions, so much that is beyond the scope of this already too long post - stuff like about menopause, cellulite, diet, supplements etc, but the biggest take away was this...
She is designing these workouts with your whole body in mind and with a long range plan. So if one week she doesn't do abs in the master class, do not add them. If she isn't using ankle weights, don't add them on to "make it harder" you are fucking up the long range plan for those accessory muscles. Also if she is adding weight, you should do the same. If you find that you're bulking when you do, really look at those angles, watch in the mirror. Are you getting that leg high enough or hitting it in the same place she is, if you're not you might be activating other muscle groups and that is what is causing you to bulk.
Just trust her. I know it's hard, but after all these years, I do trust her. (Okay I still don't wear shoes or use double weights at home, but I'm thinking those 2.5 ankle weights might make a nice Christmas gift)
I hope this was helpful and fun. Last words, if you get a chance to do a class with her, do it. She is the real deal, the genuine article. She cares for us, she listens to us, and does this for us because she truly loves it and it shows.
#bestweekendever
Love,
Shan
