After couple of lessons, today I asked my yoga teacher, Elina. Yes, she is Elina. Apparently I got her name wrongly as saw that name in the printout about yoga and wellnesa she gave haha.. As I was saying, I asked Elina what is xi qi and tu qi. She is always repeating during lessons. Is it breathe in and out? Through the nose? And whats with the tu-tu-tu thingy during breathing during warming down..when would I know if I have to breath out via my nose or mouth? She answered me with a smile and told me that those breathing techniques were taught to the same students who had attended her elementary yoga lessons for the 2nd time! But she would be glad to share with me next lesson :) anyway all my mind was thinking of this: why the heck would you wanna attend elementary yoga doing the same damn thing? We should be progressing to intermediate doing hewd stands and all what.. Funny people! The ambitious streak in me is acting uo again..

No more heated arguments, differing of opinions and raised voices anymore. Perhaps it is for the better. Perhaps it is meant to be like this. We just don't talk anymore..

Riding the waves @ Wavehouse, Sentosa

Today is my 1st time flow-riding again after some years!

Learned a lot from the Eurasian staff who patiently asked if I was a right hander. If I was a right hander, I had to put my right leg behind me for ample support. The staff is such an expert that he could go up the waves to retrieve a misplaced surf board and back down again to put it in place. Impressed.

Anyway he is cute and so patient! I managed to stand for quite a bit and navigate left and right to keep the board in place. Yay! Well done, Valerie! Whoo hoo!

Anyway the staff in the pictures isn't him.. he went for his break haha! Sorry ladies ; ) PS: If you're thinking of flow-riding, pls protect your modesty! My bikini bottom rolled down by half, thankfully it was concealed by my black shorts which only rolled down a little haha.. But well well, I was still unglam having my eye makeup smeared, looking like a lost panda. And my falls were all dramatic and on my neck/head though I broke the fall.. Nursing a badly sprained neck now! Hurts when I drive or even cough..yikes!

Before the ugliness: Me sitting pretty and enjoying my OREO Ice Blended..

And so the action begins!

One hour of surf is up!

(Tip: Go on a Wednesday and get an hour free with an hour purchase! One Hour @ $40.00)

Hatha Yoga - Elementary, Lesson 1

I remembered going for yoga lessons when i was younger, with my mum and aunts. Now you must be wondering which prestigious yoga school did I go to.. Truth be told, they brought me to Sri Mariamman temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore!

The person who taught us was an Indian guru (who else do you expect..hee!). Intially, I was doubtful looking at this indian guy clad in nothing much but a white loin cloth. He was old and skinny.. but I changed my mind upon seeing him do the shoulder and head stand!

With my short termed memory, I cannot remember how old was I when i did yoga there! Was it before or after my time in the SPF? (Perhaps i shall check with my mum later hee..) My 'links' with this temple goes a long way haha! Memories of doing duties for Fire-walking and Thaipusam.. it was prolly after one of these overnight duties that my ex asked me out for a date when I was a little glassy eyed in the morning..

Anyway, back to the topic of Yoga.

It was just 30th July when I was talking about my interest to take it up again to a friend. He too wanted to take lessons with me as he had previously taken yoga on and off. I wasn't sure if I had the passion to take it up seriously or not so i thought i had better sign up for some elementary yoga lessons before doing the dive.

So on the 2nd of July at 6.30pm, I found myself at the 1st lesson of Hatha Yoga, conducted by Living Yoga. The lessons were in Mandarin, but I didn't want to wait till late July as my birthday was drawing near and I hope to graduate by then haha. Here I am, on time for lessons..even had the time to run to the ladies to change into my long Adidas tights!

Where I used to attend with Mum, she was always late to bring me haha! And we would have missed part of the lesson! Anyway, it's just the 1st lesson and I hope that I can be punctual for all Tuesday lessons! *Pray*

I was telling the teacher, Linda if she could possibly speak a little English during lessons and she said she'll try. Lesson commences. There were about 5 of us, excluding the teacher. I was the youngest, the rest being Aunts and Uncles from their 40s. Linda told us that we all learn Yoga for all sorts of reasons and told us that there won't be any dramatic movements as this is only the elementary course.

She is rather nice and cheerful. The only thing is, when she was doing some of the poses prior to lessons to give us an idea of what to expect, I was wondering if her polo tee would dropped exposing her chest. What the heck.. why am I having weird thoughts?!? And while doing the poses, I was thinking happy thoughts when I was supposed to be clear of all thoughts if I'd really focus - which I eventually did.

So she did make an attempt to explain in English, but strangely she only translated those simple one or two words. After a while, she rattled on in Mandarin and I had to look at her to know which body part she was talking about! Luckily, she did check on me and manually helped to move me if I was getting it wrong.

As usual, i didnt perspire. I am one who hardly perspires.

But I do feel great! Though I did go crazy and ate dinner and ice cream and potato crisps (the one that looked like fries) and loacker (mini)!

Looking forward to next Tues lessons!

PS: I wonder when I can learn how to do head stand.. only managed two seconds in the past when paranoid Mum quickly told me to get off the wall, worrying that I may break my neck..