My new, not-so-routine, routine

I wanted to finally update all of you on my new routine, which I am discovering is not very routine or predictable. And this suits me just fine.
Look at one of the beautiful places I get to work!!

GOODBYE traditional work hours, being inside most of the day, and not working most weekends! And for that matter: goodbye (with mixed feelings) to clinical dietetics, white lab coats, ICU rounds and tube feedings.
HELLO to being physically active for my job, being outside a good portion of the day, being creative and imaginative as I plan out my classes/music playlists, and best of all: helping people achieve their health and wellness goals. I love it! What a welcome change for this phase of my life.
So, what exactly is my new routine?

• Teaching yoga 3 times a week or more for Buena Onda Yoga: It is a wonderful community of expats, travelers, students, and locals. The classes are in English and the style of my classes are primarily vinyasa flow. 
• Leading an outdoor boot camp fitness class for Boot Camp Buenos Aires (a sister company to Buena Onda) once a week... and it looks like I will be picking up more sessions starting this week.
• Writing articles about nutrition, yoga, fitness, etc. for Medios Lentos once a month (unfortunately, their site has been down this last week and they are working on getting it up and going again).
• Spanish tutoring twice a week with my lively and wonderful tutor, Mary Jane. And then trying to practice Spanish, read newspaper articles and easy books in Spanish, and basically getting over my fear of speaking Spanish!
• Being a "part-time mom" with Sofi and Martin when they stay with us on the weekends and a night or two during the week. 
• Working on developing a personal website to offer nutrition counseling and tie together my work with yoga, boot camp and nutrition. 
• Trying to maintain my own wellness and fitness. My goal is to have a daily yoga practice and also begin training for a race, maybe even the Buenos Aires Marathon in October!
• AND... living in a developing country with all that entails!! :) There's usually a daily surprise challenge to keep me on my toes.

Here are some other pics of the yoga studios where I teach:

The Las Cañitas studio

Inside the Recoleta studio:

View from your mat if you take a class with me! :)

One night, Fer and I did a little photo shoot so I'd have some photos for the Buena Onda Yoga website and a personal/work website that I am trying to get started.
Getting my camel on...

Having fun in side crow. Arm balances are some of my faves.

Preparing Nicoise salad for our dinner...

Yumm! One of our favorite dinners.

Thanks so much to all my friends and family that have supported me during these last few months of big transitions. I really couldn't be where I am today without all of you, especially my sweet Fer! Lots of love, Carolyn

Yandara Yoga Teacher Training

I don't even know where to begin to describe the Yoga Teacher Training I recently completed at Yandara in Baja, Mexico. It was an amazing experience that is difficult to put into words. Some experiences/highlights:
-Connecting deeply with others at Yandara: my fellow 16-day ladies, the teachers, the staff, the other awesome folks in the 26-day training. In the relatively short amount of time that we spent together, we made deep connections. It was an honor to be with them and learn from them.
-Enjoying the beautiful surroundings: being able to hear the waves and see the ocean from my tent, seeing AMAZING stars every night, seeing the sunrise and sunset every day, watching the transitions of the moon, walking along the beach most days, beautiful weather and no rain for 2+ weeks
-The talented and caring teachers: Shane, Kate and Sara were our 3 wonderful, inspiring, loving teachers that shared much more than excellent knowledge about the physical practice of yoga. They truly live in the present and showed us how to apply the principles of yoga into our day-to-day lives off the mat.
-The food: It was delicious, it was nutritious, it was made with love and it was shared with others in a loving, fun community. What could be better?! The only other thing that made it even better for me as a dietitian was that it gave me such a nice break from thinking about nutrition and food: all of it was taken care of for me so I could simply relax and enjoy. 

Now for the photo tour...
This is the beach pavilion where we trained every day. It was a 3 minute walk to the beachfront from here. Beautiful and serene. 

 View from the beach pavilion facing some of the tents. Mine is just to the right of the small pavilion.

 One set of outdoor toilets and showers.

 My breakfast every morning :) I loved the papaya with lime juice squeezed on it.

 A typical lunch/dinner. The food was definitely a highlight. Let me re-phrase that: not having to think about planning, shopping for, cooking and preparing delicious, healthy food was absolutely wonderful.

 One of our last mornings together. It was so chilly at night! Once the sun set at 6 p.m. the temperature dropped about 20-30 degrees until 9 a.m. the next morning.

 My final "presentation" was to co-teach a 70 minute class to the whole group. Here I am after the class with my buddy Ximena, who was also my tent neighbor :)

 On our last full day, we walked a ways to an oasis where this huge fig tree has clearly been thriving for many, many years!

 Beautiful Kate, made us a delicious raw chocolate pie. It tasted divine.

 Our group the night of graduation

I miss this place and these fabulous people but I am excited about applying all the things I have learned into my life. The teaching principles will be put into practice much sooner than I thought: I start teaching at Buena Onda Yoga this Wednesday!! I couldn't be more thrilled! :) Right now I have 4 classes per week, at least one class at each of the three studios, so I have been prepping a lot and trying not to get nervous :)