by mcaines@gmail.com | Feb 5, 2018 | Off the Mat, Healthy Living, On the Mat, Travel
In December 2012 I escaped. I’m not a big fan of Xmas and I don’t much like winter so I took my savings, skipped town, and went to Mexico for a 7 day New Year’s Yoga Retreat. What a treat: 6am mornings, vegetarian meals, and 3.5 hours of yoga a day. Ok, I know it sounds like a nightmare for many people but for me it sounded INCREDIBLY delicious. And listen, I’m no saint: I like my late nights, my live music, and my Irish whiskey. But this retreat sounded like just what I needed. Plus it was being led by Kathryn Budig and I knew that practicing with her would leave me dripping with inspiration.
And it was great. Truly. What a brilliant way to end one year and start a new one. Instead of starting the year feeling bloated and hung-over from holiday indulgences I felt motivated, refreshed, and renewed (and really, really clean. Fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish for a week? Wicked). It was a really amazing way to give back to myself: a great boost for my body and mind.
I realized, then, how important it is to give yourself that treat, you know, to refuel, to recharge, to show yourself some LOVE. And it doesn’t have to be a crack-of-dawn-veggie-yoga-fest. What floats your love boat? Find out what that is and indulge in it; give back to yourself and you will have so much more to offer those around you.
Fancy an adventure with me? Check out www.melaniecaines.com/retreats to escape.
Happy exploring!
-melanie-
xo
by mcaines@gmail.com | Jan 21, 2018 | Healthy Living, Off the Mat
I’ve been trying to make time to write a post about making time since the start of the new year . . . last year . . . as in 2017 . . . . I’d have an idea or come up with a sentence or paragraph while brushing my teeth or meditating and I’d make a mental note or jot something down in the notes app on my phone. So here I am, 386 days later, actually carving out time to put words to paper. And while I haven’t been completely successful in my effort to make time to write this piece, I have made some interesting discoveries about how much time there actually is in a 24hr period when you decide to make something a priority.
There aren’t enough hours in the day – how many times have you thought, said, or heard that? Countless, probably. And in our modern times it seems like there is more to do than ever. Beyond the daily tasks of work, school, family, and just keeping ourselves alive, there are other things we crave: reading that stack of books by the bed, getting out for a daily walk, spending a few moments meditating, tea with a friend, clearing out the spare room or junk drawer, volunteering, etc. And what about our passion projects and tasks that bring us closer to enjoying our long term goals? Where do we find the time for that? How will we ever get it all done? Cue anxiety, stress, and overwhelm.
After over 10 years of yoga practice I consider myself pretty grounded and centered, but I cannot keep at bay that gross panic that accompanies the “I still haven’t done that/started that yet . . .” rabbit hole of misery and regret. What about all those yoga books collecting dust on the shelf? What about your goal to learn another language? You still don’t have a consistent meditation practice. Have you gotten on your mat today? And these aren’t things I feel like I should be doing, they are things I WANT to do because they make me feel good, but I can’t just find the time for them. Well in 2016 I got fed up with the rise of anxiety (if you had just started that language course last year think of how much you’d know by now!) and started making time.
I began 2016 with the intention of meditating twice a day for 5 minutes each time. As I mentioned before, I love achievable goals. That’s doable, right? Right! I actually never missed a day (and still haven’t: it’s been 2 years and counting). It has become as regular and familiar as brushing my teeth (ever hear that it takes 21 days to make a habit?) Now, do I always meditate at home, peaceful, quiet, surrounded by candles, perfectly timed after I wake up and before bed? Hellllll no. But I do it when I can and where I can (I remember showing up at a friend’s house for a party and asking if I could meditate in her bedroom for 5 minutes before I poured up a glass of wine because I had forgotten to do it before I left the house). I realized very early on that I do in fact have these 10 extra minutes in my day to meditate. Where did they come from? I made the commitment and the time appeared because the task became a priority.
Half way through 2016 I added in another daily goal: 3 minutes of Pranayama (breath work). Turns out that’s doable. And in 2017 I began reading from what I call an educational or professional development book every day for 15 minutes. I told a friend about the reading goal and she asked “but where do you find the time?” Totally valid question: it may seem like an extravagant daily event to add into my 60hour entrepreneur work week. But how easy is it to spend 15 minutes (or more . . . ) scrolling through Facebook or Instagram? (I think we would all, myself included, be shocked if we tallied up the minutes we spend perusing social media). I average about a book a month now and all the works have been tremendously helpful in my life as a yoga teacher and wellness advocate.
This year I’ve been dedicating at least 20 minutes of each day to my asana practice and 10 minutes to online Spanish learning while still maintaining my meditation, pranayama, and reading habits and you know what? The time is there because these things have been important habits that are just as much a part of my life as making lunch or putting out the recycling on collection day. Sometimes I have to get really creative about how I schedule my day but (most of the time) it all gets done.
I’m not saying it’s easy and that you’ll be able to make time for everything, but don’t cut yourself off before you begin. Start small, create an achievable daily goal, and make that event a priority. Before you know it that task may become a daily ritual and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.
I’m curious: what will you start making time for?
-melanie-
xo
by mcaines@gmail.com | Nov 24, 2016 | Healthy Living, Off the Mat
When I was 6 months old my Dad was changing my diaper and noticed that one of my legs was longer than the other.
My Mom, a nurse, consulted a Pediatric nursing book she had (this was 1981 – we were a looooong way from Google) and suspected that I had Bilateral Congenital Hip Dysplasia. My Mom had heard of this condition, had studied it, and knew what it meant: I had no hip sockets. My parents made an appointment with my family doctor, my hips were x-rayed, and the doctor called the next day to confirm the diagnosis. He made an appointment with a St. John’s doctor (we lived in Corner Brook – an 8 hour drive away) so I could get admitted to the Janeway Children’s Hospital and start treatment.
Here’s what was going on:
My legs (femur bones) were pushed up past where my hip sockets should be, so the first step in the treatment process was traction: I was on my back for 6 weeks and the traction allowed my legs to be pulled down to where my hip sockets should be.
The next step was to create hip sockets: this was possible because I was so young and my bones were still soft. I had been lying down for 6 weeks straight so I had to get used to sitting up and being upright again. Once I was acclimatized my legs were put in a splint and I wore a full body brace that tied up around my shoulders to keep my legs in a frog-like position: this allowed the top part of my femur to press up into hip area to form hip sockets.
After a couple of months I busted out of that contraption so we went to St. John’s again and this time I was outfitted in a different brace that kept my legs in an open split.
All was well until I was 5 years old and the public health nurse at school alerted my parents that my feet were turning in. My family doctor sent me to an Orthopedic surgeon who said that I would have arthritis by age 16 and a hip replacement would follow. The surgeon wouldn’t give my parents a referral for a second opinion because he said they didn’t need one.
My family doctor agreed to refer us to a renowned surgeon in Toronto (a 3.5 hour flight to the mainland) but when the office took so long to call for an appointment my Mom called the specialist and pretended to be our family doctor’s secretary (go Mom!) We had our appointment for the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
The specialist there actually disagreed with the arthritis and hip replacement prognosis and said that if I sat in a cross legged seat (like Sukhasana) for 2 hours a day (instead of the Saddle position I was sitting in) my feet would straighten up. And they did.
Life was good. I was very active in junior high and high school: I played sports, I went to the gym, and I functioned like any other growing kid and never noticed anything different about my body or my mobility. The treatment hadn’t worked for some of the other babies that had been in the hospital when I was there so I considered myself to be very lucky. And treatment not working meant that those teenagers now had one leg longer than the other and had wear special shoes to compensate for the height difference.
In my mid 20s I noticed stiffness in my right hip and I started to think about the predictions of arthritis and hip replacements. It scared me. So I did something about it. I started to stretch. I would sit in Sukhasana and I would fold forward, breathe, count. It felt good. I did it every day.
In 2008 I went to New York for a month long Yoga Teacher Training course (mainly because I was feeling stressed and troubled and wanted to learn more about the healing properties of yoga). I noticed that I wasn’t as flexible as others: my hip mobility limited and hip opening postures like Lizard and Pigeon, which most people seemed to love, were pure torture for me.
My most memorable moment in my Yoga Teacher Training was watching a video called “The Fuzz Speech.” In it, anatomist Gil Hedley presents 2 cadavers: the body of someone who had been active, and the body of someone who hadn’t. It was shocking to see the difference. In the video, Gil talks about fascia, which is connective tissue that covers the whole body; “fuzz” or stiffness can set in if the muscle fascia starts to bind together due to a lack of movement and stretching.
I heard his message loud and clear: move it or lose it.
And I was definitely inspired to move it.
When I got home I practiced yoga daily. I even did a 30 day Pigeon pose challenge, holding the pose for 2-3 minutes each day (basically for the duration of a Beatles song). By day 15 I could see a difference: my hips were opening up and becoming less stiff.
I could see the power of movement and stretching.
I knew that I could take control and change my body.
And what an incredibly empowering realization that was.
I’m grateful to have a job where I move every day. I don’t know what my hip would be like today if I wasn’t doing yoga, or if I had a job where I was sitting 6-8hrs/day. Sitting is the New Smoking – have you heard that? How about Ways a Sedentary Lifestyle Is Killing You? Forbes, The Globe & Mail, The Huffington Post, and the Mayo Clinic all have articles outlining the dangerous effects of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles.
The message is clear: we have to be active, we have to get moving, we have to keep the fuzz at bay.
I don’t take anything I can do with my body for granted. I’m so grateful that I can walk for hours, move without pain, and practice yoga.
I wasn’t born able to do the yoga poses that I can do – quite the opposite, actually. I learned to do these poses and I trained my body to be able to move this way.
And I’ll tell you what I tell my yoga students when it comes to being active, getting moving, and overcoming physical challenges:
If I can do it, you can do it.
-melanie-
xo
by mcaines@gmail.com | Nov 9, 2016 | Healthy Living, Off the Mat, On the Mat
Picture this: you wake before the sun, a warm breeze from the open window passing over your skin. With a big stretch and a big breath you lift from your cozy bed and take a step out of the door and onto the sand. You walk down to the ocean with a cup of coffee, green tea, or lemon water, and a bowl of fresh fruit. You drink in an incredible sunrise.
A few steps takes you to the yoga room where you exchange greetings and smiles with your fellow participants. Rolling out your mat you lay on your back before the class begins, indulging in the warmth, the peace, the perfection of the moment. The class unfolds in a sweet and sweaty journey, leaving you with so much energy and spark for the day ahead.
You join the group for breakfast and share morning stories as you enjoy an amazing array of fresh and healthy treats. A 
huge grin spreads over your face as you consider the only decisions you have to make today: Lounge on the beach? Swim in the ocean? Ride a bike into town? Relax with a massage? Explore and sightsee? So what do you do? Whatever YOU want; the gorgeous sun warms you all day long as you engage in whatever is calling your name.
A late afternoon class takes you back to your mat for more yoga, a delicious dance of breath, movement, strength, stretch, laughter, and rest; a glance up from Pigeon Pose and you catch the last few incredible moments of the sun setting. A beautiful dinner with your new friends closes out the day and you fall into bed glowing, full, and happy. Repeat for 6 more days and you’ll have had one of the most fun and fulfilling trips of your life.
This, my friends, is the magic of a Yoga Retreat in a sun destination. Think about it: 6am mornings, vegetarian meals, and 3.5 hours of yoga a day: bliss, right?! Ok, I know it sounds like a nightmare for many people but it is INCREDIBLY delicious. And listen, I’m no saint: I like my late nights, my live music, and my Irish whiskey but sometimes you have to strip that all away and truly nourish yourself. The yoga retreat is a great concept: it’s a healthy vacation! Instead of coming home from your trip feeling exhausted, bloated, and hung-over from holiday indulgence (ever hear people say ‘I need a vacation to get over my vacation’?) you return to real life feeling motivated, refreshed, and renewed (and really, really clean. Fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish for a week? Amazing!)
I treated myself to my first yoga retreat in December 2012 and I found that it was a really amazing way to
give back to myself – a great boost to my body and mind. And I realized how important it is to give yourself that treat, you know: to refuel, to recharge, to show yourself some LOVE . Give back to yourself and you will have so much more to offer those around you. I’ve been both a participant and a leader of yoga retreats in Mexico, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and in Europe and have heard people admit they feel guilty for stealing this time away, for not bringing the kids or partners, for focusing on himself or herself. And you know what I hear at the end of the journey? “I feel amazing.” “I’m going to be such a better parent after this trip.” “I’m so motivated to start that project now.” It’s funny how self-care can stir up feelings of guilt, but afterwards there’s that energy and exhilaration and realization that you are now functioning at 100%, that you have renewed your energy, and you now have so much more to give. It’s like securing your own oxygen mask before helping someone else. Makes sense, right?
How do I choose a yoga retreat?
An internet search will return countless results for yoga retreats, so your research will probably start there. There are two things you can focus on: some people might decide on the retreat by choosing a teacher you would like to ‘yoga’ with for a week. Someone you know of, or someone you know personally, or someone with a great reputation. It’s great to be familiar with the teacher’s ‘style’ so you know it’s something that you are interested in exploring for the 10-12 classes you’ll do on the retreat. Some people might make the final decision based on location; Indonesia, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, and other sunny destinations are real hotspots for these kinds of trips.
Do I need to be a yoga rockstar to attend a retreat?
Not at all! Most yoga retreats are meant to appeal to a wide range of ages and abilities, but it is a good idea to have a regular yoga practice before you go.
What does a trip usually include?
All trips are different but the fee quoted will usually include 2 yoga classes a day, 2-3 meals a day, accommodation, and sometimes airport transfers to the destination. Airfare is generally not included. Most yoga retreats last 5-7 days.
Can I go by myself or will I be the odd yogi out in a sea of couples and friends?
Going solo is an adventure – embrace it! In 
the retreats I’ve participated in and led there are a large number of people who are there on their own. Remember – you’ll be surrounded by a group of awesome, like-minded people and by the end of the week you won’t believe how close you’ve become with these once strangers. Chances are, you’ll have 15-20 new BFFs.
I should warn you that you may become a yoga retreat addict (which, in my opinion and experience, is not a bad thing at all). Experience the joy, bliss, and radiance of a yoga retreat and you’ll be shining for days, weeks, months. The only problem being you may never want to leave.
Want to retreat with me? Check out my Retreat Page to see what adventures are coming up!
Safe and happy travels!
-melanie-
xo
by mcaines@gmail.com | Nov 9, 2016 | Healthy Living
Green smoothies. Ok, DON’T RUN AWAY OR STOP READING. Stay with me – I promise they’re not as bad as they sound. In fact, they are pretty darn fantastic. With a green smoothie the idea is to incorporate greens and vegetables into your tasty, blended drink. Why? Because it is oh-so-good for you: you get to detox your bod, increase your energy, boost your immune system, improve your digestion, and enjoy a gorgeous healthy glow, among other benefits. Sounds pretty good, right?
Can I just use my regular blender you might ask? And to be honest with you I wouldn’t recommend it. You definitely want a blender that has some power to make sure your creation is perfectly mixed and you’re not picking shards of kale out of your teeth.
New to the green smoothie craze? Try out this formula and plug in your favs:
1 banana (for creaminess)
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen fruit of choice
1 1/2 cups fresh leafy greens (swiss chard, kale, spinach)
Add water or juice
Optional:
1 tbsp oatmeal (for fibre)
1 tsp almond butter or peanut butter (for protein)
1 tsp of flax, chia, or hemp seeds
A squeeze of honey (for sweetness)
Throw it all in a blender & blend until smooth.
Ready to experiment? I posed the question ‘what’s in YOUR blender?” on my Facebook page and I got a whoooooooole lot of responses! Here’s a list of ten different concoctions for you to try out:
1. Swiss chard, blueberries, partridgeberries, lime, & avocado.
2. Banana, blueberries, cranberries, greens (kale, spinach, chard) flax oil, water, almond milk, protein powder and of course a little bit of cocoa.
3. Frozen strawberries, cashews, coconut water, a date or 2, and vanilla. Add a banana for smoothness!!!
4. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, spinach, almond milk, coconut milk, apple cider vinegar, & flax seed!
5. Blueberries, partridgeberries , avocado, swiss chard, hemp harts, lime juice, beet, banana, stevia.
6. Bananas, spinach peanut butter, chocolate protein powder, rice milk, coconut water, and greek yogurt!
7. Banana, pear, blueberries, hemp hearts, flax seeds, carob powder, peanut butter, almond milk.
8. Spinach, almond milk, avocado, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, and sometimes protein powder.
9. Spinach, kale, strawberries, banana, blueberries, peach, ginger, cinnamon, matcha, greek yogurt, almond milk, and vanilla protein powder.
10. This is what’s in my blender: pomegranate, frozen berries, apples, clementines, banana, cabbage, spinach, cucumber, ginger, hemp hearts, chia seeds, coconut oil, and water.
You can play around with ingredients and amounts until you find what you like. Have fun trying them out and let me know what else you come up with!
Enjoy the glow!
-mel-
xo
