Exercise? What, who, me?!?

...and take five, or ten. This one is a scroller today. I couldn't help it. I got trigger happy this past weekend. So, scroll on, baby. Fun stuff to feast your eyes on. A dozen glimpses into my last weekend, and a few insights...

I woke up at 7:30 am on Saturday morning.

"F***" was the first sound I heard come out of my mouth.

Even before my eyelids attempted the involuntary action of opening, the echo of a guttural curseword cooed my hubby awake as he shifted his head on the pillow. "I love you, too, Tonia," says he. As I cleared the fuzz, yawned and realization began moving through my mind, the squirrels in my head were chittering. "Tonia, what in the heck were you THINKING when you signed up for a day of PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, on SATURDAY, no less, in the MORNING?!?" They had a point.

C'mon, I am a creative-type night owl. 

At least that was what the squirrels were telling me. I like to see double digits on the clock when I wake up on the weekend. I am not a jock. I like my J-Lo bum. Not so today. Damn. Alright, I had committed to Buddha (AKA Brita McLaughlin), and planned to meet her there after she jumped off the aloha red-eye from Hawaii to do a workshop at the event that afternoon.

I got out of bed and got ready, gathering a couple of healthy munchies and fruit before I scooted out the door with my barely used yoga mat and new sporty yoga outfit (hey, if I wasn't going to be a jock, at least I was going to look good). The folks at every WOMAN suggested what I should bring, so I ticked off the list and headed out the door with a bottle of full of spritzy emergen-C... You never know, paramedics might be slapping me into consciousness if I overdo it at one of the hi-energy workshops like Laughing Yoga or Wham Modeling. I was ready for the worst. Seriously, folks, I would have rather gotten my little curlies plucked than head into an environment of active women.

Shoot me now.

At the S. Surrey Rec Centre, I was greeted by the every WOMAN volunteers, and made to feel extremely comfortable in their brief and clear orientation. I headed into the first class, Pilates with Fay Acton, and enjoyed the easy, gentle pace of strengthening my core. I tapped on Brita McLaughlin's washboard pecs later in the afternoon, and she winked and said, "Pilates, baby!" Hmm, I like results... OK, I thought, I liked that. What's next?

The high energy every WOMAN volunteers stood ready to welcome participants to the South Surrey Rec Centre.

I grabbed a sip of my go juice and got ready for the next seminar, Laughter Yoga with Carol Ann Shannon of Laughter Yoga White Rock. I am a clown at heart (I think every mommy has a little clown in her), so this was going to be fun. Let me just tell you this: my face muscles and rib cage were given a workout, and I had tears of laughter streaming from my face by the end, and even my skin was softer. Looking a stranger in the eye while speaking giggling gibberish like a toddler can be quite invigorating.

We were bumping bums and chortling a hearty "Guten Tag" greeting around the room. How deliciously silly.

I then joined about 15 other women for Modeling with Makai Genovese, a saucy lady whom I discovered wears a clingy wrap dress with pure, dripping attitude. I panicked. My tomboy squirrels started chittering, "Oh, Geez, Tonia, you have two left feet. There is NO WAY you are going to do a model walk, strike a pose and prance off." The extra 20 lbs were giggling and jiggling every time Makai introduced a new step. My confidence was diving fast. I had to find an excuse to leave. Then, something happened. I started to laugh at myself. I started to laugh with the other participants. I started shaking my thang, b****!

"I'm too sexy for my body" was booming as I strutted down the make-believe runway with over-exaggerated moves and divalicious poses. It skyrocketed me out of my frumpy-post-baby-jiggly-bits-over-forty-mama shell, and I had a riot! What a workout for both my body and soul!

Then came April Lewis, Zoomer Extraordinaire. April, April, April.  What can I say? I was smitten with her brilliant humour, in touch with self attitude, savoury love of the saucy heel, and her excellent delivery of putting one foot in front of the other while embracing our lives as women in transition. She's got life by the balls, and magazines, newspapers and periodicals know it. She's a campy writer, and I look forward to her installments. I will definitely keep in touch with this lady!

April - A gal with Zoomer Verve!

"Every woman should have the right to keep her favourite glam shoes in flawless condition by wearing them only in the bedroom." - April Lewis

April Lewis struts it 'cuz she's got it!

I got to see Buddha do the hula!

Brita McLaughlin came flying through the front doors of the South Surrey Rec Centre, tan, gorgeous and fit, ready to rock and roll for her 2 pm workshop: Accessing Your Best SELF. I jumped in to assist Buddha for her workshop, and she had me cue up a cd while she put a hula skirt on. She shared that she had only arrived less than an hour before from an all-night flight from Hawaii.

You'd never know it.
She looked like a million bucks!

Brita took the full room of every WOMAN participants through a workshop on the difference between self-esteem and confidence (I AM and I CAN), and got us up and moving with the hula right off the bat. We all got to introduce ourselves in an absolutely fabulous way with boas draped over our necks. Mahvelous, Dahling!

Still smiling on no sleep at the closing of the event,
Brita McLaughlin is such a rocking positive force!

Brita was a key presenter at this year's every WOMAN White Rock, and a rocking positive force. Brita is launching her Coaching Gym, giving people an affordable and easy way to stay the course as they tap into new perspectives and tools and co-create their own definition of success in a group environment via telephone or Skype.

BRAG ALERT: All of the materials
on Brita McLaughlin's presentation board were designed by moi!

As I mentioned, I got trigger happy. 

Here are a couple of the people I met during the day, and some cool bits! Enjoy!

One-on-one sessions for body balance and health.

OK, cool shoes. Wonder if they'll help my butt as much as they can help my foot health?

Jazzercise - it's super popular and a fun way to get in shape.

I tried my hand at Speedminton with a birdie that had a super high bounce
with super low effort... my kind of fun!

Co-founder and former Olympian, Lynn Kanuka with her daughter.

The session closed with Yoga Nidra with Marita Wieser of Sol Yoga, an amazing guru. She lulled us into the state between waking and sleep, as we opened ourselves to our powers of intuition, creativity, health and abundance. Her voice was resonant and trancelike. It was like gold dropping on the ears. I ended the day 180 degrees from how I started it. WOW!

Thanks to Lynn of every WOMAN for your continued vision to help women stay active and healthy! I left the day feeling content and that I had accomplished more before 10 am than what I usually do in a full weekend.

And, now, if you will excuse me, I have a blanket I'd like to pull over my head now, and a cozy pair of jammies calling my name.

Keep on Bloomin'!

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Tonia Lenk is a brand specialist and owner of Ideas In Bloom, a brand design studio specializing in collaboration on projects with clients who are dedicated to excellence, committed to the community and sustainability in the environment. She is a proud mother of four, and writing her first novel in 2010. She has taken up the voice of playing flute, and shares her knowledge on print, web and brand design freely!