I'm frozen. It's the end of January and the winter has just arrived. I took my usual longest way to home from work in order to have a walk, but when i got home, i didn't feel my feet and fingers. Hate feeling cold!

I guess I have to limit my walks, despite the fact i badly need that time for organizing own thoughts, listening to music and checking the streets for "updates" in terms of stores and other news. Oh yea, i hate missing any important update in the city (well, and in general too).



Since the holidays finished, I've been working like never before. I'm being quite productive, organized and even actually efficient. If before I was mainly just generating ideas and developing some of them up to a written project, these days I'm actually implementing the ideas and creating something measurable and complete.

I developed a workaholism of a certain level and didn't even notice how my job took over my entire life at the moment. My brain's CPU is 100% busy with job-related tasks, even if I'm taking a walk, having a shower or going to bed. I'm constantly making charts, organizing information into tables, creating task lists, reading stuff needed for specific projects. Although my super accessible netbook and the lovely MindManager are making my work more efficient and easy, i'm actually afraid that i will feel lost when i won't have them around. I also started to rely on an online task manager TeuxDeux, my daily planner (portable hard copy) and also a weekly planner that hangs out on my desk in the office. It may seem that i have to spend quite a while in synchronization between them, but actually I use all of them for different planning and so far it has made me considerably more productive.

So what, that I work on Saturdays and holidays and evenings and (shame on me) even Sundays (from home though)? To the people who wonder why I do this - I just wish them someday to have the amount of satisfaction, recognition and appreciation in the workplace that I do. I am never forced but driven by an intrinsic motivation.





Btw, a small and interesting e-book on motivating creative people for your reading.

I hope this energy boost won't decrease in the near future, however I will put some emphasis on my social life too.



The habits

I also advanced in terms of self-management, getting rid of some bad habits and working on improving my health. I mostly used to have a plain coffee in the mornings and then having some buns at the lunch time. I did realize that it's unhealthy but didn't have an idea on what I can manage to prepare for myself as a breakfast when I'm in a constant rush in the morning (that's the reason for not having a breakfast at all). [oh yeah, I am a long sentences' fan]

Also, I almost didn't eat any dairy product which was bad for my teeth and bones.

In the recent weeks I started to actually eat curds mixed with mashed apple. This mix is both easy, light and tasty. Thanks to my cousin for the tip!

After that I am having my coffee in the office and I'm actually being early in the office! что не может не радовать..(и не только шефа :)







The death

A relative passed away last week. He didn't live only 2 weeks till his 50th anniversary. It was a lung cancer. The ironic thing was that the wife of that man who died, has been smoking extensively the following days, because she had to calm her nerves and nothing could be done about it. She had lost her son just the previous year. Nobody can even begin to imagine how she actually feels now. Cigarettes help to calm the nerves, but they often become the reason people suffer.

I can't help myself from being anxious, realizing that my dad won't even consider quitting or limiting his smoking.

I also discovered something rather shocking for me. It's that the relatives sometimes prefer to hide from the cancer patient the real reason of their illness. The man died without knowing what he was dying from. And I was being convinced that it's a right thing to do. I won't go into details now, but I strongly believe that it's very, very wrong. Not for everyone, however...

One of my discoveries of the last year was certainly - yoga. Not that I learned about it just this year :) I just realized it this year that it's the perfect thing for me this period of my life and found the most amazing yoga studio in Yerevan. I had some friends who have been attending there for quite some time already, but never actually considered to enroll myself into a class too. I knew almost nothing about yoga but I was driven by curiosity and the promise of getting some peace after the hectic work days was convincing.

I had no problem deciding with the studio, since I only started yoga because of discovering Shoonch.



While this post will be about my perception and experience of yoga, it may also contain some voluntary advertisement of Shoonch yoga studio.









Yoga class types

So, how it all started. At first, I started to explore the descriptions of different types of yoga classes offered by Shoonch.

Here are the main ones: Akhanda, Iyengar, Vinyasa and Pilates.



I am mainly attending Akhanda. Not only because of the convenient schedule but also for the trainer and its relatively 'easy' type.

Akhanda: (similar to the word yoga in Sanskrit, means indivisible, unbroken tradition, entire, and whole) is intended to teach basic principles of breath, movement, alignment and relaxation to students. This class presents the most common postures that can be practiced by anyone in the standard or modified form. Students are guided to move with the breath and let the breath initiate movement. This level aims to balance flexibility and strength, cleanse the body and help the practitioner attain a natural state of health.

I've been attending some Vinyasa yoga classes too. It's generally a bit more difficult and requires a lot of effort. Pros - after Vinyasa class I always feel a flow of energy for the entire evening, ideas and emotions are being more tense than usual. For those who need it - it may also help to lose some weight. Cons - Sometimes I am having difficulties to sleep because I feel so energetic. Camomile tea comes for help then. Also, during Vinyasa you sweat quite a lot, so be prepared to have make up and hair ruined for the night.

An energetic practice that blends sweat, strength and flexibilty in a class that thoroughly tones the body and disciplines the mind. Done in a 27Co room.

I have decided to attend more Pilates classes during the upcoming year. Pilates is more like an aerobics and is good for improving the body shape (losing weight).

Focusing on abdominal muscles, pilates is an exercise method that creats a strong core physique. Each exercise is performed with relatively few repetitions and the student is urged to pay heightened attention to proper form and active breathing.

This form of yoga focuses on achieving alignment of the poses, centering your body with your mind. Iyengar yoga practice often uses a lot of props such as blocks, belts, blankets and chairs.

I spent the weekend in the city of Tsakhkadzor (alternatively spelled as Tsaghkadzor) situated about 50km north from Yerevan.



The main attraction in Tsakhkadzor is the ropeway on the Teghenis mountain.

During Soviet times, the lifts and other sporting facilities were built to prepare Soviet athletes for the 1988 Winter Olympics. The town was further developed into a ski resort and later fully modernized with the old lifts being replaced. It has started to be rapidly developed during the presidency of Robert Kocharyan who is an avid skier.

Currently it's the most popular winter holiday location in Armenia, which also attracts hundreds of ski and snowboard enthusiasts from around the world.



ALL of the guesthouses and hotels (despite of their prices being comparable to those of Alpine resorts) are fully booked for the new year holidays and first weeks of January even since October.



Tsakhkadzor is especially popular among Yerevan citizens this year due to the fact that there has been no snow in Yerevan so far and Tsakhkadzor is covered with a beautiful layer of white pleasure. Moreover, the weather these weeks is just perfect - sunny and warm.



Photographers of our photo agency PanARMENIAN Photo captured the beauty of the ski resort in the most favorable weather conditions. I have not heard of Ararat mountain being seen from the Teghenis mount before (probably because it has mostly been cloudy and foggy in this ski season). This time both Sevan lake and Ararat were perfectly visible from the 2nd lift of the ropeway on Teghenis.



So those magical images are by my favorite photographers ;) Vahan Stepanyan, Davit Hakobyan and Sedrak Mkrtchyan © PanARMENIAN Photo!





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