Confessions of a Naturopath

Oh my goodness. As a naturopath, I feel that I should make a few confessions. Warning: the following confessions may be even more shocking than my Juicy Ammonia Burger confession.


Confession #1 - I strongly dislike camping. I seriously thought that 'portaging' was a made up thing that only crazy people would actually volunteer to do.


Confession #2 - I am not a Yogi. Oh....the shame.


Confession #3 - I will not ever wear Birkenstocks. Ever.


Back to Confession #1:

To this day, the joke amongst our circle of friends is that Makoto proposed to me just so that we would go camping the next day (he asked me at some point post-proposal and in my euphoric state, I somehow agreed). Although our friends were awesome and surprised us with stemware and champagne to help us celebrate, I was just too miserable by the second day and made Makoto pack up our little tent and drive me back to the city for emergency sushi and a manicure. I am conflicted because I absolutely LOVE every plant on this green earth, interesting insects (ok...mostly butterflies), fresh air, swimming in fresh water, star gazing at night, telling ghost stories around a bonfire and cooking over fire....but combine these activities back to back over several days where I am forced to sleep in a stuffy tent and forego a shower and I turn into one miserable unhappy camper. I thought that I'd be better at cottages...nope...just as miserable. After seven years, Makoto has stopped being in denial and now enjoys camping/cottage-ing without me. BUT...I still LOVE nature! I just prefer DAY trips to beautiful parks, hiking trails (that take no longer than 3hrs) and gardening, BBQing and star gazing from the comfort of my own backyard....where warm running water is just a few steps away!


Back to Confession #2:
Ashtanga. Hatha. Bikram. Vinyasa. Kundalini. Iyengar. I've tried them all yet I still am not eagerly going to Yoga 3-4 times a week as many of my colleagues and patients do. Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely respect Yoga and sometimes, there is nothing better for calming and centering me than a yoga class. But I find that I am that person in the class looking around at the others wondering if I'm really as "connected with my uterus" as that bendy girl beside me. I find that most times, mid way through, I can't believe that there is still another 45min left and wonder how I'm going to stop myself from secretly switching the CD to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and dance my lulu lemon pants off to Hungry Eyes. I have found that I much prefer dance classes since I'm a pretty hyper person and crave that type of movement and activity to express all my excess energy! I have stopped forcing myself from going to Yoga when I am much more in the mood for a dance class and now go to Yoga when I am feeling it. We are all different so it makes sense that we all gravitate to different activities. The important message is to find an activity that really makes you happy, feel great and keeps you active year round.


Back to Confession #3:
I prefer stilletos over birkenstocks. Period.