Because you are awesome.
Sunday 30 November 2014
Saturday 29 November 2014
I am in competition with noone
I hope we all get out of life happiness and do what we dream of doing. I wish for noone to fall for me to succeed. I wish for everyone to live to their maximum potentials and show how awesome they are. I wish to be able to help people and not just focus on myself, i wish to pass on my knowledge and wisdoms. I expect nothing in return. I wish for everyone to smile and be happy on their journey through life. Xxx
My Diet
I haven't updated this blog for a while... I guess i have been too busy standing upside down on my hands, or in a yoga class! Also sometimes i write posts and then realise i am just ranting about something that is more personal than i would allow published on my blog, and so i have a selection of written but never published blog posts!
Today I want to write about something though that always gets me! Diet. Whenever i go on a gig i can guarantee that i will be asked if i follow a special diet. I guess because i am slim athletic build, and perform very bendy things.
If I was writing this blog post 5 years ago i think it would be different to today, 5 years ago i ate a lot of processed foods, i was still the same build i am today but my diet was terribly unhealthy. Although i did eat vegetables I did not know what kale was and the thought of a green juice would terrify me.
Then I hit 30, i moved into Unit 6b where i was surrounded by healthy eaters, i began a regular yoga practice, and i realised how shocking my diet was.
It wasn't sudden but gradually my diet morphed into eating a lot of healthy things. It sounds weird but when you start fueling your body with goodness then you realise how horrid your body feels when you pump it full of the wrong fuels. Last night I was on a gig and they fed us a burger and chips with one slice of tomato and one lettuce leaf, i would have loved this in previous years, but all i wanted/craved was a big plate of vegetables.
So the age old question that i constantly get asked! What do I eat.
Well I like to try and stay roughly to 80% healthy and 20% whatever I like, because if i deny myself certain things then they are all i want.
Breakfast: Despite breakfast being a really important meal i do not really have breakfast, mainly because i prefer to have an extra 1/2 hour in bed, i also go to yoga class for roughly 10am and do not like doing it on a belly of food and by the time yoga is over it is lunch time. What i do try and do when i wake up in the morning is have a big glass of water (well not water but i'll come to that later). Sometimes i grab a banana on the way out the door.
Lunch: I hate hate hate a big lunch, if i have a big lunch i have a little dinner. If i could have a kale and peanut salad from Leon every day for lunch i would, but when i can't then i have a juice or something. I do snack throughout the day on fruit/chocolate/cake/nuts, so i am eating, just not 2 big meals. Re-reading this it sounds like i hardly eat, i assure you i do, and i do snack a lot.
I LOVE green juices. I have one most days. My favourite i swish up in my Vitamix and has all or a mixture of the following: cucumber, celery, kale, spinach, carrot, lime, pear or apple, honey, massive chunk of ginger, water or coconut water, a sprinkling of chia seeds on the top.
I also LOVE a slightly unhealthier power shake containing: banana, chocolate koko milk, cinnamon, honey, peanut butter, chia seeds sprinkled on top.
Dinner: Mainly vegetables. I am a bit boring but i usually have the same because i love it: tenderstem brocolli, asparagus, baby sweetcorn, green fine beans, kale, carrot, butternut squash, all together is one big yummy plate of goodness. Sometimes i put chicken on there. Sometimes though i'll eat a pizza, sometimes i will order a takeaway from the curry house (i love curry!), and if i go back to my mums she cooks me a feast. I also make some lovely lovely soups in my vitamix. I love dessert, all desserts, i have a sweet tooth. After dinner i have to have dessert, i have another belly for desserts!
Many people think i am vegetarian. I am not. I love vegetarian food and i do often eat like a vegetarian. But i do eat meat. Not every day, just now and then, mainly chicken, i personally feel my own individual body needs it in my diet to function better health wise, i do not eat some other rich protein sources such as fish, tofu, eggs. Eating meat is a personal choice and i respect every person regardless of their dietary choices. The yoga yama of ahimsa is about no harm/violence to yourself or any other living being, i do think about this often, but i also respond to what my body tells me it could do with. When i do eat meat i am sure to eat it all, the animal died to be eaten to give it's energies onwards, and not to be thrown in a bin and killed for waste.
I do not eat fish, infact i do not eat anything from the sea. I am weird. I like neither the smell or taste or thought of eating seafood, the smell wants me want to vomit. I wish i did like fish but i do not. I get my omega-3s through flaxseeds and chia seeds.
Water is another of my really fussy things, i can not drink water without anything flavoured being added to it. I think it is partly psychological due to a past event as a child. I wish i liked water and have tried and failed time and time again to wean my self onto it, i keep trying. In the meantime i continue to always add squash/cordial, i try to choose the ones with no added nasties, i find Ocean Spray Cranberry and Raspberry is my favourite. I would actually go thirsty and dehydrating than drink water unflavoured.
Today I want to write about something though that always gets me! Diet. Whenever i go on a gig i can guarantee that i will be asked if i follow a special diet. I guess because i am slim athletic build, and perform very bendy things.
If I was writing this blog post 5 years ago i think it would be different to today, 5 years ago i ate a lot of processed foods, i was still the same build i am today but my diet was terribly unhealthy. Although i did eat vegetables I did not know what kale was and the thought of a green juice would terrify me.
Then I hit 30, i moved into Unit 6b where i was surrounded by healthy eaters, i began a regular yoga practice, and i realised how shocking my diet was.
It wasn't sudden but gradually my diet morphed into eating a lot of healthy things. It sounds weird but when you start fueling your body with goodness then you realise how horrid your body feels when you pump it full of the wrong fuels. Last night I was on a gig and they fed us a burger and chips with one slice of tomato and one lettuce leaf, i would have loved this in previous years, but all i wanted/craved was a big plate of vegetables.
So the age old question that i constantly get asked! What do I eat.
Well I like to try and stay roughly to 80% healthy and 20% whatever I like, because if i deny myself certain things then they are all i want.
Breakfast: Despite breakfast being a really important meal i do not really have breakfast, mainly because i prefer to have an extra 1/2 hour in bed, i also go to yoga class for roughly 10am and do not like doing it on a belly of food and by the time yoga is over it is lunch time. What i do try and do when i wake up in the morning is have a big glass of water (well not water but i'll come to that later). Sometimes i grab a banana on the way out the door.
Lunch: I hate hate hate a big lunch, if i have a big lunch i have a little dinner. If i could have a kale and peanut salad from Leon every day for lunch i would, but when i can't then i have a juice or something. I do snack throughout the day on fruit/chocolate/cake/nuts, so i am eating, just not 2 big meals. Re-reading this it sounds like i hardly eat, i assure you i do, and i do snack a lot.
I LOVE green juices. I have one most days. My favourite i swish up in my Vitamix and has all or a mixture of the following: cucumber, celery, kale, spinach, carrot, lime, pear or apple, honey, massive chunk of ginger, water or coconut water, a sprinkling of chia seeds on the top.
I also LOVE a slightly unhealthier power shake containing: banana, chocolate koko milk, cinnamon, honey, peanut butter, chia seeds sprinkled on top.
Dinner: Mainly vegetables. I am a bit boring but i usually have the same because i love it: tenderstem brocolli, asparagus, baby sweetcorn, green fine beans, kale, carrot, butternut squash, all together is one big yummy plate of goodness. Sometimes i put chicken on there. Sometimes though i'll eat a pizza, sometimes i will order a takeaway from the curry house (i love curry!), and if i go back to my mums she cooks me a feast. I also make some lovely lovely soups in my vitamix. I love dessert, all desserts, i have a sweet tooth. After dinner i have to have dessert, i have another belly for desserts!
Many people think i am vegetarian. I am not. I love vegetarian food and i do often eat like a vegetarian. But i do eat meat. Not every day, just now and then, mainly chicken, i personally feel my own individual body needs it in my diet to function better health wise, i do not eat some other rich protein sources such as fish, tofu, eggs. Eating meat is a personal choice and i respect every person regardless of their dietary choices. The yoga yama of ahimsa is about no harm/violence to yourself or any other living being, i do think about this often, but i also respond to what my body tells me it could do with. When i do eat meat i am sure to eat it all, the animal died to be eaten to give it's energies onwards, and not to be thrown in a bin and killed for waste.
I do not eat fish, infact i do not eat anything from the sea. I am weird. I like neither the smell or taste or thought of eating seafood, the smell wants me want to vomit. I wish i did like fish but i do not. I get my omega-3s through flaxseeds and chia seeds.
Water is another of my really fussy things, i can not drink water without anything flavoured being added to it. I think it is partly psychological due to a past event as a child. I wish i liked water and have tried and failed time and time again to wean my self onto it, i keep trying. In the meantime i continue to always add squash/cordial, i try to choose the ones with no added nasties, i find Ocean Spray Cranberry and Raspberry is my favourite. I would actually go thirsty and dehydrating than drink water unflavoured.
I very rarely drink alcohol. Maybe a cocktail on the rare occasion i go to a bar, but that is it. I do not like the taste of many alcoholic drinks and see no reason to put things that i don't like that are in any case unnutritious into my body. I used to drink loads in my university days, i was young and wanted to fit in, now i'm old and boring haha and i like it that way :)
And for every person wondering then i am on average 8stone and 169cm, size 8, perfectly healthy, fuelled by wonderful foods, and content with my diet :-)
Sally Xxx
And for every person wondering then i am on average 8stone and 169cm, size 8, perfectly healthy, fuelled by wonderful foods, and content with my diet :-)
Sally Xxx
What I do
I have recycled/copy+pasted this post from my old blog, it is what i do as a performer with a few edits, enjoy :)
I work in many areas but the area where I primarily work as a performance artiste is at one off corporate events and launches.
My choreographed acts are between 4 and 6 minutes long. Some people may presume that that means that I just get paid for 4-6 minutes of work every time I have a job. WRONG !!!! That 4-6 minutes are the result of a lot more work, part of a bigger picture.
So what do I do?
Training: I train. Without training I would not be able to maintain the fitness levels required to do my skills. Without training I would not be able to increase my skill repertoire and develop new acts. Without training my body would not be as in shape/toned as it is. Without the many many years of training i have done since i was little then I wouldn’t be able to do anything. As well as stretching each evening at home then I train in various other locations for handbalance and aerial. Training costs money each session, and training is a chunk of my working day that I have to pay to do. I have actually renamed ‘i am going training’ to ‘I am going to work’, or ‘I am going to rehearse’. Because training to some people sounds like i am only going as i have nothing else to do that day. Training is WORK, very important work to ensure I can do each and every job that I do. Training takes time in my working week.
EDIT: I also now have annuals at two yoga studios and spend a large chunk of my week running around London to yoga classes. Yoga asana has benefited/complimented my work as well as myself more than i can write in this post.
Promoting: I do my website, I do my blog, I do my social networking, I do my logos, I do emailing new people, I do replying to people who enquire about me. Basically I spend time each week working on getting work. Promotional work takes time in my working week.
EDIT: Due to the fact i am in the yoga studio so much i hardly do any admin anymore, and then i have a panic and spend whole days devoted to it haha.
Speaking to agents and clients: Some of my work comes through agents, some comes directly to me. I speak to the individual about for example what they want and what performance wise I think would work well for their event. I talk about the venue, is it suitable for what they want. I supply technical requirements. I supply when necessary a risk assessment. I work out and supply a quote for my work. etc etc etc. This all takes time in my working week.
Admin: Contracts, Invoicing, Payments, Chasing Enquiries, Chasing Payments, Subscriptions, Insurance, Receipts, Tax Returns, Music Editing, Video Editing. This all takes time in my working week.
Costumes/Make-Up: I spend time handwashing costumes i have just used, rhinestoning new costumes, designing new costumes, repairing costumes. Gigs are not always kind to costumes and I look after them as much as I can but it is inevitable that they will not last forever. Costumes are not cheap. Make-up is not cheap. Both are essential to each gig I do. This all takes time in my working week.
Props: My handstand canes, contortion box, aerial hoop, rigging, and every other equipment/prop I own are not cheap in the slightest. I am very protective of all my props but sometimes they need repairing/replacing. Without them my acts would not exist.
Travelling: Sometimes i have to travel for hours and hours to get to events, and then hours and hours back home again.
EDIT: I love gigs in London or flying out somewhere abroad from Heathrow, these are now the bulk of what i do as i have no car...
The Actual Gigs: My favourite part of my job. I arrive a few hours before I am due to perform, because I need to get ready with hair and make-up, I need to view the performance area, make sure all is ok, and very importantly I need to warm up. For contortion jobs I like to warm up for 40-60 minutes immediately prior to the performance. My act is only 5 minutes long, but I am at an event for hours. If I am doing aerial I am sometimes there for longer as I have to be at the venue early to rig, and I can not leave until every guest has gone home and I am able to de-rig.
So in essence then there is much more behind every 5 minute performance, and without all the above then the 5 minute performance would not happen. I work as a performance artiste full time, it is my primary source of income, I LOVE EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT.
As a little separate note, if you are a new contortion/handbalance performer and you are charging a silly cheap amount for corporate events like £200 you need to look at your fee and raise it (like 2X+ it), because you need to remember all the points above, plus that corporate jobs don't come along every day of the week! Never devalue yourself, your skillset, and the industry.
Lotsa Love,
Sally Xxx
I work in many areas but the area where I primarily work as a performance artiste is at one off corporate events and launches.
My choreographed acts are between 4 and 6 minutes long. Some people may presume that that means that I just get paid for 4-6 minutes of work every time I have a job. WRONG !!!! That 4-6 minutes are the result of a lot more work, part of a bigger picture.
So what do I do?
Training: I train. Without training I would not be able to maintain the fitness levels required to do my skills. Without training I would not be able to increase my skill repertoire and develop new acts. Without training my body would not be as in shape/toned as it is. Without the many many years of training i have done since i was little then I wouldn’t be able to do anything. As well as stretching each evening at home then I train in various other locations for handbalance and aerial. Training costs money each session, and training is a chunk of my working day that I have to pay to do. I have actually renamed ‘i am going training’ to ‘I am going to work’, or ‘I am going to rehearse’. Because training to some people sounds like i am only going as i have nothing else to do that day. Training is WORK, very important work to ensure I can do each and every job that I do. Training takes time in my working week.
EDIT: I also now have annuals at two yoga studios and spend a large chunk of my week running around London to yoga classes. Yoga asana has benefited/complimented my work as well as myself more than i can write in this post.
Promoting: I do my website, I do my blog, I do my social networking, I do my logos, I do emailing new people, I do replying to people who enquire about me. Basically I spend time each week working on getting work. Promotional work takes time in my working week.
EDIT: Due to the fact i am in the yoga studio so much i hardly do any admin anymore, and then i have a panic and spend whole days devoted to it haha.
Speaking to agents and clients: Some of my work comes through agents, some comes directly to me. I speak to the individual about for example what they want and what performance wise I think would work well for their event. I talk about the venue, is it suitable for what they want. I supply technical requirements. I supply when necessary a risk assessment. I work out and supply a quote for my work. etc etc etc. This all takes time in my working week.
Admin: Contracts, Invoicing, Payments, Chasing Enquiries, Chasing Payments, Subscriptions, Insurance, Receipts, Tax Returns, Music Editing, Video Editing. This all takes time in my working week.
Costumes/Make-Up: I spend time handwashing costumes i have just used, rhinestoning new costumes, designing new costumes, repairing costumes. Gigs are not always kind to costumes and I look after them as much as I can but it is inevitable that they will not last forever. Costumes are not cheap. Make-up is not cheap. Both are essential to each gig I do. This all takes time in my working week.
Props: My handstand canes, contortion box, aerial hoop, rigging, and every other equipment/prop I own are not cheap in the slightest. I am very protective of all my props but sometimes they need repairing/replacing. Without them my acts would not exist.
Travelling: Sometimes i have to travel for hours and hours to get to events, and then hours and hours back home again.
EDIT: I love gigs in London or flying out somewhere abroad from Heathrow, these are now the bulk of what i do as i have no car...
The Actual Gigs: My favourite part of my job. I arrive a few hours before I am due to perform, because I need to get ready with hair and make-up, I need to view the performance area, make sure all is ok, and very importantly I need to warm up. For contortion jobs I like to warm up for 40-60 minutes immediately prior to the performance. My act is only 5 minutes long, but I am at an event for hours. If I am doing aerial I am sometimes there for longer as I have to be at the venue early to rig, and I can not leave until every guest has gone home and I am able to de-rig.
So in essence then there is much more behind every 5 minute performance, and without all the above then the 5 minute performance would not happen. I work as a performance artiste full time, it is my primary source of income, I LOVE EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT.
As a little separate note, if you are a new contortion/handbalance performer and you are charging a silly cheap amount for corporate events like £200 you need to look at your fee and raise it (like 2X+ it), because you need to remember all the points above, plus that corporate jobs don't come along every day of the week! Never devalue yourself, your skillset, and the industry.
Lotsa Love,
Sally Xxx
Sunday 23 November 2014
What Inspires Me
I was asked recently on my Instagram what inspires me to bend and go upsidedown, and so I thought I would write a little blog post about it.
Over the years then what inspires me has changed a lot.
When I first started 'more' stretching it was very inconsistently, back when I was a teenager about age 14. I did it for two reasons. Firstly I wanted to score well on my range and conditioning set in (club/low level) gymnastics, it is a compulsory routine based on strength and flexibility, and so i stretched at home, i sat in oversplits and i did a few bridges. Secondly i was going through some really really hard years and my family life was pretty awful, i hated myself, when i used to stretch it used to hurt, and i liked the pain because i felt i deserved it. I hate writing that nowadays, it appalls me, but it would be a lie for me not to write it. What was good though is that the stretching as well as being painful it released pain, it was my release and my own individual therapy at a time when i felt trapped.
Throughout my early and mid 20s i no longer lived at home and although i still had bad times i found outlets through other ways. My stretching and handstand inspiration mainly came from other people, i would want to be like them, as bendy as them, as good as handstands as them. I taught myself and would consistently practice before bedtime. I had dreams of all these amazing one arm handstand shapes, i had dreams of sitting on my head, i had dreams of a massive oversplit. I taught myself and stretched with a technique that today makes me cringe.
Today I am 32 years, my bendy knowledge and theory is rocket high, i am bendier than i have ever been, my handstands are the best they have ever been. But unless i am on a stage then I have no care for physically what you see, how far i bend. Often in practice my depth varies, i listen to my body and go with what i bring to the mat that day.
My inspiration comes from inside of me. What inspires me is how good it feels for my body to move and bend and go upsidedown, my body's individual capabilities and possibilities, the enjoyment it gives me. I do it because i love doing it. Other people inspire me also through showing me what an individual body is capable of achieving with work and dedication, every body is different, unique. I aspire to be like no-one else but myself. I do not care if i never sit on my head, i care not for the depth of any of my stretches, i care not for how many handstand one arm shapes i can hit. I do care for how doing what my own individual body can do makes me feel. I care for how moving my body through it's available range of motion gives me all the health benefits that it gives me physical and mental. I care for the fact that stretching out the tightness of my hips external rotators combined with other work has meant my hypermobile menisci have not dislocted/subluxed for nearly 2 years now, ever since i started a regular yoga practice. On stage performing i feel a bit more pressure to be as bendy as i can, but with the realisation that i am in competition with no-one, even when on stage there is much more to a performance than how far you bend. I participate in yoga asana championships, but compete is the wrong word for it as i am not competitive and have no care for where i place, but that is a whole other post... :)
This is all written in brief, i could talk about and write about for hours what inspires me, people who have inspired me over the years, how my inspiration has changed over the years, how i love doing what i do :)
Namaste
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