SMART detour
Prairie Yogi Magazine shows Winnipeg more love with upcoming festival
By Brenlee Coates
by DJs, comes another unique experience for yogis. Monique Pantel and Rachelle Taylor of Prairie
F
Yogi Magazine are at it again, providing their yoga community with a new experience with yoga in an unexpected place. Te Prairie Love Festival, coming to Winnipeg in
September, is exactly what it sounds like: a big, Prairie love-in held at none other than FortWhyte Alive on acres of prairies. “Being from the Prairies, we’ve come to believe that
to have any great experience, you have to leave,” says Taylor. “Tere’s beauty in our backyard and we need to celebrate it.” Prairie Love Festival will be a one-day event on
Sunday, Sept. 7. Not only will there be yoga classes taught by world-renowned yogis, but art installations, hikes in nature, guided meditations in the teepees at FortWhyte, guest speakers, and music acts. And there’re sure to be many more surprises. Pantel dodged the question when asked if they will
be making use of the bison viewing area, but very likely the animal that is such a point of pride for the Prairies will play a role at Prairie Love. Te natural environment at FortWhyte will offer a
beautiful, celebratory backdrop to the yoga festival doused in Prairie pride. “Tere are all these cool little pockets for us to use,”
says Pantel of the centre. Te festival will make use of indoor and outdoor spaces at FortWhyte. Te geese will likely be about a week away from migrating south, so there will be lots of activity abuzz in the wildlife. Prairie Yogi has held past events on the rooftop of
the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and inside Fort Gibraltar and the Graffiti Gallery – each of which was attended by a sold-out crowd. Te unusual locations for practicing yoga are part of
the team’s mandate to “bring yoga to places it’s never been before,” says Taylor. Te success of each event speaks to a demand for
something a little different in Winnipeg and some- thing that leaves you feeling better when you go home. Taylor says she and Pantel, at ages 30 and 28, still
feel the urge to let loose but don’t always necessarily want to go out to the bar every weekend – and they sense that their friends and many more share this dilemma. Te Prairie Love Festival will be a celebration of
yoga, health and wellness first, but since they have rented out the centre, families will be welcome to come free of admission if they want to enjoy Fort-
Monique Pantel (left) and Rachelle Taylor (right) run Prairie Yogi Magazine. They're bringing a full-day yoga festival to town.
Whyte while a parent takes in a class. “Tey can come hang out and do some fun activities
while mom does yoga,” says Pantel. Eventually, the duo hopes to expand Prairie Love into a two- or three-day festival in Manitoba, and take
the festival across the Prairies. Ticket pricing will be announced soon for the first
Prairie Love Festival. Follow Prairie Yogi Magazine on Facebook or Instagram or visit
www.prairieyo-
gimagazine.com to stay updated.
Conquering the quarter-life crisis T
There's no shame in having a crisis, but you've got to pull yourself out By Stephanie Martin
It’s a matter of working through the
he real world comes at you like a punch in the face, sometimes. You’ve just graduated, landed your
first job, or find yourself in the same long- standing relationship. Suddenly, it hits you: “What the heck am I doing with my life? Where on earth do I go from here?” It becomes blindingly clear that your career or relationship isn’t where you want it to be. Here comes the quarter-life crisis! Be-
lieve it or not, quarter-life crises – QLC, for short – are all too common. Some researchers say they’re a natural part of getting older. A QLC typically takes place during your late teens to early thirties. It’s a time where you feel doubtful about your life, which is often brought on by stress from becoming an adult. Some of the symptoms include feeling lost, scared, lonely and confused. In fact, the quarter-life crisis was iden-
tified as one of eight crises everyone goes through in life, according to psychologist Erik Erickson. (Don’t worry; it’s crisis number six, so you only have two more to go!) Te struggle comes from trying to form meaningful relationships through friends, family, dating or marriage. If we don’t form these relationships, we feel isolated and alone, Erickson stated.
16 SMART TAB
QLC and finding new direction – this could take months or years, but that’s not unusual. Eighty per cent of people who’ve gone through a QLC say they feel happier with their life post-crisis, according to interviews conducted by Oliver Robinson, a U.K. psychologist and researcher who studies the phe- nomenon. Robinson has also identif ied four
phases people typically go through when experiencing a quarter-life crisis. If you can figure out how to confront each phase, you’re well on your way to con- quering the QLC and leading a happier and more fulfilling life. Feeling trapped
Te first phase is a moment of realiza-
tion – you hate the career path you’ve chosen, your relationship is going no- where, or you feel you’ve accomplished nothing in your life so far. Tere seems to be no way out! We all go through bouts of uncertainty
and have bad days where we hate our job, our school or our significant other. Reflect to see if one of these is indeed the problem. Are they temporary issues, or has your stagnant relationship been dragging on for a year? Is there no room for growth in your job? Finding the prob- lem and the correct solution may take
some time, but don’t be afraid to make that leap into a new chapter. Missing the old life
You’ve quit your job, ditched your boy-
friend or girlfriend, and suddenly you feel paralyzed. What have I done?! You start missing your old life when things were simpler and more steady-as-she-goes. Anxiety and depression start to set in. About 15 per cent of people going
through a QLC develop a mental illness due to this anxiety. If depression becomes life-crippling, it’s time to seek help from a specialist. Te key is to continue moving forward.
Try not to concentrate on the present but the future. To work through this point, be involved and get out of the house. Find hobbies that take you to different social circles and get you thinking about a new life. Tis is a chance to explore your op- tions.
Second-guessing yourself You’ve started to move forward now;
you’re exploring new relationship options or searching for new career opportunities. Perhaps your search for a new career path isn’t going as well as you hoped, or the dat- ing scene is looking bleak. Suddenly, the straight path you envisioned is looking a little twisted. You start second-guessing the new road. Don’t worry if it takes time to find a
www.smartcareers.ca
rom the ladies who brought you a partner yoga event at Union Sound Hall, and Bliss + Beatz, which combined yoga and sweet beats spun
career you really love. Pinpointing a new direction takes a lot of self-reflection, research and time. Te answer won’t be obvious, but that doesn’t mean you’ve made a bad decision. Again, keep moving toward your goals.
Set your mind on one doable action you can accomplish each week. Sign up to vol- unteer somewhere, join an online dating site, or research one new career option. Become comfortable with yourself first.
Explore who you are and the rest will fol- low. Going through a QLC is about finding what you don’t like, too. Try everything and assess if it’s the right fit. If not, that’s alright. You’re moving closer to finding what you love. Getting back to normal
You’re finally out of the woods. You
start to feel like yourself again. You begin to feel happier, confident and fulfilled. Congratulations! You’ve survived the QLC. How long it takes to get to this point depends. It could take a few months; it could take a few years. We all deal with change differently. Discovering the right career or relationship direction takes time and reflection, too. Now that you’ve succeeded in con-
quering the QLC, make sure to keep your happiness in check from here on. Taking time to make sure you’re happy is time well spent.
March 2014
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