Janice Valdez

Since I declared my learning to swim goal, I have a renewed commitment to spending time in and around the pool. I say ‘in and around’ the pool because while I go in at about 2pm and leave the locker room an hour later, I spend probably about 15 - 20 minutes of that time swimming; and even that may be a generous estimate.

Getting into the pool is not a problem. It’s breathing while I’m in it. Specifically, breathing with my face in the water. It looks really easy and effortless when I watch others doing their laps, and it’s great to observe so I can see what I’m working towards.

When I’m in, I’m thinking about all the ideal adjustments and this could be a part of my obstacle. When I’m following my thoughts, I am not following my breathe. And if there is anything I’ve learned in acting and voice classes…it is to allow the breathe to lead. Thoughts dictate, “breathe in, relax the neck, take it slow, 1 easy quiet stroke, twist to the side, look ahead, breath out, kick with soft knees, soft quiet stroke, turn head for a breath.” Breathe gives life to motion. Since I have a tendency to be ultra conscientious on proper technique as I’m learning, I just swim half a length of the pool and then turn around. Adding the fear factor of water depth that is beyond my vertical reach can be overwhelming, so easy-does-it as I warm-up my brain and nerves to do a lap.

After I reassure my body that I can, indeed, control my breathing in water, I go for one lap from one end to the other end. And I do this by telling myself, “Slow is good. You’ve done this before. And, if you panic in the deeper end, just flip onto your back and breath.” When I get to the other end, I usually stop and hang off the wall while catching my breath and then head back. It sounds very simple, perhaps, but it is actually really gratifying to make it from one end of the pool to the other end of the pool without an interruption of fear. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel fear in varying degrees as I’m moving along, it just means that I didn’t believe the fear and let it escalate, that time around. That is my version of being in the pool.

Being around the pool, that’s cool too. It’s kind of neat seeing how people move in the water and then when out of the water. So much focus is required while swimming that it is almost impossible to be watching other people while swimming. This makes it distinctly different from other activities like yoga, running, or any activity on land, basically. There is such a lovely lightness, it seems, when people are in the water that is peaceful. People seem to just be in their own movement. But when people get out of the water, there is a subtle to obvious shift that seems to indicate the return of the body image gremlins. If almost all of us are insecure about how our body appears, then essentially, we are just afraid of other people who are also incredibly insecure about the same thing.
“That’s silly!” my 4 year old neice would say.

Another great discovery in and around the pool is the usual peacefulness. I really appreciate that the pool is an indoor fitness environment without tv’s and monitors and loud music. Just my body moving in water….aaahhhh.

Janice Learning, Swimming

To give this blog “a point”, I’ve become aware of the importance of having something to write about, other than my random thoughts day-to-day. So I’m going to attempt blogging with a focus. What happens if I write about learning how to swim?

My memory of swimming goes back to swimming lessons in the Tamitik Recreation Centre in Kitimat, BC. When I was younger, I was enrolled in many different physical extra-curricular activities and I enjoyed them all. Ballet, gymnastics, ice skating, and swimming were the most memorable. One year I was in gymnastics and swimming at the same time. That same year, I developed symptoms that were thought, by a team of doctors, to be a brain tumor. I spent a week or more at the BC Children’s Hospital and upon my return home, with no evidence of a tumor found, I was no longer permitted to engage in gymnastics because of the potential harm the tumbling might do (it was thought by the adults). It was sad to stop and especially because it was not my abilities that were preventing me from continuing on with swimming. I think I lost my confidence to be in the water after believing that I was not fit for physical exertion. Not all was lost, though.

I had learned as much as one does at the dolphin level (I think): water safety, breathing, the dog paddle, the back stroke and the front stroke when I was about 6 or 7. Now I’m 32 and beginning again. I started going to the pool in my gym in 2007, inspired by a friend. His fitness activity of choice is swimming and being that I was still strengthening my knee from earlier that year, I decided to try it. It felt a bit intimidating, but it helped a great deal to just do the aqua classes first, getting comfortable with being in the pool. I suppose the easiest way would have been to sign-up for swimming classes. I didn’t have the extra money to pay for lessons so I just went for it on my own and experimented. I have not gotten much better but I know that I have improved. I started doing the front crawl with my head above the water. The first time I did a lap, the lifeguard came over to me to ask if I was okay. I calmly said, “Yes.” She said, “Okay, I just wanted to be sure. You know it’s more difficult to swim with your head above water.” I laughed and replied, “Yes, I know. I’m just not comfortable swimming with my face in the water, yet.” So I went to the ‘multi-purpose’ area, shallow and wide, and just practiced putting my face in the water, going back to basics like blowing bubbles. It was a reminder that one can never be too advanced for the value of basics.

A couple of weeks ago, I took an ‘open water workshop’ with the total immersion coach at the YWCA. Peter was a fantastic teacher! I was pretty scared of looking like a fool and I succeeded, in my own mind at least, of looking like a fool. I don’t know what it is about a group of attractive adults practically naked all learning to do something that feels very complex and unnatural that just begs for some light dialogue. And conversation and eye contact come as easily there as it does while showering naked next to a stranger.

It was only an hour but we covered a lot of really effective techniques. My long-term goal is to be able to freedive in the ocean. A short-term goal to that end is to get through one session of Intro to Masters. I feel a little impatient that the next session doesn’t start until September. If I am still motivated in September to progress with swimming, and I hope I will be, it will be a good indication of the likelihood that I’ll stick with it. I have a tendency to distract myself with so many exciting possibilities that I lose sight of things begun.

I will post about my process of learning to swim here and perhaps in that process I will also learn something about writing.

Janice Learning, Swimming

Being an artist is very very difficult. The most difficult part of it is not learning the techniques of the craft or perfecting a style. The most difficult part is continuing to choose to be an artist, each day.

I have tried not to be an artist - to deny myself of creative and artistic expression so that I could conform to the jobs and environments that seem to yield desirable results: money, security, appreciation and respect. I have failed miserably at resisting my right brain impulses. While they have posed great challenges to me, they have also saved me. Being an artist is difficult but it is my preferred and natural way of experiencing the world. It means coming from a place of holistic thinking, seeing how things connect and where unlikely and interesting pairings can occur. Being an artist is about choosing creative expression. Choosing creative expression is about honoring and celebrating oneself and all those who contributed to your shaping as an individual. Being, choosing, expressing…a cycle of life, renewal and growth.

Janice Uncategorized

I guess I was so engaged with my new beginnings that I failed to keep posting. And more of the truth is that I have been reluctant to post…to be public in general. I lost touch with the purpose of writing here.

Blogging as a way of communicating is easily deceptive. I mean that I can easily trick myself into believing that the words I write are only for me. From my perspective, the words are typed from my keyboard where no one is watching me type them and therefore, who could know to look for them on the internet? I write alone, therefore my words live in a blog cave. It’s quite plausible to me that no one ever reads what I write. And somehow, by just believing that, I can return to writing as a practice of enjoyment and expression. I find that whenever I express something for the sake of expressing it the results seem to more rewarding, effective, and satisfying. When I make a result the focus for my process of expression, things seem to come out wonky, forced, and the process becomes exhaustive. Not always, but often.

But why blog? I have a journal I can easily write in and enjoy the freedom of expression that privacy encourages. So I started thinking about why this blogging thing is worth my while. Well, what if there were a fire or natural environmental event that destroyed all documents and artifacts with my individual expressions on them? With a blog, my words are preserved and protected from natural disasters, as long as eventually, somewhere in the world, a portal could be reset to access the site.

I think if I had a readership (people who actually read what I write here) I would want to say sorry for my absence. But I think it might just be my parents who check this website and my brother who is the administrator. And maybe that’s the other reason that I am not consistent with writing…my audience already knows me - they are my family. So what’s the point of writing? Well, I guess for this entry, the point has been to just get me to show up and write for the pleasure it brings me. Me as my own audience when I’m older and very far removed from the times in which these thoughts were born. And writing here allows me to pretend that my voice, my words, and ideas have a place in this world. That way of looking at things makes it safer and more manageable for the lesser developed parts of myself that fear destruction. And if you are reading this and happen not to be a relative or friend then hopefully there is some value in these words for you. Otherwise, as a reader…what’s the point?

Janice Down the Rabbit Hole

Welcome!  I have been off my blog since last August and I am really happy to be back.  What have I been up to?  I took a time-out from needing to be “up to something”.  I spent the fall and winter getting in touch with my personal truths and re-evaluating my life choices.  I took the time to be with myself for the sake of being; releasing the self-imposed and external expectations and obligations.  I slowed down to a halt, abruptly and unexpectedly, and found reserves of patience, strength, and resilience that I didn’t know I had.  I connected spiritually, physically and mentally to my creativity and at the turn of 2009, I began the process of applying it.

Some new skills I have begun developing are: hand-building and throwing clay, fashion design, and jazz dance.  Having moved to a new house in September that has a fantastic roomy kitchen for baking, I baked at least once a week for a month or more.  Cookies mostly, sometimes cakes and I’m getting into pies now, but not nearly as frequently as once a week.  I am writing much more now too, with joy and acceptance.

In February, as part of my work to uncover more of my hidden self, participated in the Transitions Career Exploration program.  It was a great experience in which I was reminded and affirmed of my purpose and life values.  I met some wonderful people, with whom I hope to stay in touch and develop friendships.

March has been about sowing the seeds and gratefully, one lovely sprout popped up this past Sunday.  At the request of International Service Learning Advisors, I created a forum theatre presentation for UBC’s Go Global Volunteers as part of their pre-departure series.   It was a pinch of time to prepare the scripts and cast the roles, but it all worked out and I look forward to future possibilities to work with Tamara, Zahida, and Kristin.

I look forward to April’s possibilities.

Janice Uncategorized

I have a great appreciation for systems and options that can save time. I value efficiency. When given a choice between a route that will take 5 minutes and a route that will take 15 minutes, I’ll take the five minute route. If I can do yoga in an hour versus an hour and a half, my initial preference is the one hour class. However, does fast necessarily equal efficient? I sometimes overlook the value of things that take more time. As a result, I miss opportunities for growth and learning.

This morning, I took my time getting out of bed, and I took the time to make french toast rather than regular toast. Rather than create my list of “to-do’s” straight away, I took some time to watch a few TED talks. And the talk by Carl Honore on the benefits of slowing down inspired me to write this article to reflect on my concept of efficiency and how it relates to the use of time and the pace at which I move and act.

Have you ever done something very quickly but it turned out not to be so efficient? Efficiency, the way I see it, is when the ratio of value adding effects exceeds the investment or output of resource to create them. For instance, let’s say I am in a rush to bake a cake for a potluck. In my hurry to get ready, I start multi-tasking and I get distracted and lose focus and I forget to include one of the necessary ingredients that helps the cake rise well.  In effect, I end up using twice the amount of resources (ingredients, time and energy) to create the cake and I fail to prepare for the party in an efficient manner.

What are we omitting from our experience in this age of high-speed technology? While our focus is on getting somewhere more quickly and acquiring more quickly, what are we doing for our human consciousness to keep up with the astonishingly powerful technological creations? Are we evolving our behaviours to be wise, mindful and consciously connected?

Another way to look at the fast vs. slow question is to consider a human and how we develop movement. A baby who crawls typically moves more slowly across a floor than a toddler who walks.  They get to their destinations differently and develop the skills they need along their way, just by honouring their own pace.  I’ve actually heard it taught in a yoga class once that in some cases, babies who do not crawl enough during this developmental stage of learning to move, can develop challenges in their learning later in life. It’s as if the nervous system creates a foundation for our body’s processes during each stage of physical growth and to rush any stage of it makes it more likely that one will skip over valuable development in other areas of cognitive functioning.

So, as contrary as it may be to our habitual pace of modern life, it could be that slowing down really is essential for quality of life. Moments for pause and reflection, are to humans as baking soda is to cakes. Slowing down can help us to rise…to our potential. When I am training my body to do new things, it’s when it is at rest, that it integrates the new information. Slowing down and taking pause plays a critical role in allowing change to occur.  It has much to do with being present to the moment of now. That’s not to say that one can only be present when moving slowly, but it seems that it is easier to be fully present of mind and body when one is not in a frantic hurry. The state of being in a hurry is really driven by the anticipation of the future, isn’t it?  So to be fully present would require a detachment from our linear perception of time; perhaps a detachment from any construct of time.

This weekend certainly has been that for me. I’ve taken time to spend a day with my neices at the kitislano pool, a day to stay indoors and rest, and today I attended a community festival for arts and social change. All were choices that can be seen as time away from doing “business” things, but at the end of this slower paced weekend, I felt more inspired with more clarity of ideas for business than if I had spent my time working on spreadsheets and filing. So even when I slow down, I’m “getting stuff done.” That’s a great realisation and something to consider when I start worrying about whether or not I’m getting enough done in a day.

Janice Down the Rabbit Hole Carl Honore, efficiency, TED

It amazes me how quickly things can change. On thursday night at11:30pm, I decided to give notice to vacate my apartment @ Dunbar & W16th ave. after Jennie and I decide that it would be best to share a suite to live and work from.  I spend parts of Friday finding listings and create a viewing agenda for us to follow during the weekend.  Saturday morning, we hit the streets. The open houses for the garden level suites have trails of students and young couples looking for new homes; several needing to find something in one day because they have come from 4 hours away, or more.

We take a break at a coffee shop on Broadway and Vine and look through the classifieds of the Vancouver Sun. Finding our specifications for quality and value did not prove an easy task going through the fine print. I made a few more calls and left messages. We viewed three suites that morning and went back home until it would be time to head out for the afternoon open houses.  While I was making my lunch, I got a return phone call from Edwin, the landlord of a 4 storey house.  He had a pleasant voice, the price was one of the best I’d seen for a 2 bedroom and he could show it to us that day.

I was so optimistic about Edwin’s suite that we decided to skip all other plans and just go straight there.  As soon as I walked in, I was smitten. Every step further into the place simply confirmed that this would be our place.  He was supposed to show it to someone else after us, but we just kept talking and making friendly. By the time the next couple came around, we had already written up our own receipt and the deposit cheque.

This is my second great apartment find from the Vancouver Sun. In my experience, Craigslist gets the mobs when it comes to housing, but the Vancouver Sun advertisers seems to go for quality, not quantity.

Janice Uncategorized

I’ve wanted to explore Italy, and many other parts of Europe since I learned their names and shapes in grade 7 social studies.   In a couple of weeks, I make this fantasy a reality.  Along with Jane Gair, I’ll be presenting the workshop that I designed in 2006 for a pilot research project at UVic.  We explored the use of art and reflective process drama to teach medical students about empathic communication.  I’m excited to be able to take it to Prato, Italy for the 3rd International Social Sciences Conference.

Having spoken with Deidre Scherer this afternoon, the artist of the exhibit we used for the workshop in Victoria, B.C., I’m optimistic that the work has great potential for applications in other areas of medical education.  While I’ve known the value of using the arts and reflective practice for many years, it’s satisfying to see that others are also recognizing the value, upon hearing of the work.

Janice Uncategorized

If you haven’t heard of Mark Hildreth’s music yet, you will!  Check out his music! His CD is ready for purchase too!  I can’t stop playing it and the lyrics are full of honestly and love.

Janice Books

Monday of this week, Yumi had me over for waffles and tea.  She put out all the accessories for dressing our warm fluffy waffles that she made with her handy electric waffle-maker.  “I think everyone should have one of these,” she said with a deep appreciation for her kitchen gadget.  I was very excited about sharing this afternoon snack with Yumi.  It is not often that we are able to take a couple of hours in the middle of a weekday to share in a sweet treat and chatter.

I enjoyed my waffles and tea with Yumi so much that the very next day, I phoned her up and asked to borrow her waffle-maker.  I had the idea that I could make a batch of waffles at home and freeze them for a later date.  This way, I could enjoy homemade Belgian waffles at home too.  So I did just that.  I spent part of tuesday afternoon making waffles, packaging them for the freezer and eating a few too.  This morning, I delighted in taking a waffle out of the fridge, warming it up in the oven and having it with strawberries and bananas for breakfast.  Late last night, I also invited Christina over for a waffles and tea session, since I still have the waffle-maker and enjoy making them so much.  So at 3:00pm today, we took joy in making more waffles, with strawberries and bananas and whipping cream and maple syrup.

While we sat at the table enjoying our waffles, Christina mentions a place in the US that serves chicken and waffles.  I thought that sounded odd.  But I guess I can appreciate savoury and sweet combos.  And then we talked up a vision of an eatery that served only waffles and teas.  I like pancakes and I really enjoy crepes too.  And thanks to Yumi and her waffle-maker, I’ve discovered that I also love waffles and tea!

Janice Food tea, waffles, Yumi