#harleen-kaur-dhillon — Public Fediverse posts

PAUL DROTOS’ GUIDE FOR YOUR IMPROV JOURNEY

Your Improv Journey is Paul Drotos’ treatise meant for beginners, veterans and randos. It is an easy read and is relevant even when considering teamwork, community and art in general.   

Improv is an art form where actors create scenes on the spot. In a show, troupes will usually have games they play with varying levels of audience input.   

When the scene ends, that is the end of […]

MINI-DOSES OF AWE AND WONDER

A staycation is a vacation you can take in your home country, rather than abroad. For the sake of this piece and my wallet, I’ll be focusing on staying in your own city or, better yet, your own home.   

These mini vacations are useful because they’re easier on the budget but also help you learn about your own community.  

As you explore your city, you can create more relationships that flow into your everyday life and deepen your connection to the place that you live. Staycations are also much easier to plan, considering you don’t have to worry about accommodations, flights, trains, packing, etc.   

Like all vacations, a staycation requires deviation from your regularly scheduled programming. If you can, empty your schedule in advance—take a couple days off work or have a weekend where you have no other plans. I will sit down with a monthly and weekly calendar to help me visualize. I also try to set aside at least three days because I tend to be restless the first day that I deviate from my regular work, so I need some time to get into a more relaxed mindset.   

Then, consider what you need. Are you tired of monotony and want to add something interesting to your life? Or are you just tired and need some rest. Pay attention to your body and your thoughts in the days leading up to your time off.   

The answer is usually not so complicated. For example, if you find yourself bored at mealtimes, you might want to explore more food options either at home or outside. If you keep wishing that everyone would leave you alone, then you probably need some rest and alone time.   

Doing a brain dump of all the thoughts you have (especially all your complaints) can help with understanding the stressors of your life, which might change the type of staycation you choose to take.   

Now, you can decide what it is that you need in a staycation. Do you need more time with friends or time alone? Do you want to meet new people or deepen the connections you may have been neglecting? Does exploration and social time rejuvenate or exhaust you?   

Considering these questions can help you decide whether you want to spend your staycation exploring your city or exploring your home.   

If you choose the former, it is possible to explore your surroundings spontaneously. Choose a starting point—e.g. downtown Kitchener or brunch at your favourite cafe—then let the day take you where it will. I especially like doing this with friends, since I am not very adventurous.   

Another method is to make a list of all the places you either never get a chance to go back to, or that you wanted to explore, but never got a chance. This could be cute cafes (cafe-hopping!), bookstores, parks, trails or any number of places. What has caught your attention before, but you weren’t able to go back to it?  

Other people’s houses can also be on that list. So many social plans rely on us going out, but visiting a friend in their own space can be just as fun. It also means another way of learning more about them, especially if this is a new friend.   

Finally, a staycation can happen in the confines of your own home. This is my personal favourite and is the most versatile type of staycation.   

I like to start by deep cleaning my spaces, doing my laundry and dusting, maybe even rearranging some furniture. Freshening up your space also helps refresh your mind.   

Now, I know that most people are not like me. Where I would include cleaning and reorganizing as part of my vacation, but for others, it would be considered work. If you’re in the latter group, I would suggest doing all the cleaning and chores as preparation for your staycation.   

Then, the world (or your house or your room) is your oyster. Exploring your home can take many forms—you can go through all those old photos and clothes and declutter, or just bask in the nostalgia. Go shopping in different rooms to change things around, create new outfits from all your clothes, bust out the puzzle you never got to do or the art supplies you haven’t used in the two years since you bought them.   

The goal is to rest, but also to see your own space in a new light. What is your house like when you’re usually not home? For example, over quarantine, I discovered that the leaves of the tree in our backyard cast shadows on my wall during sunset and to this day, that is one of my favourite aspects of my room. It is incredibly calming to watch the shadows of those leaves swaying while I’m not doing anything in particular.   

Some other things I like finding are hiding places, places to sit that you haven’t thought of before, what space is the most relaxing, what seat is the most comfortable. Forget about everything you know about your space, and rediscover how charming a place you live in.   

If that’s too much work, just lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. That’s super fun.   

My favourite thing about staycations is that they don’t have to end. That new cafe you liked, you can revisit as often as you like. You can keep making the new dish you discovered, you can go back to the bookstore you fell in love with, you can spend 10 minutes lying there and watching the leaves swaying on the wall when you need to.   

A staycation is a reminder to take a step back, look at your life and your space from a fresh perspective, and maintain a sense of awe in the regular, the common and the everyday. 

KHAN PHADY’S MUAY THAI

In the 1980s, faced with a lack of Muay Thai in the region, Khan Phady founded Phady’s Muay Thai. The gym is one of the earliest Muay Thai gyms in Canada and opened in Cambridge in 1987.

“There was Western kickboxing, Kung Fu, Karate and Taekwondo. At that time, that was it. And so I joined a kickboxing club…it’s not the same,” Phady said.

“I decided…I want to start up something.”

Phady was born in Vientiane, Laos while a communist revolution was underway. In 1974, he migrated to Thailand with his family as a refugee and in 1980, the Phady family made their way to Canada.

Phady’s father, Thep Phady, introduced him and his brothers to Muay Thai. Thep Phady was the owner of a construction company, who initially forayed into Muay Thai as a means to maintain his health and went on to own two stadiums in Laos. Thep Phady went on to inspire all of his children to embrace Muay Thai and the Phady family has been practicing the art for four generations.

“So my dad started it, and he just liked fighting, and he got us into it…dads always take you where [they want] to go and we would follow,” he said.

Although the gym faced some bureaucratic difficulties in the earlier years, Phady and his team navigated the system and founded the Canadian Amateur Muay Thai Association in 2003 and the World Amateur Muay Thai Association Canada in 2009.

Lukman Patel, one of the head coaches at Phady’s Muay Thai, has been surrounded by the martial art since he was a child. He started learning Muay Thai as a toddler.

Muay Thai originates from Muay Boran, an older and more brutal art taught in the Kingdom of Siam. As such, other countries, such as Laos and Cambodia, have nearly identical boxing styles. Patel said he appreciates the warrior spirit of Muay Thai, as well as the focus on community, fitness and goal-setting.

“There [are] a lot of people that are very, very shy, and this is something that gives them that confidence in themselves…it gives them a sense of being involved in something as well, too, so they feel included now,” he said. “All sports are kind of like that, right?”

Phady said Muay Thai is not about anger and conflict—respect, sportsmanship and camaraderie are major aspects.

“If you have anger problems, try to go up there and fight, it doesn’t work. You have to control yourself. It’s sports. When you lose, show respect,” he said. “You win the fight, don’t override your opponent too much, because…he’s helping you win that fight.”

Both Phady and Patel recognize the substantial cultural aspects of martial arts. For example, the Wai Kru is an interpretive dance done by fighters before a fight that acknowledges their fighting heritage, teachers and community.

“It’s tradition, culture; and it brings us together. When we’re done fighting, no matter how hard we hit each other, at the end, we apologize to each other,” Phady said. “That’s what I love about Muay Thai. It shows not just about fighting…it doesn’t create hate.”

Phady is supported by a community—his family, older students, volunteers and other members of the community. The goal is to always improve, he said. For example, as someone who has run over 150 shows, Phady strives to help others run shows as well.

“I have a lot of student who help and friends and connection is very important…All these people helping me, like before they’re not sure it’s gonna happen,” he said.

“I don’t mind sharing my knowledge. That’s what it’s about. You build a community.
If I die one day, somebody’s gonna be able to run better show than mine. And I want to see better show than [mine], not just [mine],” Phady said.

Now, Muay Thai is gaining recognition worldwide and there is a growing possibility of it being included in the Olympics. Patel said Muay Thai has grown even in Canada, with many
of Phady’s previous students opening their own gyms or becoming professional fighters and traveling to Thailand.

“We want to focus on bringing them back here to Canada, getting them working here so they can represent Canada on an international level at the World Olympics,” Patel said.

Phady said he hopes to continue growing the Muay Thai community in Canada and in the region. Eventually, he hopes to create a stadium for Muay Thai in Cambridge.

“What I want to do for City of Cambridge is to have our own stadium here…because Cambridge is a muay thai city, because we started here,” Phady said.

“That’s my dream,” he said.

For more information, visit phadysmuaythai.ca.

#boxingStyles #Cambridge #canadianAmateurMuayThaiAssociation #CityOfCambridge #communistRevolution #HarleenKaurDhillon #immigrant #karate #khanPhady #kingdomOfSiam #kungFu #localGym #localSports #martialArts #muayThai #Olympics #phadysmuaythai #Refugees #siam #taekwondo #thailand #thepPhady #vientiane #worldAmateurMuayThaiAssociationCanada

KPL AND SANGUEN HEALTH CENTRE SCREEN HAVEN, HOST PANEL ON SAFER SUPPLY

https://communityedition.ca/kpl-and-sanguen-health-centre-screen-haven-host-panel-on-safer-supply/

#AndrewScottEntwistle #CarolynShafer #CraigBecker #CrosstownClinic #DanielTower #drugPoisoningCrisis #HarleenKaurDhillon #Haven #JennaeRobins #MichaelParkinson #opioidCrisis #pain #painManagement #saferSupply #Vancouver

https://communityedition.ca/22643-2/

#2SLGBTQ_ #community #HarleenKaurDhillon #Healing #Indigenous #IndigenousAdvocacy #IndigenousArt #kitchener #kitchenerWaterloo #LocalArt #LocalArtist #MemoirsOfAnIndianAGuideToSurvivingColonialism #SarahSiembida #SexualAssault #SexualViolence #SmartWaterlooRegionInnovationLab #SWRIL #Trauma #waterlooRegion

EDITORIAL NOTE: UW’S RESPONSE TO OCCUPY UW IS DISRESPECTFUL TO THE STUDENTS AND TO THE COMMUNITY

https://communityedition.ca/editorial-note-uws-response-to-occupy-uw-is-disrespectful-to-the-students-and-to-the-community/

#2SLGBTQIA_ #AdrianQuijano #GazaHouse #GeovannyVillalbaAleman #GraduateHouse #HarleenKaurDhillon #injunction #Israel #LGBTQ_ #OccupyUW #Palestine #universityOfWaterloo #UW #wilfridLaurierUniversity