Scroll down to see the yoga contest – I’m giving away THIRTY DAYS (one month!) of free yoga.

I thought I’d spend a little bit of time today honouring about some really amazing people in my life. Some really amazing women. They are friends, mentors, colleagues, classmates… and they are all women that I look up to. I spend way too much time on this blog talking about myself, and not thanking or talking enough about the people that made me who I am today.

KIM S – I don’t know where I would be without Kim. Kim has been my best friend since we were 7 years old and happened to live on the same street. My dad and I went over to welcome them to the neighbourhood with a purple balloon with Kim’s name on it, and well, I guess we just went from there.

Kim is an incredible women and a great friend. Kim is the same age as me, and at 25 she has already opened her first business – a hot yoga studio. What I most admire about Kim is that she had a dream and she made it happen. She’s been in love with yoga ever since it changed her life and her arthritis in her back, doing years of training as a yoga student and then years of training as a yoga instructor. She took it all on herself: finding and leasing the property, drawing up the business plans, managing the contractors to do the renovations, handling the marketing, hiring of new employees and launching the business. It’s now a thriving successful hot yoga studio (Moksha Yoga Vancouver).

Kim has also been an inspiration to me as an athlete. In high school we played competitively on the junior and senior basketball teams for several years together… she always encouraged me to play hard and practice more. Kim went on to play varsity basketball at McGill. She’s one of the best athletes I know – her determination and never-give-up attitude sparks any team she plays on.

More importantly, I can honestly say that Kim has had the single most impact on who I am as a person toady. Several years ago I sat down with her and she opened my eyes to the kind of person I was, and the kind of person I should be. I changed my outlook on life because of her and I wanted to become a better person. I can never thank Kim enough for inspiring me to make change in my life… and I know my friends, Allan, my parents, and even my career have benefited from her advice to me. She has always been able to give me practical advice and tell me the hard truth about myself. She is always there when I need her. Thank you Kim. I know we’ll be lifelong friends.

CHRISTIE G – Christie and I have been best friends since she moved to Canada from England in the middle of elementary school. With her wacky British fashions and her quirky sense of humour, I knew I wanted to be friends with her when she first walked into the school. Christie has always moved around, from Hong Kong to England to France… but no matter how many years or even days she is in Vancouver, we resume our friendship right where it left off and stayed in touch.

Christie is another one of my friends who has been able to follow their dreams… she knew she wanted to be involved in the fashion world and pursued those interests throughout high school university, and in her first few jobs. She did modeling in London and Hong Kong. She started out as a purchaser at a prominent department stores in London (Browns, Matches), and then her career exploded as she worked at the high fashion house of Mulberry, and now… premier fashion website Net-A-Porter.com. I couldn’t be more impressed with her ability to go after what she wants and get it. I’m pretty sure in a few years she’ll have her own fashion house or something.

Christie and I have been through a lot of tears and laughter, and she’s probably influenced my “coming of age” more than anyone. From teaching me about boys, how to kiss, school dances, men’s magazines, and all sorts of other hilarious experiences… she and I have been through some pretty funny times. But she’s always been someone I can call or talk to about my problems and she’ll always give me practical advice. So thank you Christie, for all your advice and for all the laughs.

NIKI T – Niki is someone I met in university, whom I always looked up to. We’re not best friends, but I’ve always seen her as a close friend, and sensed that we could grow into really great friends one day. I think more than anything I’ve always seen her as a role model, and I think she’s a great person to talk about in this post because she’s quite inspirational.

Niki and I first got to know each other in university when working on a business project with a few other classmates in our first two years of school. We all got quite close over the process, with long nights, fights, and the stress of making it to the championships of the business competition and doing many, many presentations. We both got into business school after that and ended up in the same class “section” (you stay in your section for almost all your classes for the first year). We ended up on many projects together, were on the same inner tube water polo team, and spent a couple summers together at her cabin and went on many double dates.

Her father is actually an extremely famous author, and despite having access to what I’ll loosely call “fame and fortune” (that’s a terrible way to put it, sorry Niki), she’s one of the most down to earth people I know. She works her butt off and does not take anything for granted. And ridiculously modest. Niki is the kind of woman that is going to end up as Prime Minister of Canada… I know it’s a potential aspiration for her, and I know if she ever decides to go for it that she’ll be able to do it. She speaks with confidence, makes friends effortlessly, has great fashion sense, is incredibly perceptive, and has a great sense of humour. She’s also very, very smart.

Niki got hired out of university as a consultant for Accenture. This is a very tough position to get and she’s already managed to make a big impact even at a company of that size. On a leave from Accenture, Niki is now working as an Associate Director of the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. Yes, she is 26 years old and is an Associate Director. CRAZY! Niki lives and works in Geneva with her boyfriend, Moritz who is also a very good friend of mine. Throughout my adult years, Niki and Moritz have always been wonderful friends and I’ve loved going on double dates with them. Niki is also a fashionista, an accomplished singer (she tried out for Canadian Idol, and has a band in Toronto), is an avid skier and surfer, and is always up for new adventures. Oh yeah, and she hob nobs with people like Stephen Harper.

Despite the fact that we’ve never lived in the same city, I think we’ve stayed close friends and I’m looking forward to our relationship growing. What I value most about our relationship is that she’s always up for anything, and she’s always someone I can count on when she gives her word that she’s going to do something. If we lived in the same city, I think we’d probably do a lot of snowboarding and surfing together and probably be really great friends. Thank you Niki — I’ve learned a lot from you about confidence, being yourself, and being down to earth.

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In honour of these wonderful women, I’m doing a fantastic giveaway on my blog to Kim’s studio, Moksha Yoga Vancouver which is an amazing hot yoga studio here in Vancouver.

MOKSHA YOGA VANCOUVER YOGA GIVEAWAY CONTEST

About the Studio: Moksha Yoga Vancouver is a hot yoga studio that Kim personally manages to make sure that it is run with integrity, energy, responsibility towards the environment, and kindness. She even teaches. She’s got some great instructors and classes and also a charity volunteer program that really gives back to the community. It’s located in Jericho Village at 4th and Alma and is one of the few dedicated hot yoga studios in Vancouver. They offer beginner-friendly classes that practice on a bamboo floor with infra-red heat panels at 38 degrees. Some classes are offered by donation and student rates too. Oh yeah — and if you go for their morning classes you get freshly baked muffins and scones. Yum! You can follow them on Twitter here.

What you’re playing for: A 30-day (one month) all access yoga pass to MYV.. enough yoga to get you all fit for the summer!
What you have to do: Leave a comment on this blog post by Sunday, May 9th at 10:00 PM PST, and then check back on Monday to see who won.

Good luck, and thanks for reading!

Update: May 10th, 2010: Congratulations to Comment #4… Nolwenn! I’ve drawn you as the random winner for the contest for one free month of yoga courtesy of Moksha Yoga Vancouver!