Wipe The Sweat Off Your Face or Month-End Review, June 2011

Saw this t-shirt in the gym last night:

You have a choice. Throw in the towel or wipe the sweat off your face.

I'm proud to say that I did wipe quite a bit of sweat off of my face and I wore my black Speedo for the last time tonight; it's officially a goner. Hope that you wiped a lot of sweat or water off your face...

10 Minute Solution: Fitness Ball Workouts

Upper Body

10 Minute Solution: Kickbox Bootcamp

Basic Training, 2 x's

10 Minute Solution: Tone Trouble Zones!

Stretching, 1 x

Bicycling, 2 x's



Give Me 10!

Fat Blasting Cardio, 2 x's

Yoga Stretch and Flex, 1 x

Lawn Mowing, 1 x


Personal Training With Jackie: Power Circuit Training

15-Minute Upper Body Circuit, 5 x's

Rock Climbing, 6 x's


Swimming, 8 x's


Walking, 14 x's


Wii, 4 x's


Yard Work, 1 x


Yoga, 3 x's

CSI: Yoga and The Space Between Your Eyebrows

Had a substitute teacher for yoga. She (Kate) left the lights up on the left side of the room and someone asked if they could be turned off.

It's hard to be me, Kate said then asked the closest student to come up to where she stood.

I'm trying to talk. I'm trying to observe...

We found a solution. The blinds were opened and enough light entered the room so that lights could be turned off much to the relief of Opal who was next to me. Kate also played music for us even though she thinks that people should be able to relax without outside stimulation.

Regarding solutions, Kate asked if anyone was bothered by anything because she was pretty good with fixing stuff including menstrual cramps etc.

I quickly realized what Kate meant about the difficulties she faced once I saw how much she interacted. The class felt like laughing yoga too because Kate had me cracking up a lot especially when we hugged our knees to our chest; she said this position was the wind one but it was all in the way she said it...

Kate had us start in corpse pose with our heads toward the center of the room. For the next fifteen minutes, it was litany time. At first, I thought hush but then I got on board and a smile spread across my face time after time:

Relax your mind.

Relax your crown.

Relax your forehead.

Relax your eyebrows.

Relax the space between your eyebrows.

Relax your nose.

Relax your lips.

Relax your chin.

Relax your heart center.

Relax your navel center.

Relax your arms.

Relax your hands.

Relax your wrists.

Relax your fingertips.

Relax your spine.

Relax your buttocks.

Relax your legs.

Relax your ankles.

Relax the top of your feet.

Relax the bottom of your feet.

In between spurts of instructions to relax, Kate tells us about carbon dioxide, oxygen being carried to cells, breathing diaphragmatically plus in three parts of our chest and, later, how muscle grips bone. This chatter, of course, is what made me think of Crime Scene Investigation. She also tells us to breathe in one continuous flow from the tips of our toes to the crown of our heads. Somewhere along the way, I leave the jerky breathing behind and I leave the tension behind as we make a fist and raise our arm one to two inches off the floor then flop it down. Repeat with other hand and legs...

After we do the root lock and a crocodile pose, I take off my glasses and even my earrings get in the way.

We come back to this part of the program:

Relax your mind.

Relax your crown.

Relax your forehead.

Relax your eyebrows.

Relax the space between your eyebrows.

Relax your nose.

Relax your lips.

Relax your chin.

Relax your heart center.

Relax your navel center.

Relax your arms.

Relax your hands.

Relax your wrists.

Relax your fingertips.

Relax your spine.

Relax your buttocks.

Relax your legs.

Relax your ankles.

Relax the top of your feet.

Relax the bottom of your feet.

Kate is telling us to feel the love and compassion for ourselves and to feel the love and compassion for others and she reminds us that we have the power to tap into this relaxed state at any time.

It was so odd during Kate's relaxation litany, I kept thinking of her as a guide and it made me think of a line in the 23rd Psalms -- thou art with me.

Crude Alterations

Decided to hit the indoor pool since the high was only 82 in The Lou but as I headed to the pool, I prepared myself for the possibility that pool water could be just as chilly as the water in the outdoor pool but it was not.

Sometimes when I'm doing the back crawl, my arms start to feel heavy as all get out and I have that urge to switch to the elementary back crawl when Bob Harper pops into my ear, Stand up and finish what you started, which is usually incentive enough for me to propel myself down the lane. For some reason, Harper only talks to me when I'm in the pool. Go figure.

At one point, I was doing the front crawl and went into the water awkwardly resulting in water up my nose. Before I would have pulled up and grabbed the side to regroup -- especially since I was in eleven feet of water. I didn't do that though. I just kept marching down the lane. I guess that I finally feel more comfortable and spontaneous in the water.

While the scale has not moved, I've had to make crude (no sewing skills) alterations to my swimming suits because the straps kept falling down and the upper part of the suit, in general, was not stable; there's nothing more annoying than trying to swim and having to stop to make adjustments. On the other hand, loose suits are a good sign.

Swim Outlet is tempting me with their star-spangled sale but I think I'm in between sizes so I'm not going to make a move yet but one can look, can't she?

In Case of Fire

Just what do you take when the roof is on fire?

I read about The Burning House project on the Unclutterer blog, I believe, and thought about what would I grab if the house were on fire. This exercise has me thinking (again) about scanning photos and centralizing scanning important documents.

Car Keys

Money

Nikon Coolpix

Passport

Photo Albums (with childhood pictures)

Wallet

Gut reaction items are above. If I had longer, I would return for my bike and Wii because I invested significant money in them. I know, I know; things can be replaced.


I also wonder why I continue to hold onto stuff if I would grab so few items? Exhibit A -- a random sample of seldom worn t-shirts. I'm hoping that it will become easier to part with stuff...












What would you grab?

Let's Twist

And my yoga teacher was not talking about Chubby Checker.

We did a little bit of this move -- sort of but without a chair; body twisted, hands together with one elbow pointing toward the ground and the other toward the sky:





We always do shoulder shrugs and rolls. And who knew that shrugging and rolling one's shoulders while breathing could be so beneficial?









Favorite lesson of the night: be gentle to your neck. Hope that you all regularly get in a fair of amount of twisting, shrugging and rolling...




*Disclosure: I received YSS
without charge at a time when I wasn't doing yoga on a regular basis. Now, it's me and the cards and I'm going to use them in small and big places.

Steel Cut Oats & Egg Whites or The Gospel According to Chiquita

Chiquita is my cousin and her gospel follows:

Dot. Period. The end.

Something that Chiquita will say when she's made a credible argument about something.

It's not going to end well because it didn't start well.

Commentary on a situation that was not handled in a nice fashion.

We're not going to sit up here and let you die because you don't have insurance.

My cousin to another cousin who was feeling miserable.

I went to crêpes: etc. in the Central West End. They have the kind of food that you like.

Me: What kind of food do I like?

Cousin: You know, steel cut oats, egg whites; they have an extensive list of that kind of stuff... (points at me).

I love their BLT's; they (Crown Candy) don't have your kind of food there.

You know how some people are just kind of off-brand?

I do not want to go to work. I say that every time I see you, don't I?

Me: Want some (baked Lays)?

Chiquita: I'd rather have cardboard.

I wouldn't mind eating steel cut oats but not when I got out to eat...

Do you think that I change purses every time I change outfits? I don't have on anything blue...

Re: my comment that my purse didn't match anything that I had on.

You can't hurt my feelings.

Our aunt was in the ICU and this guy, who didn't seem to be waiting on anyone, came in, got on the phone and talked extensively. The nusre had been calling with updates and Chiquita went and asked him to get off the phone. My aunt Al said that the telephone man was going to hurt her feelings...

I need to get back in my lane...

Something that Chiquita tends to say when she feels that she's gotten over involved or feels it was something she should have never been involved in from the get-go.

Make Me One With Everything

I've been wanting one....*

Before

It's hard to see the design on my arm except in direct light. I was told that I should have kept the henna on overnight but I kinda like the subtleness of it plus it has settled into a nice copper-like color.



I got this henna situation while I was on vacation in Florida.


The pillow got it too...

Saw this clip, "Dalai Lama Confused by Pizza Shop Joke," on Good Morning America; it's pretty funny if you ask me.



Happy Friday...

*Thanks Nichelle for rockin' the freehand design.