This Time of Year

Feel like I've been out of control but I'm giving myself big credit for the leaving the house last night at 7:40 p.m. and going to Zumba even though the temperature was in the teens.

I'm off my regular schedule but the world is off its regular schedule during the end of the year so I'm not alone. 

I've done a couple of Amazon Prime exercise videos, including Fitness Kickbox and Latin Zoom Cardio Workout. I enjoyed both but especially the latter. 

Went to yoga after work today and found it hard to settle down because it was cold in the studio and I had been cold all day at work but I just kept a blanket around me and finally relaxed. The teacher, who's really on maternity leave, subbed for the regular teacher. I loved her yoga-talk about embracing choices during practice. She was essentially saying modify poses if you need to. She also talked about not putting so much New Year pressure on ourselves and to think about adding elements to our lives as opposed to eliminating things. 

I also like what Sean Haleen had to say about this time of year...

This time every year, I'm bombarded by advertisements and posts that imply the "right" thing to do is work extra hard, diet, cleanse, etc., Especially within the context of Yoga, this communicates to people the fruits of our practice become attainable through punishing ourselves for the past few weeks of indulgence. This also reinforces that "harder" is naturally better for us. I used to live for punishment and it lead me down a hard road of addiction and starvation. One message I can't repeat enough from experiencing this, is that if you beat yourself up, all you'll feel in the end, is beaten up. This is what drew my so strongly to the teachings of the Buddha many years ago. Neither lavishing yourself nor depleting yourself leads to fulfillment and we often ricochet from one to the other. Teachers, practitioners, yogis, remember that using Yoga to punish yourself doesn't lend itself to self-realization, it formalizes the bond we have with seeing our bodies as "wrong" "unworthy" or "needing to change." Let yourself feel full, nourished, and okay during this time where the pressures to make certain choices are inescapable. #yoga #yogateacher #yogamen #yogalove #yogalife #instayoga #stopdropandyoga #yogaeverywhere #yogaeverydamnday #downdog #yogatime

A post shared by Sean Haleen (@sarcasticyogateacher) on Dec 27, 2017 at 9:07am PST

The Travel Penguin's post about being organized made my Like List as well.

Keep Breathing

I have a barely there cold: sniffles, clear mucous, a non-sore but irritated throat that makes my voice deeper. After two days, the cold is already fading which I chalk up to my otherwise good immune system. There were just too many sick people within spraying distance.

There are days when I wonder if I have the stamina to do anything and today was one of those days. It's not just a question of stamina. It's more like -- do I have it in me and how long will I have it in me?

I had been looking forward (can't believe I just wrote that) to my regular Tuesday class, Cardio and Muscle, with Ms. Kate especially since I didn't go last week because of my work schedule.

After feeling like taking a nap around lunch time, I got a second burst of energy.

During Kate's class, I tried to keep my moaning to myself. Oh my God just came out automatically at times. Kate's arsenal of fast feet, jumping jacks, squats et al. will elicit such a response.

I kept thinking to myself this is going to hurt in the morning but I also tried to listen to Kate who continuously said keep breathing along with her other command of suck in those abs.

What's in the Bag?

I have about seven reusable bags and I am, sometimes, hard-pressed to remember to take the bags with me during my travels.

I went to Whole Foods to pick up a few things because, despite the prices, there are some products that I really like and that I can only find at WF. When I walked into Whole Foods, my eyes fell on pomegranates. Was it a mirage? The $2.99 price tag negated the mirage moment. I decided to treat myself because, apparently, I'm having a hard time letting go of the 'granates.

On Sunday, I was over at my aunt's house and I started to feel something strange in my throat. No, it couldn't be. I haven't had a cold in ages because all pistons in my immune system have been firing. Not anymore. So, one of the first things that I did was crack open the pomegranate. I was going to need those antioxidants. I could feel the acidity in the pomegranate juice as it connected with my tender throat. This cold thing was getting serious and I decided to attack it with Emergen-C, ginger tea and kiwi. This doctor might be right though. He said that you can eat all of the chicken noodle soup that you want but it doesn't lessen the duration (about a week) of a cold.

Despite being sick, I went to the 12th and Park pool today. The water was hot. Not warm but hot, hot, hot. You could see the steam rising above the water. It was hard to do the front crawl because the water was even warmer underneath. As it turns out, the temperature worked well for me since it was like being in a giant steam room and helped with my congestion. Although, I think that I was a bit delirious because I couldn't swim in a straight line today. My apologies to Kate because I ended up in her lane many times.

Attune bars, 365 Organic Honey Graham Crackers, 365 Veggie Chips and Annie's Bunny Grahams were also in my Whole Foods bag. I bought a handful of items and spent about $26 dollars. The Attune bars really put me over the top and I don't even know why I'm so addicted to them. In all honesty, I guess that I'm just addicted to snacking.