Something to Remember

I joked with someone that I was reading "O is for Obvious" since I was reading a Sue Grafton book but couldn't remember which alphabet I had made it to. Also obvious -- that I'm more than a number on the scale; still, it was good to hear Jennifer Livingston say that along with all of the other cool stuff she said.

Get There or Stuff Yoga Teachers Say; Month-End Review, September

I usually do a month-end review and note the activities that I’ve engaged in but since I’m in throes of a yoga love affair and September is National Yoga Month, I’ll do something different.  I did, for the record, practice yoga for 16.5 hours. So, for National Yoga Month, here are things that came out of my yoga teachers’ mouths and resonated with me for one reason or another.

A Lot of Yoga Teachers


Maybe your neighbor can hear you breathing or even I can hear you breathing up here.


Donna


Imagine that I'm going to put a container on your mat. Put all of your worries, fears and stresses in there. I'm going to come by and put a heavy lid on your container then I'm going to take the container out to the parking lot…


Your breath is your energy and your power.


Gloria


Stretch your arms and legs out. Make an X with your body and lift up. It’s like a magic carpet ride.


Try to get your hips to settle down (in swan pose).


You’re not struggling. It’s like Goldilocks. Not trying to hard or too little but just right…

Notice the texture of your breathing.

And if your head comes down, let it (during resting swan pose).

You should feel all the joints in your hands – especially the pinky and thumb (during downward facing dog).

Hug 'em (knees) in…

Don’t live in the future. Keep your head over your hips…

Use the strength of your arm…

Look through the hands; get there (top of the mat)...

Love your body. Love yourself. You are lovable…

Birthday Gift

Rebecca

This is a group class so let’s create energy…

Check in with your face...

Traditionally, the palms are open during savasana to get flashes of intuition.

We put our two thumbs on the third eye and say Namaste.


Madonna

Balance -- use it or lose it.

The Sweet Talkers

I have been looking at my fuller face figure with amazement and seriously trying not to get stuck on it.

Staring Down Sweets Before Ordering Veggie Burger

Yesterday, I went to kettlebell class and, oh, the struggle. Kirsten, who keeps quite a cheerful face and talks to the class about 80’s music etc. whilst kicking your butt, looks over in my direction and say Hi, ‘Drea. Yes, hi to you too… If nothing else, I had people struggling with me. The two women next to me had me cracking up with their exclamations. When we got to windmills, my immediate neighbor said, I like windmills -- like being relative…

After kettlebell, I headed to the climbing gym since Cindy, Kristen and I had been attempting to rendezvous for a while. I told them straight off that I only had a couple of routes in me because my upper body was already on fire.

As I came down from a route, Cindy and Kristen were giving me extended looks. We just like to watch your skin tone and muscles. We’ve said that before but it’s the first time that we’ve told you. I would have turned fifty shades of red if I could have...

Woe Lite

 

It's always darkest before lights in swimming pool locker room come on?


 TJ  and Shelley have regained weight. Unfortunately, I’m in that club too. I took off my weight tracker a while back and the former subtitle to my blog, trying to lose weight and eat my reduced fat cake too, because no weight loss has been going on.

It’s deflating.

I always felt like taking the weight off was the hardest part and that once I got it off, I’d be able to rock steady. I cannot believe that I’m overeating that much but, then again, how would I know? I haven’t counted calories in ages but I'm pretty sure my re-addiction to SunChips is a factor in addition to my sorry water consumption.

Could it be yoga too? I've read that it slows down your metabolism but most of the yogis that I know are stronger than me. In addition, most of the body weight exercises are yoga-like moves. Plus, I totally got my butt kicked in yoga class tonight. Want to know why a sun salutation is called a sun salutation? Because you're going to sweat...

There is a part of me that wants to bellyache – that wants to go into woe is me mode but I cannot. I’m  grateful for what my body can do. It swims, climbs, swings and walks. It has stamina and, for the most part, it runs without glitches. I would feel like such an ingrate if I started complaining about my inability to maintain and lose weight but, damn, it sucks to realize that I need to start over in some respects.

Bite

Enjoyed my brief trek out of town. Got to spend time with a new niece and one, Kelsie, who was trying to walk the last time we met.


Kelsie is a typical toddler – all attitude. She loves to put her hands on her chest or put a hand out while telling you to wait. She pretty much likes to tell people off even though she hasn’t quite mastered clear speech.

After dinner the first night, I grabbed a banana and Kelsie squared off, leaned toward me and said bite. I handed her a piece. She smiled, put the banana in her mouth, sat back on the couch and savored it. She was so happy and content with her bite of banana. Kelsie’s vocabulary may not be very big but she already knows how to sit back and enjoy her food.

Who Let The Junk Out?

If the hips are the junk drawer of the body, my drawer is less cluttered.

Went to Anna’s class and we sat in easy pose, got still, stretched our sides then warmed up our spines before doing the sun salutation A and B series.

While we were in lizard pose, Anna reminded us to breathe since we were in a deep hip opener.

During Warrior Two, Anna said there’s a lot going on… Tell me about it since my hips always want to open up instead of squaring off towards the front. Oh well, guess there’s always something to work on…

I had been thinking about visiting my brother and finally made up my mind. Stopped by Trader Joe’s and Pets Mart – to pick up a feeder for fish then went home, purchased a ticket ( $13 dollars more expensive than the previous day), let my climbing peeps know that, alas, they would have to climb without me. Next, I contacted Hazira to see if she would take me to the train station. Thanks!

Half of my carry-on had clothes and the other half had food. The hardest part of packing was deciding what food to take.

Nut Butters Travel So Well

My first train trip was interesting. Funny people. Drunk people. Nice people. When we stopped in Hermann, MO (where we picked up the drunk people), I thought about this therapist that I know who used to live there. She is a role model, of sorts, when it comes to self-care.

Speaking of self-care, the acupuncture treatment that I had the other day worked wonders.

Good Ol' GB 20

Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing, Riverfront Trail

Put air in my bicycle tire when I heard a hissing noise followed by a completely deflated tire. Having no confidence about changing the rear tire, I loaded my bike and headed to the shop.


Had a great ride and listened to a nice podcast, The Sporty Ones, Part 1: The Swimmers. It’s from a now defunct Australian series called The Body Sphere.

Several Australian swimmers were interviewed on the podcast including Shane Gould who participated in the Munich Olympics in 1972.

Someone taught their swimmers a thumb up technique because they saw Gould doing it but she said:

I’m a very physical person. I live in my body. I pick up information from the water, on my skin – the pull, the pressure etc...I think the sports scientists have taken over. It’s all measured in charts and graphs and angles...

I like Gould's take on interacting with the water and getting a feel for how to swim...

After bicycling, I made myself presentable and went for an acupuncture treatment. I’ve been producing lots of mucous. Clear but mucous nonetheless. And when I went for my bike ride, I sneezed like a crazy person. When I see mucous I feel like a superhero that loses a super power and is utterly shocked that a villain has made them bleed.

Sometimes I regret what I tell the acupuncturist. Chinese medicine, Bryan tells me, treats colds and allergies the same. Bryan then proceeds to stick a fair amount of needles in my face. Three in the right arm. Several in the arms, legs, ears and two in the base of my skull – good ol’ GB (Gall Bladder) 20.

Not sure what it is about the needles hitting pressure points and meridians, but I breathe very deeply once they’re in – a deepness that I’ve yet to achieve when I practice yoga.