Slacking Slacking

Is it really possible the last post was November 15? The past week has been bad for yoga -- Thanksgiving, work and a visit from sister -- but it is December 2!

I need to look at calendar to see what I may have missed. Last yoga class was the Saturday Restorative class at noon. Not last Saturday November 30 but the Saturday before that, November 23. I had to miss two Fridays, work thing then day after T-Day. Crap, now I just don't remember. No internet at home is screwing up an online log. Did I go the weekend before that? How many classes? The week in between? I need to start doing paper log or this won't work.

I will err on conservative side and only log one class in two weeks, I know that is not right though!

16 classes @ AHG @ $75 each.

Yoga class hours: 61.5
Remaining: 138.5

Schedules and Conflicts and Choices

Fridays are great, being able to take the morning off for yoga class. Even more special now that evening and weekend classes compete with other things ... that I want to do but sometimes wish I could do AND take yoga classes ... are popping up more frequently.

I really enjoyed two strap-supported things that Olinka did in class yesterday, a supported Supta Baddha Konasana and then a child's pose to keep butt-to-heels connection better. Keepers for home practice!

15 classes @ AHG @ $80 each.

Yoga class hours: 60.5
Remaining: 139.5

Yoga and Matinees

My week in Berkeley was wonderful. Yoga classes at a studio named Yoga Kula pushed me a bit harder than usual and made me a bit more confident to step it up and also enjoy my wonderful Sunday class with a favorite teacher when I got back home.

14 classes @ $85.71 each.

Yoga class hours: 58
Remaining: 142

Spending more time with B. makes me very happy, but it also makes me more tired (he has horrible insomnia and an aging dog who likes to bark at the couch at 4am) and more likely to be settled in for a cozy night at 7:30pm instead of at yoga class. I need to make going to yoga class one of those boundaries I set going into this. I knew going into this that I was doing a lot of yoga because I was sad and anxious and when i stopped being quite so sad and anxious it would decrease, but I want to keep this as a core part of my life....it keeps me from feeling so sad and anxious!

Another decision I made on my trip: see more matinees. Or at least movies. On my trip I saw:
Spinning Plates
Thor
Inequality for All
Kill Your Darlings
Let the Fire Burn
Muscle Shoals

Cow Face

Loved doing cow face pose tonight in class, felt wonderful for the lower back when we did the forward stretch at the end. Ouch on shoulders though, I've got shoulder rotation issues! Definitely had to use the strap.

12 classes @ $100.00 each.

Yoga class hours: 51
Remaining: 149

Sundays

My Sunday afternoon yoga teacher is moving to Hawaii. Yay for her but ... I really hope they fill her spot and fill it with someone I like!

No class last night, I did some take home work on this project instead. That extra hour did help and I really need to get this project off my plate. Tough week for yoga though and doing yoga at home, in a room with the view of a rat trap, is not really doing it for me!

9 classes @ $133 each.

Yoga class hours: 47
Remaining: 153

Restore

Wonderful restorative yoga class today, I wish there were more of them on the schedule.
Busy week coming up, and will have to miss yoga classes for some fun things I want to do .. and then some things I don't want to do. Wednesday night I am going to see a play and Thursday night I have dinner with Chris (fun). Friday is a work potluck I don't want to go to but have to, since it is my staff.

I am also going to have to miss all Saturday yoga for the tech rehearsal for my story next Monday night!

8 classes @ $150 each.

Yoga class hours: 45.5
Remaining: 154.5

Triumph over the Ugly Black Pants

Today I was easily able to pull on a pair of black pants that are frequently too tight. Whoop.
Of course, I the made a series of horrible choices that included no breakfast, waiting too long for lunch, only gluten free crackers and old goat cheese to eat ... so I went out and had:

A curried chicken salad sandwich.
On marble rye bread.

They had gluten free too, but I just didn't want garbage bread with the awesome chicken salad at this place. It has chicken, rice, curry, mango chutney, raisins, peas, and apple.

I will probably grow 2 pant sizes over night with bread bloat though.

5 classes @ $240 each.

Yoga class hours: 41
Remaining: 159

With an Egg on Top

The Poor Girl soup is still delicious, but I am ready for payday and a big grocery shopping trip. Tonight's dinner included an egg on top.

I deactivated my Facebook account today. Facebook makes me feel crazy and depressed.

In bright news, I *think* I finally have an ending I can live with for my story. I do wish, that I could go back in time and submit a different story. This one touches too close to home and I am a bit embarrassed to tell it. No backing out now though, unless I get appendicitis the night before.


4 classes @ $300 each.

Yoga class hours: 40
Remaining: 160

Surrender Dorothy

View while waiting for yoga class.
Also, felt a bit defeated tonight, hearing about someone else's weekend plans. Through stupid Facebook.
Bah, I won't let that (or the much less wonderful poverty breakfast I ate today -- note, do not use pickled veggies to make a pickled veggie and hummus omelet)ruin a good yoga class and day spent volunteering at Ravenswood Art Walk, talking about 2nd Story.

I was the only student in yoga class today, got extra attention talking about my tight shoulders, looked at modifications to my downward dog, talked dolphin pose, and almost .. well, almost at almost did some crow.

3 class @ $400 each.

Yoga class hours: 38.5
Remaining: 161.5

Cheese Rinds and Green Tomato Pickles

You know what is amazing when you are broke, and waiting for payday, and the contents of your fridge and freezer and panty, on first glance, kind of suck?

My amazing no-money dinner. I feel like I am showing the frugal stuff that my old Polish ancestors were made of .. with some luxury from foodie friends:
Tomato Celery Soup: old celery, old onion -- sweat the veggies in saved up bacon fat, leftover rice, beans from freezer, homemade chicken stock,homemade tomato stock, throw in a cheese rind from....

Gouda cheese from Amsterdam, brought back by my friend Blake.

Gluten-free crackers from my sister.

Homemade, green tomato refrigerator pickles with hummus.

Thoughts that catch my Troubled Head

One of my yoga instructors has this song on her playlist for class. It always annoys me when she talks over the lyrics.

I have a new yoga statistic to record, today I bought a yearly unlimited. As of today, if I never go again, I will have spent $600 per class! Since I am still doing 1 class per week at the other studio (and will do a week of yoga in Berkeley), not all classes will count.


2 class @ $600 each.

Yoga class hours: 37
Remaining: 163

Crunch

When you come across a pile of leaves,
in the middle of the road,
right before sunset,
on a cool September evening,
on your ride home from a meeting...

there's only one proper response.

ride harder,
gain speed,
take your feet off the pedals,
coast and yell wheeeeeeeeeee

Yoga class hours: 32.5
Remaining: 167.5

Dragon Cups

Yoga class hours: 28
Remaining: 172

Today I discovered just how much I stink at half-moon pose, even with the assist of a block and a wall! Fun though.

Shrines

I cleared out my back room to make it a yoga room. I pretty much just go in and do a periodic sun salutation or two while waiting for the water for tea to boil or in the morning. But it is nice.

Since all my yoga studios have some sort of "shrine" I decided to put the Japanese samurai doll in a corner, along with the green glass dish with beads. And I have my "tea shrine."


My 30 day cheap classes at Alternative Health Group is almost over, I have really enjoyed the classes and instructors there. It seems a good fit for where I am. Classes are small (never had more than 6 people) and I've like the classes with Lyndsae, Danielle, Nina, and Olinka so far. There are either beginner/intermediate classes every night or hatha or sivananda.

So now I need to decide if I should do a 20-class package or dive in for a yearly package. I do still plan to get a 20-class package for Nature Yoga, to go to Lyndsae's Friday class.


Yoga class hours: 25
Remaining: 175

Flavor Flav

Riot Fest weekend,
sadly and officially broke things off with the person I love most in the world,
not getting a thing done on any projects!

Yoga Hours: 18.5
Remaining: 181.5

Best thing to happen in recent memory ... definitely Public Enemy concert.

I love walking through the Farmer's Market on my way home from the 11:30 - 1 yoga class on Sunday afternoons. Okay, I have only done this twice, but I've liked it both times.

Today I bought a bunch of little apples .. apples are not supposed to be as big as your face. And I got a whole bunch of varieties I've never heard of before. I plan on putting a tiny apple, a tiny pear, and a handful of nuts in my bag when I make the 10 mile bike ride to Side Project theater a little later on. There is a kick-off meeting for The Kindness of Strangers. I'm going to be telling a story on October 21!

Yoga Hours: 17
Remaining: 183

Breakfast of Champions and Beautiful Men

Third pass leftover Thai grilled vegetable salad -- even with added cashews and almonds -- is a sad breakfast. It's mostly just all the picked out onions from the other times I've enjoyed it.

But that was the power breakfast I had before heading off to my yoga classes. I took two today: a regular Hatha class and then a restorative. I loved the restorative, when ever we do legs up the wall or other things as part of my classes, I always with we could do a whole class of just that. Today I did.

Was tired and hungry when I stumbled out of the studio 31/2 hours after I entered it so, when I saw nine, fabulously attractive, stylishly (though not fancily) attired, every single one of them bald, black gentleman in their mid-30s leave a North Avenue brunch spot, I though I might be hallucinating a very pleasant hallucination.

Yoga Hours: 15.5
Remaining: 184.5

Starting the Day with Sun Salutations

No running this morning, but feel good after two sun salutations with Esther Ekhart. I love Esther Ekhart.

So far, I am not counting any home yoga toward my yoga hours. I never to long sessions, just 10 minutes here or there. Right now, I feel like I need to push of a teacher to get me going and working hard.

Adversity got a little bit bigger, realer, and meaner....

since my last post: boy trouble, sad sadness, feeling like I suck at my job, someone asking me if I was pregnant. Stuff like that weighs you down.

I am way off track on my running program, but I guess I feel okay with that. I am going to go back, repeat week three and carry on ... maybe tomorrow? No guarantees, my sleep has shifted with the weather and I have been up at 4 and dead to the world at 6:30.

I have had some amazing yoga classes the past week though (I will just pretend the week before that did not happen). Too broke to take a real vacation over labor day (and a bit sad about the trip that was suggested in July but then taken without me) I decided to pretend I was at Canyon Ranch, I think that is the one they talk about in Oprah Magazine.

There was no celebrity chef, there was no rain shower or massage appointment, there was no horseback riding or someone to pick up the big soft fluffy robe with the CR logo on the lapel .. but imagination; a green glass pitcher filled with water, cucumber slices and mint; and a bunch of yoga classes helped me live in fantasy land for three days.

One of my favorite teachers at yoga studio 1 also teaches at yoga studio 2, so I got the new student deal: 30 days for $30. I went to her class and then another teacher who I liked a lot too. Today I tried a third class at that studio and loved it. So right no, I feel like I have 3 teachers I love taking classes with, two teachers I really like taking classes with. Can't complain about that.

I have to say though, that I have had crazy thoughts -- likely brought on by the mint, headstand, and boy trouble -- about taking a tai chi class too.

Total yoga hours: 11
Remaining: 189

Triumph over (tiny) adversity

This running program has been challenging in ways I didn't fully realize it would be challenging.

It's all that mind stuff.
Stuff that I have to push through in completing this running program that don't have to do with my lungs, muscles, heart or extra fat around the middle.

1. heat
2. sun
3. sweat that makes sunglasses slippery
4.the stupid c25k app crapping out after 18 seconds of my warm up and pocket dialing the last call I made
5. #4 again, after I set up a security code to try to stop that from happening
6. #4, and the fact that it happens to have pocket dialed a guy I am in the process of kind of breaking up with. And the perfect person to call at 6:45 am and leave a long heavy breathing message to is the guy you are in the process of kind of breaking up with.
7. Switching to another program mid-run after #4 happens, but only being able to set up a single interval. No: 90/90, 180/180, 90/90, 180/180 in the new one. SO setting it up to do 180 all the way through .. and resenting that extra time of running.
8. old stretchy pants that keep falling down and need to be hiked up every 3 strides
9. running past beer gardens and sucking in a big gulp of stale beer
10. running past street fair Oui Oui port-o-potties

All of those things really suck during the run.

But they also make you extra proud of making it to week 4, Day one in the morning!
And extra proud for setting the intervals for all 180s instead of all 90s.
And extra proud, during that last 180, for doing it all rather than walking early, because by rights you deserve it.

Bad weekend for yoga though, some maybe theater plans that did not pan out led to no Friday night yoga.
Saturday. my 3 hour yoga workshop was cancelled.
Today I had a day long board meeting and could not get to any classes.

So, tomorrow I do some yoga.

Doing things I don't Like, doing things I don't Enjoy

This (pregnant) lady looks the most hunchy and belly bumpy of all the seated forward bend Google images, so I picked her. This is how I would look if I got better at it.

I have a really hard time with standing forward bend, getting better but I am really lumpy and I feel like my lower back is fused together and that hinge at the pelvis needs some oil.
But SEATED forward bending is the worst. I hate doing these. I can't even sit up straight and extend my legs. That alone hurts my back. Blanket under butt helps, but not enough to derive any joy from these poses.

The class I took tonight was ... focusing on seated forward bends! Ugh.

So I am thinking positive, I did something I don't love with an instructor who is not my favorite. Because I have drive and commitment and a desire to learn and improve! And, if I start using everything as an excuse to skip classes I will be doomed. It's good to push myself sometimes, right.

TOTAL HOURS: 3
REMAINING HOURS: 197

200, 45

My friend J. has decided to enroll in the teacher training program at our yoga studio.
J. has been doing yoga, several times a week, for many years now and she is lovely and slim and her dedication has paid off in terms of her abilities and health as well. She does not necessarily want to teach yoga, but likes the idea of more concentrated training for her own practice. She is a perfect candidate for this training at this point in her practice.

All of this, of course, make me think .. I want to do that too!

But I am not at that point in my practice or dedication --- 6 months of training on Saturday afternoons!? What about mimosa brunch? What if something wonderful happens and I get an offer for a romantic weekend getaway? --- not to mention that I have thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars of credit card debt right now and should not be signing up for $3,000 training courses.

So, I have decided that I should take another approach to this. Look at what it is that attracts me to the idea and build on that.

1. I want to do more yoga. I was so proud of the AMAZING navasana I did Monday. And, my forward bends are getting better, I feel my very creaky pelvic tilt and tight lower back starting to improve.

2. I am intrigued by the time frame, the course would start soon and end right after my 45th birthday. 45!!! I think I might have one of those mid-life crisis kind of birthdays. I always planned on aging gracefully but life is full of surprises. I think I would like to feel very proud of something when that birthday rolls around.

3. Lots. i just like that this is about doing something a lot. That impresses me.

4. It would be fun to do something with J. because she is smart and fun and positive and happy in addition to that lovely stuff.

So, taking those things together and being realistic, I have decided that starting this week, I am going to invest 200 in yoga by my birthday, the number of hours of the training program. I have not really done the math to figure out what that is per week, is this a lot, not so much? Doesn't matter, it is still a heck of a lot more than I am doing now.

I am going to count the 1.5 hours from the Monday class, where I did that outstanding navasana.

I am going to show some dedication by going to a class on Friday night before hopping on my bike to go across town for birthday drinks.

I am going to sign up for that 3 hour workshop on Saturday to work on neck and shoulders.

And I am going to get some priorities straight, tackle this work stress, and make arrangements, starting in September, to come in late on Fridays so I can go to one of my favorite teacher's class.

And I will make it a point to find other fun things to do with J. Maybe Sunday brunch mimosas?

Why does my Dominick's have TAB but not Vernors

I was all set for a Vernor's float tonight, but no Vernors at my grocery store! So I made root beer instead. I was hungry enough that I had it for an appetizer while my chicken roasted, rather than dessert. Delicious. Also, I am especially pleased that I did not eat the entire pint of Ben and Jerry's I bought to make it. I've got a problem with ice cream in the house.

Sesame Ginger Trout

Delicious lunch: Sesame-ginger trout with asparagus, bean sprouts, and black sesame seeds.

And today I completed week one of the running program. I'm logging the week two intervals to the Timer app on my phone, now.

Inspiration

Yesterday,
on my bike ride home from work,
I decided that in addition to looking out for potholes,
jackasses opening their car door into the bike lane without looking,
and crazy, swerving drivers,
I would look for inspiration and joy.
It just popped into my head as I strapped on my bike helmet.
I rode less than 3 blocks before I saw a woman.
Pink running shirt,
Running shorts with a lime green racer stripe,
Bouncy brown pony tail,
Amazing butt,

And a prosthetic leg.




She ran up from behind me and stopped a few steps ahead of me,
waiting for the same light to change that I was was.
She was impatient to get going, get moving, the way that city runners are.
When it turned green, she sprinted out of there.
Yesterday was also the day off between Day One and Day Two of the running schedule.
I was hardly giving up this early, but I admit it was inspirational and well timed, to remember that people go through a lot of effort to have the opportunity to do things I take for granted.
When I jumped out of bed at 6:30am this morning, I did it with a little extra bounce.
In other news, my experiment with the gluten-free Nasoya Pasta Zero Shirataki noodles was a hideous failure. Those things are disgusting and weird textured. It was like eating slimy worms. And this is coming from a woman who ate a bowl of tiny eels (?) for breakfast in Japan. Blech!

I've never Followed a Recipe

I always have to muck about with things. Make my own twists. It usually works out, but I never know how I made the success or remember what to avoid the next time when I have a failure. I'm also no good at reading instructions or following a plan. But I've got a plan to actually follow (and complete) the 5k running training program. Today was day one: I had my very cute and slightly weird purple, Coolibar rash-guard sun protection shirt (which, with this extra weight kind of makes me look like Barney), I had the interval app on my phone that prompted me after 60 seconds of running to Walk. Walk. Walk. And after 90 seconds of walking to Run. Run. Run. And I had the monster headache that comes after a sleepless night, but I got up anyway. Day one is pretty easy, nice to know that I can do 8 minutes of running spread across 20. Its confirmed though, these 10 extra pounds that 2013 stress and anxiety has given me are not in the form of strong lean muscle in my legs to power me through the sidewalks of Chicago.