Never Enough Time

Oh Internets, I’ve been pretty lousy at this whole “blog thing.” It seems that the last few posts have been me apologizing for my lack of time, saying I would do it right from now on, and then going MIA again. So this time, I’m not going to make any promises. What I am going to do is write in my calendar that I will do certain yoga activities everyday. I tell you with 200% of me, that when I do yoga I am a happier, more enlightened, calm, sane, and creative person. I don’t know if it is the “placebo” effect, or if something amazing is happening on the inside – honestly, I could care less. What I do know is I walk away with all of those mentioned feelings and that’s enough for me. I have harped on the need to make time, importance of self, and so much more to friends and family – time to take some of my own advice.

Yesterday was especially struggling, so I literally pulled out my mat and had an emotional breakdown. Why do I tell you this? Because, well, this is my virtual mat. Yesterday was a gigantic wakeup call that I need to put me back on the priority list. Homework will still be there, work will still be there, classes will still be there – but me, my sanity, my Self, that can dwindle away to void. So, here we go world! Back to step 1!

Chaos = Breathing

This week I went back to my seasonal job. That means I work 4:00-12:30 Monday through Friday. With that, I have my online business. Plus, I have 6 classes, 2 of which I take in person on Tues/Thurs from 9-1:15. Meaning on Tuesday and Thursday I am up from 7:30 and only pause at 2pm to get my ducks in a row, to turn around and go to work. Luckily, or (unluckily?) my seasonal job is literally a 4-5 month job so this craziness doesn’t last forever. This weekend, I’m also volunteering at the Sundance Film Festival for my first year. That will only be Saturday-Monday so it will be a quick flurry and then its gone. Next week I’ll hopefully nail down volunteering a few times during the week at local schools for education course experience.

Now that you know my chaos and reason for absence, I can tell you with all my excuses – my physical fitness regime has taken a back seat – but not for much longer! I’m on my 2nd week in school and starting to get into the swing of things. That means I’ll be back to running and yoga again hopefully on Friday.

This morning when I felt overwhelmed (sinus infection / cold coming on, and lack of sleep) I decided instead of running myself ragged to take 10 minutes to just sit. Breathe. Focus on myself. I have to remind myself to breathe and let it go. The world will work itself out. Granted you have to give things a nudge, but it will work out for the best.

And it did! (My Sundance schedule got resolved, my classes are okay, and I’m finding my groove.) You have to remind yourself to put out good energy and the same will be returned. If you look for the negative, that is all you will find.

So, here is to breathing, to calm, and to chaos.

Namaste,

Valerie

PS On a side note, while my main focus of this blog was going to be yoga. I think that with life taking its turns it may be best to marry all things and make this a “medley” if you will.

 

Photo credit : Pinterest

Stepping Back and Finding Calm

With everything going on- back to working swings, school back on full time, online business going great – I decided that I needed to take a step back in yoga. Since week 2 of Rodney Yee’s book had been hit or miss I decided I should go ahead and start over on week 2. So that’s what I did.

Luckily there are no rules on this yoga thing. I felt I was hitting a wall with the lack of routine and decided to start “fresh”. I wont hit 365 days of yoga in 365 days, but really – I am pretty sure that is not my end goal here. Clarity, peace, strength, calm – those are my end goals. Even with the spotty routine, sitting on my mat allows me comfort and let’s me focus on me. With my hectic schedule, I’ve been very adamant about time management and will have to make sure I give myself at least 30 minutes a day for this. Bare minimum. If I don’t, than what is the point of everything else right?

Yogananda stated that we as yogis should be “calmly active and actively calm,” meaning that we need to be centered in calmness while in the midst of activity, as well as dynamic in our calm and relaxed states.

So here’s to calm!

Paleo day 3: So far I’ve had a good breakfast, leftovers from day 1’s dinner, pecans, and lots of water. Dinner is either a fried “rice” (cauliflower) or something T throws together since I have zumba. I had a headache late yesterday evening, and an off/on one today. I hear tomorrow is supposed to be the worst of it. Joy!

Yoga day 13: day 1 review of week 2 Yee’s 8 week transformation

Hear Me Roar

I have this weird…disinterest? in New Year’s resolutions. If I have a goal, I keep them to myself. But I’m so dang excited about trying something new – why not share with the blogosphere?

Back story: So, last year March 6th to be exact I set on a quest to lose weight. I joined a gym, I started running, and cut out all the junk. 2 half marathons & 25 pounds later … It was about mid-September that I stopped again. I started going all willy-nilly on food. I didn’t gain a pound of the lost weight (thankfully) since I was still maintaining my workouts. I had heard of Paleo early in the year. A caveman diet. Are you all insane? No dairy, no sugar, no legumes, no grains? What in the hell will I eat? I avoided the idea. Literally I would read recipes, construct grocery lists and then file them away. And by file, I mean file them in my trash can. This was nuts. No way.

Christmas was amazing and I received so many thoughtful gifts. Yoga equipment, Paleo cookbooks, and a treadmill. If I wasn’t already on this track I’d think the world was trying to tell me something. 🙂 Now, after a 2 week vacation of only mild yoga workouts (not 1 run or Zumba)  I’m kinda avoiding the scale. It’s taunting me. I literally do not look in my scale’s direction. But tomorrow it’s time. It’s time to see the damage of junk food, burgers, and all the soda I could drink. Time to take new measurements and record it all. T & I went grocery shopping today, I have a meal plan, recipe books and determination. Tomorrow I start going Paleo for the Whole30 challenge. Eff yea! I’m excited! The treadmill my parents got me is assembled, Zumba schedule back on track, and I’m checking out a new yoga studio this week. I will not see my parents for a few months and am determined to not only be ligther but fitter. Stronger.

I’m ready PALEO! I am woman, hear me roar!

Yoga update: None practiced. Don’t worry! I’ll be back on this track first thing in the morning!

Obsessed or dedicated

I daydream about yoga. Weird right? When I am sitting at my desk under a deadline, answering emails or creating proofs, I’m thinking about yoga pants and my mat. If we are out shopping for too long I will think about my routine. If I sleep in too long I will be bummed at myself for not going to an early class when I should have. My daily at home practice has been nice but I think a structured class would help me tremendously. It’s times like these that living in Austin again would be perfect. I find myself wanting to talk about yoga with anyone who will listen – but knowing most of the people around me could care less. What is this called? Obsession? Weird? Tell me is this nuts?

MIA

I kinda went MIA there for a week or so didn’t I? I went to visit my family in Texas with T and seemed to have lost track of time to blog. The little guy (nephew J) took up most of my focus as he is growing faster than a weed. Because I only see him once every 6 months, I woke up eagerly every morning waiting to hear my name. Somehow I sacrificed time on the mat for this, but yoga was practiced intermittently the remainder of the time I was visiting.

What I learned over my 2 week stay was something that has offered calm waters in many channels of my life. I’ve been using the phrase “breathe and let it go” a lot – and happy to know my father is adopting the same mindset. I can only hope he continues while I am gone.

I got a few hardy laughs from my little brother, even my parents from my need to do yoga now. Its hard to define yoga to people when their stereotypical thoughts are that I sit on a mat saying “om” repeatedly. Not that I haven’t tried doing this – however, yoga envelopes so many different parts that yoga cannot be simply defined as a workout or physical activity.

It all has come down to allowing me to appreciate – mind, body and soul (period)

Day 12: Yee’s Day 2 Week 2

Stay calm

When you visit family once every six months, sometimes too much family time sparks tempers. Not your family? Okay, in my family tempers can flare. Rise, erupt, explode…you get the idea. I would definitely say that it has been quite under control for the last 5 days so this was bound to happen on Christmas Eve. Despite the angst, and sparing you the details, yoga has been my saving grace. Ill admit I went to my mat frustrated. Frustrated at the situation, my sibling and then at myself. I had allowed myself to lose control and allowed myself to fall backwards. I felt anger, followed by sadness. So I did sun salutations, followed by the series in Yee’s book- I thought about being grounded. There is a part in a book I was reading that said “be compassionate towards those who are suffering, indifferent to those who give you a hard time because impassivity in the face of difficult situations allows for sound judgment.”
So, calm I shall be. I will take this away with me to be reminded to stay sane in the face of hot tempered moments.
Tomorrow is a new day, and this one will wash away.
Merry merry Christmas!

Day 11: Yee day 1 week 2

Looks like I will need that kitten calendar

Well, since the world didn’t end today I decided I should probably go ahead and splurge on that 2013 kitten yoga calendar.
I’m back on track with yoga and Yee’s book since it looks like i really will have to do this 365 day challenge.
It’s amazing how liberating a piece of rubber can make you feel. I woke up, rolled the mat out in the hall way near our room and I was set. I had the company of Charlie (a parrot) and silence in the house. 30 or so minutes later, I was refreshed and ready to start the day.
I’ve been long debating waking up earlier. My restorative yoga teacher talked to me about kappha personalities and waking up early etc. Do you subscribe to these thoughts? Participate in Ayurveda in any way? Do you find yoga in the morning is the way to go? Or is any time good for you?

Day 8: Rodney Yee’s book day 4

Shopping ping pong

I had a hard time focusing today when it came to yoga. I have been able to give myself time in the morning to meditate but it doesn’t always feel like enough. It starts my day off on the right foot, if nothing else. I spent most of the day with my mom, brother and T shopping.
We then proceeded to play pool and ping pong. If there is one thing about me, that could be a fault, is I am super competitive. So when my little brother started to trump me, I had some serious channeling of calm going on. Immature? Probably. I could not stand to lose and it was certainly humbling. Are you competitive? Does that go away as you continue? Sometimes I expect yoga to remedy my “faults”.

Day 8: meditation