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Posts Tagged "Fitness Challenge"
My body is changing. I am noticing that my skin is clearing. I have had a little blemish under my eye for a while. It came to the surface and went away. I have always been a little stinky–especially if I drink coffee. My body odor has gone away. I didn’t wear deodorant yesterday and by the evening, there was no smell at all. Today, our class was full of a bunch of McMaster University women’s rugby players. Guess they decided to try yoga. The class was packed full of youth and vigor. It was kind of fun. I made it through most of the class today. Also, I decided to sign up for another 30 day yoga challenge. So, this challenge will be followed by another 30 days. They overlap a little, so it will actually be 48 days total. Should be interesting. I can only imagine how different my body will be after 48 days of yoga....
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Today the teacher commented on how much better I have gotten. Actually, she said something yoga-esque like, “It is fantastic to see how much your practice has changed.” I felt proud. It was great to feel strong again after a few days of feeling exhausted. It is nice to see it come around again. I got super cold before coming to yoga. It was so nice to be in the hot room which isn’t feeling all that hot to me any more. I felt warm and cozy by the end and that was awesome. I am loving the hot...
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Today is Sunday and figuring out how to get to yoga around family activities is a bit challenging. I find a class at 12:30 which means we take 2 cars to church. I could tell Mel really wanted me to go to church with him, so I left right after. Turns out my clothes were in the dryer so I had to come home anyway, and there he was pulling up behind me, so we could have taken one car in the first place. There is still a clumsiness to my scheduling and making my yoga work. I hope this gets more graceful with time. I am letting the clumsiness be okay. We are absorbing a new commitment into our lives and it is a gradual process. Having me exercise 7 times a week is completely new in our relationship. I get to yoga and I get the blocks and strap and put them next to me just in case, but I am deeply tired. I lie down on my mat and stay there the entire hour and 25 minutes. I nap a little, breathe a lot and by the end, I feel refreshed. Lying in shavasana for a whole class is still challenging for my ego. I know I have to do it in order to make it through the challenge when I get tired, but I want to be stronger and able to do more. It is humbling. I have heard this word used several times by teachers and it is deeply true. Not because I feel bad about lying on the mat, but because I wish I didn’t need to. All that said, it is so amazingly pleasant to lie there. I feel like I am melting into the floor. My thoughts are a bit strange, especially when I doze a little and wake up dreaming of video games or weird jarring thoughts. I notice and let them go and focus on breathing again. It is deeply restful. As I get...
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I made it to yoga for an 8am class. I don’t like rushing into yoga but I realized at the last minute I could make this class. I like being 15 minutes early and having my time on my mat before the class starts. I feel excited to be there but it feels like not very long from the 6:30pm class yesterday. I have this feeling that I haven’t had enough recovery time. I had really crazy dreams last night. Nightmare after nightmare. In one I dreamed I got trapped under a tree under water and I couldn’t move. I could imagine Mel trying to save me and I just tried to get to a place of acceptance really fast sending loving thoughts to all my family. It was a super intense dream and I accepted my own death. It seemed very yoga-esque as I let go of my attachment to life and accepted the situation as it was instead of struggling and suffering. I didn’t do all the poses today. I could feel the fatigue in my body. I did a few of them but then spent time lying in shavasana on my mat. I probably did about 1/2 the poses. I started tracking my food and exercise and I was motivated to track more minutes of yoga and I think this was a mistake. I think I didn’t allow it to be okay to be tired. I asked “more” of my body than I needed. I need to be very clear to be gentle with my body and to allow it to do as much yoga as feels right. I don’t need to push beyond that. I felt exhausted after today’s yoga and full of sugar cravings. I have been having these sugar cravings since I started, as if my body is trying to find energy. I ate a bunch of protein today to see if that would help. I also had a glass of wine. I felt kind of yucky...
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I figured out a play-date for my kids and am feeling so excited about being able to do some yoga today before I drive to an event in Stratford for my daughter Sela’s school. I am excited about having an evening with her. She called yesterday and said she was free earlier and I could come see her before the event, but I decided to honor my commitment to yoga and myself and keep my yoga date. I get to class right before it starts and find a spot on the floor. I breathe and lie on my mat and I don’t quite feel like I have enough time before class starts. I want more time to lie down and breathe. Class starts in a new way and I realize I don’t know what class I am in. I keep up through the first poses and I realize I am able to reach my hands behind my thighs in a way I couldn’t even yesterday. Isn’t that nifty, I think to myself. Then class gets really hard. I can’t keep up. I still have no idea what the class is but I am completely intimidated. I try to do enough to get a work-out but have to spend a fair bit of time on my back on the mat. The teacher asks me twice if I am okay. I say yes, and I am, but I am feeling some shame that I can’t keep up. It is a mild shame–if that makes sense. The gap between these people and me is so great that it shames me until I get really humble. I decide I am okay exactly where I am and it is okay that I am on my journey. I try more poses and actually realize I have done more in this class than in any other class–I am getting better. Then my shoulders get sore and my knee starts to hurt. The voice of the teacher from the first day comes...
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