Paying the Consequences

Source

I haven't really been taking very good care of myself in awhile, and the cracks are starting to show. I'm paying the consequences for taking on too much, lacking balance  in my life and not taking enough time for rest.

Over the weekend, I couldn't sit down without falling asleep on the couch, in bed or even on the bus. But I'd convinced myself that I was feeling well  rested enough to go to Brownies on Monday, and since we were having a yoga instructor come in to teach some yoga to the kids, I thought it would be an easy night.

You know how you get ideas in your head of what your skills are and you stick to them in your brain, even when it's been awhile since you've actually done them? I have an idea of myself in my head where I'm pretty good at yoga -- I've practiced off and on for years, and generally think of myself as fairly capable and strong.

But let me tell you, I'm ashamed to say that this yoga practice for 7 and 8 year old kids  totally kicked my butt.

Let me put this into context for you so you realize exactly how pathetic this is. We spent the first bit of the practice just doing some forward bends, breathing and acting like lions (yeah, this is a yoga thing) and all the girls were giggling and doing somersaults at the novelty of being on mats and doing yoga. Then we did about 3 balancing poses and a few sun salutations for a total of about half an hour of yoga.

I used to take pretty advanced classes, and was even almost getting good at the plank at one point...and at this point, it's all gone. I was shaky, inflexible and needing a better stretch to do any of the poses. And it was a bit of a wake up call.

You don't stay good at things if you don't work hard at them. You can't expect progress if you haven't had the time to dedicate to improving.  You can't expect stellar results or to maintain previous gains if you can't make time to take care of yourself.

And how am I paying for this lesson? Even before I got home, I was getting a tickle in my throat.
I woke up the next morning with a sore throat, feeling like I'd been put through the wringer. Were the sore muscles body aches from fever or just from the yoga practice that kicked my butt? It was hard to tell. But regardless, I was laid up at home for a few days, as my body's need for rest won out over the desire to push myself further than I could go.

What have I learned? That I'm not invincible. That I'm not a goddess of yoga by default. That I probably need to sleep sometime, because I'm only human. That I probably need to practice yoga a little more often.

♥ Craftzilla

May Health Challenge

I recently signed up to participate in the May Health Challenge which is being put together by some local friends of mine, Mark and Julie. The idea is a simple one, and I'm hoping it will succeed where other challenges I've undertaken have failed (i.e. yoga challenge) in that the steps that I'm planning on taking for this challenge may seem like small ones in the grand scheme of things, but for me they will make me be and feel healthier.

Here are the goals I'm focusing on for this month:

Have a bedtime: Getting back to work three days a week and having school on the go means that I have a bit of a variable schedule, and I'm just not getting enough sleep and staying up late on the days where I don't have to work the next day. Hopefully trying to get to bed around the same time (I'm aiming for 12 in bed and 12:30 lights out) will help to give me a bit more energy.

Drink more water: My new office is an oven, and I'm not always getting to drink enough water. I've  also gotten out of the habit of always having a glass on the go and bringing a water bottle with me everywhere.

Do some yoga: Unlike the yoga challenge I tried to do, I don't want to say anything unrealistic like that I need to start off doing yoga every day. Some days, I really just don't have the time, and those 14 hour days at school some days of the week were largely responsible for that failure. However, since I haven't been able to take a yoga class, I also haven't been doing any yoga. At all. So my challenge for this month is to try to do some yoga where I can, and rediscover my practice at home, hopefully on somewhat of a regular basis.

Julie's story, as well as that of another local Steve, are super inspiring. You can also follow all of our progress on Twitter at #mayhealth. If you're inspired at all by this post to take on a few healthy goals of your own,  I'd love to hear about it!

21 Day Yoga Challenge

I was browsing around the Twitters this morning, and noticed a post from @DanaDabek about a 21 Day Yoga challenge through the Yoga Journal. Given that I've been a little bummed recently that I can't rejoin my yoga class this term due to money issues, I figured this would be a great way to get some motivation to do yoga without being in a class, and to work towards my 30 before 30 goal of having a regular yoga practice.

 I just finished the first practice of the challenge, and I'm feeling pretty great! It's really open to everyone, as there's a beginner option, as well as an intermediate one. The first day's goals include doing the video practice, eating at least one vegetarian meal, and 15 minutes of meditation. Easy peasy, right? I'm assuming it will get a bit harder by the end of the challenge, so I may need you all to cheer me on a bi :)

Completed so far for Day 1:
Daily Practice
1 vegetarian meal --I'm eating a cheese and tomato sandwich on a fresh roll, with some yogurt for lunch. yum!

Still to do:
15 minutes of meditation (I find mediation is a more night-time kind of thing for me)

Click here to check out the intermediate challenge that I'm doing--and it's not too late to sign up if you want to get involved!


♥ Craftzilla

Yoga Pranayama : Nadi Shodhana

I was at yoga last week and we did this pranayama,  (i.e. breathing practice), Nadi Shodhana (or alternate nostril breathing) as part of our practice. Apparently the name nadi shodhana refers to the cleansing of vital channels of energy, in this case the nasal passages, hence "purification of nasal channels." (source) and has always been one of my favourites.

source

The image above shows the basic concept:

1) with your right hand, place your thumb loosely near your right nostril, and your ring finger loosely near your left nostril. 

2) Breathe in through both nostrils.

3) Place your thumb on your right nostril and exhale through your left nostril, and then inhale through your left nostril 

4) Release your thumb from your right nostril and place your ring finger on your left nostril. Exhale and then inhale through your left nostril. 

5) Repeat this sequence of holding the right nostril and exhaling/inhaling through the left nostril and holding the left nostril and exhaling/inhaling through the right nostril about 5-12 times 

(see my sources here and here for more clarification) 

Just a note that you shouldn't try to do this is your nose is stuffed up--the nostrils should be clear (though you may need to attack a box of Kleenex a bit after--my old yoga teacher used to run around while we were nostril breathing distributing us all kleenexes, which was sort of funny.)

What struck me as neat about this pranayama is that our teacher Jacqueline's mention that this pranayama could really be done anyplace, and was good for the following:

1) when you're feeling really high energy
2) when you're feeling really low energy
3) when you're feeling anxietal and scattered

Let's face it, outside of yoga, this are my three most common states of mind, so I think taking a few moments to do this when I'm feeling low energy might make all the difference!

♥ Craftzilla

Day 17: Sing. Sing a song... make it simple to last your whole life long! How did that feel?

It's funny how sometimes things come up in my day that are related to these prompts...it's a bit weird sometimes. I went to a yoga class tonight, and the thought at that beginning of the class was related to music, violins in particular, and about how it is somewhat absurd to consider a violin holding onto thoughts of the past and the future rather than being in the moment in the middle of a yoga practice. Interesting thought :) [ this was actually a poem, but I've blanked on the author so can't locate it]

Other thoughts brought up later in the class were related to finding the music and rhythm of your body and focusing on finding how to create your own version of a yoga practice that is attuned to your own skills, strengths and bodily quirks. I'm hoping that as I practice yoga more, that I get more attuned to this again.

It was a good practice tonight, full of shoulder opening exercises leading up to doing a shoulder stand.  Exactly what I needed after a long day of work! however, next time I'll remember my sports bra, since my teacher actually commented that I was having issues with the shoulder stand due to er, certain extremities, were blocking my throat and ability to breathe a bit. Yoga fail!

In closing, here's a video of some quick shoulder stretches that's done by one of the teachers at my yoga studio. Enjoy!

♥ Craftzilla

30 Before 30 - Yoga Updates

An update to#8 Start practicing yoga again on a regular basis (try for 3 times a week) and #19- Take a weekly yoga class from my 30 before 30 List. I'm combining both of these goals into one for the moment!

Source

There's a yoga place up the street from my apartment that has a summer membership on this summer for unlimited classes, so my friend Lo and I decided to each get one, as we work together and this place has lunch classes most days of the week. I ended up going three or four times last week, and I'm enjoying it a lot so far--my body is remembering all the years of yoga that I've done, and now I'm not quite sure why I ever stopped doing it, aside from just moving to Guelph and not having a teacher anymore. I also forgot how awesome yoga makes my back feel--boy has offered backrubs and I'm all "I do not need that, I went to the yoga today!"

However, I must admit to being sort of picky about how I do yoga, and given that we're going a lot of different days, I've tried 3 or 4 of the teachers at this place so far and their main flaw is just that they're not my yoga teacher from Toronto, plus a few nitpicky things. I find that one of them talks really loudly during the relaxation period (perhaps for the benefit of the old people?) which I find really distracting. Another seems to be all about the props --chairs to modify poses as an example--I really dislike using things to modify poses unless I have to. And really, let's face it, I do have to modify some weight-bearing postures right now due to the ongoing isuses iwht the repetitive strain in my wrists and forearms...but I'm stubborn about it still. Yet another teacher is a bit into her mmm's and ahhhh's while yoga-ing which I also found distracting. My friend and I decided it was due to the mmm's and ahhh's sounding a bit too intimate, for lack of a better word and both wished for "less Porno, more Prana please!" I feel this should be a slogan on a shirt someday :P

At any rate, enjoying the yoga lots, and hoping to get a space set up in my house for practicing at some point soon! A friend of mine who's taking the yoga teacher training at the moment may come over and assist me in this plus putting together a bit of a practice, so that should be fun! I'm also planning to dig out my old practice worksheets from my yoga teacher in Toronto and give some of those a go, as well as going to as much yogas as I can:)

The image above is a Sun salutation, Suraya Namaskar, which I enjoy a lot:) Click the source link for more info!

♥ Craftzilla