Opportunism

When gyms, studios and other fitness groups offer you free trials. TAKE THEM! 

Push all of those excuses to the back of your mind, to the bottom of your stomach, down to the ground and keep it there! If people look at you, who cares? If you're not flexible, so what? 

Use the class, the three days, the week, and (if you're lucky) the month (!) to kick yourself into gear and create better habits. Make sure you ask questions and accept all the help that is offered to you. Try a ton of gyms in the span of three months if you have to, but do it. You'll find a teacher that you like, a new format that you love and hopefully start a trend in your life that you won't want to lose. 

The only thing that you should make sure you do, is consult your doctor, listen to the instructor and don't try to compare yourself to anybody else in those locations. Comparison can boost your ego,  or break it. Boosting your ego in this way is hurtful to the other person, and if your ego gets insulted, you might not continue the original good habits. Injury can happen when you over work yourself, as well. So, take it easy and go at a good pace that's gentle with where you are in life. 

I personally joined yogaglo.com recently. I love the teachers there. I was offered a 15 day free trial, and I am going to keep their services. They have 30 minute sessions that, after completing, feel fantastic! It's better then doing nothing, and I don't even have to leave the house! I also have a gym membership, but due to an injury I abandoned the gym for three months and now my toddler will not be left at the baby center without a huge melt down. That is not an excuse to cease attendance, but for now, it's keeping me from the gym. 

Yes, there is a potential that you will buy into the membership, but is that bad? YES! It's bad if you never go. You are literally just throwing money down the fitness-center drain. Don't buy new gym clothes (maybe a new pair of shoes if you're running), don't buy "cool accessories" or a new yoga mat, just go in your pj's if you have to, but go! Do it for your health, and your sanity. I hope I don't have to list the tons of empirical evidence that support exercise (in any form) as beneficial. But if so just: go here. 

If you care about your well being, be an opportunist and use the free trials at all the fitness centers near you! Good luck, and may you find the fitness center that keeps you feeling fit and healthy. 

New beginnings

It's easy to engulf yourself into projects, activities, people, and (in my case) your children. They're new, need attention and are interesting. Unfortunately, the new and interesting never fades when you're dealing with a child. They keep growing and learning subjects and surprising you at every second! A word they learned a few months ago, like "pattern," pops out of their little mouths and you are amazed! 

    The other issue with that is that you lose part of yourself and your goals due to the new demands that are required for this new introduction to your life. There has to be a balance between the devotion you set for your new interest. Of course, offspring can not be compared to a project, or activity. Your children are part of you, and your life. They are your morning, noon and night in a sense. 

     So many people complain about feeling sucked dry by their children, friends, or activities. It's not due to an outside force. Independence from this belief is experienced after you can identify how engrossed you have become. That's never easy, it always happens too late! 

Here are some points that will help identify if this new interest is causing you to ignore your needs:

1. How often do you think of this project, activity or person. (It's not possible to stop thinking about your child, so I'm not including that). Is it an obsession? 

2. Do you maintain normal hygiene. Like, brush your hair? Change your clothes? Shower?

3. Are your old habits and interests the same? 

4. Are you neglecting that things that make you you? Avoiding things you love, because you have no time? 

These are four things that I have identified in myself. That's why I'm putting them out there. If you can think of any other ones, feel free to comment. I stopped working out, putting on makeup, dancing, and even listening to music. I obsess over finding new learning methods and activities for my child. It's not healthy. 

I'm going to start to focus on me, where my anatomy, yoga, and health are top priorities as of today. 

No intention

When practicing yoga, it's good to start with an intention. You can pray for a more forgiving heart, wish for a more flexible pelvis, or just request an enemy have a bad day. You choose how to start your practice. 

Today, I chose to start without an intention. I didn't prepare a sequence, and I didn't even complete five sun salutations to warm up. I just winged it. Surprisingly, my body told me what I needed. My quads were crying for attention. So, I ran through a few poses until i culminated the practice into a reclining cobblers pose. OUCH! I couldn't hold it for even a minute. It was that painful. 

That's exactly how life is. When you don't prepare, ask, demand or even hope, it will tell you what you need. Thankfully, I was able to arrange a sequence that tailored to my quads, but had i started the way I normally do, I'm positive I would have run down my usual practice. 

I've finally finished my training. It was a long year and a half, but It's finally done. I am so extremely happy, and i'm just relishing in all of my books by slowly reading the fine print in every one. I've started to write down sutras from the Yoga Sutra's of Patanjali on my bathroom mirror. I have one on there for weeks, because I have such a thick head some of the words don't want to stick.

Here is this mornings sporadic sequence:

Sun salutation A

Sun salutation B

vinyasa

table top

alternate leg and arm lift and tuck 5x

extend, then bring adjacent to body.

return leg to starting position and drop toe to floor

trace floor to opposite side of body and look towards leg

repeat on other side

cat and cow

vinyasa

warrior one

traingle

reverse warrior

half moon with extended leg

vinyasa

repeat on other side

dancers pose both sides

grip toe and extend leg in front of body

both sides

vinyasa

superman

vinyasa

kneww to center, left elbow, right elbow

tthen step leg through into lizard

cresent moon while crabbing back leg

repeat on other side

camel

cobblers pose

pigeon

happy baby 

shavasana.

  

  

Almost Done

I"m almost done with  my 200hr yoga training. I've just turned in my 14 book reviews, and I'm just so ecstatic!

The books I read changed my perspective on life. I've read books on philosophy, psychology, history, but they never prepared me for what these books expressed. I think the reason that it had such a great impact was because of the repetition. Kindness, kindness, kindness. Let your ego GO.
Adding the physical aspect to it also helped. The asana's were what had originally lead me to complete this training. I only expected to learn about anatomy. I didn't know I was going to be introduced and emerged into the eight limbs of yoga.

I'm so relieved and excited, I dont know what I should do to celebrate. I tried waking my husband up in the middle of the night. That wasn't very yogi of me. In the end he did wake up to help me with a google problem. I'm computer savvy, but I've just started using Google. It's growing on me. I love all of the different capabilities and format.

I'm going to relish the completion of the reviews for as long as I can.  I still feel that I need to read the books ten times over. I just won't feel as rushed. I have a lot of highlighted parts I want to review and memorize. I"m excited.

Contest winner-right here!!

Contests have always drawn my attention because I believe in luck!

The first contest I ever won was in fifth grade. At my elementary, when you were good you would earn a gold card. You could put those gold cards into raffles and choose a prize. I think i just got one and still ended up winning. I chose a toy car. My friends didn't make fun of me, but some little boys were jealous! 

Later on, after high school, I won tickets to concerts after calling KROQ a hundred times. I went to the warped tour, saw Incubus, and also attended Oz Fest because of it. 

This week, I won a yoga mat. The Joyne Yoga mat. I just received it in the mail today. I replied to their contest on facebook, and won a few days later! It was a miracle. I've been wanting a yoga mat for my little girl and for my husband, but I havent had the extra $$ to buy them a new one. 

While this yoga mat does not compare to my manduka, the company gifts one to people in need and the material is exceptional, good for the planet and toxin free. I've been enjoying it since i got it. I had it parked right next to my manduka, which didnt help the poor mat. My husband calls the manduka "the rolls royce" of yoga mats. It is. It's thick and sturdy. So much so, that I use it on a rug. It feels as if though i'm on a cloud when doing surya namaskara B. 

The Joyne mat is very soft and indents my prints on the cushion, it also moves when I use it on the carpet. I have not tried it on a hard surface, yet. I can't wait to take it to the studio and leave an amazing comment on their amazon page. It's a lot lighter than the manduka, so, it'll be good to carry around and because it's so thich, I know i'll be able to do a ton of yoga tricks soon. I'll post a picture of my crow soon. 

Now, I'm going to buy a lottery ticket.

Two pounds at a time

I've lost another two pounds for a total of four pounds. YAY!

This is all because I've been assisting and taking yoga classes like crazy. My little sister is on spring break, and she is watching my toddler while I take and assist. Somedays I take two to three yoga classes. It's marvelous. I wish I could take yoga classes every day. The teachers are so brilliant and fun.

When I was instructing at LA Fitness, I would teach about ten classes a week and I would take an additional four classes of yoga, zumba, or any other class I was interested in. I would also swim, and visit the sauna when I was done. Sometimes I miss that, especially after a day like today when I was able to swim for about fifteen minutes while my toddler slept. I have not had  a good swim in about a year. I've just done water aerobics with my baby. Taking that time was very fulfilling, but it's not the anaerobic exercise I get from swimming.

Well, I've finally kept up with my weight loss goal! I even cleaned up my pantry a little and got rid of a few magazines. I gave my magazines to my little sister, and I made hummus with the canned garbanzo beans I had in the pantry. The hummus was a fail, but, it was still good.

This is the recipe I used:

1 can of Garbanzo beans
1 tablespoon of Tahini
5 cloves of garlic
lemon
4 tablespoons of olive oil
 salt to taste.


I blended it in my nutri bullet and walla instant hummus.

This week I made some from scratch. I Just soaked the garbanzo beans over night and then cooked them for an hour with a few garlic cloves and salt. It's nothing complicated. I can't wait to learn how to make pani puri with them. Pani puri is an indian dish. It's so delicious. You buy these small orbs of fried flour and then place the garbanzo beans with flavoring inside and pour this delectable water inside and then pop them in. The taste is like nothing you can imagine. There are so many different textures and tastes that your instantly taken to heaven with just one bite.

Pani Puri

When I make it I'll type out the recipe as well. We will see how well it comes out. 

The big hike was planned for this weekend. I dont know if i'm ready for it, but i'll let you know how bad it goes on the next blog.

Body Composition Analysis

The receptionist at the clinic called my evaluator the human. She had to categorize Sergio, the physical therapist, for my chart and because he used an impedance machine called the Inbody they had to log him in as a human.

Standing on that machine and holding the handles felt a little odd. I only stood on the machine for about a minute. After that minute a printer released the data so that Sergio and I could discuss the results. 

My fat percentage is over the roof! I'm at 47.6% That is extreme. Women have to be within 18-28 percent. My muscle mass is also higher on my arms then on my legs.  

These numbers mean that I am obese. I did lose two pounds before going to the appointment. My plan to lose some weight before the evaluation was a success! If the cost was cheaper I would schedule one each week, to help with my weight loss. 

A deadline always causes urgency in the blood, mind and body.  Something like a wedding or any other special event catalyzes a major goal. If there was a way to harness that energy to reach your desired objective, there would be more content people in this world. Creating imaginary milestones might help, but that would be trickery. While tricking your mind into following a healthy habit can be a good thing, will it be permanent? Or will it just help you reach the top of the hill and then roll you back down to where you were originally? I think that's up to the individual. 

What do you need? What do I need? Planning and concocting ideas to help with weight loss have not helped at all. The only time I had a deadline for weight loss was today. This might be the reason why people sign up for marathons, bowling leagues, or baseball leagues. 

My husband and I were talking about our routine. The best way to accomplish anything is to set a good routine and follow it through.  We started to walk together nightly for less than thirty minutes. We just walk around our complex before or after dinner. Not too late. We no longer set weekend hiking trips, instead we visit family members or relax at home. 

I'm going to have my partner help me out with this obesity. Countless blogs have been written trying to help me attain my pre baby weight. This time I'm making sure I have a partner to help me be accountable. At the end of the month we will set up a hiking trip, throughout the month lunges, squats, yoga routines, and weight training will be scheduled to improve the outcome of the hike. 

Obesity causes many serious diseases. I definitely do not want to be another diabetic Mexican in my family. It's still early so at the end of this month we will hike up a small mountain and I'll make sure to take pictures. 

Completing this assessment has been the best thing I've done in a long while.