Practice 26 of the 40 Day Challenge

So, I didn't make it into class.

This morning we dropped Larry off at the airport for his amazing move to Shanghai and, the entire drive to the airport I knew we were going to have an accident. I was so careful, y'all. I did everything right.

I got Larry onto the plane, I handed the keys over to Lorna and I took a deep breath. Sometimes those little feelings aren't real, sometimes I misread them. Yay.

About 1/2 mile from the airport we were rear ended.

As in we were stopped at a red light, the driver fell asleep and hit us going about 45 mph the car is totaled rear ended. As we sat there amongst the air bags, Lorna says the first thing I said was, "I knew we were going to have an accident."

We did the ER thing, have the muscle relaxants, the antiinflammatories, the chiropractor appointment.

I did the panicked idiot falling apart like a fool thing.

Then I went and meditated for an hour. Not sleeping, but letting myself relax and process and absorb all of it. Everything. Loss. Fear. Pain. Gratefulness. Luck. Joy. Tension. Release.

So, I know I didn't go into class, but I practiced. I listened to what my soul needed and what my body needed.

:D

Namaste, y'all.

S.

Class 25 of the 40 Day Challenge, or Dancer's Pose

Dancer's Pose.

It should look like this:

Not this:

This:

Not this:

Zelinda:

Shawn:

:D

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Hatha I

Teacher: Zelinda

Class 24 of the 40 Day Challenge, or My Joints are Frozen

So, Thursday afternoon I ate wheat.

I am allergic to wheat in that horrifying, swollen, please give me morphine sort of way and this morning? I felt rusted shut.

I would get into a pose and then Angela would say, "Now, let's move into this next incredibly easy, peaceful, gentle pose," and my body would scream at me.

Every pose.

It happens. I know it does. My joints will hurt for two or three more days. My stomach is swollen about 10 inches bigger than Thursday morning. It bites.

Still, I went to practice. I did my thing. In savasana, I chased a little white dot of light.

It's the last week of the challenge next week -- for those of you following along, this blog is a source of endless joy and I fully intend to record my post-yoga/pilates/possibly zumba thoughts from here on out. :D

Now, I have to decide whether to go to 8 am class tomorrow for gentle or hatha I at 915...

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Angela

Class 22 of the 40 Day Challenge, or Balance in All Things

I love Tuesday morning Hatha I.

It's the perfect balance of community, laughter, hard work, and joy. It's a little loud, a little tilty, a lot bendy and just one of my favorite classes of the week. *grins* So, we're a little louder than some...

Possibly there was a suggestion of yoga and wine group today. Personally, I'm *so* in.

Today, I discovered that my left hip is REALLY sore. Also, my thighs screamed a little in the chair pose.

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Hatha I

Teacher: Zelinda

Class 21 of the 40 Day Challenge, or It's Good to Be Home

First things, no. The picture has nothing to do with anything. It just makes me smile.

Secondly, HOME! I'm home and it was so nice to see everyone this morning and have my yoga back. Travel practice is going to be a challenge, maybe my biggest yoga challenge, but it's glorious to come home and be back at the Yoga Room.

Thirdly, we did heart-openers today and usually those are a huge, huge challenge for me. Today? Nope. I felt good, strong, and given that it was cold and damp and my shoulder hates that type of weather, it surprised me. :D

Now, let's all look at the basset picture and have a grin.

See? You just can't be unhappy in the face of a dog in a hat.

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Zelinda

Class 16 of the 40 Day Challenge, or I May Rethink Eight AM

7 a.m. is an obscene time to be awake.

Now, don't judge. I'm a 2 a.m. to bed person. From 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. is prime writing time. I wake up at 8:15 most mornings for yoga, but 7?

Ack.

I didn't wake up until my third cup of coffee after gentle practice. I'm pretty sure I was dreaming about tap dancing rhinos doing a music video for Big Country...

I'm fixin' to head to Colorado, where I'll be blogging about our travel practice.

Prepare for hilarity. ;-)

After I nap.

 

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Zelinda

Class 15 of the 40 Day Challenge, or How Yoga Helps in Real Life Crisis When Added to Wine

I have to tell y'all. I have discovered a real life use for yoga.

Yesterday I'm having folks for supper. Lorna and I are making gluten free vegetarian lasagna. These are not gluten free people.

We cook, we clean, we pull the lasagna out after they get here and?

The noodles are like concrete -- hard and shattery, a little dangerous, crackly and absolutely not edible.

It's 239042739 degrees in my house, I have guests, I have 3 anxious dogs. Lorna looks at me, I look at her. She grabs the gluten free fusili out of the pantry and I grab the stock pot and start filling it with water. I pull each tiny shard of uncooked noodle from the pan (leaving the goo), she opens a glass of wine. We start water boiling while everyone else chats in the front room.

We pour two glasses of wine, put the fusili in the water, and Lorna says, "Breathe."

We breathe, arms going up. We forward fold in the kitchen. We breathe.

We drink a glass of wine.

We make baked pasta.

See? Yoga with real-life uses. We didn't panic. We coped. We breathed. We cooked.

Also, today in class? Something amazing happened. We did the tree pose and Angela's talking about putting our hands in a mudra. Now, two little backstory bits of info: 1. I always do the middle finger mudra because I am the queen of NEEDS PATIENCE and 2. today I was looking for Ease as my Point of Practice. Something made me put my thumb and third finger together (vitality). As soon as I did, the entire studio flooded with white light, so bright I couldn't see.

Okay, I thought. Maybe I've just had a stroke, maybe I've cut off the blood supply to my brain. Possibly my glasses are foggy.

We release the pose. I'm no longer White Light Woman (so, brain is getting blood. Go brain.)

We do the other side.

Boom.

White light of amazing joy.

Dude!

Now, there may be a scientific answer. I'm pro-science. Right now I'm happy with mystical yoga joy experience. Joy is always cooler than science.

So, ease? Not so much, but joy? Like whoa.

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Angela

Class 14 of the 40 Day Challenge, or Someone Let Me Out of This Cocoon!

I woke up this morning with the words "Let It Be" in my head.

I tried to hold onto that all day. I had a book release early, I have a trip next week, I have cramps. Lorna has a cold.

Just let it be.

I missed pilates (because, you know, it could have been catastrophic in that did you hit a deer sort of way), but we managed a gentle class and I was going to let it be.

There I was. Letting it be.

Angela says that the practice's focus it going to be adaptation.

NOT my strong suit.

I am the OCD Queen. I am the girl of planning and scheduling and deadlines. I have had an unscheduled cold, book release, and and and...

So, I tried.

Flowing. Easy. Gentle.

What are we going to make for supper, Shawn? My brain says. And we have to clean and plan a supper for vegetarians tomorrow and you don't know what the temperatures going to be and don't forget to promo that book and you have another deadline coming and did you set up the DVR? I bet you forgot.

I'm going, what? WHAT? I've been frigging ZEN ALL BLASTED DAY LETTING IT BE AND I'M IN YOGA STRETCHING WITH THE PEACEFUL MUSIC AND THE SOFT LIGHTS AND WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE??????

About then I noticed my shoulder blades were possibly cradling the back of my head...

So. Okay. Adaptation is obviously something that triggers me.

Good to know.

:D

Also, I went to Sprouts and bought frozen gluten free Chinese food for supper. I'm making vegetarian gluten free lasagna tomorrow. I have tweeted and facebooked and blogged about my new title. I did set up the DVR.

Now, I'm going to take a walk.

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Angela

Class 13 of the 40 Day Challenge, or Swallowing the Frog

The saying is: Swallow a live frog first thing when you wake up, then you can have your day knowing the worst has passed.

We talked about that today in yoga. We talked about creativity, about discomfort, about community. We talked about art and disappointment and life. We talked about being unsure and isolated and boredom and the really great sale at Academy and and and...

We did the half moon pose, too.

I tend to see things during tree pose. It may be lack of oxygen to my brain. I prefer to think of it as soul messages. Today's word (yes, on the floor, the Yoga Room's floor has LOTS of words) was BUOYANT.

It was a good word.

Practice is my buoy right now. Breathing makes me buoyant. This community makes me buoyant. My yoga family buoys me.

I'm beginning to notice that I need it to get the day started. O.o

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Hatha I

Teacher: Zelinda

 

Class 12 of the 40 Day Challenge, or Joy as a Full Time Gig

First things first. Yes, that's a hand-welded iron longhorn head wine bar behind me. It is a constant source of smiles and glee.

Secondly, yep. That's an apple. I eat one every day. I balance one on my head not-considerably less often than that.

If I had any shame, I'd tell you that this photo was posed just for the blog, but I'd be lying.

You see, I spent 20 years of my life very busily dying. It was a full-time occupation and involved a lot of doctors and fear, pain and unhappiness and hiding. One day I gave it up. I know how glib that sounds, and in some ways it was a process, but in many ways, it was just that simple.

One day I had a vision and I gave up dying as a lifestyle.

My goal now is joy.

Yoga is a part of that for me. Tree pose. Happy baby pose. Laughing with Zelinda before class. The way Angela's hands are always cold or the smile B gives me every time she sees me. Michelle's laugh. The way Stacy wiggles. Teasing Christin. Then there's the fact that we're doing this together. The best parts of my day are the post-yoga chat (at the 620 Cafe, the Starbucks, Cafe Java). What worked, what didn't. Did you notice that my belly was growling? What did you think about during final relaxation? I think my butt fell off.

My joy level is *always* higher after yoga. (I have even been known to laugh after pilates. That may be hysteria.)

Some days I totally suck at my job. Mostly, though, I'm one hell of a professional dork.

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Zelinda

Class Eleven of the 40 Day Challenge, or Trying to Breathe

So, I'm at the end of the head cold of doom. I'm not contagious. I was able to ponder forward folds without hysterical tears or exploding sinuses. So, off to Hatha I.

I'm great.

I'm solid.

I'm feeling good.

We start class and I start to (try to) breathe and all I can do is think, "Don't cough."

The tickle in my throat got worse. I swallowed.

Then, "Don't. Cough."

Then the tickle became a scratch.

DON'T COUGH!

I swallowed harder.

All that happened? Coughing.

Hacking.

There was a bit of wheezing.

I might have cried a little.

Finally the tickle backed off and I finished class.

The good news? My head did not explode.

Much.

;-)

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Hatha I

Teacher: Stacy

In lieu of content

We didn't get to a class today. Sadly, Shawn came down with a vicious head cold last night, and I don't go when she doesn't. It's not fear, or even laziness on my part. This was solidarity with the sickly.

So, in lieu of content, we give you a contest. Comment on this post (or if you're shy, email us at shawnandlorna@gmail.com) by midnight Saturday the 4th of Febraury and enter to win a fancy water bottle and yoga strap, pictured below!



You know you want it!

As Shawn would say, Namaste, y'all

Lorna

Class Ten of the 40 Day Challenge, or... I got nothing

Sorry, y'all. What I thought was a little bit of allergies this morning has become a bad head cold, complete with drippy goo, fever, chapped face, and racing heart.

:(

I did get up and go to class this morning; I am posting. I make zero promises for tomorrow.

Someone send chicken soup and hot tea.

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Angela

Class Eight of the 40 Day Challenge, or Half Moon Pose with Dogs

So, today's blog post is short and to the point.

Hatha I. 8 days in. There was balancing and such. (Okay, some of us balanced. Some of us (meaning me), less so. And when Zelinda asked us to lay on our bellies and reach back and grab our feet, I was the one who broke into hysterical laughter.)

At any rate, we did the half moon pose. It's supposed to look like this:

Here is what it looks like when I do it. (Please note, it's WAY easier if you use the back of the couch as a prop and puppy snuggles count as mediation, right?)

;-)

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Hatha I

Teacher: Zelinda

Class Seven of the 40 Day Challenge, or Living in My Skin

So, here's the deal.

I've been a big girl all my life. When I say big, do not misunderstand. I mean big in that topping out at 500 pounds, there were 8 Xs in my clothes tags, buy me two or three airplane seats sort of way.

I am still a big girl.

I lost half my body weight four years ago. I'm still big.

I'll always be big.

Now, though, I'm big with skin.

LOTS of skin.

My apron is a stunning thing. Floppy, loose, empty, C-section and hernia surgery skin that sort of...hangs down there and reminds me that you can't weigh 300 (400, 500) pounds plus for 25 years without repercussions.

I'm talking skin that you can do origami with, y'all. It's...amazing.

It's also a big yoga challenge. I forward fold over it. I catch my elbows in it. When we try inversions, periodically I worry about drowning in it. Today in class I couldn't find a good place for it during the seated forward folds. (Hey, I promised honestly, right?) No matter where I shoved and pushed, it was there, possibly trying to fold itself into one of those paper cranes...

It's my challenge and, I admit, sometimes I consider having it all removed, but, you know... It's mine. It's my badge reminding me that healing is possible, that my body is not my enemy, that perfection is for magazine covers.

Also, you know, my basset hounds find it comforting. ;-)

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Zelinda

Class Six of the 40 Day Challenge, or Rice Krispies, Tequila, and Balancing the Brain

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you realized that, somehow, you had more shots of tequila last night than hours of sleep?

No?

Oh.

Well, uh.

I sort of do.

Now, before you think badly of me, I have to point out that I only had 3 hours of sleep last night, so the four shots are suddenly less impressive. ;-)

Anyway, yesterday was a huge party, lots of stress, lots of fun, lots of tears and booze and old high school friends and company and...

Have you ever heard the way Rice Krispies sound when the milk hits them in the bowl?

That's my neck.

No matter how I move it today, I'm the eternal bowl of rice cereal. In fact, if I move just right? I sort of sound like someone dropped a bowling ball in the bowl along with the milk.

I'd love to be able to say yoga class helped -- it didn't, but two things happened in class that did help.

One, Stacy (who I'd never taken a class from before -- quite lovely and she offered TONS of options, which was grand. I will absolutely take another class from her) said at the beginning of class to announce your intention for the practice.

I am under stress like whoa with deadlines -- and let me tell you, writing blog posts is WAY more fun than the edit I needed to get to my editor last week -- and I'm scattered as all get out. I need focus. I need energy. I need inspiration and faith and a couple of good reviews and and and...

INNER PEACE.

(Yes. Just like Po in Kung Fu Panda 2.)

That's what my brain says I need from this practice.

Inner peace.

Well, okay. Me. Yoga. Inner peace. Let's go.

Now, this is where thing number two happened. Toward the end of class, Stacy had us sit and breathe, closing our nostrils in a specific order. Now, I can't remember for love or money what she called it (and I felt like an idiot when we started), but I swear, y'all. It was like...finding that perfect spot on your pillow right before you fall asleep. You're there, you're settled, but you're awake enough to appreciate it.

Dude. Inner peace. Just like the panda, if the panda was stuffed with Rice Krispies. :D

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Hatha I

Teacher: Stacy

What is that smell?

What is that smell? I thought this morning when my alarm went off. The world answered, "7:15 a.m."

It's been awhile since I was up that early. Maybe since the last time I took a flight out of Austin-Bergman, which I think was Las Vegas... Vegas and yoga are kind of antithetical to one another, so we'll cut that analogy right off.

Anyway, at 7:45 we were off to 8 a.m. gentle class, which was class 5 of the challenge for me and Shawn.

I was pooped. When the cold front moved in last night, my dog went nutso. She hates it when the weather changes; her arthritis bothers her. So, I was awake for about an hour at 4:30 this morning while I let her out and let her in and got her an aspirin and a chew and... Yes, this means I have a spoiled dog, and that I was about this sleepy this morning:



My Sadie is the one on the left.

Class was crowded like whoa, but that turned out to be a huge advantage for me. We never stood up today; Zelina put us through a lot of poses lying down and sitting, and I worked out all manner of soreness. I might even have had a nap during our relaxation... I don't think I snored.

It just goes to show that the universe gives you what you need if you're open to receiving it.

I still woke Sadie the basset hound up when I got home and made her run around the house a few times. If I can't get the sleep I need, why should she?

Night, y'all!

Lorna

Class Five of the 40 Day Challenge, or There is One Reason I am Awake at 8 a.m. on a Saturday

Class today was packed! (See me tie in this wicked cool image with something yoga-y? :D) 21 people, I think. Crazy, but there was fun chatting and bending and folding and I didn't smack anyone even once (accidentally).

Lorna and I were talking on the way out about how the 8 am gentle yoga was where we started, 2 1/2 years ago.

Let me tell you, I was sitting one day after a hard weight workout, and I decided to try yoga. I told Lorna we were trying yoga and, after the look of shock stopped (well, okay, first there was a look of shock, then a spate of hysterical 'we're going what?' laughter, then another look of shock/horror, then pure, unadulterated fear, because that was how I get us into trouble...), Lorna says, "Uh, okay...where?"

So, I googled.

As an aside: Do any of you remember life before Google? When figuring things out involved Yellow Pages and libraries and long distance phone calls to your mom to ask what to do? I mean, Yay Search Engines!

Anyway, I googled and found a few places. Some closer, some free. Some this. Some that. Some not at 8 am on a Saturday morning (hey, I'm a professional writer; my working day starts at 8pm and goes to 4am).

Still, I have to tell you, I never considered another class. My soul said Zelinda was it (Go ahead, mock. I'm used to it. I listen to the universe when it tells me to pay attention. It's a thing.) and so, off we went to Target to find yoga mats.

(Mine was pink. Feel free to pretend surprise.)

Saturday morning rolled around. We got up, walked the bassets, Lorna cursed me, I considered just going back to bed. We got into the car, drove over to the dance studio and passed it five or six times before pulling in.

We turned off the car and sat. We sang "Voices Carry" with Til Tuesday.

We stared at each other.

We discussed just leaving.

We sat in the air a little longer, making it halfway through "Thriller" before we did our "we are grown ups and brave and not cowards and already printed out the new student forms and filled them out and wasting paper is bad damn it" pep talk and went in (yes, we rationalized THAT much).

B and Zelinda would laugh now to know just how much gumption it took for us to finally take the plastic off my yoga mat and walk into that room the first day, but it did. I was so scared my glasses were shaking, me and my new yoga pants, trying to look confident so Lorna didn't bolt.

As soon as I was in there, B said hello, Zelinda chatted, and it was okay enough that I didn't run.

It took a couple of weeks before I knew it was okay enough that, when Zelinda asked me to do something basically impossible, that I not only didn't run, I cracked up. (And usually fell over. I'm sort of Weeble-shaped.)

So, yeah. Still getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays.

Still bending and stretching.

Although I admit that, sometimes when we pull up, we do sit in the car and car dance for a few minutes, if the music is *really* good.

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Gentle

Teacher: Zelinda

Class Three of the 40 Day Challenge, or Pilates Broke My Butt

So. Pilates.

Long.

Graceful.

Lean.

Flowy.

Yeah. Right.

Me? I'm built like a wind-up robot. Short, squat, square.

This is pilates class #3 for me and I still suck at it.

I have the sneaking suspicion I will suck at it until the end of time.

Does this stop me? Of course not. Never let it be said that I won't try. Basset hounds think they're greyhounds, right? I'm sort of like a pit bull attempting to be a... Hrm. Irish setter? Maybe a Visla. Something less torso heavy and muscly thighed.

Everyone in class lifts their legs like gazelles and my short muscled legs goes crick-crick-crick (yes, you can hear the gears and wind-up mechanisms inside, just like the picture) and then crack-crack-crack all the way down.

Gazelle.

Wind-up Robot.

*grins*

Also, I may never sit comfortably again. Still, you will see me next Wednesday, and you can hear the crackage and creakage of my inner workings for yourself.

Namaste, y'all.

S.

 

Class info:

Location: The Yoga Room

Class type: Pilates

Teacher: Michelle

Be kind to yourself

Class 2 of the 40 day challenge was the 9:15 Hatha 1 class with Zelinda.

At the beginning of class, Shawn and I were talking about the gentle class the night before, and how one of our new challenge classmates was being extremely hard on himself. Obviously an athlete, and a competitive man, he was struggling with a new form of exercise that he hadn't yet mastered, and he kept repeating, "I'll do better next time."

When Shawn and I first brought Larry to class with us, he reacted exactly the same way. He would go home frustrated and sore from trying to force his body to do something it didn't want to do.

Shawn and I talked a bit about how our classmate needs to be more gentle with himself, and realize that there is no bad or good, that he just needs to do what he can and honor his body.

I haven't been to a hatha class since I took my hiatus several months ago. Maybe 6 or 8 months. I've always struggled with parts of the hatha class, namely the plank and down dog combinations. We did a lot of those today. A lot. So much that my chest is sore, and my hamstrings hurt. We did a lot of wide-legged forward folds, too, which normally don't cause stress, but today made my ankle ache.

So, as we did about our fourth sun salutation series, and my hands slipped like they always do because I get sweaty, and my knees and ankles gave out and I had to flop to the floor like a landed fish, I started grumbling at myself. I was out of shape, I thought, and I needed to work on my arms and abs, and everyone else in the class was half my size, and ruh ruh ruh...

Then, as I dropped into child's pose to pant and rest after that last down dog, where everyone else was still kicking their legs in the air and waving them around, it occurred to me. Here I was telling someone else to be kind to their body, and that yoga wasn't competitive, but I wasn't following through on that.

So I proceeded to wallow in my child's pose for a bit, letting my tight muscles relax.

Okay, so I still muttered a little sigh of relief when Zelinda said we were moving into sitting instead of tall kneeling and lunges...