CrossFit, Yoga and Mud Runs - Oh MY!

It's been a while. My apologies. Sometimes my life just gets in my own damn way! But, I am here today to catch you up a bit.

After a week of a nasty cold and the following week being laid up with horrible muscle spasms in my back and a doctor's note (which pretty much excused me from life for a week), I was finally able to get back to CrossFit. In that two week time, I was having the worst withdrawals. I felt horrible, sluggish and was so inactive. Meanwhile I'm watching people from my box posting on Facebook about how they smashed their PRs, finally got that HSPU (Handstand Push Up) or shaved 9 minutes off their baseline. This is wonderful news! But I was sitting at home, so jealous that my goals were taking a backseat to health issues I had zero control over. Needless to say, it felt amazing to finally be back.

The bad news: My "welcome back" WOD was 150 push-ups. You read that right, ONE HUNDRED FIFTY PUSH-UPS!!! If you took a pause from your push-ups, you had to go take a run. This was a horrible WOD! I'm so proud I was able to finish, BUT my arms felt like they were going to fall off....for an entire week following!! This made my other WODs that week almost insufferable. It was rough.

So, what do you do the day after you (somehow) bust out 150 push-ups? Well, the sensible person rests and recovers. This crazy girl decides to try Hot Yoga. That's right, I took my noodle arms and met a friend for Hot Yoga; for the first time. Ever.

I know zero about yoga. A few simple poses and to remind myself to breathe is the extent of my yoga knowledge. I have an amazing best friend who is so mindful of her own body/mind/spirit and who is currently exploring yoga more in depth. (Some of you may know her as Wednesday Blogger: Zo.) Every time I hear her speak of yoga I feel enlightened! It has encouraged me to dip my toes in the water a bit. The best way for me to learn is to do. So, a friend of mine and I bought a Groupon for ten sessions of Hot Yoga. We went for the first time, the day after push-up-hell-WOD, and it was the most intense workout experience I have EVER endured. I have never sweat so much in my entire life. I mean, wring-your-towel-out-when-you're-done kind of sweat. It was amazing. To think of all the toxins I was able to rid my body of is incredible. The state I was able to take my mind to was ineffable!  It really was an enlightening experience and I can't wait to use my other nine sessions.

All of this hard work, besides benefiting my overall health and wellbeing, is in preparation for our next mud run. Hub and I, along with two fun friends, are going to tackle the Rugged Maniac at the end of November. My first mud run (Warrior Dash back in April) was so fun but one obstacle defeated me. I refuse to allow that to happen again! So, I'm going to be busting my butt during the month of November to prep for the Rugged Maniac.

That's my recent haps. What goals are you currently working towards? What new fun activities have you tried lately? Would you do them again?

See you at the finish line!

10 (Mostly Selfish) Reasons to Do Yoga

1.  Because breathing is suddenly easier. (And ladies, if you loosen up/remove the bra it's AWESOME.)

2.  Because it feels like drugs, but costs less and lasts longer.

3.  Have you seen how your ass looks in those pants? Yum!

4.  Because not everyone *is* a good dancer, but on the mat you feel like a good dancer.

5.  Because even chanting is an ab workout. (Try it. Aim for at least 5 minutes right now.)

6.  Because every twist and inversion is one step closer to the most incredible, cleansing bowel movement ever.  (You'll thank me/your yoga teacher later. Trust me.)

(This is a real image from a real product with a really great mission.  Check them out here.)

7. Because it is the most kindest and forgiving and eye-opening experience.  Every time you engage in yoga, on or off the mat, you are humbled and enriched.

8.  Because your favorite pose is your best friend and your most hated pose is your best teacher.

9.  Because post-yoga sex is incredibly delicious. All that oxygen to the cells and blood rushing healthily to the happy points... O!

10.  Because yoga is for everyone, but not all yoga is for every body. Find a style that suits you best. And don't be surprised if and when that changes, because yoga understands the dynamic and ever-changing body; cancer, pre-natal, arthritic, sedentary, nervous disordered, fit and healthy...it really is for everyone!

"Authenticity" or "The Retraction Post" or "Part 2: Goal Setting & Re-Assessing & Wide Open Spaces"

(This is a part two to a blog I wrote several weeks ago.  Visit it here if you haven't read it already.)


I came *this* close to signing up for Yoga Teacher Training….



And I did.



Here’s what happened:



I had focused too much on the teaching aspect.  That is, the stand in front of the room and present my truth so everyone can get to their truth and ultimately the Truth.  This isn’t necessarily bad, but my hard-wired fear-based loop-feed refused to quit and it spun me into circles of not being bendy enough, not knowing enough, not devouring enough, and worse yet…not being authentic enough.



My fear of not being authentic has driven much of my action since I was a small child.  It is the reason that I avoided calling myself a Poet until more recent years. ( I claim that title with honor and great privilege now.)



If you ask a person what it is (s)he does, (s)he will often reply with what (s)he does as a job/career.  I do not make a sustainable income as a Poet, Editor, Freelance Writer, nor a would-be Yogi (see how I still trip up over the language here?).  Because my job history averages 8-9 hour days administrating it in one form or another, I had long-held the similar habit of answering, “I’m a Legal Administrator" or  "I’m an Administrative Assistant.”   Never have I once answered, “I’m a multi-passionate human being simply be-ing.”



What would happen if I said that?  Would it make her/him uncomfortable? Wouldn’t their response be, “Well yes but what do you do for a living?”  Isn’t simply be-ing what we do for a living?  No one ever asks a cat what it does; it is simply a cat.



Money drives our culture and society; easily arguable, the world over.  There is no escaping the need for it as we’ve collectively agreed to impress on it a value that moves  and drives each of us in specific ways, good or bad.  But why should my be-ing root from my method of currency?

THAT feels inauthentic to me.



And having finally recognized where I feel most inauthentic, where I struggle feeling ok with my be-ing as equivocal to my income, is where I can finally interrupt that fear-based loop-feed with honesty and even brand new reason to fear, and say,” Fuck fear.”  Fuck it, because it won’t go away until you’ve seen it through to its end.  Fuck it (literally), because once you’ve intimately and sexually known someone isn’t it more relaxing and fun the next time around?  And Fuck it, because there will always be something uncomfortable and scary.



Again, my authenticity is in my be-ing, not in my do-ing because so long as I am be-ing with intention and conscientiousness, then I cannot help but do.



And that is why I signed up for Yoga Teacher Training through Big Bear Yoga.  And I am still in pursuit of working under Sri Siri Dharma Galliano, my Kundalini teacher.  And, if you remember from my last post, I can already feel the wide open spaces of the universe stretching themselves for me as I am stretching myself for Universe.  See, I am already be-ing, thus I am already do-ing.  I'll leave it to you to figure out what that “really” means.  If you want.

 

Pampering the Mind, Body and Spirit

My last day off was a TRUE day off! These types of days don't come around often. I literally did nothing (except a load of laundry and a load of dishes through the dishwasher). It was amazing! So, after a day of glorious nothingness, I decided to pamper myself a little (or a lot) before I went to bed. Here is what my "spa evening" consisted of:

* Relaxing Yoga
* Detox Bath
* Coconut Oil Hair Mask
* Exfoliating Facial
* Aroma Therapy

Jealous??? You should be. This would cost you like a billion dollars in a spa! Here's how the night when down.

6:15pm - 30 minute gentle yoga sesh with extra time at the end spent in Savasana (corpse pose). This is my favorite pose EVER! It's the easiest pose physically, you basically lay on the ground like a dead body, hence to name. But I think it's one of the tougher poses mentally. For me, anyway, it's hard to REALLY and HONESTLY clear my head. I've been able to do this more and more by practicing Savasana.

7:00pm - Mixed together my detox bath. The recipe for this was:

• 2 Cups Epsom Salts
• 1 Cup Baking Soda
• 2 Tablespoons Ground Ginger
• 25 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
• Lots of Hot Water

7:10pm - While my bath was filling, I applied my coconut oil hair mask. It is just as it sounds! Coconut oil, in a liquid state, slathered allllllll over my hair. I paid special attention to my ends. I dye my hair like crazy and have been since 8th grade (stop doing the math!!) so my hair just soaked up the oil. It was very thirsty. After it was applied everywhere and combed through, I wrapped my whole head with saran wrap. Don't laugh, I don't own a shower cap so I had to improvise. I let this sit in my hair throughout my whole bath.

7:20pm - My bath was ready! First, I lit some candles. Then I sloshed everything around, making sure it was nice and mixed. The recommendations for soaking was 40 minutes. This initially sounded like an eternity. Apparently the first 20 minutes is to detox and the second 20 minutes is for your body to really absorb all of the minerals. So, I turned Pandora on to a Meditation station and just sat. 40 minutes flew by! The Meditation station was amazing. I was able to return to my meditative (possibly vegetative) state. It was ineffable!  I've never been so clear minded. My only complaint was the very intrusive commercials on Pandora. That really killed the mood. Luckily I was able to slip back in quickly once they were over. 

The lavender oil was so yummy to my olfactory and relaxing to my soul. 

** Note to self - Next time,  pick something more appropriate to break out of meditation than the Marimba ring tone on your phone.

8:00pm - Times up! I slowly got out of my bath, hopped in the shower for a quick rinse off and washed the coconut oil out of my hair. 

8:10pm - Put on some super comfy clothes and did a little facial exfoliation. This one, you're going to love: baking soda and water. Yup, that's it! Nothing too fancy but it makes your skin feel so soft. You just use a tablespoon or two of baking soda and just enough water to make a thick paste. Lightly rub it on your face using circular motion and rinse off. So quick, so easy.

9:30pm - Sprayed my pillows with some Lemongrass and Cardamon pillow mist in preparation for a wonderful, peaceful sleep. I slept like a rock, FYI.

I wish this could be a nightly thing (yeah RIGHT) or even a weekly ritual, but alas, this isn't realistic in my world. But, I enjoy it immensely when I get to squeeze it in.

If you decide to try this detox bath, or any detox bath for that matter, please remember to drink LOTS of cold water. And if you start feeling too hot, let some cold water run into the bath. The last thing I want is any of you passing out.

Also, try not to get your hair in the water. The salts are very drying.

Now go pamper yourself!

A Kind of Cross-Training

Most of the time I'm a big Yoga nut, but that doesn't mean that I don't spend time moving my body in other ways.

I love love LOVE lifting weights.  I have a hard time mixing in the two (yoga and weight-lifting) because I always feel like I have to big or go home.  This might sound funny when speaking of yoga on the mat, but holding postures for longer breaths, flexing & tightening muscles and/or moving deeper into stretches beyond initial limits is actually really difficult and if I go really vigorous, it's taxing on the body to throw another workout on top of that. 

So I've been doing the every other day thing, rigorous yoga one day and a weight-lifting workout the next day.  And my weight-lifting workout typically consists of moving the whole body to create agni (fire), then focusing on legs or arms (my yoga practice is a little more evenly distributed, but even then I will push arms or legs harder at times).

I've actually fallen in love with the Oxygen Magazine sequence because it holds me accountable to my own ability to push through to the other side.

I also love that I'm moving toward failure using my own strength, not just pounding out a number of reps and sets.  Let's face it, our lives our too encumbered with numbers (weight lifted, calories, scales, etc.) so it helps release that OCD sensation of counting (or am I the only one that gets wiggy about having to count everything?!).

I've only been following this sequence for a couple of weeks now, but I can already feel the difference in my legs.  I also throw in kneeling donkey kicks too, or some Pilates-Ballet style moves that help me stretch my legs in a slower & more controlled movement.

For those of you who do several styles of working out/cross-training, how do you find balance?  Do you switch every other day? 

Tantrum Yoga

I have developed a habit of meditating every morning right after I wake up.  Most times, I roll out of bed first to pee, but immediately come back to the warmest spot in the house (my bed) and sit meditation for at least ten minutes. I observe what Buddhists refer to as monkey-mind, or what I like to call, the pendulum swing between monkeys sleeping  and monkeys going full-blown dookie-throwing ape-shit.   

Because I didn’t sit meditation on this particular morning, I just *knew* my day would just be brilliant. 

I sped through a bunch of errands in the morning as I anticipated two phone calls, which never came.  I had not set up phone dates with either of these people, but because of recent contact with them in which I solicited my services, I (or rather, Ego) naturally assumed that I would be tied up with getting those projects going.

Of course: no phone call came.

In my irritation at them not recognizing the opportunity that I am (Ego speaking loudly here), and not JUMPING to snatch me up, I hastily threw together a heavily processed lunch involving a high count of sugars/simple carbs.  I topped it off with a huge mug of coffee to wash it down.

I blew off my to-do list (no one was going to tell Ego what to do) and restlessly worked on various projects for a couple of hours with jittery A.D.D. strength when remembered I hadn’t worked out yet. 

Ugh. 

Treadmill? Weights? Ugh.  No--that all involved with counting reps, sets, and repeating moves over and over again.  I did NOT want to count. (Yes, I really didn’t lift weights/run for that reason.)

I grabbed my yoga mat and stared at it for a whole minute.

Ugh.

The last thing I wanted to do was to stop or slow down.  I had to keep going, keep moving.  For me, yoga right would be like driving a Porsche (Ego here again) at 220 mph into brick wall deceptively camoflauged to look like feathers.  How the hell was I going to move in slow motion and focus on my in-breath/out-breath? 

Naturally, my dogs sensed my mood, woke from their naps and followed my lead, but felt compelled to vocalize their ape-shit thoughts.  Here, let me translate their conversation : 

Mom! Mom! Juno won't play with me!

 

No, look at that hot bitch outside walking their human! Aye mami!  Let me get a sniff of that!

Oh look, half a ball.  Let’s toss it on Mom’s mat!

  

No, I’d rather copulate with myself ! Noisily!

Hey look! A bird!

I want to pee!

I want to talk!

Loud noises!

I want to talk AND pee!

(Believe it or not, I’m still a dog lover.) 
(I also want to apologize for how this font turns my exclamation points into lower case Ls.)  
I let my wily canines out, rolled out my mat,  and said, “I HATE YOU.”  I meant it.  My mat said nothing in return.

What followed was a violent barrage of quick asanas.  There was no hold-this-pose-for-three-breaths.  Instead, it was a furious dance of anger.  Plank was held by pissed-off balled fists instead of flattened palms.  Jumping my feet forward to move into Chair pose felt like a stomping into a person's chest.  When I moved into Warrior I, I fought the urge to raise only my middle fingers to the sky.

Somewhere in my yoga tantrum, I stopped thinking about my anger. I can’t say that I stopped feeling it, because the rate of my movement through my free-style sequence would say otherwise and I can still feel the agni (fire) burning through me while writing this.  But that violent, bitter edge is off.

I know I could have gone hard with weights or pushed it on the treadmill, but somehow my body knew that the fight was me-against-me (that is, the collective “I” against that one pushy sector, Ego) and that I needed to take it to the mat.

Do I feel like skipping on the playground and planting flowers right now? No.  But I certainly don’t feel like shoving kids off the jungle gym & ripping bulbs from the ground.  Tomorrow, I won't hastily throw a sugary lunch together and I certainly won’t forgo my morning centering practice.  But if I ever do, at least I know where I can get free 24-hour access to a boxing ring.