align, refine, and flow

If anyone is following this blog, you now realize I often modify plans to make them work for me :)

I am still enjoying the 7-Day Vinyasa Challenge presented by Yoga International; today, I practiced day three: Back to the Basics.

After a weekend of delicious (literal and figurative) social highlights which required an increased amount of shortened hip angle (aka sitting), yoga was greeted warmly by my aching and tired body.  'Align, refine, and flow' felt fantastic for mind and body. 

According to 'my plans', I was going to run 5 miles today. The heat and humidity is not favorable for my run/walking experience and I'm still quite tired, so I am considering a morning run.  This will mean going to bed earlier than anticipated, waking earlier than originally planned, and getting out for a run/walk prior to a long day - hopefully, this will also mean my hips and back will feel better about running after yoga, my mind and body will be rested from a good night's sleep, and the weather will be more favorable for my body.  I do need want to be careful not to put off a run for too long so as not to eliminate it from my plans all together.

Enough about that.

Yoga good. Yoga happy. Yoga bliss.  Namaste!

@CoachBurow #basics #yoga #vinyasa #AlignRefineFlow #delicioussocialhighlights 

Friends at the rodeo :)

Grandpa's Birthday Brunch River Cruise - all his kids, some grandkids.

pookey-wookey

Today, I'm feeling reeeeeally pookey.  In my neck of the woods, that means I'm feeling pretty down-in-the-dumps.  The last couple of days, I have been wracked with mostly self-inflicted anxiety.  Saturday I nearly ate my weight in snacks and meals.  Thankfully, Sunday, I got out for a really nice walk on the local bike trail - the crunchy snow added a little extra challenge, which was actually very appreciated.  Today, after several HOURS of computer work (bleh!) I took the dogs for a jog/walk.  That made me not only feel better about my physical activity but, of course, helped improve my mood for a while.  I also ate lots of veggies yesterday and today, which has an affect on both my perceptions of self and actual body feelings.  After the outing today, I made myself a really nice epsom salt-baking soda-bubble bath and read a fun book.  These are the things that are keeping me going today as I work very persistently in not having a pity-party for self.  Ahhhh!!  Good balances the not so fun.  Sometimes, a day is just not so spectacular.  Still gotta take care of self :-)  Move the body, consume healthful nutrients, and rest.  Do your best. :-)

I'll bet you've missed me :-)

Where have I been the last couple of days?  I'll give you two guesses, and the first one doesn't count. 


SLEEEEEPPPINNNNNG!   ^-^  zzZzZzZzzzZZzz


Morning took over my life, again.  We can either consider this "fighting" or sneakily dub this my "rest" time.  Either way, I was in bed!  Tuesday night, I had somewhat pre-emptively decided that if I felt too tired to stay awake Wednesday morning, I would allow myself to sleep in.  That happened!  Haha!  Thursday morning, however, I had anticipated at least waking up well-rested and getting out to walk my dog or something.  Uh.  I woke up, struuuuggggglled to keep eyes open and body vertical.  Back to bed.  Whoops.  I'm relatively certain that my theory positing that my consumptive indulgence in Leonardos delicious slice of florentine pizza, greek salad, rolls + garlic butter, annnnnd Red Mango on Wednesday night had a LOT to do with how cruddy I felt Thursday morning!  REMEMBER THAT FOR NEXT TIME *note to self*.  As far as exercise, "it's okay," I tell myself, "I'll participate in Zumba later, right?"  Ideally, yes.  Welllllll - I was asked to help with the registration process and then I was too lazy to join when it was half done.  Bah! 

This morning, however, was a success!  Got to the gym by 6:10, elliptical warmup (10 min), lower body/leg weight lifting (20 min), yoga+stretching (20 min), followed by walking the dog (15 min) when I returned home :-)  Yay.  Muuuch better.  3 early mornings at the gym in one week is pretty good, right?  YAHOOOO!  And a couple of nice doggy walks (yes, more and/or longer walks would benefit me and be really good for my dog who is a *golden retriever unfortunate enough to live in a *carpeted *apartment in central *Florida (four components that add up to discomfort for the lovely pooch).

I did get a few things done (ie. tasks, errands, etc) before I fell back asleep for a hardcore nap prior to work this afternoon.  So, I say, its a good day :) 

Gator Soccer (Rowdy Reptiles!) and Gator Volleyball tonight! and my first Gator Football game tomorrow!  >>wish me luck, thats a LOT of people to have undiagnosed social anxiety around, hahaha!<<  At least I'll be with my awesome roomy and a good friend :)

Happy Labor Day Weekend!  Expect at least 1-2 posts, as I may comment on the weekend games, as well as any adventures that TK and I have in the works. . .muahahahaha! 

MOVE YOUR BODY TODAY!  Embrace opportunities to stand, stretch, walk, bike, whatever!  Ask a friend to join or push back from your computer and do a few stretches! 

YO! GA!

DOWN, Dog!

OH, sometimes I'm so silly. :-)

The hips have been mighty sore from running - probably because of the pavement.  I've been good to make sure to have a day of non-running between days of the run/walks to rest and to "cross train"/remember to work other muscles!  Today, 30 minutes of yogic stretching was perrrrrrrfect after busying myself with household cleaning projects: bathroom, kitchen, and laundry.  I had already "warmed up" to a sweat by doing those seemingly simple house chores, so I turned on my netflix (The Tudors - season 2!) and laid out my yoga mat.  BOY oh BOY did it feel good to stretch!  Last night, I took ibuprofen to relieve the pain so that I could sleep.  After good muscle work, I have considerably less pain, now!  Yay!  I'm not often a proponent of NSAIDS or other pain medications; I would much prefer to advise stretching.  However, some evenings, I just don't feel as though I have the energy to work through 10-20 minutes of stretching.  Today's exercise proved that I ought to, though :) 

Speaking of sleep, I have slept wonderfully the last two nights - how fantastic and rare it is to be able to say such a thing!  I have been awake and full of energy for two whole days!  I sure hope that this continues.  I am a strong supporter of the encouragement and education on the importance of both restful sleep and adequate rest - for both the body and the mind.  When I am tired, I know that my outlook on everything, from small tasks to life in general, is less than enthusiastic, and it takes great will to overcome the power of the mind.  When I am well-rested in both mind and body, I am not only able to execute tasks physically with much less pain and/or awareness of the amount of energy the duty make take (i.e. cleaning the bathroom or simply taking the dog for a walk), but my mind is of much greater aptitude to enjoy even less-than-desirable chores (i.e. scrubbing the toilet)...in other words, I am better able to consider the benefit of perhaps the cleanliness after the chore or the physical activity I endure whilst taking the trash out to the dumpster.

The mind is so powerful.  Beware not only what you allow in but how you care for it!  Rest!