Dude Yoga

Last night I went to YinYang Yoga and found something shocking -  I was the only girl in the class.  And there were four - four! - guys there.  Have you been to yoga class before?  Its chicks, man.  Maybe a guy thrown in for good measure, but mostly girls.  The fact that I was the only girl was a complete oddity.  Which lead me to wonder, why don't more guys take yoga classes?

Kim and I discussed this rare occurrence and she broke down the group for me:  2 dudes there for high blood pressure, 1 dude there for work related stress and 1 dude there because he is an athlete. And that breakdown makes sense - yoga is good for so many different reasons: agility, strength, flexibility, clarity and stress-reduction, to name just a few.  So why are guys and yoga (at least in the our region) such an rare breed?

I suppose that some guys may think that stretching is a girl thing.   Also, there is a lack of competitiveness that may deter some men.  Bill says it doesn't build strength for his particular purpose or needs...that it doesn't translate into his (read: 'boy') activities.

I am here to say this -

If you are an athlete, yoga will help your sport.  It will loosen your hips and add flexibility to your shoulders.  It will build your muscles and strengthen your core.  It will teach you mental toughness in a way you haven't learned it before.

If you have a stressful job, it will teach you how to manage stress.  It will teach you how to move beyond the everyday obstacles that clutter your time.  It will make you more focused and able to work with a calm mind.

If you have low self-esteem, it will teach you not to judge yourself by reflecting on others.  It will teach you to compete within yourself and to grow without judgment.  It will show you that you are strong where you thought you were weak.

Yoga is many things...but it is not just a 'chick' thing.  Yoga is for dudes too.


***Please note, an OpenSky Store launch post is coming.  I am having technical difficulties...namely that I am on vacation and have been at the beach instead of watching tutorials on how to set it up.  Patience my blog friends - it is coming. ***

Run, Camp, Hike, Breathe

Run:  Saturday morning I was up bright and early  to fit in a 5.7 mile run with my sister-in-law Meri.  We have been doing this same run the last few weekends and I think its fair to say that we have both been struggling with it.  The weather has been hot and humid, but more so than that, we just have not been getting in enough weekday miles.  This run, as we started out, we were both a little chilly which is a GREAT way to start a summer run.  We had also both made a conscious decision to fit in more weekday miles.  The result?  A great Saturday morning run.  I think that for the first time in awhile the two of us felt more in tune with our running. A little effort goes a long way!

Camp:  Soon thereafter, Bill and I left to go camping in New Hampshire.  Despite me forgetting to pack a few important things...like, oh, the foam mattress or second sleeping bag...we managed to have a great camp out complete with a beautiful fire:

We had a typically camp-out dinner of hot dogs on sticks, crackers and hummus and grapes.  There are times when hot dogs are appropriate - camping is one of them!

Hike:  We slept awful - basically directly on the ground with roots under us.  Yuck.  But all that uncomfortableness helped us to get up early and we were on the road to the mountain a little before 6:00am and on the trail by 6:45!!  

                                      

Now here is the thing about hiking.  Bill is great at hiking.  Me?  Not so much.  We did Mount Washington last year and it nearly killed me ... I vowed to never go to the top of that mountain again.  Because here is the thing about mountains - they have 2 distinct areas:  The climb to the summit cone and the climb up the summit cone to the tippity top.  I do great up until the summit cone...the summit cone kills me.  It is a steep climb up what is basically a pile of rocks.  I suck at climbing up those rocks.  Its true that, physically, I am tired by that point -  2 hours of vertical climbing is no walk in the park.  But mentally, when I look up and all I see is a quarter mile of rocks and what appears to be the top of the mountain some what out of my view, I just shut down.  I start to believe that I am never going to make it.  On Mount Washington, the summit cone beat me.  I sat down and cried and had a totally break down.  Bill was good about it and I eventually hauled my butt up that mountain.  But I was defeated and it was a bad scene.  Which explains why this year we did Mt. Lafayette...a much smaller, more manageable mountain.  But the summit cone?  It almost beat me again.  I could feel myself shutting down, I could feel the tears coming on and the panic set in.  Bill asked if I needed a break and I admitted I did.  I stopped for a minute and drank some water.  Then I gave myself a stern mental talking to.  It was just a climb.  One foot in front of the other.  Thats it.  All I had to do was get out of that negative place in my head...and I did.  I got up that stupid pile of rocks and I was together enough mentally at the top to actually enjoy it!

(Oh hiking clothes, how unflattering you are)

Breathe:  We came directly home after the hike and this morning I was off to Awakening Yoga at Revelation...which is exactly what my tight hiking muscles needed.  Thankfully there did not appear to be power yoga after, so my legs got a break.  I can already feel them stiffening up again and I am looking forward to YinYang Yoga tonight!

Shocker

I am a stress eater. More precisely, I am a stress carbohydrate eater. When my stress level goes up I love me some pizza, pasta, bread and cookies. The past week or two have been particularly stressful and have included the spectacular combination of: 1) no weight lifting; 2) limited yoga on a messed up wrist; 3) more coffee than water; 4) lots-o-wine; and 5) cake, pizza, cookies, couscous, bread.


You can imagine my shock when I stepped on the scale this morning and discovered that I was down 4 pounds! I am pretty sure it must be 4 pounds of muscle from the lack of lifting, but still, there is nothing like a lower number on the scale to start your day out right…even if we know that that number doesn’t really mean anything.


So now, with the stress behind me and … ready? … VACATION in front of me, I am pumped to make the most of that 4 pound loss. This is actually the first time that I have taken vacation time from work and not actually gone away anywhere. Initially we had planned to go away, but lack of time and lack of money made that plan unrealistic. And now I am super excited for a (mostly) stay at home exercise filled vacation. The plan:


Saturday: Distance run with friends followed by and easy afternoon to get ready for Sunday.

Sunday: Bill and I are going to hike a very little mountain. Last year we hiked Mount Washington and it almost killed me, so this year I have requested a little mountain instead. Details to follow.

Monday: Super Yoga Monday! I plan on taking both Awakening Yoga and Power Yoga on Monday morning, hanging out with my Mom by the pool that afternoon, and taking YinYang Gentle Yoga that night. This should make up the last WEEK I have missed of yoga.

Tuesday: BEACH! For the first time this year. And for the second time in two years. I am way excited for this. Hopefully the day will end with another round of Gentle Yoga.

Wednesday: I actually have no plans for this day – which is great. Hopefully it features a run at some point and Power Yoga at night.

Then vacation is over and its back to the grindstone, but boy am I looking forward to a few days off. I’ll keep you all updated – blog posting should be back to its regular schedule next week. Stay Healthy!

I Need Some Ganesh Up In Here

That funky dude? That’s Ganesh. We’ll get to him.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a run. I was horrified when I realized I had forgotten my ipod at home and thus had no way of blocking out my thoughts on my run…and I have been having A LOT of thoughts lately. So many that I cannot stand to be in my head - and that is with all the yoga and mind calming exercises. I left for the run regardless and set out on my normal route – the loop that can be 3.5 miles with multiple hills and 4 miles with only one hill. At the top of the first hill, instead of continuing straight, which leads me to the normal routes, I took a left. I took the left with the intent of turning back. I was already walking by the time I reached the top of the hill and hating my hamstrings and my head, in no particular order.

I started running again at some point and was delighted to see that I had picked a cracked, root-lifted, falling apart sidewalk to run on. I am not being sarcastic – when I don’t have my head in the run, I like to be distracted by difficult terrain – whether that be sidewalks filled with people, roads with tons of cars and no sidewalks or crappy terrain - it keeps me entertained and makes the miles go by faster.

I chose an obstacle ridden path. On purpose. For fun. Obstacles are not always a bad thing. They force us to re-negotiate our path, to try harder or to change course completely. Outside of running, I have come up against some serious obstacles in my life recently. All of which I have created myself. These obstacles are the result of deliberate choices I have made which may have been right at the time but which now are obstacles waiting to be conquered…or not.

After my run yesterday I was reading this article about Ganesh. He is the bringer or taker of obstacles. I need Ganesh badly – the taker of obstacles Ganesh, preferably. Though I know that after these current obstacles are conquered or taken away, more will come to be in their place. That is totally okay – obstacles force us to re-evaluate, to make decisions and to grow. I hope Ganesh touches your lives as well, to help you grow where stagnant by putting obstacles in your way and by taking away those obstacles that are no longer necessary.

A Warning (and a weekend)

I just wanted to give you all fair warning that there is a really good chance that Run, Lift, Chant, Breathe will kind of suck this week.  I am going to attempt to post most days, but the week is shaping up to be an 'into work at the crack of dawn, stay till well past dinner' kind of week.  Fingers crossed that that is not the case, as it will mean limited yoga as well as blogging.

This weekend I managed to pack in more activities than I actually thought possible.  Friday night was a quiet night with Bill and I was in bed pretty early, followed by a 5.7 mile, 8:00am run with my sister-in-law Meri.  The run was great due to mild temps, low humidity, good company and walk breaks.  I can feel my legs are getting back into the mileage, which is great.  Its always tough coming back to running after time off.

After our run, I had a breakfast of Muesli and soy milk, hit the shower and headed into work.  Boo.  I only worked for a few hours though, at which time Meri and my nieces, as well as a few friends, met me at the office and we headed over to Indie Arts Fest!  It felt fantastic to hang out, have a few drinks, listen to music and look at art without feeling like I had to rush around.  Generally I find my weekends feel very rushed and it was nice to just chill for a few hours.  I am actually hoping to post some pictures of this event later this week...stay tuned.

Sunday morning I was up and headed to 9am Power Yoga at Revelation.  Oy the wrist.  I ended up getting a brace for it to wear on Saturday and by Sunday it managed to feel worse.  Awesome.  I did a great job of staying off it in yoga though and at the end of class Kim put a bunch of Tiger Balm on it...which seemed to help a lot.  I've actually been Tiger Balming every 3 hours or so since and, though I smell kind of funny, the wrist is definitely feeling better!  I've decided to take a break this week from weight lifting, focus on healing the wrist and upping my running miles.  Adaptability my friends.

Sunday afternoon, still staying mostly off my wrist, I headed to my friend Keli's house (stopping by my Mom's first to say hi and get some fresh eggs from her chickens!) to show her some yoga postures.  I was pretty excited about this - I love sharing yoga with anyone who asks.  We had a great time and I am super psyched that she may be attending some gentle yoga classes with me.  Yay Keli!