Applying What I Learned

Yesterday was one of those days - when the crumbs left on the kitchen counter are more than a mere annoyance and the smallest thing is interpreted as a personal attack. From the moment I woke up yesterday morning until right around 6pm, it was just one thing after another. I would finally start to feel better about one thing and then a whole new problem would arise.

I was battling my self worth all day. It sucked.

But I had agreed to sub, not one, but two classes yesterday, so I knew I had to buck up, breathe through it, and get these people the amazing yoga classes they paid for.

It took some work, but I breathed through it, shook it off and when it was time to teach my first class at 4, I felt ready.
Class did not go perfectly. It was my first time teaching Power Yoga - a 90 minute class as opposed to the 60 minute classes I usually teach - and though I tried not to let it show (I didn't want my students to feel like they were being taught by a novice), I definitely had some rocky points. At times I felt like I was floundering, fumbling and flustered. Though I like to think I put on a good face, it was rough, and I left class wondering why I was a yoga teacher. I was crushed. My confidence was just not there.
Looking back, I knew what I could have done differently to make it a better class, but all I could do was accept it and move forward.

Lucky for me, I had another chance. My second class of the day could go one of two ways, 1) a repeat of my first class that day - no bueno, or 2) I could take what I learned, apply it to my second class, and give these people the kind of class I wish I'd taught earlier that afternoon.

I had been under so much (self induced) stress, I knew I needed two things - food... and yoga. I spent the next hour thinking about the class I wanted to take - the stretching and poses I wished I had time to give to myself - and when 745 rolled around, the words just flowed out of me without a second thought. I was confident, I didn't second guess myself, and I was happy to be a yoga teacher.

The candle light and my largest class to date certainly didn't hurt.

Livermore Wine Country Festival 2013

There's been a lot of travel and business going on around these parts, and it's going to continue for a little while. Memorial Day weekend is looking to be my first "free" weekend since before tax day - and even then we're planning to clean out the garage and bbq with my family.

My honey has been missing his BFF. So much so that after we planned this trip up North to see them, a countdown started and shouting in all caps would show up on our facebook feeds.

"42 DAYS!!!"

There's an intense hetero man-love happening there.

So, I planned it. You know how I was on my crazy vacation planning kick? I was planning outings all stacked on top of one another. I needed to get me out of town.

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 18

Sunday we were recovering from our minibreak, so I did not have a chance to work out. To be perfectly frank, I had enough time, but I really wasn't feeling well because of all the fatty foods and booze consumed over there. Womp womp. Real life.

Monday I picked it back up with P90X. I have officially completed week one - even though its taken me about two weeks. Monday night was Kenpo X. It was also the day T and I sat down and put together our slightly ridiculous fitness plan.

Tuesday morning I got up early and did P90X Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X. I'm calling it Day 8. I felt great about it in the morning, but then my plans to power through "blow the doors off the gym Tuesday" were foiled when I was hit by a wave of exhaustion that afternoon, which quickly escalated into a low-grade migraine and had me couch-bound and nauseous for the better part of the evening.

Wednesday I drove out to the Sh'Oaks after work for Crossfit. It was my second time, but since the first time had been 2 weeks earlier, everyone kept saying it was my first time. Oh well. We did a lot of shoulder work that night, which was kinda rough since my shoulders and back were still pretty tired and sore from the day before, but I powered through it - got some corrections on my form and learned a few new things. :)

Thursday morning was Plyometrics. I got up early again. Hooray! As of Wednesday I'm officially doing to techlovedesign 30 day challenge. My challenge for myself is to get up an hour earlier every day to exercise. So far, so good. :) That night I taught my class, which I am feeling more confident about every week. :)

Friday morning I did Yoga X. It was supposed to be shoulders and arms, but my shoulders were still pretty tired from Wednesday. That night hopped on a plane and flew out of town to spend the weekend with T's BFF and his family.

Saturday I thought I might be able to get up early and do a set of 55s, but that did not happen. We got in so late on Friday night that we barely made it up for our friends' 7 year old's little league game that morning.

How was your week?

Some Links & Some Stuff; 2

I'm getting my hairs cut todaaaaaay! Unrelated to anything except that I was making goofy faces at my phone earlier this week.

This girl is so wonderful and so talented, and I am so so happy for her success, but let's be real; when someone you went to college with shows up on your favorite shows, it takes away some of the illusion. *name drop* I live in LA and I know famous people and that makes me cool... no, not really... at all. 

This is Tracee. She is one of my teachers. I could listen to her talk for hours on end. She has free online meditations and videos that you should use.

This is such an amazingly helpful article - 14 different types of yoga explained.

Yoga gurus buying twitter followers? This makes me the sad.

These cookies. That's all.

In case you need a little nudge today.

Lots of red head humor happening in my neck of the woods lately. Can't believe I hadn't seen this before.

That's all for now, my friends. Have a fantastical weekend!

Fitness Adventure

Hubs and I came back from our glorious weekend away feeling... slightly less than awesome. We ate a total of zero healthy things while on vacation, consumed far too many high calorie alcoholic beverages, and the only exercise we got was from walking back and forth across the (small) city and 40 minutes of kayaking.

On Monday, we got to talking - we feel gross, how are we going to combat this?

The first and most obvious answer is to be more careful on vacation. WATCH WHAT YOU'RE PUTTING IN YOUR BODY!!!

But the next answer is to work hard to feel better now that the damage is done. So we're setting fitness goals... with a twist.

We're setting them for each other. It makes them seem a little ridiculous and unachieveable. We were majorly raising our eyebrows at each other during this conversation, as if to say "seriously??? I don't think you know what you're asking me to do here."