image courtesy of we ❤ it.
Wow, it’s been a while since we’ve had one of these posts! But I am ready to cross #4 off of my 30 Before 30 List. I wanted to wait until I’d attended at least a month’s worth of classes to cross this one off, and since Monday evenings on my calender now read YOGA, I feel like I can call this one accomplished.
This week I took my eighth yoga class since I joined my new gym, and everything I remember loving about yoga nine years ago is coming back to me. All the stress on the body, the stretching outside my comfort zone, the holding position that makes me want to scream at the instructor, and the five minutes at the end to stretch out, relax, reward your body for the work it’s done, and quiet the mind that makes it all worthwhile. I was lucky to join the gym at a time where there was an additional class scheduled for Saturdays in addition to their usual Monday class, so I got in twice the yoga I would have on any other month. I’ve enjoyed many of the group classes, but the yoga class in particular feels like I’m setting aside quality time for myself. I feel centered, strong, and awesome when I finish a class, and have already seen a marked difference in how my body performs the moves.
Our instructor is awesome; she is great at offering traditional moves with several degrees of difficulty, so beginners and yogis alike can feel challenged by the class. We start out simple, and always finish with a ‘challenge pose’ before moving into final relaxation. I don’t know what yoga discipline I’m taking, but I do know that our instructor moves us through different poses slowly at first, than gaining momentum to keep our heart rate elevated and warm the body. I often sweat a lot in class (and this is NOT hot yoga) from the work we do, so I know it’s a far cry from some of the more breathing and meditation-focused yoga classes I’ve taken in the past. In short, it’s my kind of yoga.
Some things that are different from previous yoga experiences:
- I’m several cup sizes larger, which really gets in the way. It’s annoying.
- I feel like I understand what I’m doing for the first time, and can intentionally engage muscles in my body to get a full workout experience.
- I’m learning to focus on breathing and quieting the mind as well as keeping my full body engaged, so I feel like I’m finally tapping into the whole mind-body connection yoga can bring.
- Since I’m participating in other sports as well as yoga for the first time, I definitely see a dramatic improvement in how my body performs because of the cross training. And I’m loving it.
So #4 is done. I’m loving everything about this class, no matter how much I’d swear to the contrary when I’m trying to hold a strong warrior pose.
Have you crossed anything off of your goal list lately? Tell me about it!
Tags: 30 Before 30, Bucket List, Exercise, Goals, Life List, Meeting Goals, Physical exercise, Teachers and Centers, Working out, Yoga
Bigger in Real Life 
In the Words of Seth and Amy, REALLY?!?
28 MarYa’ll know I don’t have network television. We watch everything online. Which means we see a few commercials over and over and over again. I keep seeing this one every time I turn on Up All Night or Ru Paul’s Drag Race, and I just have to say, in the words of Seth and Amy, REALLY?!?
Really??? I’m a working woman. I have a full-time career, a home to keep running, a marriage whose health and happiness requires intentional upkeep, family and friends to make time for, a full workout schedule to maintain, not to mention all the volunteer work and relationships with my high school kids that I care about keeping up with. God help me when I have kids. But, really, now I’m being told by the host of Biggest Loser over and over again that I need to make time to make sure my pets get enough exercise? Um, REALLY?!? I know this commercial is about cats and I have dogs, but I see this commercial and all I hear is ‘here’s one more thing you need to be making time for and feeling guilty about if you’re not.’
Really, I love my dogs, I take care of my dogs. I’d go so far as to say they’re pretty spoiled, especially since both were severely neglected rescues before we got them. I volunteer my time at that rescue, and am all about pets being treated very well. This commercial seriously encourages scheduling daily quality time for pets, as if pet obesity were as big problem deserving of public concern as, oh, I don’t know, getting your pet fixed so we don’t have so many unwanted pets being euthanized in shelters. As if people aren’t already so concerned with their pets that pets are a $41 billion a year industry. REALLY?!? Cats get enough exercise. They’re cats. My indoor dogs get (mostly) daily walks and regularly tear around my house after the toys A and I throw for them. I spend time with them and play because it brings me joy; if someone owns a pet and doesn’t feel that way, why are they pet owners? As if a 30 second commercial is going to stop the neglect if someone doesn’t love their pet enough to play with them? Save the public service commercials for things that really matter, like spending wisely to end child slavery, combating kids being used as war pawns, or telling bullied kids that it gets better.
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Tags: Biggest Loser, Cultural Commentary, Dog, Pet, Pets, REALLY?!?, television, Television advertisement