327: and i'm back

life caught up with me recently and while i have been practicing, i haven't been posting. the best practices i've had recently have been with my daughter, V. she is nearly 6 and approaches yoga very energetically. i recently gave my girls a new yoga deck which has game ideas and partner poses as well as traditional poses. one sunday, they played and play with the cards for hours.

then, while my little one napped, V and i laid out a sequence and she went through the whole practice with me.

after we finished our little practice, V showed off her fierce dragon:

now, we're going to peanut yoga with a local instructor on sundays. V loves it. we also learned peaceful gorilla at last week's class which has come in handy as my girls have gotten over excited lately. we just do peaceful gorilla for a couple breaths and start again. parenting with yoga isn't too bad.

peaceful gorilla, credit des moines parent

353 + 352: meditation and a surprisingly brief practice

353: friday night, date night. ultimately, i missed my window to practice and chose to meditate before bed. the cool thing is that i slept really well. i have a Fitbit Flex now and it's actually kind of cool to monitor when i mediate before sleep and when i don't. last night, i slept 8 hours, 25 minutes. i was up once and restless 3 times. more typically for me is being up at least once and restless between 4-16 times.

352: 20 minutes, yoga journal home practice

today got all out of order. or not really, but it felt rushed somehow. V went to dance. we came home. it was NICE out!!! we played outside. we went for a walk. N wouldn't settle down for a nap. i couldn't decide if i had 20 minutes or the hour i wished for.

ultimately, i went with a 20 minute practice from a magazine i found on the desk. i thought i would make up my own, but couldn't focus. i have found that having a guide when you're just not feeling like being creative can make or break my practice.

today, i felt like i could have practice for an hour, but with 2 kids and a husband intent on running for an hour on the first warm day of the year i made my choices. not the most satisfying practice, but better than no practice today.

358: sunday morning

30 minutes: vinyasa flow

i had high hopes of practicing for an hour this morning, but two active children, snow falling from the sky and blueberry pancakes shortened my window.

i browsed through the 30 minute practices on yogaglo and found one that looked promising. i actually really liked it. the instructor eased me into sun salutations and we did some good standing and seated poses before finishing up seated. perfect for me.

you can find them here

then, my kids fell into the room like a tornado. we pulled out the kids yoga deck and they did a couple more poses with me before i finally rolled up my mat.

i love practicing with my girls. it was a nice way to round out the morning.

363: meditation

i didn't necessarily plan to pull the meditation card out of my pocket quite so soon into my 365 days of yoga, but i live in the real world.

i've been battling a cold since friday and finally, last night, M succumbed to the awfulness that is being sick. where my cold stayed mostly in my head, he has the whole business: achy body, totally worn out and a stuffy nose to top it off.

i started my day with every intention of going to the studio tonight for a class with one of my favorite instructors. i took my clothes and mat with me all the way to cleveland and back again in hopes of being able to practice tonight. instead, i picked up N, cooked dinner and managed a double bedtime while M rested on the sofa. (it's not like i haven't spent my fair share of time there, too.)

then, i reached a crossroads. i could practice yoga or i could take a shower. and frankly, taking a shower totally won.

i'm going to finish up my little things around the house and take 20 whole minutes of quiet time to myself before i head up to bed. at this time of night, it seems the most appropriate choice. my intention is to be quiet.

it may not seem like much, but with the whirlwind that is my life sometimes, being quiet is a worthy goal.

quietly,
-s-

364: for the ladies

30 minutes: yoga for ladies

i found a 30 minute class on yogaglo designed just for women. she focused on reminding us that we're all sisters and being a warrior is not about fighting, but about listening and uniting.

it was a level 2 class and i couldn't actually do all the poses. i have a hard time straightening my legs and revolving. revolved half moon just isn't in my wheelhouse at the moment.

however, it was a really nice flow and a nice way to start my day. i'm not sleepy and feel centered and ready to begin the day. the girls are still asleep and i'm going to wake them up in a couple minutes. but, i'm hopeful we'll have a pleasant morning with minimal fussing. i'll bring calm back to them.

T25 - day 1

this morning, we started the T25 program i mentioned last week. *and* M did it with me.

to be fair, we didn't get off to a great start. i hit snooze and then V had a bad dream and we finally got started about 20 minutes after we planned. oh well.

the first workout is cardio. M is an avid runner. me, not so much. as we did the workout, he's jumping and running in place all fast and i'm barely able to figure out what we're supposed to be doing before we change the motions. it's like zumba, but less dancing.

i kind of felt like an idiot, but it's not my usual style of exercise. M on the other hand really was able to do all the running, jumping and knees-up-in-the-air things. i'm hoping i'll get better at it once i'm more familiar.

on the little calendar that tells you which workout to do on which day, you can check a box that says, "nailed it" or "barely made it". even though i wasn't dying at the end, i felt like i had to check barely made it since i fumbled around and modified just about everything.

here we go...

a fun/not so fun 5k

yesterday, i walked the step up for stephanie 5k with a team of 8 people. M ran and took 5th place and the rest of our team were colleagues and/or kids who wanted to share the experience. overall it was really fun (with some rough patches).

our team

V convinced me that she wanted to run the whole way. wanting to encourage her excitement and in the spirit of positive thinking, i agreed. she totally had a ball! except she totally pooped out less than a mile into the walk. (at this point, i should note that this is the first 5k that i've ever ever run. ever. primarily to keep up with my child and not lose her in the crowd of thousands.)

when V expressed her absolute need to ride in the stroller, i stepped off to the side fulling intending to pull N into the carrier, strap her onto my back and keep going.

nope.

i ended up with two complete strangers helping me and my co-workers realizing i had stepped off coming back to help. i needed it. we made it about another mile before N's crying made me feel so bad for the other racers that i stopped again to try to put her in the carrier in front of me.

worse.

now she cried, no wailed, like i was pinching her. for the record, i was not. "walk! walk, mommy!"

at this point, one co-worker is pushing another co-worker's stroller, who is is pushing V in our stroller and i am walking a two year old in a 5k race. i am embarrassed at the poor form. at this point, M finds us, relieves us of N and we finish the last mile and a half very pleasantly ultimately finishing in an hour. which, frankly with all the stopping, starting, running, chasing and tears seems like quite a victory.

N rounded out the morning with a visit to a giant cow. sometimes, my life seems a little surreal.

yoga tuesday: relaxing the shoulders

V, my older daughter, at times, struggles to figure out ways to calm herself down in the face of whatever it is (usually not getting what she wants). each evening, we take deep breaths together and recently we started connecting motion with our breath. we take 5 deep breaths in and 5 deep breaths out. we breath in when our arms go up and out as our arms come back to our sides. for the last one, we bring our hands to pray position before hopping into bed for books.

this is great for evening, but i wondered if the yoga instructor for the class i attended tonight had any suggestions. she has a little girl who will be 3 in a couple of months. she was very thoughtful with me and suggested doing many things that we already do- use my breath as a model, use the abc yoga deck, intersperse activity with periods of rest. she also suggested bringing her to family yoga. it might be a good way to give her more tools to put in her toolbox for when she's on her own. having the muscle memory could really help.

the only trouble is that it's offered once a month. good luck remembering when that is...

after our chat, class got started and we mainly focused on moving our shoulders away from our ears. each pose and each series of motions had a component of drawing away and back with the intention of relaxing instead of gripping or forcing.

somewhere in the middle, we did a series over and over, each of us following our own breath, moving between warrior 2, reverse warrior, triangle, side angle and back to warrior 2. it was kind of amazing. more like dancing than yoga.

i'm going to try it with V one of these days. i think she'll really like the rhythm of the flow.

5 day detox: done and done

i finally succeeded at one of my life-altering plans. and for the positive! i am 5 days free of junk, all kinds of junk, and i'm pretty proud of myself.

i actually didn't feel so great most of today. i don't think i drank enough water and i'm pretty sure i didn't eat enough food. ultimately, this left me feeling cranky and with a low-level headache for most of the day.

we picked up lots of yummy vegetables at the farmer's market this morning as well as some homemade jam and local honey to help shift us away from extras in food. tonight, i cooked a roasted vegetable pasta bake from 100 Days of Real Food which i liked, but the kids wouldn't touch. V ate the pasta, but i forgot N hates tomatoes so that didn't work out too well.

i'm hopeful this manageable section of change has been enough to catapult me into a more healthful lifestyle. it's like setting sail into a new method of cooking and eating.

bon voyage!

ps - i'm really looking forward to a cup of coffee tomorrow morning, though. that is going to taste excellent.

5 day detox: part 2

today, i feel better than yesterday. let's just start with that.

i rounded out my first detox day with a pretty excellent smoothie. i found the recipe here and modified it slightly to meet the ingredients we had on hand. an added bonus to this smoothie is that the kids not only helped make it, but loved it as well.

Mango Coconut Water Smoothie

combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. makes about 2 servings.

• 2 cups mango chunks (i used frozen, but fresh i have to imagine is better)
• handful of frozen raspberries
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 cups unsweetened coconut water
• pinch of cayenne pepper

then, i focused on fruits and vegetables primarily today, but i had to add in some protein or i wasn't going to make it. cleansing away from one's normal routine may be one thing, but i still have to work, care for my kids and make lunches at night. i need a little something.

for day 2, breakfast included cooked rolled oats with berries, walnuts and some local honey. raw carrots and cucumbers, a mix of walnuts and pecans, 2 hard boiled eggs and a handful of grapes were spaced out over the day with a big green salad in the middle. for the salad, i dressed it with lemon and a little oil. for dinner we ate whole grain soba noodles with lean pork, raw vegetables and sauce from only whole ingredients. 

like i said at the beginning, i feel better today. the only thing i wish i'd manage to add into my day is some physical activity. i should have gotten up to practice yoga this morning, but i thought i might not have the energy after not eating much for a day. 

i must admit, i felt a little worried undertaking a 5 day commitment like this, but i'm pretty pleased with how its going. i mean, i'm not glowing or anything, but the dark circles looked less noticeable under my eyes this morning. 

i'll call that progress.

jumpstart with detox plan

it turns out, quitting smoking and drinking are difficult. so, i'm going to re-start my plan by diving into a 5 day detox program.

now, to be clear, i'm not talking about a formal order-my-product, pay-for-my-plan kind of program. i simply realized that by trying to eliminate habits that occur as part of my normal routine and keeping the same normal routing is not working for me.

starting tomorrow, i'm going to eliminate all smoking, alcohol, caffeine, processed sugars, processed everything from my diet for 5 days. i'm going to add in as much water as i can swallow. (everything i've read suggests 10 glasses per day. i have a big water bottle, so i'm going to shoot for 3 full water bottles.)

i will eat, but only whole foods, grains, fruits and vegetables.

i find that my resolve is excellent when i wake up, but falters as soon as i hit a stressful situation. for example, my littlest one completely fell out at breakfast this morning. i have no idea why. offering her cereal is apparently sob-worthy material.

i'm also going to use chains to track my progress with one chain each for yoga, no smoking, no non-water beverages, eating whole foods.

i am determined to make a change. i just have to find the right switch in my brain.

car yoga

a recipe

all one needs to practice yoga in the car is two young children in the back seat and a long drive ahead. for me, this is how the practice unfolded.

we started out listening to music, but soon snacks were in order. i passed a snack back to daughter number 1, then twisted myself into a pretzel to pass a snack back to daughter number 2. and the magnadoodle, and the books and the everything a young person could possibly want during a long car drive.

i used my flexibility and strength to really make it happen. happy car travels to you!

day 5: delay of game

this morning i had every intention of getting out of bed and practicing for 30 minutes. except my big kid also woke up at 5:15am. she had had an accident and after cleaning her up, i put her in the bed with me in hopes of her falling back asleep. 45 minutes later, after trying to convince her to close her eyes, i gave up and let her read books.

i could have let her stay in the bed by herself, but i would have worried about her and rushed through the practice. i'm going to make time this evening after settle down instead.

20 minutes - restorative

tonight, finally, i made space for myself to practice. N was crying after i put her down and V was settling down, too. understanding that my time may be limited i chose a short restorative class. rather than spread out in the living room like i usually do, i rolled out my mat on the kitchen floor somewhat sandwiched between the island and the walls. sounds carries in our house.

the practice itself was excellent. after a long day i turned my attention inward and opened up my hips and rolled out the knots in my lower back.

until V started yelling at the top of her lungs. and woke up the baby. i managed to finish the class before going up to calm her down.

self-realization: mornings are my only chance for a quiet practice. i'm getting up at 5am tomorrow in hopes of the pre-dawn calm.

day 4: restorative

30 minutes - restorative

today, i did an evening class in the morning. i figured after starting from nothing and practicing yoga for 4 days in a row, maybe i should slow it down for a day. except it was mostly centered around relaxing from a long day. V woke up in the middle of the class and while M agreed to practice with me, he agreed to go get her and then missed the entire middle section. V however sat with us through the last 10 minutes.

she didn't want to do it. then she did. i mostly couldn't concentrate. i stretched though.

i think my take away from today is that i enjoy practicing by myself when i don't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt or not wanting to do it or thinking it's not the right thing. while i find the camaraderie of a class reassuring, i find company in my own home distracting.

day 1: beginner ashtanga

Day 1: 30 minutes - Beginner Ashtanga

last night, before i went up to bed, i selected a 30 minute vinyasa flow class to do this morning. the description said i'd need 2 blocks and a strap. this morning, i woke up, unrolled my map, pulled up the class and realized that my blocks were in my sleeping daughter's closet.

so, rather than start my 30 day challenge by hurting myself, i stopped the class and pulled up the same beginner ashtanga class from yesterday.

today, i realized my shoulders hurt. lowering myself from plan position to the ground took all of my concentration. i struggled to keep my elbows in, but i made it. the nice thing about repeating the same routine 2 days in a row is that i felt more liberty to follow my breath with the movements as opposed to waiting for the instructor to tell me what to do next.

today, i feel pretty proud of myself for officially starting my 30 days of yoga. and i'm super pleased that my very good friend will be joining me from all the way across the world. now that i have a partner, i'm much more likely to make it past this weekend.