It was a day when every hour looked like 5 p.m. Grey. Rain. Then rainier, and windy. So why am I feeling better than I’ve felt since, like, June? One guess is the yoga. I did about 20 minutes alone upstairs in my bedroom this morning, after 5 minutes using the chi machine. Post-juice, pre-breakfast….
yoga
More yoga than sleep
I went to three yoga classes today. That’s six hours of yoga, which is more time than I have spent sleeping at least a few of the last dozen nights, in preparation for leaving for this trip and since we’ve been on it. Once again, I’m writing from a hotel parking lot with a snoring…
Yogi goes to Vermont
I’m in a rental with no wireless on a borrowed laptop. Sitting on the ledge of the TV, it’s the only one of four in the house that will work with the (extremely short) ethernet cable. Propping up my bum is a package of Seventh Generation diapers, and I’m just realizing we haven’t washed the few cloth diapers…
Anusara Grand Circle: First report from my mat
From lots of yoga to none and back again! This week I’m taking part in the Anusara Grand Circle and Wanderlust Vermont. I’ll be reporting on the events for my Washington Times Communities column but at least wanted to post some personal reflections here before my head gets any more exploded! These are groovy people….
Where is the yogi?
It’s been only eight days since I completed my 10-Day Yoga Challenge, but I broke the daily yoga and writing habit in a big way. My last class was on Monday, and on Tuesday night I was up until nearly 1 a.m. preparing food for a surprise road trip to my sister’s on her 50th…
10-Day Yoga Challenge: Day Ten: “Party in the pose”
It felt like a graduation. I completed my 10-Day Yoga Challenge Monday yesterday, taking my fourth class with the Anusara-inspired teacher who told me and the other students that we were all ready to kick it up a notch. We’d all gotten comfortable with her repeated calls to isometrically draw our legs together and to…
10-Day Yoga Challenge: Day Nine: “Play”
It didn’t take me long to get off my game. I finished class #8 of my 10-day Yoga Challenge at 8:00 p.m. on Friday night and spent Saturday virtually yoga-free, except for one sun salutation in the morning. When I finally returned today at 4:00 p.m., it felt at the start like that 44-hour break…
10-Day Yoga Challenge: Day Eight: “Expose your heart”
The theme of yesterday’s post was “reveal,” but I waited until this one to close that loop. I am not going to yoga on Day Eight. Instead I went back to a second class on the evening of Day Seven. This does feel like cheating, I admit. But looking at the day, with a wedding…
10-Day Yoga Challenge: Day Seven: “Reveal”
Today, I am tired. I had trouble focusing in the Anusara class on this, my seventh day of my 10-Day Yoga Challenge. I did not feel strong and bright. I’d gone to bed too late, the baby had woken too often, and I hadn’t gotten up early enough to eat enough to sustain me through…
10-Day Yoga Challenge: Day Six: “Brighten the belly”
I might have missed my exit if this were my first day driving into the District. The rising sun made it impossible to see the sign for Rosslyn/Key Bridge. But by now, this sixth day of my 10-Day Yoga Challenge, I feel like I know what I’m doing, and I know where to turn. And…
10-Day Yoga Challenge: Day Five: “Root and reach”
I cannot wait for tomorrow’s 6:30 a.m. yoga class. Seriously. I’m tired and sweaty, and at 9:00 p.m., both my kids have just gotten to sleep. I have miles to go before I can. But, when I look ahead at tomorrow, I think about crossing the Potomac just after sunrise and about arriving home at…
10-day Yoga Challenge: Day Four: “Surrender”
“Rest your shoulder blades on the back of your heart,” the teacher said. But what if the heart is tender? “Surrender,” she said later, in what felt at once like a welcoming to take a breather and at the same time, almost a dare. Am I capable of surrendering? Can I ever not try so…
10-day Yoga Challenge: Day Three: “Shine!”
I made it to my third yoga class in a row today in my self-imposed challenge to go every day for 10 days on my $10 ten-day pass at Centered Yoga. This class — the 9:30 a.m. Anusara-inspired yoga — was what drew me to the studio. I like what I know about this style,…
10-day Yoga Challenge: Day Two: “Let your bottom blossom”
After my first of what I hope will be ten consecutive days of yoga class, I woke today feeling like my calf muscles had wrapped themselves around my legs. Same with the triceps. It was an enjoyable, tightened sore, like I’d had someone squeeze me into Saran Wrap. I was feeling so good yesterday after…
10-day yoga challenge begins!
What would happen if I did yoga for 10 days in a row? I don’t mean just a home practice. But if I went to a yoga class every day for 10 days? Improved health? A clearer mind? A more settled heart? A bigger smile? A deeper sense of loving kindness? An enhanced sense of…
Top 10 Natural Strategies for Conception (aka How to Get Pregnant!)
Welcome to the March Carnival of Natural Parenting: Natural Parenting Top 10 Lists This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared Top 10 lists on a wide variety of aspects of attachment parenting and natural living….
Tears on my yoga mat
Yesterday I went to a yoga class for the first time since the baby was born five months ago. And I cried. It was a big deal to get out the door. For weeks, nay, months, I had been looking up schedules at all the local studios to see when they might have a class…
Now I’m the know-it-all
The other day, I took a prenatal yoga class for the third or fourth time. Amid all the cute bellies on first-time moms, I felt compelled to offer a dash of perspective from the side of motherhood — the one that’s been there already. The following post appeared May 25, 2010 as “Reality Check for…
Mama gets the sniffles
Here is a health-focused piece cross-posted from my main blog, Crunchy-Chewy Mama. I had been putting more health-focused pieces here and more snippets from life on the alternative mainstream divide over there, but I now that I am writing for The Washington Times Communities at “Reading Ingredients: Tales of a Health-Conscious Mom,” I’m re-evaluating my…
When needs diverge
I am being pulled in opposing directions. Now, my wanting to do several things at once is not a new thing, I freely admit. However, I was starting to feel good about the idea of going to bed early in order to get up early and do yoga or work out and write before my…