Reading from the Inside Out

I'm on Day 2 of full and total rest. Luckily I have some reading to catch up on. I have my new Yoga Journal, and I always have Light on Yoga sitting on the table being disappointed in me. Maybe I'll get around to starting that book for like the 5th time if I run out of mags and movies.

Recently I finished a great book. I actually started it in January, so it's funny that I just finished it. It's only 138 pages long. I swear I'm literate. The book in question? Christina Sell's "Yoga from the Inside Out: Making Peace with Your Body Through Yoga". 

I'll be honest. At first when I got this book (Christmas) I flipped through it and went - oh this book is for people with problems... That's not me. Eventually though, I got off my high horse and read the damn book. You don't have to actively be "at war with the body" to get a lot of amazingly beautiful insight from this book. It's entirely possible that reading this book contributed to me resting my body right now instead of pushing through the pain (because yes I'm kind of a fitness junkie that pushes too much).

As I read it, I marked pages with notes to talk about it here. Eventually it just became a farce and I had to admit that it was the whole book. If you've ever had a problem with your body, or struggled to treat it well, or want to better understand how yoga can change your life, or want to hear how the back body represents the Universal, or wonder what it really means to have a healthy body image... READ THIS BOOK. That is all.

I'm not being paid and no one asked me to review this book. I just bought it, read it, and recommended it.

Resting 100 Percent

I woke up yesterday morning with an evil back pain of doom. What's up with that? I don't really know. I didn't even do anything on Saturday, so I've been kinda confused about it. I don't appear to have actively hurt myself, but the pain is definitely there for some reason. I spent most of Sunday just kinda feeling crappy, but otherwise going about my business. I did my morning weekend practice which is just a few sun salutations and meditation. Nothing strenuous. Then later I did some plyometrics (because I do that on weekends) with a 1 mile warm up walk and a 1 mile cool down walk. At that point I actually felt great. All the jumping and pushups and whatnot made me feel amazing. My back didn't even hurt! I can't imagine how plyos could've possibly made my back feel better, so I'm gonna call it a fluke. So I continued going about my day. Went to the park, watched squirrels, cuddled the dog. You know, the usual.

Hours later I sat down and had this outrageous pain start shooting through my back/shoulder. It comes and goes, but mostly it's there... and it sucks. Some research suggests that depending on what the hell is wrong I should either rest completely for up to 3 days, or I should go on as usual. I usually go by the rule that if it hurts when you're not doing anything - you should rest it completely for a while. Since this pain is definitely there all the time I've decided to give it total complete rest for 2 days and then pick back up with my yoga.

In the meantime, I'm realizing that I'm somewhere between dedicated and addicted to my yoga. I want to do yoga All The Time. Discomfort? Do yoga! Tired? Do yoga! Feel stiff? Do yoga! Now that I'm not allowing myself to do yoga - it's like I'm going stir crazy. I find myself plotting and trying to figure out ways I can sneak in some yoga anyway. I'm not giving in. I promise. I'm going to rest...but this is really hard.

John Friend says to give 100% all the time. When you're working - give 100% and when you're resting - rest 100%, so that's what I'm doing. I am committed to doing what's right for my body - even if the right thing is Nothing.

Doggy Photo Source: Apparently everywhere. That dog gets around.

Granola and Sunshine

I found this recipe for Homemade Granola over at I'm Organic - whose fabulous wonderful infinitely useful tote bags I own. They aren't paying me to say that, I just thought I'd throw that in there... because it's true. And I'm all about spreading the truth.

Anyway... I haven't actually tried this recipe yet. It looks really good though and I've wanted to make my own granola for a while. It's especially helpful for having a lot of wiggle room in the recipe. When you're allergic to nuts (like me) you have a much harder time finding recipes and pre-made items that you can eat.

If you try the recipe - let me know how it goes. I'm off to frolic in the sun while it's out. That's right. I said frolic.

Within the Heart

"The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars. Fire and lightning and winds are there, and all that now is and all that is not." - The Upanishads

Don't know who this is or where it came from. I just know it's Bad Ass.

A Single Step Today is One Less Step Tomorrow

Sometimes we have pain. Maybe it comes and goes... maybe it's constant. Perhaps it becomes chronic. Maybe it's only been there for 1 day, but it's pretty serious. You start to imagine the pain will NEVER relent. Maybe you feel like it's been this way forever. It's so bad you can't remember what it was like not to be in pain. This makes it difficult to let go of the notion of being in pain.

This has some serious effects, long and short term on your health & well being. You start to hold your breath, tense up, and hold fear tightly in your chest... and in your muscles. Fight or flight takes over and your hips and psoas become hard. You fear moving, relaxing, being touched. This interferes with your daily functioning.

Sometimes simply relaxing will actually make it a bit better... but when you're in so much pain - How can you relax? Sometimes you may fear being present in your own body. It becomes as if you're being held hostage by your own body - or by your fear of the pain.  This builds further muscle damage, emotional pain and anxiety. For many it goes so far as narcotic pain killer abuse which can be fatal.

If any of this describes you - or has before - you probably recognize it. Studies are finding that meditation is a natural pain killer. A physical yoga practice can provide relief from fibromyalgia, arthritis, anxiety, etc. You have to push through some degree of discomfort for therapeutic yoga to work... physical and mental. But what's waiting on the other side - Freedom from fear of pain - is bliss.

If you give yoga a try - you can start to replace that fear with love. It may start with a single glimpse of peace while sitting. You can replace that tightness with a free open space. At first it may be very small... at first it may be measured in moments. You can stop holding your breath - and start to feel your lungs expand freely with life. It may start with a tiny spark in your ribs. It may start small, but you have to start somewhere to make a journey of a thousand miles.

Strong is the New Skinny

5 Habits of Healthy Successful People

Sorry about the days and days of no posts. Every time I tried to blog - Blogger was down so eventually I was like "Meh. Long Weekend!".

Some people just glow with health and inspire you to work harder at becoming your highest self. They weren't just born that way though. Most people have to work hard at becoming and maintaining that ideal. It takes commitment... but you can totally learn that commitment by replicating some of their good habits.  Here's a look at 5 habits of Healthy Successful People - or people that are successful at being or becoming their healthiest shiniest self.

1. Planning Ahead
     If you're going to be a success at anything - you have to plan for it. If you want to be able to call yourself a yogi - you have to make the time to do it. You can't just go about your day and assume or hope that it'll all fall together in a way that works for you. Not planning a time to do yoga is a fast way to end up saying "Dammit, it's 9pm and I never did yoga! Where did my day go??" I know this because it's something I've done a lot of. The same goes for running, weight training, eating healthy meals, and even showering if you're really busy. This also means setting goals (short and long term goals).

2. Doing it Anyway
     Some days you're looking at your mat (or running shoes, or the kitchen) and thinking "I'd rather eat my own hair than do that today". However, if you want to meet those goals you set you're gonna have to suck it up and make it happen. It helps to tell everyone you're going to do it - then you're held accountable (unless you're prone to telling lies, but that's another post). My personal rules: unless I'm menstruating, have an injury, or am really sick- I'm doing it. I might not go balls to the wall intense, but I'm going to do something. Often times once you show up and do a little bit of work you're glad you did.

3. Pushing Yourself
     You're never going to make any progress if you underperform every time. I'm a big fan of finding your edge and living there. I breathe into my edge when I'm doing a forward bend or pushing my scorpion pose a tiny bit deeper... or running a little faster... running longer... lifting a little more weight. All that work you do makes you capable of doing more - but you have to maintain awareness of how much more you can or can't do. Find the line between working too hard and working too little. It's the Goldilocks dilemma of health and fitness.

4. Writing it Down
     You are probably not an anal retentive organization freak. I am sometimes. Mostly about lists. I write To Do Lists...and grocery lists... and packing lists...and I write lists of what I did today. Whenever I do yoga I write down what I worked on and how long I did it. When I lift weights - same thing. When I run or hike - I write that down too. That way I can see if I'm starting to lose momentum or if I'm actually overdoing it. I can see if it's been a full week since I did anything. I can see how long I've had an injury (because I write that down too) and what I was doing when I got it. If you know where you are - you can plan how to best move forward. And sometimes it feels good just to see what you've accomplished.

5. Feeding Your Body Appropriately
     Being an athlete, or just being active in general requires more food. If you're trying to lose weight this may seem counterintuitive, but you need to eat more if you work hard. Ideally, this means 5-7 small meals a day. All of them should include a good amount of protein, plenty of veggies, and some healthy fat. Active people need more of these healthy calories so the body can heal and build muscle from all that work. Lean muscle burns fat even at rest, so the more lean muscle the better. If you don't feed your muscles enough calories of the healthy food I mentioned (or to look at it another way: if you train too hard for how much you eat) - then your body will actually burn muscle instead of fat. Not helpful. This happens because muscle is a more efficient energy form than fat. The body has to break fat down to use it, but muscle is just there ready to use. So feed your muscles so they'll burn fat - not the other way around.

Other notes on eating: eating junk isn't serving your highest self, feeding your body enough supports the immune system, a strong healthy body is better than a frail weak body, eat enough - but not too much, drink plenty of water.