Dead Elephants in Cameroon

Day 4  l  96 to go

Why anyone would purposefully kill elephants is beyond my comprehension. 

Yoga tip of the day: Savasana,  The Corpse Pose. Keep the bosy still and the mind alert.  Keep the head straight, relax the jaw, cheeks and mouth, spread the collarbones out to the sides, relax the fingers and the centers of the palms, relax the top of the thighs and tilt both legs to the sides equally. Allow your eyeballs to sink deep into their sockets.

Don't think about dead elephants in the room.

Post Oscar Buzz

Day 3 l 97 to go.


Oscar Sunday popcorn overdose.
Monday morning blahs and a sugar hangover.
 Cocaine, cocaine running round my brain.
diet is a rememberance of impulse control past.

 Face  flushed  red red-  allergies  fully revived in living color.

Now is now.

San Carlos Health Center -  early morning class pre commute.

Yoga Tip of the day: Tadasana tree pose. The last moment of confidence melts away. The dreaded floor series is coming. Calm the breath, another adductor stretch.  I can't do any part of this simple pose. Lowering the shoulders back and down helps in opening the chest, aligning the hips.
One day, a knee will lower and point down, flamingco-ey.

Yoga Bee Hive

Day 2       98 to go
'

Its 6 pm and I am sitting down to my breakfast, my lunch and dinner all at once, as I kept missing morning classes due to email, work and inspections.  And I ran into one of my favorite people in the grocery store! Yay, Good day. Instructor talked every single micro second of the class.  That is good and bad.  And one of the people who worked at the studio came in one minute before the class started and put a mat down right in front of the student next to me. This was after I just asked another person who came in and put their mat own 100% in front of me if they could move a little which set of  off a mini shifting of everyone mats, the random yoga worker bee  came in and plopped a toweled mat down 100% in front of the gal next to me, the gals who was so nice and offered to shift to make room for me so I could get part of the mirror ws now 100% blocked by an empty mat.  Yoga Bee told us we needed to move our mats so  Yoga Bee could make room for a student  not even in the studio.

 I pointed out that she could move the latecomers' mat to another spot that did not block anyone as a courtesy to the people who were already in the studio.  This is a big pet peeve of mine, like the prodigal son,  concessions at the expense of  the dependable people in favor of the flakey latecomers.  

 Yikes... Me and my big mouth. Everyone got disgruntled. 

Yoga Tip of the day: Trikonasana Triangle Pose. Improves stamina. Works the adductor muscles. Think ice skater or ballroom dancer moves.  A favorite pose, it takes strength. Everyone can master this standing pose. Keep your trapezoids  from rising up  when you stretch your arms out. REALLY stretch your hands and palms across the chest to finger tip to fingertip strong.  Keep your  eyes to the mirror. Do not turn your head when you turn your foot. Take a moment, rotate your arms and palms towards the mirror before you tilt your body to stretch your arms up and down. Place your chin so it is touching the upwards shoulder.  You will feel powerfully  awesome.

WaterBaby Day One Again

Took in a German Shepherd Dog in as favor for  a travelling friend for 4 days and fell completely off the daily practice. New studio having a hard time getting to the class on time. Must be dressed and out the door 45 minutes  pre class time to be parked and in the studio before class starts.  With BYC it was 37 minutes and that included a pick up.  Thrice this week, I was almost there. It is much farther away, one piece of  road construction, one tourist bus and bam, I miss the class.


 I never, ever talk to anyone in the class until today.  My plan is to lie down, warm up,  silence the lambs and spend 90 minutes of quality time quieting myself, through group meditation and breath.  Then I get hit with WaterBaby.  The person in the front of me and to my right had a huge water bottle,  kept to the left, so it was right in my sight line.  Although studio etiquette says do not drink during poses, WaterBaby consumed more water than the man your man could smell like.


 At one point Waterbaby was dousing head and shoulders with water, during a pose! Here is a big water clue:  By the time you get to class, if you need water- it is too late,  you arrived dehydrated.  Sweat  is to cool you down. When you wipe it away, you are defeating the mechanism. Drink water before you come to class. 


When the water colossus was placed down on the floor,  it sat two feet  away from WaterBaby right in front of  my nose.  During the standing series no big whoop, but on the floor series, it blocked my ability to see myself in the mirror, so I ask WaterBaby when we got to floor series and cobra pose if Waterbaby  could please move the giant water bottle.  WaterBaby did move it in front of Waterbabys  mat for 1/2 of one pose then Emeril-   two feet to the left of WaterBaby, right  smack dab in front of my nose.   The Grand Pubah of  Water Bottles, The colossus of colossusses, a 1 million gallon container of water,  right in front of my nose.  Water Baby drank about 100 gallons just during the floors series... during the poses!    I could see The Colossus of all Water Bottles stoically regarding its' still upright form in the studio mirror .  I was  annoyed,  I was cranky, I tried for the 9:30 class, missed it by 5 minutes- came back home, and came back for the 11:30 am class  and had not eaten anything in about 14 hours.  I get cranky when I there is more than 10 hours between me and a meal.   Thanks WaterBaby. Great teacher, super informative and you could see all 2000 individual  muscles. When  he demonstrated, you got a great tutorial on Yoga, and the anatomy.  I guess I need more yoga, as I wanted to to tell  WaterBaby to take it outside and kick  some WaterBaby Butt. I at last I am happy that I have a new nickname for a fellow student at BYSC, WaterBaby. Must start going to the 7:45 am class. Missing breakfast and lunch so I can practice on an  empty stomach, makes me mean and cranky  and defeats the purpose of the class- for me.


Yoga Tip of the Day: Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose
Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Paschimotthanasana. I love this pose, when I was a young girl I use to dive from the high board. This pose reminds me of diving, you settle  your spine, fix your eyes out in front of you to the cool summer blue sky and the great beyond,  put your chin  boldly out in front of you, you pay careful attention to what you are doing with your head, move your arm, push with all your leg strength, stretch your arms and you fly.  Keeping  eyes and nose aimed towards  your mat, chin away from the chest the entire time is my goal for this posture. 

Day 26.  Pregnancy is popping up all over!  Super excited when someone announce their first born is on the way!  Photo is of Megan Monroe Bikram Yoga Instructor.   Beautiful day. Cannot believe I still have not taken an antihistamine this season yet. BYSC class this am...Felt sore  and dehydrated so did not push. Bikram is causing my water usage to go up. Too many towels to wash.


Bikram yoga tip of the day: Tuladandasana.  Balancing Stick Pose. Pull everything as hard as you can while you are still standing the bottoms of your feet  to the tip of your fingers stretch with all your might, as if  you are being pulling apart.  Your body should be in taught, arms and legs fully enganged, a  straight line from tips of fingets to tops of toes - before you tilt. When  you bend at the hip do not look down, look out in front of you,  beyond your mat, or see if you can meet your eyes in the mirror. Nck is elongated, and arms are wtih ears.  When you are in the posture pull your hands and feet apart. Rotate  your leg athe hip so  your elevated  foot is pointing straight back, not aat ana angle.  This is fast posture, give it all you got.

day off for rest

Day 26. Rest.

Day 20

IPAD2  erasing blog posts Do not try to swith  back and forth between Ipad and desktop. Override isues.  Tips and pix lost in the ether world.  Decided to postpone dieting of any kind until I put my faithful 4 legged companion animal, a dog, down. I knew mourning would include eating and drinking - These are a few of my favorite things.

When the dogs dies, when the IRS calls, when I'm feeling sad. I simple pop a cornmeal crust quattro formaggi pizza into the oven and then I don't feel so bad. 

Since December 2nd, 2011 I've lost  30 pounds.  60 to go. 1/3 of the way.

I feel proud. No one noticed,  so I have been telling folks.  I stop cutting my hair when I acknowledged I had a weight problem.  This year of renovation 2012, the hair will be the last thing I change. My hair now is really really really really long.

Last Saturday I took a 2.5 hour yoga workshop in San Carlos focused on the floor series. Great to get detailed instruction regarding  the poses.
The room was not HOT for the workshop, just warm, then I did a class afterwards.  Felt really good. Almost  like a double. Been years since I did a double. I want to attend a 4 week course in hot yoga this Spring. Must make it happen. Must start doing doubles again.

Yoga tip of the day: Dandayamana Dhanurasana - Standing bow pulling pose.   Set up with correct grip stretch towards the ceiling. Your first action is move your leg upand back. Your front will intuitively move forward. Keep your gaze, your eyes and your chin up.  Fingers between your eyebrows.

Day 14 Just get up and go

Day 14

I keep my mat, water and towels in the car. BYSC has 7:15 am class. Woke up this morning and just got up and went. Standing series busy with the constant micro adjustments this keeps my mind quiet - from breath to adjusting hands feet palms breath. Once the floor series starts, my minds wanders to Freddy Krugerland. It's so much harder to keep my mind quiet in the floor series. Today every bad decision I have made- made an appearance while I was on the floor. You. Are. Your. Own. Teacher. So true. So embarrassing. How Does Mr. Rodgers unwind?

Yoga Tip of the day: Dandayamana Janushirasana - Standing Head to Knee Pose. Start with the feet, solidly contacting to your mat, weight distrubuted evenly. Make sure you toes are pointing to the mirror.

Adreniline Junkie Yoga Day 13

Day thirteen
Lost post due to editing on ipad2. It was funny.

Oh well.

Bikram Yoga tip of the day: Garurasana Eagle Pose.  Getting your hips aligned , and not bending your standing knee too  far, is key for the leg wrap.  Once your leg is up and over, straighten your spine, align everything along your center keeping eyes and chin up, weight on the back heel. Then you can lower the bend on your standing knee easily. 

Sweating Pizza day 12

Day 12  Its been months since I have eaten any pizza, even longer since I have had a pizza with pineapple, but I swear to the universe and beyond,  my palms were sweating pineapple pizza in class.  An olfactory hallucination? 

Great instructor great class. Ana at Seacliff.  Still not 100% back into the swing of a bikram class, but progress ebbs and flows.

Yoga Pose Tip of the day: Utkatsana - Awkward Pose.  Make sure your hips are aligned and are facing the front mirror. When you bring your heels up and you feel your ankles straining, you are doing something right.

I have not felt this good since I was 39!

Day 11

Feel 15 years younger.  Maybe it not working, not worrying, more yoga,  new diet, no dairy, no starches, no sugars, no grains  or  the new hormonal - chemical manipulation.   Driving back from yoga,noticed an Acacia, a  pollen laden tree and the pink blooms of the cherry blossom, both of which signal it is Claratin season. No sneezes, no need for a meds. Have not been sick in quite a while. Breathing is easier.  34 Again!  Maybe I feel 19 years younger. Or maybe I feel like I am 39 again. 

Yoga Tip of the day: Pada Hastasana.  Forward bending hands to feet pose. Keep you chest to knees. Bend your knees, to get your chest to your knees.  The form starts with chest to knee, if progressing in the posture causes a gap, go back. Do not straighten your legs, if you have a gap between your legs and  your chest. Get the front of the body in contract with your legs.  Be aware of your hands and feet always.

funky class day 10

Day 10- Funky Door Haight Street. 

 
 At the end of the class my ears were hurting from the volume of the amplification sytem. Amplification, and lots of personal instruction equals conflicting instructions in each pose. The instructor gives out lots of individual instrution OVER A LOUDSPEAKER. Otherwise, good class. Like the size of  the studio room. I started my Bikram Practice years ago.  The florescent lights are a minus.  I do truly enjoy a bright studio. Teacher gave a two minute infomercial during the savanana between standing and floor series.  Relaxing, not so much. Met my eyes in the mirror in Tulandasana - Balancing stick pose. I can hear my spine stretching in this posture.

Yoga Tip of the day: Arda Chandrasana half moon pose. Let  your exhale deepen each posture. Alignment first and foremost. Keep your chin and breastbone lifted. Keep your weight on your heels.