Days 5-9

Days 5-7

On Sunday, I did not go to yoga, nor did I go on Monday. On Tuesday, I went to the suggested 6:30 class before the meeting at 8, and class FLEW by. Wow. And I was like, "Yeah! This is awesome...me and 45 other people sweating it up in class and "om!" and I love my new yoga knee shorts!" (having cute new work out clothes does something for me. Check out Lucy. Great sales too. Seriously, it was probably my favorite class to date just because of how many people were in there. It was packed. I even forgot to bring my small towel in and totally didn't need it. (Not that I didn't NEED it; I was crazy sweating-- I just didn't MISS having it.)

So at the meeting, I learned the following:

1. About food
I eat great meals on days that I go to yoga and I eat not-so-healthy meals when I don't. For example, Sunday, no yoga = chicken fried chicken at Snookie's. and mashed potatoes. and gravy. and onion rings. OK, so I didn't eat ALL of it. That would have been just ridiculous. So I took the leftovers home, thinking that Todd could have it for lunch on Monday. And then I was awaken with terrible stomach pains and let's just keep it to "stomach pains." So I KNEW I wasn't going to eat the greasy, yummy leftovers for sure. But he didn't take it to lunch. And I didn't go to yoga on Monday. Yep. I ate the leftovers. Week 2's focus is to incorporate more fresh foods. When Todd and I cook, we are pretty healthy meal makers. He's a great cook, by the way!

2. About yoga practice
I will justify not going to class with my Masters class and homework. I am in an online program through Lamar University for my Masters in Educational Technology. And it's a great excuse. (cue violins) I'm SO busy. I have SO much homework. I stayed up SO late. Yadda yadda. Yes. This was my sad excuse. And of course, I waited until the last minute to do the work and it never would have gotten in the way of a yoga class in hindsight. Therefore, I MUST schedule them ahead of time...online works (yogasport has a way to check in early--brilliant for accountability!), but emailing my group works better. I have done so, so let's see how this week goes.

3. About meditation
I totally blew it off last week. Ok, I meditated once for 5 minutes. Not once, as in 1 day. That would be two times at 5 minutes each. Oh no. 1 time on 1 day. Five total minutes. All week. Wow, Rina, you don't have time for yourself 5 minutes in the morning and evening? Angela was giving us tough love this week, which apparently, is what I needed. And the idea of not making time for myself...I can go on about how I could use another few hours in the day, but honestly, how much of that time do I spend online window shopping? It's more than 10 minutes per day, let me tell you. Plus I actually FELT like something was missing. I think it was meditation. And I don't even know "how" to do that yet. Must buy book. (None available on Amazon? I've already tried Half-Price Books.) By the way, the 40 Days book incorporates a lot of different religious practices, especially Western religion, including Christianity, to format it to the American audience. It references stories and traditions from different religions. I was happy to see that it was not biased towards any one religion. Thumbs up!

4. About excavation questions
So our book has "excavation" questions at the end of each chapter. I read ahead for the meeting and started answering them. I learned that when it comes to deep down thoughts, I'd rather ignore them. They are quite personal and eye-opening. I have thought about the answers but haven't written anything down yet. As if writing them would cause some sort of stir in my life. Well, that's probably what it's meant for, so there's a goal for this week.


Days 8-9 (Wed/Thu)

I did it! I meditated for 10 minutes in the morning and evening! I sat on the top stair in the morning, legs crossed onto the next stair down, hands on my knees facing up (a cool priest once said to think of hands up to mean that I'm ready to receive God's love...like it), and I concentrated on breathing. If a thought entered my brain, I'd try to let it go and then I'd start over with concentrating on my breath again. 10 minutes goes by really fast when you have to keep starting over.

At night I tried the sitting-on-a-big-pillow thing. I used 2 pillows, lit a candle and went through the same exercise. Again, I had to start over again and again with letting go of thoughts - my "tapes" that run through my brain about worrying about my family, anxiety about whatever, to-do lists. Maybe I need more time. Ha! That would be ... maybe I shouldn't comment on that until I find out.

Yoga: 75 minutes - great class
Nutrition: (B) coffee, orange; (L) PBJ, grapes, baked lays, water; (S) 1.5 birthday cookies (kids bring cookies when it's their bday- oh how I love you, JD's Chippery); (D) Todd's beef lo mein (New recipe...so good! And besides the pasta, pretty healthy!)  Mich Ultra, green tea (I have one almost every night)
Meditation: 20 min

(Thursday)
I did not meditate this morning. I'm in a rush on rainy days because EVERY kid gets dropped off at school on a rainy day. Nobody walks. Well, that's what it feels like. Since there is no bus system, carpool lane is heavy with cars dropping off kids. I did find a new route to escape the Binkly left turn on Hillcrest, so yea for me! For lunch I had 2 tacos from the light plate (the light plate is a dish that has to fit into some measure of calories, so I'm assuming is light, meaning healthier than the other hot food line) and a bowl of chicken tortilla soup (it's to die for in the school cafeteria- super cheesy- it was a splurge). So, yeah, ok. Not very fresh, not very healthy. However, this week determines that there are wholesome foods. Example: Grandma's cookie. It's homemade and gives you that nurturing satisfaction of homemade and knowing who made it with love, as opposed to the store bought packaged cookie. I like that idea. Was the soup wholesome? Yes? Ok. Not really. But it was good. :)