As I sit here this morning adjusting to the time change and sipping my hot cinnamon and honey, I think its time to look at some of my progress over the last month.
I used to nap several times during the day and still sleep at night. Now the only times I grab a nap is if I have had a rough night the night before. I go through cycles where I have a few nights where I don't sleep well. Something I think I got from my mom. . I do still fall asleep when I am sitting in my recliner watching tv, especially in the evenings. but I don't consider those the same as naps where I actually crawl into bed. LOL I know as I get more healing in even those recliner naps will go away. I have never felt guilty about napping. I know that most healing takes place during sleep. The body uses sleep time to pull the toxins from the cells, then the awake time is the time to eliminate them from the body. But its nice to have some energy and be able to have more of a day because I am sleeping less.
If I was out once or twice a week running errands, etc. The following day I was totally useless, unable to move, no energy, etc. This past week, I went to yoga class and then ran errands on Tuesday and went to a party Tuesday night (UNHEARD of prior to that), Wednesday I was a little stiff and sore but I still got some laundry done and my steps in. :) Friday I ran errands and then went to yoga. I was really sore Friday night and didn't want to move. But Saturday I was up early and doing all I needed to do to get to a party I was consultant at on Saturday afternoon. Again, something unheard of a few months ago after a day like Friday. Now, I do admit yesterday I was pretty darn tired and didn't have the motivation to do too much. But when I look at what I was able to accomplish before I got to that point, and the fact that it was a time change weekend, I think I did pretty darn well last week.
Plantar Fasciitis is still there some mornings, but not as bad. The pain isn't as severe and it goes away with only a few steps. It is not often there through the day when I sit and then get up anymore and there are days I don't have it at all. :)
My balance is improving. I still have a way to go, but it is slowly coming along. Even in my every day walking around I don't feel like such a lumbering ox anymore. I am beginning to feel a little more graceful, moving a little more confidently and with a little lighter step.
So yes, I would say yoga is good for me. Even though I still have evenings where I am doing the Tim Conway old man shuffle, the evidence is pretty clear.
Namaste
Monday, March 11, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The Dance
I'm improving!! Balance is improving, the poses are getting easier to do, my strength is improving. All is going in the right direction. Next Tuesday I will be able to step on the scale and see if there has been improvment there as well. All is well in my world. :)
In yoga yesterday, Kris led me through a "choreographed" vinyasa (series of poses that flow into each other). It's like a beautiful dance. And I was even graceful!! We did three-- Warrior 1 into Warrior 2 and then into the Triangle pose. It was lovely and I think will help improve my stamina. I still have some trouble keeping my breath even and deep while holding my poses, especially during our modified plank and downward facing dog poses, but it is coming too. At least I am not holding my breath anymore. I learned a new pose. We figured out a way to do the cat pose in a chair, and Kris showed me a few things I can do to work on balance. We added another step to the downward facing dog. I still have a way to go, but it is coming. I love seeing improvement like this!!
And the best thing is that the improvements are transferring into other areas of my life. I am getting my steps in through the day much more easily. On Monday I got in my 5000 steps without even really trying. Yesterday I was out and about after my yoga class, running errands etc. so I got them in without any issue. I have a good feeling about this week, that I will achieve my goal of 5000 steps every single day. Then next week we take a baby step forward and set a goal of 6000 steps one day and 5000 steps all the other days. This is how the baby steps program I have created for myself works. But I am stronger now and I am feeling more graceful. I am breathing better, sleeping better, and just able to do more day to day things. I think much of that is due to yoga. I love it!!
I really want to take this moment to encourage others to give yoga a try. No matter your size, your fitness level, or your abilities, I do believe that yoga can be modified for anyone's needs. Sometimes it might take talking to many different teachers to find one who will be willing to be creative and work with you on modifications, but once you find that person, it will be totally worth it! And of course, if you live in the Black Hills, there is always Kris... ;-)
Make a great day everyone!
Namaste
In yoga yesterday, Kris led me through a "choreographed" vinyasa (series of poses that flow into each other). It's like a beautiful dance. And I was even graceful!! We did three-- Warrior 1 into Warrior 2 and then into the Triangle pose. It was lovely and I think will help improve my stamina. I still have some trouble keeping my breath even and deep while holding my poses, especially during our modified plank and downward facing dog poses, but it is coming too. At least I am not holding my breath anymore. I learned a new pose. We figured out a way to do the cat pose in a chair, and Kris showed me a few things I can do to work on balance. We added another step to the downward facing dog. I still have a way to go, but it is coming. I love seeing improvement like this!!
And the best thing is that the improvements are transferring into other areas of my life. I am getting my steps in through the day much more easily. On Monday I got in my 5000 steps without even really trying. Yesterday I was out and about after my yoga class, running errands etc. so I got them in without any issue. I have a good feeling about this week, that I will achieve my goal of 5000 steps every single day. Then next week we take a baby step forward and set a goal of 6000 steps one day and 5000 steps all the other days. This is how the baby steps program I have created for myself works. But I am stronger now and I am feeling more graceful. I am breathing better, sleeping better, and just able to do more day to day things. I think much of that is due to yoga. I love it!!
I really want to take this moment to encourage others to give yoga a try. No matter your size, your fitness level, or your abilities, I do believe that yoga can be modified for anyone's needs. Sometimes it might take talking to many different teachers to find one who will be willing to be creative and work with you on modifications, but once you find that person, it will be totally worth it! And of course, if you live in the Black Hills, there is always Kris... ;-)
Make a great day everyone!
Namaste
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Empowering Yoga
Good morning! It's a peaceful 5am on a Saturday morning here. I found a new muscle yesterday and it's complaining rather loudly about being found so I decided to get up and get moving around a bit. I realize I have not been in here to update in too long. Somehow my life has gotten rather busy. We are getting ready for some renovations to start next week so I have some rooms in my house to clear out. Furniture and fixtures for sale if anyone is interested.
So yesterday I got my steps goal met before I even went to yoga class. And I am not sure if this muscle was found during the clearing out of my front room or if I found it in yoga class. Either way it is not a happy camper.
Before I begin my update, a little housekeeping. I changed my settings (I think) so that anyone can comment. I thought why not let a good discussion get started if its going to? Maybe my readers can also encourage each other. So don't be shy. I do have a delete button for any comments that are inappropriate but I am hopeful that I won't need to use it.
If you recall, last week I talked a bit about the detoxification process. Well, definitely my body has been pulling out toxins. And I have a lot of them. After Christmas my whole family spent the month of January sick with a stupid virus that seemed to pick our individual "weak spots" to settle into. My husband got it in his chest, my son got it in his sinuses, and I got it in both, but not at the same time. We would get better and then relapse, all month long. Jesse has a kick butt immune system that Kevin and I don't have (how nice to be so young) and so his only lasted a day or two each time. When he got a sore throat that lasted more than two days I trucked him into the doctor and sure enough it was strep. By the time he started the antibiotics for it, though, he was feeling better. Go figure. Fortunately Kevin and I did not get it. I was a good little mom though and kept him from school until he had been on the antibiotics for 48 hours. In case you did not know, strep is contagious until the person has been on antibiotics for 24 - 48 hours. Untreated, strep can cause rheumatic fever and/or kidney failure. So through the month of February I continued with my coughing and some congestion here and there, with the congestion sometimes hitting my ears. Now I can handle most pain but even just a little discomfort in my ears drives me batty. So when Angi at Alt Med had to cancel my appointment in Feb (she is only there one week a month anymore) I booked in to see Randy. My cold had gone bacterial in January and I needed to make sure it was cleared up. Unlike Jesse who has full medical coverage through the state, I have none so since I pay anyway, I choose to do everything with the help of the Alt Med staff, as naturally as possible. (a couple times in my suffering I made the poor choice of trying nyquil, but the nyquil hangover the next day rendered me useless-- even at half a dose so I think I am cured of trying anything like that again). Randy used to be the go to guy for me, but I switched to Angi because she was able to do the bloodwork to keep track of my blood levels and also the body composition testing to keep track of my water retention and fat and muscle percentages. But Randy is wonderful and I have seen Corey (the head honcho) as well over my time with Alt Med.
Tuesday was my appointment with Randy. The first thing I did was step on their scale. They have one there that will weigh me. I almost keeled over in shock. I GAINED 14 lbs. I weighed on Dec 21 and then on Jan 21 where I gained 9 lbs. I rationalized that away with Christmas and New Year celebrations and the candy and stuff left over from there all month. Also I wasn't taking any iodine supplements because we forgot to add them to the plate in December. I had once asked Corey why I gain weight when I get sick when most people lose weight. He said the immune system uses iodine too, as well as the thyroid. When I get sick I burn through all my iodine stores including that meant for my thyroid, and a thyroid with no iodine is a slow one, hence, weight gain. So in January I started back on iodine supplements so that really surprised me that I had such a large weight gain in February. Well, when Randy got testing me with the electrodermal screening they use, and listening to my cough, he determined that my body is definitely detoxing, but not eliminating the toxins or the gunk that my colds have created in my body. He said he wouldn't be surprised if I had about 12 lbs of gunk and mucous and such in my system. So I came out of there with herbs and nutritionals to help my body eliminate all this gunk. I shared this with Kris in our class and she gave me another suggestion which I also use. She had read somewhere that 1 Tbsp of honey and 1 tsp. of cinnamon mixed in with hot water in the mornings, half an hour before you eat will aid in the elimination process. Well, I have to say, I love it. It does taste like those red hots candies. It seems to satisfy the sweet tooth I have for the day, too. And between that, the increased water I am drinking and what Randy has me on, I have become close personal friends with my hallway bathroom. But I can feel my water retention going away. Yesterday when I was driving into town I realized my shoes didn't feel as tight as usual right off the bat. Yay!! I can't wait until my next appointment at Alt Med in two weeks. I will step on that scale again and see if I can see the results there.
Wednesday night I felt pretty lousy. I was congested and headachey again. So that was when I tried the nyquil at half a dose. Bad idea. Thursday I was out of commission. Honestly, when I did all the partying and drinking I did in college, I never had such bad hangovers!! Despite the nyquil hangover, I did my yoga practice and got my steps in on Thursday even though it meant at bedtime I was doing laps half asleep to get them in. NO EXCUSES is my new motto. Then Thursday evening my ears started fluttering... you know that sound and feeling you get when you are swimming and get water in your ear? OMG it drove me crazy!! I was congested in my sinuses, my entire head had ached all day and then this. So I went looking online to see what to do about the ears and I found a you tube video which shows self massage for lymph drainage from the ears. Yes!! Lymph drainage massage was something Rochelle used to do for me at Alt Med. She has since left to be with her ailing mother on the other side of the state so I haven't been doing it. I thought this is awesome. And so I followed the video and I did it on myself... and it drained my ears, my sinuses, the sinus headache went away and whatever congestion was causing the back and crown of my head to ache went away. I was able to sleep!!
That brings us to yesterday. In the morning I went to work hard clearing out the china cabinets and shelves in the front room and dining room while the apprentice from Kevin and JR's company helped me haul things upstairs or downstairs to store and took down the paintings and such. (He was out on a call and she was here and he had to have her do something.. and I appreciated the help). Then I went to yoga class, and... the exciting part.. I had convinced a friend to give it a try with me. :) She came and she loved it. My friend has the same problem with the knees and getting up and down off the floor that I do. She hasn't gained as much weight as I have, though she has gained some since she retired from the Air Force, so I knew she would be able to do some of the yoga without the modifications, but I figured that if she had to use modifications for some of it she might be more comfortable doing it with me. She was a natural. Her poses and shapes were beautiful!! And she loved it!! She will be joining us every Friday. I am so excited!! Now, I am an attention hog when I have it (trained in the theatre, I loved being on stage) , I LOVED the one on one attention I was getting from Kris, but I also know that I don't have to always have center stage and unlike my son and his siblings, I can share the attention. It was great. Extra energy in the room. And I know that my friend is as unjudgemental as I try to be. And in yoga you really need to focus on yourself and what you are doing anyway, so I felt totally safe having my friend there with us. And it added so much to the class!! I even could go a little farther in the triangle pose than I had been before. Balance was off yesterday, but then, as I said, I had already put in my steps goal before going, so my feet and legs were very tired. But I felt stronger in the poses. It was easier to do the warrior 2 pose. My arms didn't feel so heavy to hold. It was a great day at Yoga.
My friend made a comment that I have to share. She said, "It felt good to feel strong again." Yes!! That's it exactly!! Yoga is very empowering! It helps you feel strong. And its beautiful, too. As you learn the poses and can fluidly move from one to the other, its like an absolutely beautiful dance and it makes you feel graceful. That's something I never thought I could ever feel at 400+ lbs. Empowering is the word to use. If I had to describe yoga in one word, that's what it would be. Empowering.
On that note, I am going to get on with my day now. My honey and cinnamon drink await me. I apologize for the novel today. I will make time more often through the week to update my blog so it isn't such a long read each time.
Namaste
So yesterday I got my steps goal met before I even went to yoga class. And I am not sure if this muscle was found during the clearing out of my front room or if I found it in yoga class. Either way it is not a happy camper.
Before I begin my update, a little housekeeping. I changed my settings (I think) so that anyone can comment. I thought why not let a good discussion get started if its going to? Maybe my readers can also encourage each other. So don't be shy. I do have a delete button for any comments that are inappropriate but I am hopeful that I won't need to use it.
If you recall, last week I talked a bit about the detoxification process. Well, definitely my body has been pulling out toxins. And I have a lot of them. After Christmas my whole family spent the month of January sick with a stupid virus that seemed to pick our individual "weak spots" to settle into. My husband got it in his chest, my son got it in his sinuses, and I got it in both, but not at the same time. We would get better and then relapse, all month long. Jesse has a kick butt immune system that Kevin and I don't have (how nice to be so young) and so his only lasted a day or two each time. When he got a sore throat that lasted more than two days I trucked him into the doctor and sure enough it was strep. By the time he started the antibiotics for it, though, he was feeling better. Go figure. Fortunately Kevin and I did not get it. I was a good little mom though and kept him from school until he had been on the antibiotics for 48 hours. In case you did not know, strep is contagious until the person has been on antibiotics for 24 - 48 hours. Untreated, strep can cause rheumatic fever and/or kidney failure. So through the month of February I continued with my coughing and some congestion here and there, with the congestion sometimes hitting my ears. Now I can handle most pain but even just a little discomfort in my ears drives me batty. So when Angi at Alt Med had to cancel my appointment in Feb (she is only there one week a month anymore) I booked in to see Randy. My cold had gone bacterial in January and I needed to make sure it was cleared up. Unlike Jesse who has full medical coverage through the state, I have none so since I pay anyway, I choose to do everything with the help of the Alt Med staff, as naturally as possible. (a couple times in my suffering I made the poor choice of trying nyquil, but the nyquil hangover the next day rendered me useless-- even at half a dose so I think I am cured of trying anything like that again). Randy used to be the go to guy for me, but I switched to Angi because she was able to do the bloodwork to keep track of my blood levels and also the body composition testing to keep track of my water retention and fat and muscle percentages. But Randy is wonderful and I have seen Corey (the head honcho) as well over my time with Alt Med.
Tuesday was my appointment with Randy. The first thing I did was step on their scale. They have one there that will weigh me. I almost keeled over in shock. I GAINED 14 lbs. I weighed on Dec 21 and then on Jan 21 where I gained 9 lbs. I rationalized that away with Christmas and New Year celebrations and the candy and stuff left over from there all month. Also I wasn't taking any iodine supplements because we forgot to add them to the plate in December. I had once asked Corey why I gain weight when I get sick when most people lose weight. He said the immune system uses iodine too, as well as the thyroid. When I get sick I burn through all my iodine stores including that meant for my thyroid, and a thyroid with no iodine is a slow one, hence, weight gain. So in January I started back on iodine supplements so that really surprised me that I had such a large weight gain in February. Well, when Randy got testing me with the electrodermal screening they use, and listening to my cough, he determined that my body is definitely detoxing, but not eliminating the toxins or the gunk that my colds have created in my body. He said he wouldn't be surprised if I had about 12 lbs of gunk and mucous and such in my system. So I came out of there with herbs and nutritionals to help my body eliminate all this gunk. I shared this with Kris in our class and she gave me another suggestion which I also use. She had read somewhere that 1 Tbsp of honey and 1 tsp. of cinnamon mixed in with hot water in the mornings, half an hour before you eat will aid in the elimination process. Well, I have to say, I love it. It does taste like those red hots candies. It seems to satisfy the sweet tooth I have for the day, too. And between that, the increased water I am drinking and what Randy has me on, I have become close personal friends with my hallway bathroom. But I can feel my water retention going away. Yesterday when I was driving into town I realized my shoes didn't feel as tight as usual right off the bat. Yay!! I can't wait until my next appointment at Alt Med in two weeks. I will step on that scale again and see if I can see the results there.
Wednesday night I felt pretty lousy. I was congested and headachey again. So that was when I tried the nyquil at half a dose. Bad idea. Thursday I was out of commission. Honestly, when I did all the partying and drinking I did in college, I never had such bad hangovers!! Despite the nyquil hangover, I did my yoga practice and got my steps in on Thursday even though it meant at bedtime I was doing laps half asleep to get them in. NO EXCUSES is my new motto. Then Thursday evening my ears started fluttering... you know that sound and feeling you get when you are swimming and get water in your ear? OMG it drove me crazy!! I was congested in my sinuses, my entire head had ached all day and then this. So I went looking online to see what to do about the ears and I found a you tube video which shows self massage for lymph drainage from the ears. Yes!! Lymph drainage massage was something Rochelle used to do for me at Alt Med. She has since left to be with her ailing mother on the other side of the state so I haven't been doing it. I thought this is awesome. And so I followed the video and I did it on myself... and it drained my ears, my sinuses, the sinus headache went away and whatever congestion was causing the back and crown of my head to ache went away. I was able to sleep!!
That brings us to yesterday. In the morning I went to work hard clearing out the china cabinets and shelves in the front room and dining room while the apprentice from Kevin and JR's company helped me haul things upstairs or downstairs to store and took down the paintings and such. (He was out on a call and she was here and he had to have her do something.. and I appreciated the help). Then I went to yoga class, and... the exciting part.. I had convinced a friend to give it a try with me. :) She came and she loved it. My friend has the same problem with the knees and getting up and down off the floor that I do. She hasn't gained as much weight as I have, though she has gained some since she retired from the Air Force, so I knew she would be able to do some of the yoga without the modifications, but I figured that if she had to use modifications for some of it she might be more comfortable doing it with me. She was a natural. Her poses and shapes were beautiful!! And she loved it!! She will be joining us every Friday. I am so excited!! Now, I am an attention hog when I have it (trained in the theatre, I loved being on stage) , I LOVED the one on one attention I was getting from Kris, but I also know that I don't have to always have center stage and unlike my son and his siblings, I can share the attention. It was great. Extra energy in the room. And I know that my friend is as unjudgemental as I try to be. And in yoga you really need to focus on yourself and what you are doing anyway, so I felt totally safe having my friend there with us. And it added so much to the class!! I even could go a little farther in the triangle pose than I had been before. Balance was off yesterday, but then, as I said, I had already put in my steps goal before going, so my feet and legs were very tired. But I felt stronger in the poses. It was easier to do the warrior 2 pose. My arms didn't feel so heavy to hold. It was a great day at Yoga.
My friend made a comment that I have to share. She said, "It felt good to feel strong again." Yes!! That's it exactly!! Yoga is very empowering! It helps you feel strong. And its beautiful, too. As you learn the poses and can fluidly move from one to the other, its like an absolutely beautiful dance and it makes you feel graceful. That's something I never thought I could ever feel at 400+ lbs. Empowering is the word to use. If I had to describe yoga in one word, that's what it would be. Empowering.
On that note, I am going to get on with my day now. My honey and cinnamon drink await me. I apologize for the novel today. I will make time more often through the week to update my blog so it isn't such a long read each time.
Namaste
Monday, February 25, 2013
Busy Bee
I haven't been in to update for a few days. I have been super busy!! I get weeks like this where I am constantly on the go for several days, then it settles down a bit. I am so glad. I am not sure how I would handle it if I didn't have a day to rest in there somewhere. I was really in a lot of pain last night.
My knee started to hurt Tuesday night. I usually blame the weather. My last winter in Canada, I slipped on ice and hyper extended both knees. Since then one or the other of my knees would give me issues, especially if there was a change in weather, and our weather this past week has been a roller coaster. On Friday, because both Kris and I were in a bit of a hurry, we decided to do a short yoga class, standing. I agreed to do what I could with a sore knee, and interestingly enough, it didn't hurt much at all. I even did some tree poses, and balanced for a few seconds. Yay!! I can balance for a few seconds!! Where it started to hurt was doing a few of the stretches. So we stopped when the knee said to. It was all fine.
I spent quite a bit of time on cement on Saturday and on Sunday I went shopping for flooring at Lowe's and then to an open house and then grocery shopping. Lowe's kills me. I do not have to walk far in their store before I hurt, even when I don't have any pre-existing pain. I don't want to come down hard on Lowe's, I think its any big warehouse type store that would do it to me. And then to do two other things after that.. well last night I was not walking very well. My knee hurt to put any weight on it at all. I hobbled to bed early and slept through the night, woke up this morning and it was fine. I am physically very tired today, and today is a rest day, just doing a bit of laundry, the yoga I didn't get done yesterday, and if I feel up to it later I will do some prep work for the renovations. Maybe some computer work. But I was very tired so I got up and sat down. And while I was sitting my knee started aching. When I got up and did some moving around again, the pain subsided. I don't know what is going on with this knee. Tomorrow I go to alt med. Maybe Randy will have an idea.
On Wednesday I had a horrible horrible headache. It felt like a detox headache. In natural health, when you draw toxins from your cells into the blood stream to be removed from your body through kidneys, bowels, skin and lungs, utilizing the lymph system, sometimes you get sick. Often you get these headaches. Or at least, I do. I haven't done anything differently to cause any extra detoxing in my body except the yoga. I know that yoga can realign your body's energy meridians and open up chakras and such, so I wondered if it can have a detox effect, so I asked Kris and she told me she believed it can.
I also went searching and I found this site Yoga Detox. So what we are doing, even the modified version, is getting those systems moving in my body and getting some detoxification happening. I look forward to some day being able to do the other detox poses she talks about in the article. (I do a modified version of downward dog now). For now, what we are doing is obviously doing some work on that part of my healing now. Pushing it is not necessarily what I want to do. Too much detoxing at one time can be extremely painful and uncomfortable. And if the elimination organs aren't functioning at 100% too much detox can cause blockages there.
Last night I had a huge coughing spell. Still not completely over the crud, and Saturday night I spent quite a lot of time outside so yesterday I did a LOT of coughing. When I didn't know if I would be able to stop coughing last night, I did yoga breathing. It stopped the coughing enough for me to get to sleep, and then I slept well. So YAY for yoga!! All the good its doing for me, and its only been just over two weeks. :)
Namaste
My knee started to hurt Tuesday night. I usually blame the weather. My last winter in Canada, I slipped on ice and hyper extended both knees. Since then one or the other of my knees would give me issues, especially if there was a change in weather, and our weather this past week has been a roller coaster. On Friday, because both Kris and I were in a bit of a hurry, we decided to do a short yoga class, standing. I agreed to do what I could with a sore knee, and interestingly enough, it didn't hurt much at all. I even did some tree poses, and balanced for a few seconds. Yay!! I can balance for a few seconds!! Where it started to hurt was doing a few of the stretches. So we stopped when the knee said to. It was all fine.
I spent quite a bit of time on cement on Saturday and on Sunday I went shopping for flooring at Lowe's and then to an open house and then grocery shopping. Lowe's kills me. I do not have to walk far in their store before I hurt, even when I don't have any pre-existing pain. I don't want to come down hard on Lowe's, I think its any big warehouse type store that would do it to me. And then to do two other things after that.. well last night I was not walking very well. My knee hurt to put any weight on it at all. I hobbled to bed early and slept through the night, woke up this morning and it was fine. I am physically very tired today, and today is a rest day, just doing a bit of laundry, the yoga I didn't get done yesterday, and if I feel up to it later I will do some prep work for the renovations. Maybe some computer work. But I was very tired so I got up and sat down. And while I was sitting my knee started aching. When I got up and did some moving around again, the pain subsided. I don't know what is going on with this knee. Tomorrow I go to alt med. Maybe Randy will have an idea.
On Wednesday I had a horrible horrible headache. It felt like a detox headache. In natural health, when you draw toxins from your cells into the blood stream to be removed from your body through kidneys, bowels, skin and lungs, utilizing the lymph system, sometimes you get sick. Often you get these headaches. Or at least, I do. I haven't done anything differently to cause any extra detoxing in my body except the yoga. I know that yoga can realign your body's energy meridians and open up chakras and such, so I wondered if it can have a detox effect, so I asked Kris and she told me she believed it can.
I also went searching and I found this site Yoga Detox. So what we are doing, even the modified version, is getting those systems moving in my body and getting some detoxification happening. I look forward to some day being able to do the other detox poses she talks about in the article. (I do a modified version of downward dog now). For now, what we are doing is obviously doing some work on that part of my healing now. Pushing it is not necessarily what I want to do. Too much detoxing at one time can be extremely painful and uncomfortable. And if the elimination organs aren't functioning at 100% too much detox can cause blockages there.
Last night I had a huge coughing spell. Still not completely over the crud, and Saturday night I spent quite a lot of time outside so yesterday I did a LOT of coughing. When I didn't know if I would be able to stop coughing last night, I did yoga breathing. It stopped the coughing enough for me to get to sleep, and then I slept well. So YAY for yoga!! All the good its doing for me, and its only been just over two weeks. :)
Namaste
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
My First At-Home Yoga Practice Session
One of my goals for this week is to do my two classes a week with Kris, and to do yoga at home twice. Today is already Wednesday and I figured I would do it and get it out of the way. I can tell you that yesterday's new pose, a modified form of the Dancer really woke up some muscles in my legs and they were complaining mightily this morning. But I did not let that deter me from putting to use what I was learning.
I began with breathing and did some of the modified chair stretches we had been doing and then I did some of the standing ones. There were some stretches and poses I didn't remember completely, but I did everything I could remember. My legs maybe weren't as strong as they were yesterday, but I did see some balancing improvement for a few seconds. I am really encouraged. Balancing on one foot or rolling up onto my toes with the amount of weight I carry was not something I was even really willing to try. I am beginning to believe that anything is possible. Tomorrow I rest, let my legs recuperate in time to do another class with Kris on Friday.
Now on to do my walking goal. Before Christmas and during the Christmas season I was doing 5000 steps a day and any day I was out shopping I was getting to 6000, 7000, or more. When I got sick after Christmas those steps fell way down. And for some reason last week I was really hard pressed to get to 3000 steps. Well now that I am mostly over the congestion and coughing I decided it was time to get back to where I was at before. So I set the goal for this week to 5000 every day again. Well.. its Wednesday and I have yet to meet that goal. So I am going to push for it. Here I come, house laps!! Of course, it would help if I would remember the dang pedometer. It's an app on my phone and I have this horrible habit that if I take my phone out of my pocket for some reason, like-- to answer it... I set it down when I am done and forget to put it back in my pocket. I am working on that. It's really hard to figure out how many steps you have taken when there is no pedometer in use. And it isn't counting my steps when it is sitting on my desk.
The pedometer app I use and really like is accupedo for my droid. It's free, but you can also pay a small fee to get the pro version which gives you more functions. But with the free one, it tracks my steps, archives them so I can look back and see what I did yesterday and the day before that and last month... and that's all that matters to me. There are other functions in the free version too, but really I don't use them. I like free. :)
Well, since I have a way to go yet to meet my step goal, and I can't walk while I type, I am going to say good bye for now.
Namaste!
I began with breathing and did some of the modified chair stretches we had been doing and then I did some of the standing ones. There were some stretches and poses I didn't remember completely, but I did everything I could remember. My legs maybe weren't as strong as they were yesterday, but I did see some balancing improvement for a few seconds. I am really encouraged. Balancing on one foot or rolling up onto my toes with the amount of weight I carry was not something I was even really willing to try. I am beginning to believe that anything is possible. Tomorrow I rest, let my legs recuperate in time to do another class with Kris on Friday.
Now on to do my walking goal. Before Christmas and during the Christmas season I was doing 5000 steps a day and any day I was out shopping I was getting to 6000, 7000, or more. When I got sick after Christmas those steps fell way down. And for some reason last week I was really hard pressed to get to 3000 steps. Well now that I am mostly over the congestion and coughing I decided it was time to get back to where I was at before. So I set the goal for this week to 5000 every day again. Well.. its Wednesday and I have yet to meet that goal. So I am going to push for it. Here I come, house laps!! Of course, it would help if I would remember the dang pedometer. It's an app on my phone and I have this horrible habit that if I take my phone out of my pocket for some reason, like-- to answer it... I set it down when I am done and forget to put it back in my pocket. I am working on that. It's really hard to figure out how many steps you have taken when there is no pedometer in use. And it isn't counting my steps when it is sitting on my desk.
The pedometer app I use and really like is accupedo for my droid. It's free, but you can also pay a small fee to get the pro version which gives you more functions. But with the free one, it tracks my steps, archives them so I can look back and see what I did yesterday and the day before that and last month... and that's all that matters to me. There are other functions in the free version too, but really I don't use them. I like free. :)
Well, since I have a way to go yet to meet my step goal, and I can't walk while I type, I am going to say good bye for now.
Namaste!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Changes and Inspiration
Kris posted a very inspirational video to my facebook page this morning and I really want to share it. Unfortunately I don't know how, so I am sharing the link. Inspirational Transformation Video And it really is inspirational. I was touched by it and it gave me hope that yes, I can do it. In class today I tried to give it a little extra push. I didn't want to go so much that I fell down, because getting up for me is a huge challenge and I am not quite ready for that yet, but I did push to balance without holding onto the ledge a little bit, and I found that I can balance for a few seconds. I was thrilled!! Improvement already. And I don't even care whether the improvement is in my actual muscle tone and balance or if it is an improvement in my feelings of fear. It is still an improvement.
My goal for this week is to do the two yoga sessions with Kris and two yoga sessions at home.
The other thing I wanted to mention today was about eating. Over the course of my life I have tried many different eating plans. When I went vegan, I became very anemic and my doctor told me I need meat. So I went back to meat. I also found out I am allergic to soy, so I went back to dairy. It is true that every individual is different and what is good for one person's body may not be good for another. Over time I have discovered I do better without wheat. It's not the gluten that seems to bother me, its specifically wheat. If I stay away from wheat, the water retention is less and my knees hurt less and so I am able to move more. I still have some once in a while, but I save it as a treat. The other thing I need to save for a treat is anything with sugar in it. Being insulin resistant, eating low glycemic foods keeps me from crossing over that thin line to diabetes. So when I am being good and on the ball, I tend to eat low glycemic foods with a few medium glycemic foods, and the occasional "treat" that is higher in sugar content. I stay away from anything with wheat in it, I drink lots and lots of water, and I eat whole foods, not convenience foods or processed foods. I find many processed foods have wheat, sugar, and salt in them, none of which do my body much good. Recently we began getting fruits and vegetables (and breads for my son and husband) through the Bountiful Baskets co-op. This came into being when we were looking for ways to cut back our grocery bill. We are blessed with Jesse, our 16 year old son, who has a voracious appetite and who does not gain weight no matter what we do to him. (If only that was contagious). So we need to let him eat but the cost of food is outrageous anymore. I want to start my own garden but unfortunately the last few summers I have not been healthy enough to get out and tend it, so what we have tried to start never reached fruition. Bountiful Baskets was recommended to us by Kevin's business partner and close friend. For 15 dollars a month, a contributor to the co-op receives 50% fruits and 50% vegetables, all good quality and valued at approximately 50 dollars. For an additional $10 we can make our basket an organic one. Then they have addons-- not always organice, but some of them are-- Its an amazing deal. We love it. It is a volunteer organization and is quite popular in many states. The link is Bountiful Baskets. I will add it to my recommended links on the side bar as well. With this help we have gone from sometimes organic fruits and veggies when I can get them to almost always organic. We also purchase our meat from a local farmer that we know for sure allows the animals to graze in wide open fields, who isn't certified organic, but does his best to use the bare minimum required antibiotics etc. and no growth hormones. It is the best meat as far as taste and fat content that we have every had. It is worth it to go looking for someone such as this from which to get your meat.
Anyway, when we started with Bountiful Baskets, the organic produce really put our bodies into a detox mode. Over Christmas we had a few weeks where we did not get the baskets and the difference at that time was incredible. Where I had become regular and my body was definitely removing a lot of garbage from my system, over the holidays and until we could get our baskets again my irritable bowel started acting up, and other health issues which were lessening increased again. I never would have believed that the one switch to organic produce would do that much for a body, but it did. Here is a tip I heard somewhere... if you can only afford some organic, choose to foods that do not have peels to buy as organic. Oranges and bananas can be washed and peeled and that alone can reduce a lot of the toxins that you find in non-organic varieties. Things like lettuce and tomatoes, apples, pears, etc. are harder to remove the toxins from. it made sense to me. :)
So there we have it. Be inspired to make some changes. I am every day. And the more I can find to inspire me to keep making the changes, the more successful this journey is going to be.
Namaste
My goal for this week is to do the two yoga sessions with Kris and two yoga sessions at home.
The other thing I wanted to mention today was about eating. Over the course of my life I have tried many different eating plans. When I went vegan, I became very anemic and my doctor told me I need meat. So I went back to meat. I also found out I am allergic to soy, so I went back to dairy. It is true that every individual is different and what is good for one person's body may not be good for another. Over time I have discovered I do better without wheat. It's not the gluten that seems to bother me, its specifically wheat. If I stay away from wheat, the water retention is less and my knees hurt less and so I am able to move more. I still have some once in a while, but I save it as a treat. The other thing I need to save for a treat is anything with sugar in it. Being insulin resistant, eating low glycemic foods keeps me from crossing over that thin line to diabetes. So when I am being good and on the ball, I tend to eat low glycemic foods with a few medium glycemic foods, and the occasional "treat" that is higher in sugar content. I stay away from anything with wheat in it, I drink lots and lots of water, and I eat whole foods, not convenience foods or processed foods. I find many processed foods have wheat, sugar, and salt in them, none of which do my body much good. Recently we began getting fruits and vegetables (and breads for my son and husband) through the Bountiful Baskets co-op. This came into being when we were looking for ways to cut back our grocery bill. We are blessed with Jesse, our 16 year old son, who has a voracious appetite and who does not gain weight no matter what we do to him. (If only that was contagious). So we need to let him eat but the cost of food is outrageous anymore. I want to start my own garden but unfortunately the last few summers I have not been healthy enough to get out and tend it, so what we have tried to start never reached fruition. Bountiful Baskets was recommended to us by Kevin's business partner and close friend. For 15 dollars a month, a contributor to the co-op receives 50% fruits and 50% vegetables, all good quality and valued at approximately 50 dollars. For an additional $10 we can make our basket an organic one. Then they have addons-- not always organice, but some of them are-- Its an amazing deal. We love it. It is a volunteer organization and is quite popular in many states. The link is Bountiful Baskets. I will add it to my recommended links on the side bar as well. With this help we have gone from sometimes organic fruits and veggies when I can get them to almost always organic. We also purchase our meat from a local farmer that we know for sure allows the animals to graze in wide open fields, who isn't certified organic, but does his best to use the bare minimum required antibiotics etc. and no growth hormones. It is the best meat as far as taste and fat content that we have every had. It is worth it to go looking for someone such as this from which to get your meat.
Anyway, when we started with Bountiful Baskets, the organic produce really put our bodies into a detox mode. Over Christmas we had a few weeks where we did not get the baskets and the difference at that time was incredible. Where I had become regular and my body was definitely removing a lot of garbage from my system, over the holidays and until we could get our baskets again my irritable bowel started acting up, and other health issues which were lessening increased again. I never would have believed that the one switch to organic produce would do that much for a body, but it did. Here is a tip I heard somewhere... if you can only afford some organic, choose to foods that do not have peels to buy as organic. Oranges and bananas can be washed and peeled and that alone can reduce a lot of the toxins that you find in non-organic varieties. Things like lettuce and tomatoes, apples, pears, etc. are harder to remove the toxins from. it made sense to me. :)
So there we have it. Be inspired to make some changes. I am every day. And the more I can find to inspire me to keep making the changes, the more successful this journey is going to be.
Namaste
Saturday, February 16, 2013
The Tim Conway Old Man Shuffle
Yesterday was an amazing day. When you sit back and watch scenes where people do yoga on tv or in movies, it looks pretty effortless. I figured I couldn't do yoga because of my size, trying to get into the positions. I was wrong, that is not the hard part. I viewed yoga as a relaxing, meditative thing, which it is... but... or should I say BUT when you are as out of shape as I am (maybe even if you are in shape, I don't know, haven't been in shape in a long long time), holding those poses really takes work. And muscle. And I have to say I am feeling many more of those newly awakened muscles today. Surprisingly, not the ones I thought I would feel.
I have a 40 minute drive home after yoga, during which time my newly awakened muscles like to stiffen up on me. So last night as I did the Tim Conway Old Man Shuffle (exaggerated for effect, of course) through my family room, I asserted to my friend Cheryl that yoga is good for me. We laughed about it. No pain, no gain. And once again, I guess I can't really call it pain. Discomfort maybe. The muscles in my back are what have tightened up today and on a scale of 1 to 10 are probably only really about a 3, so not much pain. Not as much as I am used to feeling. And I have to remember this is first thing in the morning, my back is usually at least this tight when I first get up. I sleep oddly sometimes and my back likes to be very vocal about letting me know that. I can't work on my core in yoga and not feel those muscles in my back.
What surprises me is that the muscles that were yelling at me, unhappy about being wakened during the class were my shoulders. My arms are heavy. Between the pounds of excess fat and the retained water, they are pretty heavy limbs. So my shoulder muscles were working hard to keep my arms in the warrior poses. I thought for sure those ones would be the ones hurting this morning, but nope. The muscles doing the complaining are in my mid and lower back. Good. Get that core woken up! This body has slept for far too long! It's time to wake up, get moving, and make something of itself!!
Another plus from yesterday is that I met my walking goal. I always feel good when I do that. I wasn't meeting it very often over the last 7 weeks while I have been sick with the crud that's going around and around and around. I just simply ran out of breath too quickly. I think I am finally shaking the crud. (knock wood). So now I am not running out of breath so quickly and I can get back to my walking goal too.I love meeting goals!!
Today, not sure how much walking I will get in... I get to sit in meetings all day. But it will be fun. This group of people usually are. And I am going to try really hard to get a good yoga practice in at home. I say that every day and so far the most I have fit in has been some yogic breathing or maybe a few stretches. But after sitting in meetings all day I think I will be doing myself a huge favour by trying to do a whole little session at home, doing the things I remember.
I am on the lookout for a yoga ball. I am not sure the exercise ball I have had since they first came out is going to hold my weight now. Oh, static weight, sure, but not dynamic weight. And much as it is an anti-burst ball, I still don't want to land flat on my assets while I am in the middle of the sitting something or other pose. I know that there are balls out there that will hold my dynamic weight. I am thinking that will solve the problem of getting my hips in the right position for the sit down portion of the yoga class until I can get up and down off the floor. In the meantime, my son can continue to go ahead and sit on this other ball I have, even though he is getting to be too tall for it.
Well, time to do the old man shuffle back to the kitchen to get myself some breakfast. I am awake now. It's probably more the middle aged out-of-shape woman shuffle now. I am looking forward to being able to do the guess-my-age skip through life. It's coming. I can feel it. :)
Namaste
I have a 40 minute drive home after yoga, during which time my newly awakened muscles like to stiffen up on me. So last night as I did the Tim Conway Old Man Shuffle (exaggerated for effect, of course) through my family room, I asserted to my friend Cheryl that yoga is good for me. We laughed about it. No pain, no gain. And once again, I guess I can't really call it pain. Discomfort maybe. The muscles in my back are what have tightened up today and on a scale of 1 to 10 are probably only really about a 3, so not much pain. Not as much as I am used to feeling. And I have to remember this is first thing in the morning, my back is usually at least this tight when I first get up. I sleep oddly sometimes and my back likes to be very vocal about letting me know that. I can't work on my core in yoga and not feel those muscles in my back.
What surprises me is that the muscles that were yelling at me, unhappy about being wakened during the class were my shoulders. My arms are heavy. Between the pounds of excess fat and the retained water, they are pretty heavy limbs. So my shoulder muscles were working hard to keep my arms in the warrior poses. I thought for sure those ones would be the ones hurting this morning, but nope. The muscles doing the complaining are in my mid and lower back. Good. Get that core woken up! This body has slept for far too long! It's time to wake up, get moving, and make something of itself!!
Another plus from yesterday is that I met my walking goal. I always feel good when I do that. I wasn't meeting it very often over the last 7 weeks while I have been sick with the crud that's going around and around and around. I just simply ran out of breath too quickly. I think I am finally shaking the crud. (knock wood). So now I am not running out of breath so quickly and I can get back to my walking goal too.I love meeting goals!!
Today, not sure how much walking I will get in... I get to sit in meetings all day. But it will be fun. This group of people usually are. And I am going to try really hard to get a good yoga practice in at home. I say that every day and so far the most I have fit in has been some yogic breathing or maybe a few stretches. But after sitting in meetings all day I think I will be doing myself a huge favour by trying to do a whole little session at home, doing the things I remember.
I am on the lookout for a yoga ball. I am not sure the exercise ball I have had since they first came out is going to hold my weight now. Oh, static weight, sure, but not dynamic weight. And much as it is an anti-burst ball, I still don't want to land flat on my assets while I am in the middle of the sitting something or other pose. I know that there are balls out there that will hold my dynamic weight. I am thinking that will solve the problem of getting my hips in the right position for the sit down portion of the yoga class until I can get up and down off the floor. In the meantime, my son can continue to go ahead and sit on this other ball I have, even though he is getting to be too tall for it.
Well, time to do the old man shuffle back to the kitchen to get myself some breakfast. I am awake now. It's probably more the middle aged out-of-shape woman shuffle now. I am looking forward to being able to do the guess-my-age skip through life. It's coming. I can feel it. :)
Namaste
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