Stronger, Better, Faster, Happier page 27

[Kakes]

Yay Princess Bride!

Honeybuns, I think you are very right. It may have to happen.

Can I just say I love yoga? I. LOVE. YOGA.

I've been working on my handstands and forearm stands and it's becoming much more natural. I practice myself into exhaustion and still crave more. The other day I decided to just give some transitions a whirl. You know, the crazy transitions that look like magic floating? I thought I'd just see if I could go from crow to handstand- and really I just wanted to test out and see if I could feel the weight shift necessary. I didn't have any illusions of yogic grandeur, I promise. But my arms were hardly fresh, and I fell on my face. The floor gave me a bloody nose. I laughed and cried. I laughed because I feel that laughing at oneself is necessary for sanity, and to let the universe know that you don't take yourself too seriously. I cried because the floor is hard and it hurt my face. Then I looked up some tutorials on youtube and found the tips, tools and strengthening that I need to eventually accomplish this feat. I've already implemented some of them, and I feel good that it will happen eventually. So good that my mat is calling me. I told myself I'd rest today and give my back, arms and shoulders a break. It's really hard to resist. I love yoga.

I mowed the back lawn today and started on the front yard. In the midst of changing the height of the blades, I accidentally rested my wrist... on the engine. Ouch. I've a lovely burn on my inner wrist to show for it. I was only out of commission for half an hour or so. Thank heaven for essential oils. Hopefully this burn won't effect my forearm stands.

[Kakes]

Had crap sleep last night- about 4 hours, due to small things screaming and flailing all over me in the middle of the night. We moved tiniest into a big girl bed and we are experiencing an adjustment period. Still, I woke up chipper and feeling awesome. I finished off a 14 hour fast after setting the stove on fire. My stoneware broke in the oven last night and I forgot to clean up the pot roast droppings before putting in bacon this morning. My poor family awoke to smoke, fire alarms and colorful exclamations followed by blasts of freezing cold air as I tried to air things out. But then there was bacon, so everyone got over it. Practiced a little yoga this morning, got laundry going, catered to the littles, and then dead lifted. 2 sets of 12 at 120ish lbs (because that's all we have in the house), followed by the awesome legs workout. I haven't just done LHT in a while. It's been mostly yoga and running with a little HIIT thrown in. I have noticed a difference. I feel like my legs and butt are playing catch up to the rest of my body as far as awesomeness goes. All my handstand work in yoga is whipping my back, shoulders, arms and abs into shape, lower belly is coming along, though it still needs work. My thighs and butt have always been trouble spots, so I'm paying them special attention for a while. They are very strong, and I deeply appreciate the work that they do, but I'd like to pretty them up a bit.

I am still reeling with this switch of motivation that has flipped in my head. With the plans for yoga certification, and knowing the next training sessions don't start til January, I am working to keep the mojo flowing and work on whatever else I can to prepare in the meantime. The plans to be a yoga teacher are one part of the dream in my head. It will be an intricate part of my becoming a well-rounded wellness coach. It that spirit, I started a new blog (a girl can't have too many blogs!): Centered Evolution
I've started in a very emotional/spiritual direction as that's where I have been living the past few days, but I hope to round in nutrition, exercise and plant medicine as well. I have a long-time friend who, along with his wife, is making a very decent living off of their blog. He's offered to teach me the ins and outs of making a blog truly profitable, so I'm hoping that will go somewhere as well. If it doesn't, at least I will have touched a few lives.

[namelesswonder]

"But then, there was bacon." So dramatic, I love it.

[Kakes]

Heehee! Bacon makes everyone happy. Seriously, the morning was insane, but there was no whining... just nomming.


Blogging is going well... If anything I have to keep myself from blogging too much. I think maybe I'll type up posts and just keep them in store for later publishing. Yes! Now I know what to do with all my spare time! *snickers* Or maybe I should clean my house more...

I think my body doesn't know how to be sick anymore. I've had small inklings here and there that something might be lurking in the wings. But nowadays I usually just ignore them, take some essential oils and extra D3 and watch my carb intake. This brings me to last night. My glands swelled up, and my head felt like I'd been hit in the face with a wrecking ball. It occurred to me that I might have a sinus infection. We were trying to have a serious online family gathering with WLB's brother as he is leaving for South America today. I was struggling big time and ended up off camera irrigating my sinuses with a touch of sea salt and lemon oil while WLB ever so graciously kept things muted. Once the long-winded-family-that-I-adore-but-wasn't-handling-well thing was over, I took some more EOs, drank a bunch of water with an ibuprofen and crashed early. This morning I'm glad to report, my sinuses are rather happy, and despite feeling tired with just a small hint of headachy-ness, I am functional and definitely on the mend. I totally dig this only-sick-for-half-a-day thing.

I am much encouraged by my yoga progress as of late. The decision to certify as a yoga teacher has helped kick my fear to the curb and it's rather fun to be all in. I'm just trying to let go of impatience and use this time to prepare and grow. Tonight I hope to attend a class downtown to feel out teaching style and continue the process of choosing which studio to study at. Running night got cancelled last night, so hopefully we can make up for it tomorrow.

[Kakes]

It was a close decision whether to stay home tonight or go to Mindful & Embodied. I spent the day feeling... not all better. Functional, but definitely not 100%. In the end I went. I am SO glad I did. Oh my gosh. That was probably the best yoga class I've attended. There were 15 of us packed in a tiny room, but we made it work. It made for some serious heat and detox especially considering that we chose to do Ashtanga tonight and most of us were pretty experienced, so the instructor amped it up accordingly. It was incredible. I hit every pose variation and felt strong and steady, and yet very challenged. By the end I felt like I was glowing inside and out. *happy sigh* I love yoga. Have I ever mentioned that?

[WarlordBlade]

I have a question for you - why do you dislike yoga so much sheesh!

[justyouraveragecavemen]

No, now come on, stop beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel about yoga.

[Kakes]

Yesterday whatever the heck was trying to knock me down and out tried a third time and succeeded in a major way. I spent most of the day in hiding under a pile of blankets and pillows with the worst migraine I'd had in years. If I came out of the pillows, I had to shield my eyes or wear sunglasses (or both). With things I had to get done, I finally hit the ibuprofen and essential oils hard and just wore my sunglasses everywhere. I didn't eat much for most of the day- I could only really stomach eggs and apples. Then dinner came around and I needed comfort food. I found myself craving everything that would make me feel worse. So I settled for somewhere in the middle and made a casserole of potatoes, ground beef with garlic and onions, red peppers, mushrooms, spinach, spices, heavy cream and cheese. It was SO. GOOD. I don't even want to know the carb load of that many potatoes, but it definitely satisfied most of my comfort needs. Then WLB and I decided to have a movie date night at home on the couch, and though I resisted the urge for popcorn, we indulged in a cup of hot cocoa with cream.
I woke up this morning feeling so much better. Not sick anymore- finally. It was only 3 days of fighting it- with some tricky "I'm better- wait just kidding" parts in there, but for me that's a long time!!
I'm going to chalk the carb binge yesterday up to a sick day and just eat clean today. I'm pretty good on the whole, so I won't beat myself up about it.

I had a long conversation with some neighbor friends today about homeschooling. Anyone who knows me knows that I've been hemming and hawing over it for 6 or 7 years now (since Boy 1 was sounding out words at age 2). I've watch some you tube videos and read more than a few articles over the years and part of me really wants to take that leap and yank my kids outta school. I'd have an awesome support network and I adore having our family home together. I know there are plenty on these forums that a re homeschoolers or unschoolers... kind of par for the course in an internet forum full of free-thinkers.
I wish I didn't care about the stigma. I'm a paleo, homebirthing, naturopathic, yoga obsessing, full-time barefooter for heaven's sake! Why wouldn't I home school? WLBs parents and mine are very pro traditional schooling. And WLB is pretty much cool with whatever I want to do as long as I research it well. I'm leaning toward taking the plunge, but it's still a big question mark in my mind.

[honeybuns]

I had a friend who made the decision to homeschool after she was told her daughter had learning disabilities. She and I both knew that her daughter just learned in a different way than school was teaching her. After several years of homeschooling she went to a public high school and was miles ahead of the other students. She is now a helicopter mechanic instructor for the Air Force. Learning disabilities, my ass!!

[Kakes]

I had a friend who made the decision to homeschool after she was told her daughter had learning disabilities. She and I both knew that her daughter just learned in a different way than school was teaching her. After several years of homeschooling she went to a public high school and was miles ahead of the other students. She is now a helicopter mechanic instructor for the Air Force. Learning disabilities, my ass!!

Yes! I hear stories like this all the time!
I think the only thing that has kept me sending my kids off to school every day is that they do well there. As far as normal schooling goes- they excel, they have fun, they have pretty good teachers, they love their friends. And I ask myself, why mess with a good thing? But then they come home with spelling lists full of 3 and 4 letter long words that they've known since they were 5. Or pages they are required to read aloud to me 3 times over. Or math sheets with concepts the teacher didn't bother to teach them in the 6.5 hours she had them before sending them to figure it out on their own at home. And when we ask what they learned at school, the only things they talk about are Art (once a week if they are lucky), PE (also only once a week), or recess.
The other thing that just kills me is when they come home, do their homework, finally get around to their chores, and then it's dinner time and bed time with no time to play at all. Play is important!! I've even shooed them out the door without letting them finish their chores lately because I feel so strongly about it. To know that flexible sleep/wake times, plenty of work and play time, and freedom to learn what they want when they want to are just a signed affidavit away is mighty tempting.
I talked to my sis-in-law today and she's been on the fence about switching as well.