After such a gray winter, we are all looking forward to today's predicted high temperature of 66 degrees! With sunshine! I'll say it again: with sunshine!!!! I'm thinking that if it's warm outside this evening, I might skip my usual workout and do sun salutations for a while out on the back porch. Sort of my own personal offering to Mother Nature, for this gift of spring.
And then, of course, I will have a glass of scrumptious cabernet sauvignon to cap off my night. Perhaps we'll even drag out the fire bowl for the backyard? Aaaaah. Sounds magical!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Wild Rush
My newest friend is Racquel, a yoga teacher, who stayed with us last weekend. She brought us a bottle of Wild Rush 2009, South Africa, Chenin Blanc. My husband is not much interested in white wines, but this was not a bottle of wine that had anything to do with him. This wine was feminine and friendly - and I don't mean overly sweet! It was a gracious, drinkable wine, with notes of butter and citrus, dry but not too dry. Definitely suitable for giving to someone who you do not know very well but have reason to believe will become a friend.
Overall, I give this wine a rating of 3.5 glasses. And I did enjoy finishing the bottle after it had been open for 24 hours, and it held up quite nicely in our fridge!
Overall, I give this wine a rating of 3.5 glasses. And I did enjoy finishing the bottle after it had been open for 24 hours, and it held up quite nicely in our fridge!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Covey wowed me (or, Universe, I'm Listening...)
One of my favorite new books/philosophies on interpersonal relationship and business management is "The Speed of Trust" by Stephen M.R. Covey (of FranklinCovey and CoveyLink). So I wrote to him several days ago to tell him how much I appreciate his book and his research on the subject of trust. And today, HE WROTE BACK TO ME!!!! I won't stalk him or seek his counsel or presume him to be my new best friend, but I am seriously impressed.
The universe has overwhelmed me with greatness over the past few days: first the weekend with Rebecca Lerner (and Vicky Elwell and Racquel Graham, I must add) and now a personal email from Stephen M.R. Covey! Makes me wonder what else is in store for me? I'M LISTENING, UNIVERSE, with all of my senses and a heart open to hearing the message. What is it you want me to hear?!?
As the CoveyLink people would say, "Keep making waves."
The universe has overwhelmed me with greatness over the past few days: first the weekend with Rebecca Lerner (and Vicky Elwell and Racquel Graham, I must add) and now a personal email from Stephen M.R. Covey! Makes me wonder what else is in store for me? I'M LISTENING, UNIVERSE, with all of my senses and a heart open to hearing the message. What is it you want me to hear?!?
As the CoveyLink people would say, "Keep making waves."
Sunday, March 21, 2010
First weekend workshop with Rebecca
(Update and note: having just re-read this post, I think it's a bit technical, and possibly I'm using the wrong names for some of the poses, so apologies in advance if you're just a casual reader - or if you know WAY more about yoga than me and I've gotten something wrong!)
Having just completed my very first complete weekend workshop with Rebecca Lerner, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I managed to keep up with most of the class, which is saying quite a lot, considering the curriculum and who some of the students were...
I feel somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of information I tried to take in this weekend, and I am mentally as well as physically exhausted. I did learn that I am ready to begin pranyama studies (as if I have time to add something else to my busy schedule - ha!) and I think I honestly need the pranyama. Racquel (who also stayed at our house this weekend) tells me there is a wonderful guided pranyama sequence on CD, by John Schumacher, and I will investigate picking up a copy.
About the only things I can remember right now are: "posing and then reposing" to correct and readjust asanas; giving your own body directional touches to train various parts to move in the right direction for particular asanas; two particular adjustments - using hands to physically "pull" the armpits forward so they don't get stuck in the triceps and using thumbs to sort of "push" the flesh of the buttocks down. I'm not yet quite ready to try to incorporate a discussion of "opening the mouth of the anal sphincter" though I suspect it should be a vital part of my practice...
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Which is a good thing, considering it was my Christmas present! And a big shout out to Racquel, who was a delightful houseguest and very tolerant of our children and our informal lifestyle.
Namaste!
PS I will definitely post soon about the important role wine played in my survival of the weekend!
UPDATE: It's Monday morning, and I remembered a few other things as I was driving to work. "Open door" vs. "closed door" poses - refers to hips, shoulders, chest; the strength in paryankasana (sp?) (head balance variation that's on the elbows, with head off the floor and hands pressing a block) comes from keeping the shoulder blades deeply into the back and moving towards the buttocks; sarvangasana II (headstand with forearms and hands flat on the floor) is a dynamite pose; and somersaulting into viparita kirani (legs up the wall) is delightfully fun!
Having just completed my very first complete weekend workshop with Rebecca Lerner, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I managed to keep up with most of the class, which is saying quite a lot, considering the curriculum and who some of the students were...
I feel somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of information I tried to take in this weekend, and I am mentally as well as physically exhausted. I did learn that I am ready to begin pranyama studies (as if I have time to add something else to my busy schedule - ha!) and I think I honestly need the pranyama. Racquel (who also stayed at our house this weekend) tells me there is a wonderful guided pranyama sequence on CD, by John Schumacher, and I will investigate picking up a copy.
About the only things I can remember right now are: "posing and then reposing" to correct and readjust asanas; giving your own body directional touches to train various parts to move in the right direction for particular asanas; two particular adjustments - using hands to physically "pull" the armpits forward so they don't get stuck in the triceps and using thumbs to sort of "push" the flesh of the buttocks down. I'm not yet quite ready to try to incorporate a discussion of "opening the mouth of the anal sphincter" though I suspect it should be a vital part of my practice...
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Which is a good thing, considering it was my Christmas present! And a big shout out to Racquel, who was a delightful houseguest and very tolerant of our children and our informal lifestyle.
Namaste!
PS I will definitely post soon about the important role wine played in my survival of the weekend!
UPDATE: It's Monday morning, and I remembered a few other things as I was driving to work. "Open door" vs. "closed door" poses - refers to hips, shoulders, chest; the strength in paryankasana (sp?) (head balance variation that's on the elbows, with head off the floor and hands pressing a block) comes from keeping the shoulder blades deeply into the back and moving towards the buttocks; sarvangasana II (headstand with forearms and hands flat on the floor) is a dynamite pose; and somersaulting into viparita kirani (legs up the wall) is delightfully fun!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Painting and yoga
As it turns out, my painting project had everything to do with yoga. That is to say, the stamina required for many yoga poses was required throughout the completion of the project. As I suffered through a mighty sore hand (applying three coats of paint within 36 hours can have that effect), shoulders and even buttocks. And then faced a shortage of paint, having purchased an insufficient quantity to finish the room.
A word on deciding what quantity of paint to buy: it was a decidedly, monstrously rookie mistake to not buy enough paint to finish the room!!!! After all these years of painting, having painted so much I simply can't calculate the number of rooms I've painted, I should have known better. And yet, there I was, faced with a wall that I could not finish because I did NOT BUY ENOUGH PAINT. Grrrr.
But I digress. So, I dug down deep and drew on my reserves of patience and perseverance (gleaned from my yoga practice, thank you very much!) as well as my years of painting experience. And I was actually able to finish the room after all, though I could not use a roller to finish it, and ended up painting it with a paintbrush to stretch my supply of paint.
In the end, I was so efficient with my brush technique and remaining paint, I had some left over that I can save for touchups! Thank you yoga and life experience!
A word on deciding what quantity of paint to buy: it was a decidedly, monstrously rookie mistake to not buy enough paint to finish the room!!!! After all these years of painting, having painted so much I simply can't calculate the number of rooms I've painted, I should have known better. And yet, there I was, faced with a wall that I could not finish because I did NOT BUY ENOUGH PAINT. Grrrr.
But I digress. So, I dug down deep and drew on my reserves of patience and perseverance (gleaned from my yoga practice, thank you very much!) as well as my years of painting experience. And I was actually able to finish the room after all, though I could not use a roller to finish it, and ended up painting it with a paintbrush to stretch my supply of paint.
In the end, I was so efficient with my brush technique and remaining paint, I had some left over that I can save for touchups! Thank you yoga and life experience!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Decidedly NOT yoga!
Am about to embark on painting the guestroom, in anticipation of (gasp!) having a guest next weekend, a yoga teacher who will be staying with us during the Rebecca Lerner workshop.
This painting is not nearly as ominous as it must sound! In fact, I used to be a scenic painter for theater, so I have no way of calculating how many square feet of wall to which I have applied paint over the years. The main difference is that now, on my own walls, I use really high quality paint and apply it with really high quality rollers. And I take my time and pay attention to every last detail. Which is most decidedly NOT how most of scenic painting is done (at least not for a theatrical production that runs for only 3 days before you tear down the set!).
Nevertheless, I will be glad to have this project done. I plan to stick my MP3 player's earbuds in my ears and listen to music, or, at the very least, PRETEND I am listening to music so that everyone will leave me alone to get this done!
As I said, this is not yoga, but since it's in support of my yoga habit, I think it's fair game to post about it here!
This painting is not nearly as ominous as it must sound! In fact, I used to be a scenic painter for theater, so I have no way of calculating how many square feet of wall to which I have applied paint over the years. The main difference is that now, on my own walls, I use really high quality paint and apply it with really high quality rollers. And I take my time and pay attention to every last detail. Which is most decidedly NOT how most of scenic painting is done (at least not for a theatrical production that runs for only 3 days before you tear down the set!).
Nevertheless, I will be glad to have this project done. I plan to stick my MP3 player's earbuds in my ears and listen to music, or, at the very least, PRETEND I am listening to music so that everyone will leave me alone to get this done!
As I said, this is not yoga, but since it's in support of my yoga habit, I think it's fair game to post about it here!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Fear
My yoga teacher read something about fear to us as we were preparing to sink into savasana (corpose pose) in class on Monday night. Basically, the reading said that you cannot conquer fear - rather you must understand it, embrace it, and work with it as a partner in your endeavors.
Taking this idea a bit further, I have found that my own fears are something to be understood one tiny piece at a time. This is becoming easier for me as I age, I suppose largely because I don't expect such immediate results out of anything. I have simply learned that's not the way it works, that most things that can be accomplished are done in small increments. Perhaps, even, that they are BEST accomplished one little piece at a time.
In my own yoga practice, I have been at various times afraid of headstand, full arm balance, and shoulderstand. One thing that became clear to me early on was that I was afraid of being upside down, of having my buttocks up over my head. This understanding made it dramatically easier to approach inversions in general, and now, they are one of the strongest parts of my practice.
That could be all the wisdom I have in me today. Enjoy! And leave me comments about your own journeys through fear. Namaste.
Taking this idea a bit further, I have found that my own fears are something to be understood one tiny piece at a time. This is becoming easier for me as I age, I suppose largely because I don't expect such immediate results out of anything. I have simply learned that's not the way it works, that most things that can be accomplished are done in small increments. Perhaps, even, that they are BEST accomplished one little piece at a time.
In my own yoga practice, I have been at various times afraid of headstand, full arm balance, and shoulderstand. One thing that became clear to me early on was that I was afraid of being upside down, of having my buttocks up over my head. This understanding made it dramatically easier to approach inversions in general, and now, they are one of the strongest parts of my practice.
That could be all the wisdom I have in me today. Enjoy! And leave me comments about your own journeys through fear. Namaste.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Twist and Cry
Yoga class last night was focused on twists - mostly standing twists (which are also backbends to a degree) and basic twists to work on fundamental alignment. Which can make for a very difficult, or at least a demanding, practice.
80% of the way through the class, we took a break from the twists to practice full-arm balance, headstand and shoulderstand. Of course, these are also very fundamental and demanding in their own way!
We then finished the class with Marichyasana III (forgive the spelling!), which is a very deep seated twist with a clasp; it is difficult and requires a good warmup of the shoulders, side waist, chest, hips, and legs, all of which we had achieved by that point. I was able to complete the clasp on both sides, which was a very rewarding experience, though I felt quite short of breath from the way the pose stretched and positioned my chest. Obviously, I need to perform this pose a great deal more so that I can find comfort in the discomfort.
But to get to the point of this post: we set up for a supported savasana (corpse pose), and before we had been in the pose for a minute, I was quietly sobbing hard! I was actually shaking on my mat and blankets and had to work quite hard to control my emotions.
I would like to believe that this is the effect that deep twists combined with gentle backbends can have on a yogi, rather than making some sort of comment about what an emotional twit I am, and so I will go on believing that "it's not me -it's the yoga!"
Namaste.
80% of the way through the class, we took a break from the twists to practice full-arm balance, headstand and shoulderstand. Of course, these are also very fundamental and demanding in their own way!
We then finished the class with Marichyasana III (forgive the spelling!), which is a very deep seated twist with a clasp; it is difficult and requires a good warmup of the shoulders, side waist, chest, hips, and legs, all of which we had achieved by that point. I was able to complete the clasp on both sides, which was a very rewarding experience, though I felt quite short of breath from the way the pose stretched and positioned my chest. Obviously, I need to perform this pose a great deal more so that I can find comfort in the discomfort.
But to get to the point of this post: we set up for a supported savasana (corpse pose), and before we had been in the pose for a minute, I was quietly sobbing hard! I was actually shaking on my mat and blankets and had to work quite hard to control my emotions.
I would like to believe that this is the effect that deep twists combined with gentle backbends can have on a yogi, rather than making some sort of comment about what an emotional twit I am, and so I will go on believing that "it's not me -it's the yoga!"
Namaste.
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