Training to Live

blast! ecto just ate the post that i spent more than 3 days writing. boooo

so. i’ve been “doing” yoga for just over a year now. i say “doing”, because it’s been somewhat half hearted, 20 minutes of yoga for runners here, a half pigeon there, etc. more practiced yoga people always say that it’s important for beginners to go to a real class to get feedback and guidance on their form, but i never took it that seriously. all the yoga studios i had vaguely checked out online were far away and pretty expensive, and when i could do yoga at home for free by myself, why go anywhere else?

i never really enjoyed yoga that much though. sure, the stretching felt good and i’m sure my muscles appreciated it, but doing audio classes on the living room floor was kind of boring. i only did it because i knew it was good for me. sometimes i couldn’t even make it through the 20 minutes!!! (i wondered how anyone could do a 90 minute class). i do love the pants though, and i have always kind of joked that i lived the yoga lifestyle, even though i didn’t really *do* yoga)

cue the happiness project. april’s theme is money, and the resolution for the the week before last was to spend some money to buy some happiness. i thought about what area of my life i could splurge a little on and i thought of 2 things. yoga was the first. i did a bit of research and found a studio that is about a 7 minute bike ride from my house! this is convenient. having to take a bus and a subway to get downtown to pay $20 for a yoga class probably wouldn’t actually happen often. this place had some good reviews online (yelp and others) and they had a good rate for new students. i bought a 2 week unlimited pass and decided to try out studio yoga to see if it would make me happier.

i have so far been to 4 different classes (a gentle hatha, 2 different restorative classes, and a reduced heat flow class) and i am in love!! the studio is beautiful and spa like. since i don’t belong to a gym and do all my exercising outdoors or in my basement (or at the community pool!), it is a lovely change to be somewhere with fancy facilities. i have one more week left on my pass, and plan to try out a real hot class (i am a little scared!! if i like it, i’ll do a couple more classes before i decide to splurge on the yogitoes), iyengar (yoga that focuses on proper form), and go back to the classes i liked best before i figure out how often i want to be going back. i think i can afford at least once or twice a week. it’s a really good compliment to the running, biking and swimming that i do and it’s good for my soul too. yoga has made me extremely happy.

the second thing that i’ve been wanting for a while now but haven’t gotten around to picking up (maybe partially because i couldn’t justify spending the money…) is a bondiband. caitlin posted a coupon code (FIVE, five bands, $25), so i ordered a bunch. LOVE THEM!! i’ve worn them running, under my helmet, to yoga class, and just around (they are cute). they seem to stay put (especially the wicking ones) and they keep my hair out of my face, which is awesome. two days after my order arrived, i ordered a few more wicking bands! (jon wanted to know how many headbands a person needs. the answer to that is MANY)

so if you thought that money can’t buy happiness, you might be wrong.

i’ve switched my hours at work, so i have the day off tomorrow. i’m extremely excited about this as i haven’t really had a day off to myself in ages! all of our weekends are booked up with activities and the last two holidays (easter and christmas) have been somewhat hectic with lots of driving around and seeing people, etc. i’m planning to hit two morning yoga classes, do some fun grocery shopping, bake cookies, make ice cream, possibly try out some of ashley’s granola, go for a run in my vibrams (if my legs aren’t too sore from yoga) and watch an excess of tv! luxury to the extreme. i will also try and blog the rest of the post that got eaten up. i have a pot of steel cut oats on the stove now, and it needs my attention.

happy sunday night!

p.s. heather, i am on board with your invite to be a happy living blogger!

november is finally over! do i feel fine? i don’t know. maybe. maybe not. i am not sure how i would classify my nablopomo participation. i posted every single day, except for two: one of which i had a pretty good excuse and the second of which was directly related to the first, but the rest of my posts were not 100% awesome. i did have a few sorry excuse for a post days. i did not finish writing about all the things on my list either.

i’d probably give myself a 7.5/10. the effort was mostly there, i showed some promise, but in the end, i don’t think i quite reached the bar. it was a good exercise though. the only way to write better is to write lots. i will probably do nablopomo again, though not in december. i need a break, and i also know that i will not have access to the internet every single day, which would make it stressful/hard. we’ll see about february! it is the shortest month i can handle 28 days! i did it this month.

i’m super excited that tomorrow is december. december is my favourite: christmas, my birthday, snow, presents, family, vacation, tasty food – everything i love. i forgot to add gingerbread to my list of things to make! can’t forget that. i also signed up to make a dessert for my branch christmas potluck next friday. i haven’t figured out what i’ll take yet, but i’m sure i’ll get to that on thursday night. my coworker asked if i’d be making packages again this year (last year select friends/coworkers each got a box with a jar of jam or preserve and a selection of holiday cookies and treats). apparently he quite enjoyed them! this december will be extra busy, as we have a move scheduled (jon is vacating his apartment and coming here!) and a road trip to plan and take. i am going to have to remember to breathe.

the resolution project went well. i did not reach my goal of 150 points, but i got 138, which is 92% of that and a decent first effort. i will restructure my december goals to further my happiness through the season of light and cocoa (and stress!).

i got two jars of free nuttzo in the mail today, courtesy of opensky. that is not too shabby! there are still a few other cool things i found in various stores, so i am holding out for more december sales!

can anyone identify this car?

so. i fail. i spent all of thursday away from computers and the interwebs. i didn’t come home on thursday night (dance party! stayed at the fancy pants hotel downtown), so i couldn’t blog. then on friday morning, after only 4 hours of sleep and a shower, i went to work.

fun fun!

i came home in the evening and collapsed in bed. after a few eps of the new adventures of old christine, i fell asleep. jon woke me up when he arrived around 10 and then we turned the lights off shortly after. bad blogger!

i have fun pictures to share, hopefully tomorrow. today was pretty tiring. feels like i was standing in the kitchen all day long – wish i had a cork floor or something else nice and soft. my feet are protesting.

i made:

a big fruit salad with pineapple, clementine, honey crisp, banana and pomegrate and a dressing of agave, lemon and ginger. we had it with a dollop of greek yogurt + granola.

grilled cheese sandwiches

kath’s crantastic crockpot chicken (the breasts were wonderfully done after 4-5 hours on high. perfect texture)

roasted brussels sprouts with bacon, balsamic and cranberries

pureed squash (still unsure of what variety it was, as i bought it from the farmer’s market a month ago and i don’t remember what they told me. it looks kind of like a buttercup, but it was orange. i don’t love buttercup squash and i didn’t love this one, but the texture was lovely. the taste was odd. jon liked it)

a pumpkin pie (though i always make it with a crust, half of this recipe)

now i’m resting on the couch, playing some online games and waiting for my pie to be finished. i still have very little energy and my right calf is quite sore. 4 hours of crazy dancing will do this to me, apparently. my impromptu living room dance parties are insufficient training. i promise to try and be a better blogger tomorrow! we won’t talk about the lost 2 days, nablo. i’ll make it up somehow. promise.

i’ve been feeling a little blah lately – due to a large number of things like the cold weather, the rain, the dark + dreariness, work stress, the end of my running season, etc etc etc. i try to keep reminding myself that i have things really good. that i have no reason to be sad about stuff (well. i guess i do, see above). maybe what it actually is is that i should be making those little things bring the rest of me down. i stumbled on a blog (can’t remember how, but it’s a valuable part of my google reader now!) called: The Happiness Project – full of tips on how to be happier and create your own happiness. i love it. the author has personal commandments (starting with: “Be Gretchen” and ending with “There is only one love.” with “Do what ought to be done” somewhere in the middle. These are good commandments. It’s a religion I could really get on board with). There are four splendid truths and many inspirational quotes.

although i don’t agree with everything she writes, i have learned some really great, useful things. the post that seems to have stuck with me the most this week (from my perusal of the archives) is the 5 happiness boosters that do more harm than good:

1) comforting yourself with a treat. often the treats aren’t good for us. the pleasure lasts a minute but the feelings of guilt, loss of control and other negative consequences just deepen the lousiness of the day.

(i say comfort yourself with some yoga. or a bubble bath)

2) letting yourself of the hook. when you’re trying to create good habits, occassionally you’ll have a bad day – like “i don’t feel like going for a run tonight, so i’ll stay in and watch tv instead.” or, “i can fold the laundry tomorrow night instead” (this one is real). gretchen says: sticking to a resolution will boost your sense of self-esteem and self-control. So NOT letting yourself off the hook might do more to boost your happiness.

i will go fold my laundry when i am done the post.

3) turning off your phone. we all have those days when we don’t really want to talk to anyone, but though it can be tempting to isolate yourself when you’re feeling crappy, you are better off making plans with friends and family.

4) expressing your negative emotions.

Many people believe in the “catharsis hypothesis” and think that expressing anger is healthy-minded and relieves their feelings. Not so. Studies show that expressing anger only aggravates it; as Plutarch observed, “Anger, while in its beginning, often can be ended by silence, or neglect.” I’ve certainly found this to be true; once I get going, I can whip myself into a fury. It’s better to stay calm.

i find this is totally how i make myself feel more sad and upset when i am a little bit sad or upset. i will think about some little thing to tell someone about and then as i keep expanding on it and adding to it, my situation becomes worse. i will try to stay calm more often and focus more on things that make me happy. puppies and sunshine and lollypops.

5) staying in your pyjamas all day. although it can be fun to lounge around all day in your jammies, if you are feeling lethargic, powerless or directionless, not getting dressed will only make it worse!

so true! right? so i’m working on my own happiness project. i’ll share more as it grows. the first part is a resolution chart that i got from gretchen who created a year’s worth of month by month resolutions. (you can email her if you want to see them – the information is at the bottom of every post on her blog). each month had a theme, an inspirational quote to go with the theme and several resolutions for the month. her january (“Clear my closets”) was a perfect model for my november, so i created my very first month.

my plan is that at the end of the month, if i have at least 150 X, i will do something special, just for me. i will also be able to judge, at the end of the month, whether this method works for me. i am hoping that it will help me change and create some new, good habits because god knows, i need to watch less tv, do more yoga, and get better about keeping my house in order.

how are you going to make yourself happier?