And so. . .The Adventure Begins

I miss this.

I let my domain name expire and have gone back to the old school blog.  The one I started right before this whole adventure began.  The one I still can’t figure out how to tag and add widgets to.  The one that doesn’t cost any money to maintain or make me feel pressured to understand SEO or any other social media terminology.

Ah, it feels good to be back to the green screen with the goofy smiles of my husband and his buddies at my all-dudes yoga class a few years back at the boxing gym in my hometown.

I guess I’m just looking for some kind of grounding, constant thing that I can rely on while everything is changing on me – my body, my location, my roles, my routines, my jobs.  When I stopped blogging 6 months ago, it was because I’m a horrible secret keeper, and I had too many secrets to keep.  There was too much on my mind that writing about green smoothies and yoga poses would somehow include hints about the baby I was secretly growing in my belly, and the potential move across the country that we had no idea we’d be making a year ago, and even 6 months ago weren’t really sure what we’d be doing and where.  It was just easier not to let my fingers touch the keypad at all.

I wanted to, though.  I had so many ideas about what to write about while I was struggling through morning sickness and falling asleep and/or snacking on my mat rather than practicing (but then discovering how amazing it felt when I actually had the energy/stomach to flow through some poses.  It was comical how drastic my diet changed due to my inability to stomach anything that didn’t have ketchup on it, so when I discovered Juice Plus+ I wanted to shout it from the rooftops I was so happy to be getting the nutrition from fruits and vegetables again!  When I started feeling great on the inside, but lousy when I looked at the scale or in the mirror at my changing body that did/does NOT look like the cute little basketball-bellied friends of mine, I wanted to share my internal battle with body image and self confidence.  I saw a chiropractor for the first time ever, whose adjustments helped my round ligament pain and an old rugby neck injury tremendously, and I wanted you to know!  My friends and family laugh at how calm and relaxed I am when we have 5 days to pack up our house, 3 days to drive across the country (6 months pregnant, with two dogs), and hopefully find a place to live sometime shortly after that.  I want to share my strategy for not letting the stress of our situation get to me, because I’m not quite sure how long my ignorant bliss will last!

Basically. . . . I’m back. . . . and I hope you are, too

It’s about time for another adventure. . . .

Read Well/Live Well Book Club

All of these rainy mornings lately have made me want to do nothing but snuggle up with a good book.  The Fifty Shades trilogy is great and all (and by great I don’t mean the writing), but when you are a huge health nerd like I am, your Kindle Account is probably filled with books like Robb Wolf’s “The Paleo Diet Solution”, a couple Brian Tracy and Michael Pollen books, “Mind Body Mastery” by Dan Millman, possibly the Baghavad Gita and/or a variation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and the newest to the collection – “It Starts With Food”, by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig.  Oh, don’t worry, I have all three Fifty Shades books too.

I love reading books like these because they are inspiring.  The more I read, the more I know, and the more I get an idea about different points of view or different ideas about things.  If you only read one person’s blog about something like the Paleo diet, you are only getting one person’s experience and interpretation of it.  The same thing goes for yoga, or anything for that matter.  The best thing you can do is to maintain an open mind, and keep filling that open mind with new, interesting information so that you can process, analyze, and adapt all of these ideas into your own perspective.

It also helps to talk through some of these different ideas with other like-minded people.  I remember when I read the Baghavad Gita, and I would try to talk to Dave about bits and pieces of the book that struck my attention, or confused me, or made me question some things.  If you’ve ever read this book, you could only imagine how funny/frustrating it would be to try to have a conversation with someone who is not reading the book, nor even familiar with the general story.  It would have been helpful to be able to chat with someone else who was reading the book, and understood the meaning behind the story (sorry Dave!).

Now, I know my book choices are kind of all over the place between food, yoga, self-help-y books, and books about athletics, but if you read my blog, you might like these books, too!

ONLY ONE PROBLEM!!

I  have never been in a book club.  I know, how sad!  I like reading, I have friends who like reading. . .why have we never done this!?  So, I’m not really sure how it works.  Can we have a book club where some members are not local?  Sure!  We’ll figure it out.  Can we just pick and choose which books we want to hop in on?  Yes.  I know not everyone combines the love of Paleo and Yoga like I do, so I would totally understand if some of you wouldn’t want to read the Yoga Sutras or something about eating grass-fed beef.  I get that, and it’s cool if you want to just read those books that spark your interest and participate in those discussions and skip out on others.  Before I get too into the rules and regulations, I want to first make sure there are actually people out there who are interested!  Then, we’ll get down to business.

This is how it will work:

Step 1:  Choose a book.  This month, since it’s already on my Kindle, I choose “It Starts With Food” by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig.  Next month, your choice! (However, I have been promised an early edition of Diane Sanfilippo’s book “Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle”that’s due out in August for review, so that’s got to be on the list!)  In the future, I’d like to hear from YOU what you’d like to read.  Then, we’ll vote.  If you don’t tell me, I get to pick again!

Step 2:  Read book.  Think about things.  Take some notes.  Maybe I’ll make a Facebook page where we can post about things as we read them?  I’m just brainstorming here, but I’ll ask the book club experts what they think.

Step 3:  Meet virtually or in person, discuss book, possibly drink wine, then start brainstorming our next book to read! 

REPEAT.  My goal is to keep this going strong at least up until the holidays.  Can we do it?!  You bet.

If you are interested, leave me a comment here or on my Facebook page.  You can either say, “Sign me up! I ordered my book and I’m ready to read!”  or maybe, “I’ve already read it but would love to join in the discussion!” or, “I want to join your book club, but I don’t really want to read the first book you chose, so when you chose something I want to read, I’m in!”.  Also, feel free to suggest any books that you’d like to read in the health and wellness field, and I’ll add them to the list!  If you know me, you know how much I love lists. . .

Then, I’ll learn how to host a book club and get back to you.

Okay, let’s do this!

Stand Up Paddleboard Yoga (SUP-YO!)

My alarm went off at 6:00am on Sunday morning.  It was easy for me to wake up, because I was excited about my morning adventure:  Yoga on a paddleboard out on the ocean!  It must be early, because even the dogs don’t want to be up yet. . .

My main focus for the day is BALANCE, so I’ll start that off with a balanced breakfast that includes protein, carbohydrate, and fat.  I grab two hard-boiled eggs, a sliced orange, a few pecans, and a big travel mug of coffee with a splash of organic cream to take with my on the trek to the north shore.

I arrive at Paddleboard New England before it’s even open, so I decide to take the opportunity to enjoy my coffee overlooking the harbor.  I would like to do this every morning.

Jana from Sup Yo/Ananda Yoga shows up soon after my final drops of caffeine are consumed, and we get started filling out waivers, bringing the boards down to the water, and sizing for paddles.

After a quick paddle and safety lesson, we’re off on our boards, paddling toward our destination.

We find a calm, quiet spot right off the coast to drop our anchors.  Our surroundings are beautiful, and the occasional kayak-er paddles by with a smile and a wave.  We begin in a seated meditation, and Jana prompts us to feel the sun on our faces, wind in our hair, and the ocean beneath our boards.  The sound of the boats and the birds fade away from our consciousness as we focus on the sound of our ujjayi breathing, mimicking the sounds of the ocean.

Transitioning from pose to pose takes a little more mindfulness and a whole lot more core engagement on a paddleboard.  Jana takes us through the class in a sequence that allows us to get comfortable with our balance first, before introducing some more challenging poses.

Savasana was unreal. . . Lying prone on our boards, we look like a couple beach bums soaking up the warm morning sun.  I let my fingers dip into the ocean and realize that any yoga class after this one will be tough to compare. . .

If you’ve ever considered trying yoga on a paddleboard, this is a great class to go to.  Check out www.anandayoga.us for all of Jana’s offerings, which include SUP-YO, as well as yoga hikes, private yoga, retreats and more.  If you’re not quite ready to bust out poses on a board, but want to learn to paddle, you can rent a board or take a lesson from Paddleboard New England which is located in Beverly, MA.

Summer is here!  Spend it out on the water.  Namaste. . . 

Studio vs. Home Practice

I love yoga.  In fact, I even wrote yoga a thank you note after a much-needed class recently.  It went something like this:

Dear Yoga,

Thank you. . .

Always & forever,
Mindy

and it got 9 “likes” on my Facebook page, so clearly others feel the same way.

The class that inspired the note was on a day that was particularly stressful.  Now, I lead a pretty chill life, and despite the fact that my husband is in Afghanistan, I don’t really have much to be stressed about.  However, sometimes things creep up, and sometimes I take on the stress of others around me more so than I should allow, so that day I found myself a little too wound up, clutter-brained, and negative, which are all feelings I don’t do too well with.  Usually, when I find myself in that state, the last thing I want to do is yoga.  I know, I know, most people go to yoga primarily for the stress reduction aspect of it, but I find that a long run, a boxing class, or a really tough WOD clear my mind more efficiently than a yoga class does.

Or so I had thought!

I had been dealing with a lot of stress this past winter, with the upcoming deployment plus the unknown of where I’d be and when over the next few months, year, two years. . . . and I was stressed because I didn’t have a good outlet.  I wasn’t running much because I was having some funky foot pain, and I wasn’t doing much CrossFit because I was working at the gym and teaching yoga there, so any other time I had, I didn’t really want to be at the gym!  I was trying to keep up with my home yoga practice, but I would find that I wouldn’t find my flow, I would get distracted, or I would find another reason to stop.

The dogs need to go out,

I should make more almond butter,

My internet connection is slow so the streamed class is freezing and it’s not helping me get zen,

I’m hungry/thirsty/hot/cold/bored/etc.,

Dave’s home, I should spend as much time with him as I can before he leaves,

Is that dust under the table? I should probably clean my whole house instead of do this,

I don’t like this teacher/class/DVD/website,

I don’t like thinking up my own practice,

I wish this room was heated,

. . . . and last but not least, I wouldn’t like where my mind would go sometimes when it would be working toward getting quiet.  All of my thoughts that I would push down all day long – my fears, my worries, my stress – they would all of a sudden come to the forefront of my consciousness and they were uncomfortable to confront.

So, I bailed on my home practice.

Once or twice I did make the trek to a studio that was over a half hour away from me, because it had heat, an instructor, and a community of fellow yogis.

It made a world of difference. . .

Now that I am up north, I have had more convenient opportunities to practice in studios, and I don’t know if it is the sweat, the group environment, or having an instructor right there leading you through a class, but I am completely able to drop in and receive all of the awesomeness that is a yoga class.  I would chose a studio class over a home practice ANY day.

However, there are many benefits to a home practice, and some may do better on their own than in a class environment.  Here are a few examples of someone who might want to give a home practice a try.

-Do you push yourself beyond limitations to “show off” or just because you are inspired by the group setting? To be honest, I’m a sucker for this is in any other setting, but for some reason I do alright in a yoga class.  Maybe it’s because yoga for me is to heal my body from the beat-downs I give it elsewhere, but I don’t feel the need to push or compete in yoga.  In CrossFit on the other hand, I need to learn how to listen to my body better, and not worry about how much weight is on the other girl’s bar.  If you can’t help but glance at the person on the mat next to you and if she’s standing on her head, you bet your butt you’re going to give it a try. . .a home practice might be a safer environment, because you won’t feel that need to go above and beyond and potentially hurt yourself.

-Are you a dude? Sometimes, guys don’t feel comfortable in a class setting because they might be the only guy, or they are worried about how much they are sweating, or the teacher might be super cute and they don’t want them touching their sweaty, smelly feet.  If THAT is what is holding you back from taking a yoga class, PLEASE try some home practices, because you shouldn’t feel intimidated by yoga just because of the people around you.  However, once you feel comfortable, please come take a yoga class at a studio.  Guys doing yoga makes me so happy, and as an instructor, I promise you that no one cares how sweaty you are, or will think any less of you because you can’t touch your toes.

-Is there something you hate about typical yoga studios, such as the music, incense, chanting, being touched/adjusted, hearing other people’s loud breathing, etc.?  Maybe incense give you a headache, or the music distracts you, or maybe you’ve had a bad experience where you passed gas in class, or fell onto your neighbor trying to do a headstand.  At home, you can be as flatulent as you want, and topple over without fear of injuring anyone around you.  You can also chose your own tunes, light your own candles, Om or not Om.  You can make up your own practice, watch your favorite DVD, or maybe stream an online class where you can pick from a 15-minute slow flow to a 90-minute challenging sequence.  Maybe you just want to meditate, or lay down with your legs up the wall for 20 minutes?  With a home practice, you have more freedom. 

Now, at different times of my life, a home practice has been wonderful.  When I can’t afford to go to a studio, or my schedule doesn’t allow me the time, or maybe I’m just not feeling like being around other people but still want to do yoga.  I love that the option is always there to practice at home if I chose to.

So what do you prefer?  What have been your experiences with home practice vs. studio classes (or even classes at the gym, which have a totally different list of pros and cons!)?  If you are new to yoga or have never tried, which do you think you would feel more comfortable doing?

Whether you are getting on your mat in your living room or at your favorite studio. . . . keep it up!  Namaste

A Paleo Yogi – Part III

Wow, that month went by quickly! Here are some of my observations, and the conclusion to my little paleo experiment.

• You feel better when you avoid grains and dairy.  At least I do, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you do, too.

• Sometimes, you eat them anyways, because you are either 1) Lazy, and didn’t have something better for you prepared.  2) Have severe FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and can’t resist being the only one to not have a piece of baby shower cake.  3) Find yourself doubting if grains and dairy really do affect you and feel the need to challenge your hypothesis over and over again only to realize that yes, you do in fact feel better when you don’t eat those things

• Beer is not Paleo (it’s made from grains!)  However, wine is okay, right??  Whiskey, unfortunately, is not paleo.  Tequila, on the other hand. . . . Just kidding guys.  Alcohol leads to all kinds of bad things.  It was probably the #1 reason for any non-paleo food consumption over the past month.

• All in all, it really isn’t that hard to avoid grains, dairy and legumes.  I’ve had bun-less burgers, burritos with no rice, cheese, beans, or wrap, and sushi rolls with no rice. . . . it can be done!  And really, FOMO is all in your head.

So, after a month of more pseudo-paleo eating (yup, I don’t do well with the rigid, disciplined eating stuff apparently), what was the outcome?  Did I lose weight?  Kill sugar cravings?  Feel better? Sleep better? Lift heavier?

Yooouuuuuu bet!!

I honestly wasn’t expecting to have any great results considering I “cheated” every now and then, but it just goes to show that there is definitely something to be said for the 80:20 rule.  I’m down 3-4 pounds, can eat a meal without NEEDING chocolate afterwards, I’ve been feeling great during workouts (except for a few boxing sessions where I had just eating some leftovers that contained non-paleo ingredients!), and I have noticed that I sleep much better when I don’t have things like pizza for dinner.

I plan to continue to strive toward a dairy-free, grain-free, legume-free, very low sugar way of eating.  I plan to continue to move my body regularly, and sweat frequently.  I also plan to enjoy some Sam Summer’s with friends when the mood strikes, but I’ll try to plan better as to avoid the pizza and cheese dip consumption. . . because some things are worth it, but some things are not.

I also plan to blog more about yoga!  Get excited.

so simple. so paleo

A Paleo Yogi – Part II

It has been almost a year since I fully committed to a Paleo Lifestyle.  Unfortunately, the commitment only really lasted about a month.

It happened to be the same month that Dave was in the field for a few weeks.  Funny how that works

While he was in the field, he would call every now and then and I would rave about how great I felt without grains and dairy in my life.  I even ran the Army 10 Miler with abundant energy and a good pace for me, and recovered quickly.  Muscle definition from squats and pullups were starting to peak through going on my second month of regular CrossFit workouts.  Most importantly, my insane chocolate cravings were slowly fading, and I truly enjoyed eating REAL foods.  Especially bacon.  I wish I could report about numbers on the scale going down, but I wasn’t really weighing myself at the time so I can only go by how I felt – which was pretty great.

Dave returned from the field, and after weeks of eating MRE’s he was eager to try my new grain-free, dairy-free recipes.  How could he complain about bacon and beef jerky?  He was happy.  But the Italian in him really missed pizza, and once that wheat and cheese hit our taste buds, we slowly spiraled back into our old ways.  I bought him cereal and sandwich bread again, and pizza made more appearances on the menu than I’d like the admit.

I maintained a mostly gluten and dairy free diet knowing that my body is much happier that way, but I have been far from “legit Paleo” since that month last June.  Chocolate chips by the handful are NOT Paleo. . .

The reason for Paleo Yogi – Part II (Part I you can find here) is because I would really like to use myself as an experiment.  I’ve been frequently asked about this diet lifestyle because I write about it a lot, but I worry that people aren’t as willing to give it a try because I haven’t lost weight.  I also haven’t given the lifestyle a true chance to make a difference!  I know that I felt great when I tried it before, but as experiments go, I had no controlled variables.  It could have been the exercise (CrossFit and training for 10 miler), or the weather (who wants to eat in 99% humidity?), or just the simple fact that Dave wasn’t there to drink wine with or make pancakes for!  I also had no numbers to go by in terms of pre- and post testing.  This time, I’ll use the Scientific Method and have a real experiment, which I will have to Google since it’s been a long time since 7th grade science class. . . .

I am motivated to do this now because one of my best friends is getting married in a month, and I have a hot pink dress hanging in my closet that is a wee bit snug at the moment.  I don’t usually like posting about weight loss and dieting and all of that, because I am a huge advocate for positive body image and a healthy self-esteem, but I have other motives for this experiment than solely rocking this hot pink dress in a month.  They are the following:

*Look hot in hot pink (this had to show up somewhere on the list, or else I’d be lying)

*Be able to share my experience with others who might benefit from a Paleo diet

*Restore a healthy digestive system

*Reduce sugar/chocolate cravings

*Take note on how the body systems are effected (such as the effects on hormones, immunity/inflammation response, circulation, digestion, etc.)

So, Scientific Method, meet my Paleo challenge. . .

site

Ask a Question – Will eating a Paleo diet result in weight loss and optimal health and performance for me?

Do Background Research – I have read Robb Wolf’s Paleo Diet Solution, as well as followed many Paleo blogs over this past year.

Hypothesis – I will lose weight and eliminate sugar cravings.

Experiment - No grains, dairy, sugar, soy or legumes.  Will consume eggs, meat, vegetables, fat 3-4 times a day.  Variables: exercise, sleep, hydration, stress.  Pre-post test: Weight & Measurements, Hot Pink Dress Test, possible strength & endurance test.

The rest I will post on A Paleo Yogi – Part III!!

Hopefully this challenge will prove to be a little more successful than that time I committed to a month-long detox that lasted for about 47 minutes. . .whoops. . .

Upside Down

I feel as though I’ve been in headstand for about a month now.  Everything is new and different, but old and similar at the same time.

I catch myself forgetting sometimes that I don’t really live here, and that I have a house of my own (well, technically it’s the Army’s) in a completely different state.

I forget that Dave is in Afghanistan sometimes, and not just away at Basic Training.

I forget that I’m 26 years old, and married.  Holy crap, I’ve been married for almost two years!  Where did the time go?

That’s what it feels like to be in headstand.  When you exhale your tenth (or however many) breath and think, how did I just stay upside down for that long??  Things look and feel so different when you are inverted, and its strange but cool.  You can’t really think about it at the time, because you are standing on your head, and if your mind wanders you won’t be on your head for too much longer.  When you come down and press your forehead to the ground as your settle into child’s pose, that’s when you feel the shift in perspective.  That’s when you drop into reality, but with a new sense of clarity.  That’s when those a-ha! moments happen.

The past month has been a series of a-ha moments for me.  I’ve revised my goals, taken some critical action steps, and have embarked on a new, yet old, path.

That’s the beauty of inversions.  You don’t move.  Things don’t change.  You just see things differently, because you change your perspective.  That’s what it has been like to come back here, especially after being away – liking returning to child’s pose after being upside down for a while.

There are many ways of practicing inversions without actually standing on your head, which might not be ideal for everyone.  Here are a variety of examples on how to get upside down (from Yoga Journal Magazine), but the key is to be aware of not only your physical alignment in the pose, but also the alignment of your thoughts and feelings before, after, and during.  Make sure to spend plenty of time in child’s pose post-inversion, and allow your thoughts to settle, like a snow globe that has just been shaken up!

Lastly, here are the lyrics to Jack Johnson’s “Upside Down”, which always makes me want to stand on my head and take on the world. . . .

“Upside Down”

Who’s to say
What’s impossible
Well they forgot
This world keeps spinning
And with each new day
I can feel a change in everything
And as the surface breaks reflections fade
But in some ways they remain the same
And as my mind begins to spread its wings
There’s no stopping curiosity

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I’ll find the things they say just can’t be found
I’ll share this love I find with everyone
We’ll sing and dance to Mother Nature’s songs
I don’t want this feeling to go away

Who’s to say
I can’t do everything
Well I can try
And as I roll along I begin to find
Things aren’t always just what they seem

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I’ll find the things they say just can’t be found
I’ll share this love I find with everyone
We’ll sing and dance to Mother Nature’s songs
This world keeps spinning and there’s no time to waste
Well it all keeps spinning spinning round and round and

Upside down
Who’s to say what’s impossible and can’t be found
I don’t want this feeling to go away

Please don’t go away
Please don’t go away
Please don’t go away
Is this how it’s supposed to be
Is this how it’s supposed to be