What I did: A 41 minute Intermediate-Advanced Yoga Practice that was available on my Xfinity Demand
Intention: To fulfill my 90 day plan requirements without having to leave the house or think for myself.
Results: Intention Acheived
Is there anything else?
Of course there is. Last night my goal for today was to go for another run. IN fact, my promise to myself was to honor my friend Cathy Hunter Adolph who, like a warrior, ran on an ultra team in the Ragnar Relay yesterday. My plan was to go out for my ususal 3 mile path and not stop, no matter what, which would have been easy for Cathy, but super hard for me. The race she did yesterday is total insanity: 24 hours, from Madison to Chicago, 6 runners on an ultra team take turns. It can also be completed with 12 runners. That almost seems fathomable to me....maybe next year. Although, no sleep for 24 hours combined with running seems like a formula for injury.
This morning, however, the idea of running didn't seem right. It's really hot out. I woke up at 6:30 and just laid there, completely relaxed. I'm sure most of you know how rare it is to have complete stillness. As a woman who manages a staff of almost 20 instructors, has a goofy high energy boyfriend, and plans to have chidren sometime in the next few years...I have to embrace stillness and silence when the gift of it is in my presence. The boyfriend is out of town. The dog already is sluggish and lazy from the heat. So I chose this morning to embrace waking up pain free, relaxed, and happy from 6:30 to about 9am as a two and a half hour freeform savasana, drifting in and out of consciousness So the idea of loud music and driving through the heat with my legs seemed inappropriately brutal to my mental and physical state.
I also sometimes need an entire day where I don't deal with people. So I scrolled through the on demand options and decided on this workout. I didn't expect it to be very challenging because when I had looked through the options a few years ago, they were what you would expect., innocuously safe. This is for good reason You don't want the average person trying to do handstands and headstands without someone to call the hospital nearby if something goes awry. I was pleased to find that this practice included both handstands and headstands, which are way too challenging for me at this point, since I haven't dones yoga in almost 3 years. I know. When I did the math I was surprised, too. That, however, serves the purpose of setting this challenge for myself. I am discovering so much just by setting the intention to move for at least 30 minutes every day.
Back to the topic of having onDemand fitness, there's something I hear from time to time out of instructors mouths, and it really rubs me the wrong way. I hear them say things like, "Doing a video is pointless, you're never going to do it right." I think that undermines your ultimate goal as a mind-body instructor. Sure, it's good for your financial bottom line to convince your clients that they could never do these things without you, but ultimately it's a dysfunctional codependant relationship that you are setting them up for. I believe that we should be arming people to eventually not need us. On that same note, I overheard another instructor poo-pooing online trainings for Pilates Instruction. I think I understand what they are getting at, but I think that they oversimplify. Of course, private session is better than doing a class which is better than doing a video at home. The same thing for teacher training. I would probably never hire someone who had done their entire certification online, but once you have a strong background, I think that online materials and self study are successful tools for most instructors to use. So, as such, I believe in anything that will get a person moving. If having an on demand workout to follow along with is the thing that gets anyone further off the sofa and into the world. Good for them.
As far as the actual yoga practice, I forgot how challenging yoga can be. As I'm holding a pose, shaking, and working to still my breath, I realized that yoga is a way to clean out your mental closet. At first, I was thinking, "This shouldn't be so hard." But as I was able to relase and find the stillness, I realized how much mental clutter was leaving my universe. I can think of a few people right now that I think should do a little more yoga, smoke a few less smokey treats, eat fewer buritos, and drink fewer beers. It would do them a world of good. Although these are the same friends that probably look at my tweet/ facebook page and think, "There goes Lisa again being all serious about what she does."
Well, that's about all I've got for now. Now back to my regularly scheduled day of doing whatever I feel like. XOXO.
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