I've turned into a 'poser' (in a good way...)

So I have been doing a lot of thinking lately and sometime last week I started throwing around the idea of being a Bikram teacher. For those of you who don't know, Bikram is a specific form of yoga that includes 26 poses and 2 breathing exercises, all which are done in a 105 degree room with 40% humidity. Each class lasts exactly 90 minutes.

I love bikram and it is literally changing my life. I went from not being able to sit down for more than 10 minutes without ending up with a stiff back that made me walk around like an old lady, to having no problem at all with lower back pain. At 23 it seemed unacceptable that if I sat down to pee in the morning I had to walk, hunched-over to the shower and couldn't straighten my back out for a few minutes. As much as I love running and p90x and insanity and all those crazy workouts I would do, it seems that Bikram is the perfect fit for me.

In the past month I have never shied away from going to a class. I look forward to being all hot and sweaty 1) because it opens up my pores and helps you get clearer skin (added bonus!) 2) it really increases my flexibility and range of motion. I would dread warming up for practice or the first 5 minutes of a run because my back was always so stiff that it seemed to take forever to simply get normal mobility. The best thing about bikram is that I leave every class feeling better than when I went in and stronger and with a larger range of motion than the day before.

The other day the teacher in my class said something that really interested me about how we spend the majority of our lives 'forward bending' (i.e. shoulders hunched forward sitting in a chair, back rounded forward sitting on a couch) and we rarely ever get into backward bending.

Example:

Ok so this does look a little bit drastic and it is fairly advanced, but when you actually think about it, we rarely ever backward bend in our daily lives. The lack of backward bending causes the discs in between our vertebrae wear unevenly, compressing only one part of our discs as we forward bend.....resulting in lots of back problems. In bikram there is a good amount of backward bending that pushes you to increase flexibility and open up different parts of your spinal column. Personally I have mild scoliosis, 2 bulging discs, chronic lower back spasms and every disc in my back is irregular/abnormal (the doc said it was the worst back he had every seen of someone my age after looking at my MRI). So in lieu of this diagnosis (and the threat of surgery or constant pain medication) I decided to return to yoga as a more low-key form of exercise to reduce the constant loading and pounding on my spine.

While I was right about the decrease in loading and pounding on my spine, I was VERY wrong about the 'low key' part. Every class I feel challenged in the 105 degree room (those who know me know that I am already flexible so this says a lot) and my body is stronger than it ever was!

So, here I stand now, after only a month of returning to Bikram, pain-free, more flexible, more energized and healthier than ever. After 5 years of tearing up my body playing college lacrosse I have finally found something that works for me and I encourage you to check it out.

The studio I practice at is Bikram Annapolis and if you want more info on bikram yoga, visit the official website.

A quote by Bikram Choudhury, the founder of Bikram, often cited about the yoga practice is:

It's never too late, it's never too bad, and you're never too old or sick to start from scratch once again.

Think about it.

Love Babies

Well first-off, I want to give a shout out to my #1 love baby, Alexandra Mavris. I'm not exactly sure how it started that we give each other this name, but we were born on the same day (November 10) and we are both love babies. What is a love baby you might ask?

love baby [luh-ve bay-bee] noun. A person who was born around the 14th of November which is exactly 9 months after February 14th (aka Valentine's Day), which means you were conceived out of love on v-day.

**Alex, feel free to fact-check this definition because I didn't run it by you before posting it.

Alex and I are love babies and I always think of it when Valentine's day rolls around every year, so I decided to blog about it. I have 2 other friends who were also born on November 10th, which provides even more proof that Valentine's day was a driving force behind our existence.

In other news, I know a lot of people who are pregnant right now. Perhaps I am more aware because I am starting to like babies more and before I ignored it when people I knew were pregnant. But it seems there must have been something in the water around April-May 2010.

sidenote: I never held a newborn baby until my sophomore year of college and I was terrible at it. I held the baby like a sack of flour and I had a super human grip on him because I was so nervous. He almost immediately started crying and, since I didn't know what to do, I was forced to give up the little bundle of love (Brody and I have a much better relationship now that he is grown). So....if you have a baby and you are tired of holding it yourself, I would be happy to come over and hold it for you so I can learn.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. Two of my terp alums (fertile turtles) are preggo and both of my boyfriend's sisters are due soon. I went from knowing no one that was pregnant, to knowing 4 people! Although I am not related in any way to their babies about to be born, I am very excited for their arrivals. So good luck to Brooke, Kirah, Shavon and Desi in the coming weeks!! I can't wait to meet Elle, Bam Bam, Trevor and Baby M :)

sidenote #2: One time I went on a date with a guy who had a son. We had some things in common but at times I was struggling for conversation topics. He told me all about his son and what a blessing he was, and then I continued to tell him how I could relate because when I got Lola (my 2 yr old Morkie) I hardly got any sleep and she was so much work. After those words left my mouth I realized that that probably wasn't the best comparison to make in that situation.

Ok so I think that last little aside completes my thoughts for the day. As Valentine's Day draws closer don't forget tall those love babies out there, new and old, who are here today because of that very special holiday.

**This just in: Kirah had her baby and his name is not "bam bam" anymore but Kingston Miles George!! Congrats!

Words

When I was in college, I had favorite words (like many of my teammates). My list of favorite words were as follows:

elephants

walk and shake

ball hunt

one-and-done (it's a word)

These words meant that the hard stuff was over and I had survived another workout or practice. Whether it was the end of a dynamic warm-up with my aging and achy body last year ('elephants')...or the end of a long practice ('ball hunt') ...or the last rep of the 100's (one-and-done), these words were always my favorite.

However, since I have stopped working out like I used to and have switched to bikram I now get very excited for words like:

savasana (a pose in yoga where lie on your back to rest)

namaste

cold towels

It's funny how things change so quickly. I used to be all about working out and running and lifting but I am thoroughly enjoying my new set of words to go with my new choice of working out. For now, we will see how long this new passion for yoga lasts and if I will return to the old standby- a pair of sock, sneakers and a jog (with a soft 'j').

Changing my life: one pose at a time

On January 17th I started Bikram yoga again. I have done it at a few different times in my life... starting with 6am classes with Kearny at Takoma Park Bikram in 2007(hah!) and now I am practicing at Bikram Annapolis. After my Christmas break and trip to Charleston filled with lots of good food and me in a boot, unable to do anything, I needed something good to get me back in shape and detox my body for a bit.

Enter: Bikram yoga.

The first few classes were a bit rough- I was dizzy, tired and dehydrated, but lately things have been changing. Yesterday I got new shorts at Lululemon to wear in class and I put on my leopard sports bra and things were looking up. My roomie Lizzie came with me to class too so I was extra excited to have a yoga friend. Also today, I think I did my best ever Locust Pose (salabhasana) and Standing Boat Pose (Dandayamana-Dhanuransana).... if you've never seen them they look like this:


this is locust pose


this is standing boat pose

I was really excited because I have never gotten my feet as high as I got them today in locust pose and I held the boat pose for a long time and even got a "good job" from the teacher. Anyway, that was the most exciting thing that has happened in my weekend- pretty crazy huh? I think one day...if I save up a ton of money and have nothing to do, I might become a Bikram yoga teacher. I love the sweating and wearing spandex and the 105 degree room in the middle of winter. I definitely recommend trying it!!

Vegas Baby!

Last weekend I went to Vegas and had a blast. Partied a little. Laxed a little. Ate good food. But I have to say that for someone with (self-diagnosed) ADD it is complete overstimulation on all fronts......

The flashing lights on everything.
The drunk people doing crazy stuff everywhere 24/7.
The video billboards everywhere.
The casinos with their crazy themes (volcanos, water shows, pirate ships etc).
The DJ's playing music in every language imaginable.
The people at the craps table going nuts while I'm trying to count the numbers on my cards during black jack to see if I have 21.
Beatles love and the 20 different people doing 20 completely different things.
The bartenders swinging above the bar on tire swings.
Even the candy store had so many colors and choices and candies I didn't even know what to do with myself (they even had white chocolate covered gummie bears).

So Vegas wore me out. I loved it but after 3 days I was 100% ready to get back to real life. When they say "what happens in vegas stays in Vegas"....well that would be my voice. I left my voice in Vegas and it has yet to return to full strength. In short, I will leave this post with a photo that helps to explain the type of shenanigans I got into which resulted in a total destruction of my vocal chords.



Final thought: How do people live there and stay alive?

On the Road Again...

VS.



Something just happened that was so monumental that I just HAD to blog about it.

I saved $100 switching my car insurance to Progressive.

Crazy. I know. And what is also crazy is that my car insurance was high enough that I could save $100 and still have money to pay out, haha.
Yes, I have had a few accidents in my day, but I am hoping that those days are behind me.
Yes, it is true that you can name your price with Progressive- although I may have signed away my life with this new policy.
Yes, I am actually wondering right now why I did not name a lower price just to see how low it will go. I don't exactly know why I settled on the price that I did. Perhaps I will be writing back soon that I saved even more money...but for now, if you are paying too much for car insurance, visit www.progressive.com and name your price.

Das Boot

Yet again I find myself avoiding work. I swear I love what I am studying but I do need a good amount of study breaks to get me through a full day of academic writing.

I decided I would write about the recent addition to my wardrobe. The Boot (aka das boot)


I'm in Charleston with Ram (he already won Boyfriend of the Year 2010 and he is the frontrunner for BOY2011) and when I got here we got ambitious and went for a run together. I felt great after the run so the next day I dabbled in the fitness room at his condo and ellipticalled for a bit. Which, may I add, elliptical is a non-impact workout that places little stress on the body so when I couldn;t walk the next day I was kind of surprised. Thankfully, although this was 2 days before NYE my foot injury only hurt when I walked flat footed but felt fine when I was on the balls on my feet- so I was able to wear my 4 inch nude pumps pain free.


Unfortunately 2 days later I really couldn't walk. Went to a foot doc. Got an xray. Found out I have a stress reaction (not too serious) and tendonitis in my peronaeus brevis so I got booted. The boot makes it hurt less but it's awkward and kinda sucks. The only positive in this whole situation is that I get to wear spandex everyday because they are easy to wear with a boot and still pretty fashionable. So for the next 2 weeks I am in tunics and spandys. Sawwie I'm not sawwie.