On the bright side, I got most of the heavy lifting done this week. All that’s left is purging the files and fixing the paperwork. Heh. ALL.

As for now, I’m enjoying a nice cold beer, awaiting some company and contemplating which book I’ll be reading next.

As a public service announcement: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is out on DVD. If you’ve been on the fence, rent it.

First video attempt – let me know if it’s helpful or what I can do to make it better!

That said, vacation was a kick in the ass. Time to refresh everything all over, albeit without nearly as much rain as Seattle sees, and I started today. Woke up, finished reading a book, cleaned up the kitchen and then started on our bedroom. Dusted and swept everywhere, got up the rugs for washing, stripped the bedding and mattress pad for washing (which it’s doing right now) and as soon as that room’s done I’ll move to the next.

The basement bedroom, like two of the upstairs rooms, has a mirrored set of sliding closet doors. It’s also much larger than any of the other rooms (with the exception of the basement living room and the kitchen/dining area) and I noticed today that I could probably make a decent yoga space in there. It’s got laminate flooring and high enough ceilings that I don’t have to worry about barking my hands or feet. It’s also cool enough (being the basement) and has a fan so that I should be able to work as hard as I like, comfortably. That’s going to be my new spot then, at least until we get one of the upstairs rooms converted into a real workout space.

One of the things I love about yoga is its malleability. I can tailor my workout to whatever feels appropriate at the time, focusing on whichever areas I’d like. Unfortunately that is also one of the things that stumps people about having a “home practice”. With so many options, how do you keep track of where you started or what you’ve done? I think it’s one of the things people really like about Bikram and the ashtanga series – there are proscribed movements in a particular order such that you’ve always got the next step in front of you. While that sounds nice in theory, I think I’d get bored with it.

I generally start with the Sun series and modify it however I’d like. It’s infinite if you add in Warrior II and Chair (Sun B) and can be modified to include almost anything – triangle, side angle, revolved variations of both, twisting chair, Warrior III, pyramid and about a dozen different ways you can modify Downward Facing Dog. I’m tempted to do audio posts about the variations just so that people can try them if they’re interested. Everyone approaches yoga a little differently and one of the reasons I love taking classes is because I can hear how other people change things up.

So I guess MY spring goal is thirty days of yoga posts. If I can squeeze in classes I will, but it will primarily what I do at home and on the road (we’ve got some overnighters this month). I think my plan will be to work through the Eye of the Tiger practice – it’s pretty comprehensive but too long for everyday. I can attack parts of it and digest what I like and don’t.

Below is the Eye of the Tiger workout – I can’t recall what site I found it on but it’s an Anusara practice.

Eye of the Tiger Practice

The Eye of the Tiger practice is designed as an ultimate daily practice routine to maximize strength, stamina, and flexibility in all the major parts of the body. It covers all the main classes of asana including: Surya Namaskar, standing poses, handbalancings, inversions, backbends, hip-openers, forward bends, and twists. The entire practice can take over 4 hours to complete, so in order to abbreviate, perform a few poses in each category moving down through the lists from top toward the bottom. During a week’s practice schedule be sure to attempt the poses that you might have skipped in previous practices.

Invocation

Surya Namaskar – 10-108x or 10-20 min.

Handstand – 1-5 min. ea. 1-3 X

Pincha Mayurasana (feathered peacock) – 1-5 min. ea. 1-3 X

Standing Poses – 30-60 sec. ea./ side
Vrksasana (tree)
Parsvakonasana (extended side angle)
Trikonasana (triangle)
Virabhadrasana I (warrior I)
Virabhadrasana II (warrior II)
Anjaneyasana (crescent lunge)
Ardha Chandrasana (half moon)
Virabhadrasana III (warrior III)
Parivrtta Trikonasana (revolved triangle)
Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana (revolved half moon)
Parivrtta Parsvakonasana (revolved side angle)
Parsvottanasana (intense side stretch/pyramid)
Utkatasana (chair)
Garudasana (eagle)
Prasarita Padottanasana (wide-legged forward fold)
Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (extended hand to big toe)
Pada Hastasana (hands to feet)

Handbalancings – 1-2x ea./ side
Lolasana (pendant)
Vasisthasana (side plank)
Eka Hasta Bhujasana (elephant’s trunk)
Astavakrasana (8 angle)
Bakasana (crane)
Eka Pada Bakasana II (one legged crane)
Eka Pada Bakasana I (one legged crane)
Visvamitrasana (pose dedicated to visvamitra)
Eka Pada Koundinyasana II (pose dedicated to Koundinya)
Dwi Hasta Bhujasana (two-handed legs over arms)
Bhujapidasana (shoulder pressing pose)
Titthibhasana (firefly)
Parsva Bakasana (side crane)
Eka Pada Koundinyasana I
Eka Pada Galavasana (flying crow)
Kukuttasana (cock posture)
Parsva Kukuttasana (revolved cock posture)

Abdominals – 30-50x ea./ side
Crunches
Criss-Crosses
Navasana (boat)
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana (raised stretched out foot)
Jathara Parivartanasana (spinal twist)

Supta Virasana (reclined hero) – 5 min.

Hip-openers – 1 min. ea./ side
Baddha Konasana
Janu Sirsasana
Parsva Upavistha Konasana
Upavistha Konasana
Triang Mukhaikapada
Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana prep.
Bharadvajasana II

Inversions – 30sec.– 1 min. variations
Sirsasana
Parsva Sirsasana
Parsva Sirsasana in Virasana
Eka Pada Sirsasana
Parsvaika Pada Sirsasana
Parivrttaikapada Sirsasana
Padmasana in Sirsasana
Parsva Padmasana in Sirsasana
Pindasana in Sirsasana
Sirsasana II
Mukta Hasta Sirsasana
Baddha Hasta Sirsasana
Prasarita Hasta Sirsasana
——————————————
Sarvangasana
Sarvangasana II
Eka Pada Sarvangasana
Parsvaika Pada Sarvangasana
Halasana
Supta Konasana
Parsva Halasana
Karna Pidasasana
Parsva Karna Pidasasana
Parsva Sarvangasana in Padmasasana
Parsva Sarvangasana
Setubandha Sarvangasana

Backbends
Eka Pada Supta Virasana
Bhujangasana
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana I prep – one leg in Bhekasana
Dhanurasana
Parsva Dhanurasana
Ustrasana
Purvottanasana – bent knees
Backbends with chair
Urdhva Dhanurasana – (5-25x)
Eka Pada Urdhva Dhanurasana
Viparita Chakrasana
Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana (head up)
Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana
Headstand Drop-overs – (5-25x)
Mandalasana – (3-25x)
Urdhva Dhanurasana – drop-backs – (5-108x)
Vrischikasana I – feet on chair
Kapotasana – pigeon droppings – (3-10x)
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana I
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana II
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana IV
Valakhilyasana
Padangustha Dhanurasana
Natarajasana

Twists & Forward Bends – 30 sec – 1 min. ea./ side
Uttanasana
Virasana – twist
Baddha Konasana
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana prep
Janu Sirsasana
Upavista Konasana
Parsva Upavistha Konasana
Agnistambasana
Ardha Baddha Padmasana Paschimottanasana
Marichyasana II
Triangamuhkaipada Paschimottanasana
Krounchasana
Bharadvajasana II
Compass
Yogadandasana
Pascimottanasana
Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana I & II
Ardha Matsyendrasana
Malasana I
Pasasana – one leg
Padmasana
Hanumanasana
Ardha Matsyendrasana II
Marichyasana IV
Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana
Parivrtta Paschimottanasana
Kurmasana
Somakonasana
Eka Pada Sirsasana
Bhairavasana
Chakorasana
Durvasana
Uttanasana
Supta Padangusthasana
Balasana

Meditation – 10 min.

Savasana – 10 min.

Edited to add reference links so you know what I’m talking about.

How about this: I’m watching I Hate Valentine’s Day and I think maybe the only thing Nia Vardalos has changed since My Big Fat Greek Wedding is her eyebrows. Alas, it’s not a change for the good. I find these eyebrows or the makeup or something about it to be weirdly distracting.

Books! I finally finished Finch. While I enjoyed the story I loathed the fragments. I will not reread it and I won’t be looking for more of VanderMeer’s work. Also finished The Year of the Flood, Atwood’s latest and I really enjoyed it. In fact, it made me want to reread Oryx and Crake (again) and then YotF right behind it. I didn’t though – I read Silver Borne, the latest Mercy novel from Patricia Briggs. Pretty happy with the whole novel but I think I put more details on my 2010 reading list page.

I’m also in the middle of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Not sure if I just hadn’t heard anything about it but I was expecting something really different. Thus far, engaging protag and interesting story.

Our flights were uneventful. Against what must be the largest number of odds, on each flight I was seated next to someone who was going to be visiting our new hometown in the near future. I really loathe seating process of Southwest. Frankly I don’t see anything wrong with being able to check and and get my seat assignment early, INCLUDING a spot next to my spouse, rather than depending on the kindness of strangers allowing me to sit next to him. Add unnecessary seat-partner anxiety to all the least fun parts of air travel (cattle call loading and unloading) with a dose of ‘whoever gets there first, wins’ and yeah, it’s not my most enjoyable travel. I was also not enamored of the Southwest/Kevin Smith debacle, where they were dicks and he was unjustly thrown off a flight. Those things mean I’m not sure we’ll be flying Southwest again.

Seattle was lovely as are my long-distance friends. Probably I’ll upload some pictures soon and then get on with the whole yoga post.

No one is perfect and that’s why I’m a bit iffy on the whole ‘guru’ thing. For years in the yoga community, if you didn’t have a guru you weren’t considered “legit.” Yoga was like an apprenticeship. If you were like me in the blue-collar sticks, good luck finding your guru. It’s one of the things that I thinks makes the Yoga Alliance great (and terrible) that schools have cropped up all over so people can get training if they want it. Unfortunately, if you want ANY training with some big name attached to it be prepared to shell out upwards of $3,000.

I was very lucky in that I had a great local teacher and found a phenomenal studio in the metro Detroit area (only a couple of hours commute) where I could complete teacher training. My experience is that those schools aren’t faring so well in the current economy and it’s a shame because they provided AFFORDABLE and THOROUGH training – both things that factored largest in my search for further education. Rising Sun Yoga helped me become a great teacher without indoctrinating me to any one ‘true’ way to do yoga or teach a yoga class. My education was heavy on anatomy and physiology with a solid grounding in other yoga practices (chanting, mantra, pranayama, philosophy). I left feeling PREPARED and I didn’t have to fly across country or spend thousands of dollars to do it.

My training was great and I love teaching but it’s made it harder for me to take classes. I’m reluctant to go to local classes because enough people know that I teach that it might be weird. I’ve also been in classes where I heard teachers say things that were just flat-out physiologically incorrect or where they don’t offer modifications for people who may need a break or not be ready for the practice. While I would LOVE to not notice those things, it’s difficult – especially as I like to do modifications during my own practice. When I do my own thing, it can throw off the teacher or other students and while I’m not going to sacrifice my body, I’m sensitive to the fact that it can be wicked uncomfortable to have someone not going with the flow.

It’s because of those things that I’ve always placed a lot of emphasis – A LOT – on my students working at their own pace and providing all sorts of modifications (easier as well as harder) all the time. I’m a big believer in Choose-Your-Own Yoga.

This is all a long way of getting to the fact that I’m NOT teaching 5 days a week, like I used to. I miss it and I miss the regimen that helped to keep me on board with my own practice. It’s been a while since I’ve done a regular 5-day-a-week hourlong practice but I’m trying to get back on the horse. While a rigid routine (Bikram, Ashtanga) might be helpful, I get bored. I like to be able to adjust to whatever feels right in the moment. In keeping with that, I’ve added barefoot running to my routine as well as some Pilates. I picked up an at-home rubber-bandlike reformer at work and I’m kind of stoked about breaking it out today.

Yoga isn’t about perfection or even the pursuit of perfection: it’s about trying to be BETTER. Nothing more, nothing less.

1. The chicken was awesome and (in keeping with RealSimple tradition) very easy and DELICIOUS. The boys were very happy.

2. I dig those fucking SteamFresh things. I’ve probably eaten more vegetables in the last year because of those bags than I have in the last five years.

3. That might be a slight exaggeration but probably not by much, unless you’re counting vegetables on pizza.

4. I didn’t use the olive oil called for in the breading recipe because I use pre-minced garlic that has a smidge of olive oil in it. Turns out the olive oil was totally not missed.

5. Beer is AMAZING.

I’m also apparently having some blog issues with regard to commenting. I thought it was maybe the theme, so I changed the theme and then ran into a whole other bunch of problems so I’ve resorted to IntenseDebate as a temporary solution. I do like that you can use your twitter login to comment so I’m hoping it works out until I have time to poke at the bugs going on here.

Spouse and I are both set up on XboxLive (yay for prepaid cards on sale) so I’m looking forward to LOTS more BandHero.

In unrelated and totally lame news, I bought a scarf today that matches my rainboots. I’m embracing my lame. I’m also considering dying my hair a pinkish blonde, just for the hell of it. That would also, incidentally, match my rainboots although that’s not my main motivation.

I am INORDINATELY excited to find out that other people hate noise-canceling earbuds. I LIKE being able to hear ambient noise. It’s the kind of thing that keeps me from being mugged or hit by cars. While there are definitely times when it’s good to block everything out, I’ve found I can do that by using my attention span/imagination which makes it unnecessary to render myself nearly deaf. Yay brains!

Something I’m not excited about: finding a dentist. I haven’t been to the dentist since we moved to Colorado and I’m working up one hell of a cavity on one of my right molars. I hate the dentist. HATE.

Best news of the week: Colorado FINALLY got around to sending me state certification as an EMT-B (I’ve had national certification since the fall). That means I can finally look for a medical job!

Supernatural was back this week and although I’m only halfway through the ep, I’m stoked. I missed the massive amounts of sarcasm and creepy/scary (not to mention hawt). Mercy is on a par with the sarcasm but balances it out with more humor (and laugh out loud, at that). This weekend’s movie lineup includes: Jennifer’s Body, Sorority Row, The Informant, Tenure, The Princess and the Frog and Where the Wild Things Are. Yes, we are random. I may also do a Yg + Spouse recap of Twilight/New Moon because we cracked me up.

I’ve been reading Finch but I’m not gonna lie, the CONSTANT use of. Fragments. Is Really. Annoying. Probably it’s supposed to convey. Speech pattern. Or tone. Mostly. It makes me want to throw. My fucking Kindle across the room. So I keep putting it down. Listening to Oryx and Crake on my ride home from work each day and it just reminds me how much I love Margaret Atwood. The listen is a refresh before I start In The Year of the Flood (ALSO very excited about).

That pretty much sums up all the immediate stuff. I’m going to do a yoga post before the weekend is out (shocking, I know) but for now I’m going back to my chocolate chip cookies and delicious Coors Light. Shut up, I like it. I don’t critique YOUR beer.

Me: “Jude Law is one of those guys who’s too pretty to be convincing as a tough guy or bad guy but just pretty enough to be a serial killer.”
Spouse: “That’s a sad commentary on our time.”

State of the Union. Yeah, I played WET on my Xbox instead of watching. Frankly, I think the whole point of the internet is to keep me from having to watch the news. I’m largely disappointed that everyone in Washington is too busy trying to keep their jobs to actually DO their jobs. I’m tired of them bitching about something being wrong when THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES WITH THE POWER TO CHANGE IT. That’s not to say that’s what I think Obama was doing but I couldn’t stand to watch all the bi-partisan asshattery.

As an aside, every time I see John Boehner I think “John Boner” and then wonder how someone named “Boner” got elected in Ohio. And then I go OH YEAH.

Listening to MoZella’s album and I LOVE IT. It’s like a cross between Feist and Maroon 5. Also the Glee soundtracks and am continuously creeped out by She’s Having My Baby – to the point where I may need to delete it from my entire collection. P.S. How did we get THAT but not Single Ladies?

Whip It came out in DVD. I was VERY EXCITED. I watched it three times. It will get its own entire post.

Indulged a little today by getting a manicure. I’ve been working with cardboard pretty much nonstop for the last month and have an event Monday and Tuesday. The back room project is over at work (at least this stage) and my hands can (hopefully) return to normal. At the very least, the mani will make me presentable for the event and then I can hopefully maintain.

Sometimes when my husband is looking for something and can’t find it, I want to hit him with a hammer.

Dead writers. I can’t be arsed to care, really.

Haiti. Well, the only time we care about poor countries are when there are natural disasters, not things like DICTATORS AND GENOCIDE. SIGH.

Booked my flight for the Seattle trip. Next up- hotel rooms.

We’re watching Public Enemies right now. I’m currently unimpressed. I did watch I’ve Loved You So Long on Netflix and I thought it was fantastic. The Edge of Love was passable but not great.

Listening to Middlemarch on my afternoon commute. The audiobook is DEFINITELY better than reading the damn thing myself – especially since it’s a practical use of the drive time. Eliot is droll but somewhat heavyhanded in the use of narrator commentary. I am reminded (as with East of Eden) that some topics are just as relevant now as they were in other centuries.

I still love work. I’m enjoying it immensely and have fun with my coworkers. Hard to beat that!

Cut to me waking up 10 hours later and, frankly, not better. The fever hasn’t broken, I’m still achey, and my head feels like it’s going to explode. Turns out working a month with 2 days off also wrecks havoc on your immune system. I got off easy the week of Xmas but the cold is having its revenge.

Right now I’m catching up on last night’s TV and eating dry Trix. Awesome.

I’m just waiting until 4 am so I can call out sick and then I’m headed back to the land of the unconscious sickies.