good yoga + crazy smoothies

Finally had my good yoga class. It was yesterday and it was glorious. I felt strong and bendy!
Got back on my mat today and it wasn't as good as yesterday. Earlier in the day today, I felt like a tense, stressed out ball of anxiety and that doesn't exactly lead to good yoga. But I feel better now and I got some thinking done in the yoga room. I almost cried during locust pose. I felt sorry for myself and thought some very negative thoughts, but I left it on my mat and then after class it was CRAZY SMOOTHIE TIME!
I used to often make a signature dish I called my crasian (crazy asian) stir fry - it was a pan-asian stir fry of my own devising. Now I have moved on to crazy smoothies! Today's creation featured grapefruit juice, frozen strawberries, a bit of cut up orange, half a banana, spinach from a bag and a dash of honey. Not bad. Not bad at all.

well that was unpleasant + everything zen?

I really deserve to have a fantastic yoga class after all of the terrible ones I've had lately. But it did not happen tonight. Yes, I have myself to blame for part of it. I did not hydrate well today. And I ate a lunch that did not settle particularly well. That left me feeling both dehydrated and like I was possibly going to shit myself in class today. I sat out A LOT of second sets during the standing series. Oh well. I survived and made a crazy delicious smoothie after class consisting of grapefruit juice, orange, strawberries, spinach and a splash of honey. It was nomtastic!

In other news, THE MAN is coming to the Seattle area. His lecture ain't cheap - $60 in advance or $70 at the door. I saw one of my fave teachers at the studio today and asked him if he thinks it's worth it. He said that he paid ten grand to hear him speak at teacher training. If you do the math, that makes the $60 seem like a pretty good deal :) I'm not sure whether I will end up going or not. I've been trying to cut my spending these days and focus on being calm and creative and just content with my 'real' life. I'm not sure that spending $60 to see Bikram really fits in with that. I'm probably thinking too deeply about this. Also the 90s band BUSH is coming to Seattle as well and that's $40 once all the ticket fees are included and my inner teenager really wants me to go! Everything zen? I DON'T THINK SOOOOOOOOOOO....

angry yogi - part deux

Holy bad yoga class, batman! Seriously. It was bad. I came into class not well hydrated, it was hot as hades and there were about 15 new people and one was super disruptive. I was on the hot side of the room and I was having thoughts like, "Who do I have to blow to get the ceiling fans turned on???" It was not one of my prouder moments. It's kinda funny to look back on though :)
What did I learn from tonight? Well, it's always good to bring an emergency snack to yoga in case you're feeling like crap on the way home. I like the Honey Stinger Pomegranate chews. I also realized that this practice has it's ups and downs. It is a physical practice but it's also a mental one. I like to think that I left something negative on my mat that won't have to be with me in the rest of my life.
Hopefully you were able to be a little more zen in your practice today :)

sporadic

In this case, I'm using the word sporadic to refer to my blogging and in a lesser degree, my Bikram practice. I've been practicing 2-3 times a week. Not exactly where I want to be - I would prefer to be at 4ish times a week, but you know how it is. Life tends to get in the way of yoga.
There have been a few bloggable yoga moments. Last week, I was in class and it was hot and it sucked and my inner angry yogi came out. It amused me a bit because I hadn't experience angry yogi in a while. Bored yogi is way more common than angry yogi. I was seriously pissed off at the teacher because she kept us in a couple of postures for so damn long! You know how it is when you've been practicing for a while - you have an idea of what a legit length of time to be in the posture is... and once you go past that, either you feel like a super strong rock star or you get angry! Again it made me want to check the schedule a little more carefully because clearly this teacher isn't for me if she brings out the angry yogi!
I think I have finally figured out a water bottle situation that works for me. I've blogged about the water or no water thing here before in the past, but I have realized that what works for me right now is to consume a small amount of icy cold water during class. I tried doing water without ice, but I would look longingly at others in the yoga room with ice and that seemed a bit dumb. I do feel better when I drink less so having a huge bottle full of icy water doesn't really work for me either - too tempting. What I do now is that I fill up my water bottle at home with just ice. Ice all the way to the top. The melting of the ice is a natural rationing system. I can't drink a ton of water during party time because there isn't a ton of water there to drink. It's been working well so far!
Ummmm yeah, can't think of what other Bikram-related fascination minutia I wanted to share with you beautiful people, but I'll try not to stay away for so long...