Someday I Will Be Able to Do This

If you've followed my blog for a while you know that the one ritual I have is my morning yoga. While my morning practice is not as advanced as this, I do hope to someday make it such. To be able to awaken every part of my body and be completely ready for the day is ideal.
Mornings Krista Marie Starr -Yoga Teacher

My Body Is A Playground For Rinpoche

My little angel has finally joined us in our new home and, at first, I was very heart-broken because I was worried he would never adjust. He was so skittish, never wanted to come out from under the bed, and barely presented the opportunity to hold him. But now he's getting out more (even though we have to lock in out of the bedroom to make sure that he puts an attempt at being social) and is even getting involved with my morning yoga!
Upon peeking around the corner, out to the living room where I was doing my morning practice, sweet Rinpoche raced to me to rub his fuzzy wittle self on my face while in down-dog (a-choo). Apparently, my body is a playground for him and my practice is all the better for it. Instead of stepping up to forward fold from my down-dog, I decided to do another vinyasa with consideration to the little bundle of love laying on my mat just below my stomach. Excellent form. My limbs were strong and unshaken, knowing that I would squish the poor thing if I was at all lazy. With no care for my perfectly safe movements above him, Rinpoche moved off the mat in search for another way to be adorably distracting.
Oh, little Rinpoche. <3

Sunshine In the Sunshine State

Another lovely morning for yoga outside. I even got a cute tan line from my strappy top!

I've recently decided to just hold off on my attempts to find somewhere affordable to get certified and just work on my own personal practice. I have considered teaching some friends or just providing an open space to practice along-side me and I think I'd like to do that since I have so much free time. Anyone on my friends list, or even friends of friends, let me know if you're interested. Male, female, young, or old just bring a mat, towel, water bottle, and a desire to flow. I'm not looking to make it advanced since I'm not very advanced myself but its totally cool to do your own thing. 

I'm working on a playlist now and once I have that settled and I see who's interested I'll set this up.

On an sweet and cute-sie note, my father surprised me with a male Siamese kitten today and he is now the newest member of the Negron-Seavey family. His name is Rinpoche (yes, right out of Breakfast With Buddha--one of my favorite novels) and, true to the name, I'm sure I will have much to learn from him as be goes through potty training and other big adjustments like learning to be okay with Sheba, my parent's German Shepherd-Chow doggie.

How Not To Make A Pre-Yoga Morning Juice

Attempt number one consisted of:

Broccoli, gala apple, almond juice, and honey. 

I can tell you right now broccoli is not meant to be in juice. It was so oddly textured and I think it may just be me because I don't like raw broccoli. Perhaps ill give the almond milk, apple and honey a chance by themselves next time. 

Attempt number two:

Gala apple, green tea, whey chocolate flavored protein powder.

Apples tea and chocolate protein powder taste like an apple dipped in warm green tea chocolate. Doesn't sound bad but my attempts to force it down were futile. This one was a big no as well. 

As I really wanted to get my morning started I opted out of a morning juice for a plain banana with water. I need to look up juice recipes. I think I'll stick to only spinach and kale in my juice. After the broccoli, veggies sound weird to drink. 

Note: these are not to replace meals but merely to get some energy and my metabolism going for my morning yoga. 

I'm going to force this habit back into my every day; I will bring my mat with me everywhere just like my water bottle. This is the healthy habit I've missed most and with the big change from college environment with a lot available to nothing at home, I need to hold onto the wonder of my mat. So much comes from that beat up old thing. 

Back to Nature

Morning yoga truly transforms when you practice outdoors. 

The warmth of the sun allows you to stretch farther and deeper, opening you up to new poses; the fresh air permits happy healthy breathes; the sounds of nature help you connect-- to root yourself back to the world as it is without humans. 

Just like allowing your leg hair to grow back for a few days before shaving again, yoga outside allows for smooth, refreshing energy. It doesn't have to be done all the time, but when it is, you feel anew and confident.

Go outside and get some fresh air. Reconnect with the earth. Recognize the peace among the chaos of everyday America waiting to be realized. 

Namaste. 

Good Morning

Mornings are lovely. The world gets its last few moments of calm and nature starts her lively day.

There is something just so peaceful about the wind in the trees, birds chirping and a morning yoga session. All I can think while bein apart of a morning like this is "Breathe. Just breathe."

Yoga Update

Now that I have made my morning yoga into a habit, it's time to change up my moves. While sun sals are a wonderful way to get my blood and breath going first thing in the morning, I think I should try alternating routines. Ill do my sun sals on Tuesdays and Thursdays since I can't really squeeze out extra time on those days. As for Monday Wednesday and Friday, I want to try a different sequence like the one depicted in the image-- or exactly like it.
How often do you like to change up your own routine (whether it be yoga, lifting, aerobics, etc.)?

Image from Thoughts By Natalie

In the Cold

Morning yoga during winter? I know it doesn't sound like the most pleasant thing: you're all cozy in bed but then you're alarm goes off telling you it's time to get your day started. When you try to get out of bed the cold nips at your feet--ugh. I totally understand.
What I do is put on socks and a beanie. Beanies that cover your ears are best because they help keep your body heat in. Socks help create warmth.
After I'm done doing cow/cat pose I take off my socks; by then, I'm warmed up enough to let my feet into the chill. I was so tempted to skip it this morning but I'm glad I didn't. It's turning into the positive start to my day. No matter what happens, I have yoga in the morning and, so far, each day I've felt great.
If you've decided to take up morning yoga, keep strong. I'm beginning to see just how good of a habit it's becoming. 15 minutes out of your morning in exchange for peace and positive energy for the day? Anytime.

Side Effects of Yoga

When I first began practicing yoga, I did it to improve my airflow. As an asthmatic, breathing is always a concern. Now that I am moving up and beyond mindful breathing, I'm happy to say that my determination is acting as a suggestion to others, provoking thought. I had told my best friend back home that I'm waking up at 7 am every day to do yoga. A couple days after I started-- and opened up this blog-- she set down her mat and is doing it now, too. She had been sick with the flu all last week and two days into her morning yoga routines, she's breathing and feeling better.

Beyond the obvious benefits of sculpting and balance, yoga provides benefits even beyond that of mindful breathing; it provides benefits of the mind. Yoga can bring a sense of peace and a centering. It physically helps rid of the stress that your mind or workload has burdened upon your body.

The more challenging the pose, the more I want to succeed. It's important to know how far to push, however. Take each progression in your practice at your own pace to avoid injuries. Whenever I'm in a pose and I know I can do a little more, I do. My muscles may quiver and my mind may scream for the next pose but I keep on. With every exhale, I push out the doubt and allow strength in. These are moments when I am so focused on the pose, all my troubles and conflicts slip away. The space that is left is filled with determination to hold that pose-- to be in complete control of my body in that very moment.
Then there are other moments when I'm getting into corpse pose and I feel it all come back. It's not an attack of stress, just a mere gentle confrontation. They are put before me once more and then with an exhale, they are gone. All that is left is me as I let them go, just as I release my limbs to submit to this pose of rest.

Sunday's workout was morning yoga, then Power Yoga in the afternoon (90 minutes of Vinyasa Yoga: movement paired with breath).

You Can Be As Happy As You Want To Be

Yesterday, although I did no school work, was a big success. Morning yoga is a great way to wake the body up and get the blood flowing after curling up in the cozy sheets all night. Its going well and i think its helping me feel more energized-- at least in the morning. I still have to try and kick my siesta bug in the afternoons.
Afterward my morning yoga I had spinach onion garlic scrambled eggs with a piece of whole wheat toast and then raced off to catch a class at FSU Leach Center: Body Tone. The title matches its functionality and gosh am I sore! I haven't pushed myself like that with weights in a long time! I definitely plan to keep it in my weekly schedule-- gotta strengthen my muscles so they can help eat away a my fat stores (my problem areas are the lower abdominal and thighs). Body Tone will make sure I don't neglect the rest of my body while I try and kick these trouble areas to the door!
It's actually best to work your whole body when toning up-- with a special focus to the core to create the most foundation support for the rest of your muscles.
Believe it or not the day was not done after Body Tone. I felt pretty tired afterwards so I let myself rest and caught up on some Lost Girl. Then a few hours later I headed back to campus for a second round at the Leach: Yoga. Since its the beginning of the semester instructors go easy; it was pretty much sun sals and warriors with extra stretching.
Not much later that evening I found myself a workout buddy. Turns out one of my friends was hoping to get to the gym more often. I hope she's ready because I don't let people give up when they've revealed a goal to me. Today I'll start her off pretty easy since I'm already sore.
Maybe we'll just go on the elliptical followed with some stretches to get her started. Any workout suggestions for a beginner?

Getting a Good Start to the Day

~cow, cat, sunsals and positive energy~
Morning yoga went well today. I actually felt awake before eating breakfast! A miracle for me since I'm not a morning person-- it's all your state of mind I suppose.
What I did to cope with limited time was start boiling my eggs before I began my yoga session. 20 minutes and you have a good state of mind and a perfectly boiled egg. Paired it with garlic spinach and a cup of Dragonwell green tea.
Have a good morning everyone.

Morning Yoga: 1st Attempt

It is difficult to get out of bed when it's cold and you're nice and cozy in bed, but time is too precious. I want to try and get each day started earlier than usual. My goal is to wake up at 7:30 every day except Tuesday and Thursday, on which I will wake up at 6:50, and do a morning yoga routine. Today I woke up at 7:40 and had some cantelope with hot English Breakfast tea. Unfortunately, I became nauseous because I took my supplements right after. I'm realizing I cannot take my pills or do anything too exerting prior to eating a main source of protein like eggs or hummus. I will remember next time to wait until after I have eaten my full breakfast.
After calming down my stomach, I did a simple yoga session-- mostly spinal stretches paired with sun salutations. It's tough doing this before breakfast but I just have to push myself.
After my mini-yoga session, I ate two boiled eggs with a little salt, black and cayenne pepper drizzled atop them. Yum.

Does anyone else find themselves nauseous in the morning if they don't have a significant protein source?