Holiday Greetings Fiercelings!
I’ve missed you guys (and mostly gals!) I’ve been locked out of my blog for nearly a month. So annoying, I couldn’t write a new post, check my blog stats or anything. Every time I talked to the heavily accented tech support people, I would get disconnected or be placed on hold for outrageous lengths of time. They finally transferred my complaint to a higher tier tech guy and he fixed it! My blog had run out of space, so he migrated it to a new one. Thank God!
If you follow my fan page on Facebook, you know that in November I participated in NaNoWriMo. It’s a writer’s challenge to write a full novel in the month (or 50,000 Words/200 pages.) I did it! 2-3 hours a day I wrote and wrote and wrote. I initially thought it might be some sort of fat girl memoir or a Rom-Com novel about being single and dating. But much to my surprise it’s a thriller! I’ve described it as Stephen Kingish. Well in my mind it is. Here are two draft covers I had made on Fiverr. (Fiverr is a super cool website where people do/create just about anything for $5).
I’ve got major editing to do before I hopefully get it published and presented to the world! Not sure what my pen name will be, I was playing around with “Carli Jade” How’s that sound?
Right now, I’m taking a self-imposed break from online dating. The last guy I dated was so super nice (at first). We spent every weekend together and had a blast at Mizzou’s homecoming. And after 2 months of dating he literally fell off the face of the earth. No response to my calls or texts. My friends said I should drive by his house or job. But, the way I see it, he knows all my contact info, if he wanted to communicate with me, then he would, I don’t have to go all stalker on him. So, assuming he didn’t die (he didn’t, I checked the obits) that short-lived Fall romance is over. :-/ I’ll spend some time working on me.
So it’s back to life as usual, working out and eating. Of course I should be doing more of one and less of the other. But under my trainer’s advice, I went to my first real Yoga class. I’ve done yoga stuff with my Xbox Kinect and on DVDs, but this class was nothing like either of those. I went to Yin Yoga. When I walked in the door, they asked me to take my shoes off. Everyone was so nice. Almost freakishly nice and warm. One guy was sitting Indian Style in a chair. (Opps! I mean sitting “Criss-Cross applesauce” I believe that’s the new politically correct term, sorry I’m an 80’s baby.)
I looked at him in awe… I can hardly cross one leg, let alone both while sitting in a chair. I signed some papers and turned the corner to meet more really nice people. I peeped into a Hot Yoga class before gathering the props needed for my class. I was told to get a mat, blankets, blocks and a pillow. Who knew I would need so much stuff? “What’s all this for I asked?” The other class members said with a knowing smile, “You’ll see.” Hmmm ok.
The instructor told us that instead of music, we would be listening to someone play the Tibetan Bowls. She informed us new comers that Yoga was not a religion. Duh, I thought to myself, everyone knows that. Then she told us that we should come next weekend for the Winter Solstice Event to hear the guy play the bowls live during yoga class. I freaked out a little and looked around. Mystery blanket and bowls? Winter Solstice?! That’s a term that I’ve only heard in scary movies about witches. I almost screamed “Wait! I love Jesus!” Then I decided that would be a bit much. I kept my cool, kept my crazy antics in check as she explained that the winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year.
Yin yoga is mostly done down on the floor. I had a hard time relaxing. The class is about letting go, she explained that it can be difficult for control freaks, and that we should focus on “Letting your body feel gravity and the earth pull you down.” If you can’t get into a particular pose, the blocks, pillows etc are used as a buffer between you and the floor. Each pose is held for several minutes. I needed all of the props for almost every pose. My control freakness was in full swing. How long is this class? I have other stuff to do.
The class is 2 hours. After the first hour, my mind finally began to rest, listening to the soothing tong-tong-dong chimes from the bowls. I quit fighting mentally. It was unique and peaceful. Physically challenging, but in such a different way. The instructor breezed past behind me and gently helped me stretch into a back bend properly. I felt so aware of my body, I was forced to slow down and not just keep moving with the regular day to day fast pace. “Namaste” the instructor concluded in a soothing tone, sitting with her hands in front of her chest in the prayer pose. I was excited that I knew what to say in response, I’d seen it on TV lol. “Namaste” I said in unison with the other students. The rest of the afternoon, my mind felt less congested and at ease. Namaste my Fiercelings. Namaste.
I, also, took my very first Yoga class in November. A little put off by the barefoot thing…then just sitting in the semi-darkness, listening to people deep breathing. It didn’t seem all that strenuous, and fortunately, by the time I could get into a position, they were still doing it! My wrists hurt the next day from all the “downward dog” time… Still… not my thing.
I had on socks…I asked the lady if I should take them off and she said, nope, you don’t have to, I do it in my socks. But it was semi-darkness lol, definitely a different ambiance than training at the gym.
Glad you’re back–I was wondering what happened!!!
I wish I could get into yogo but I’m not zen enough. Zumba works better for me.
Yes, sorry! I’m back. I was locked out.
I got a Groupon for a month of unlimited classes, so I’ll try different ones. But I totally know what you mean. It took me a whole hour to get into it.
I love yoga (yeah, you knew there are few yogis lurking on your page) for many factors. And high up on the list – 1) it’s my time to let go of daily drain/stress/crap, meditate, breathe, my way of getting closer to God. 2) yoga breathing helps me with my running. It’s a great way to cross train for runners because most of us are so bad at stretching.
I hope you give it another go. There are lots of variations, so finding a type or types that fit your personality and needs may take a few classes. I give you kudos for Yin Yoga. I’ve tried that ONCE. I’m a vinyasa girl for sure.
The three things to remember about yoga is that: 1) there is no internal or external competition (meaning you aren’t competing against you or anyone else). 2) it may take several tries to get poses down and even when you think you have it right, you can have a day where your brain won’t quiet and even child poses can be difficult! 3) Just breathe!
Namaste!
Oh and I love Carli Jade as a pen name, plus I like the 2nd book cover better – holds the mystery.
Keep trying yoga. I always like to say that it makes the voices in my head shut up, although I sometimes get some odd looks when I say that. Yoga helps me with the inner monologue that’s always telling me what I should be doing/eating/reading, etc. Sometimes it’s so nice to dwell in your body without your mind making a ruckus.