As a follow up to Ebb and Flow, here are ten lessons learned from my personally imposed and much enjoyed 30 Day Yoga Challenge:
1. After many repetitions of chataranga, my arms became a lot stronger!
2. Though previously quite difficult to maintain on a regular basis, my yoga practice at home was relatively successful - special thanks to Reagan for some excellent videos!
3. In addition to those, I found some challenging YouTube videos here and here. If you search YouTube for others, beware - there are many yoga informercial results! (But let me know if you find any good ones.)
4. Throughout the thirty days, I missed two days entirely and did not practice for at least thirty minutes on three days... instead of allowing it to induce self-loathing, I tried to extend my mindset during yoga, that is being patient with myself, to my life.
5. Ben has an intense ujjayi breath. Some might say "distracting" but I call it "inspiring"; that's love.
6. Being a runner, my hamstrings are notoriously stubbornly inflexible, but daily yoga leads me to believe that they are actually more flexible than I thought.
7. Doing yoga with a classmate of the canine variety humbles you in your upward and downward dog poses and makes it quite obvious where the poses got their names.
8. Learning to, as one of the instructors would say frequently, "relax within your efforts" is an incredible life lesson. There are many realms in which we all need to work hard; being able to do so calmly and without stress is extremely beneficial.
9. At the end of a long day, there are very few substitutes for uninterrupted deep breathing and a hot shower.
10. A whole new yoga vocabulary. That's a lie... I am definitely still learning these.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Who are the people in your neighborhood?
It's like Mr. Rogers sang -
They're the people that you meet
When you're walking down the street
They're the people that you meet
Every day.
Before this past weekend, I could not tell you what many of mine looked like, what their names were, what they did for work or hobbies or any other number of basic identifying features. But while we were shoveling and snowblowing and commiserating about our lost power and the dropping temperatures in our homes, we became neighbors, and not just strangers living next door to each other.
Praising gas stoves for working without electricity, we ate pasta and meatballs together after a morning of shoveling and marveling that yes, the snow was still falling. We advised people trying to get up the small hill at the intersection to "keep going!" "don't stop!" so they would make it up and over... and when they didn't listen, we pushed their cars or shoveled out their tires. We started calling ourselves the West Street Avengers, helping a half dozen cars or more.
It was like this article says - you bond in the work needed for survival (a relative term, of course, since our physical labor only resulted in freeing our cars and avoiding fines for not clearing the sidewalk unlike our ancestors).
And of course, since this sense of community, however intangible, has real and lasting impacts on a neighborhood's health outcomes, it's in all of our best interest to more frequently pretend that the power is out, there are many feet of snow on the ground, and we're all in this together.
They're the people that you meet
When you're walking down the street
They're the people that you meet
Every day.
Before this past weekend, I could not tell you what many of mine looked like, what their names were, what they did for work or hobbies or any other number of basic identifying features. But while we were shoveling and snowblowing and commiserating about our lost power and the dropping temperatures in our homes, we became neighbors, and not just strangers living next door to each other.
Praising gas stoves for working without electricity, we ate pasta and meatballs together after a morning of shoveling and marveling that yes, the snow was still falling. We advised people trying to get up the small hill at the intersection to "keep going!" "don't stop!" so they would make it up and over... and when they didn't listen, we pushed their cars or shoveled out their tires. We started calling ourselves the West Street Avengers, helping a half dozen cars or more.
It was like this article says - you bond in the work needed for survival (a relative term, of course, since our physical labor only resulted in freeing our cars and avoiding fines for not clearing the sidewalk unlike our ancestors).
And of course, since this sense of community, however intangible, has real and lasting impacts on a neighborhood's health outcomes, it's in all of our best interest to more frequently pretend that the power is out, there are many feet of snow on the ground, and we're all in this together.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
You Fight Like a Girl
As I'm sure you have heard by now, the ban on women fighting in combat was lifted last week. This is a huge step for the military - recognizing what was already happening, in many locations for the past several years - and a huge step for women, who are finally able to rise through the military ranks just like men. Hopefully it will also turn "You fight like a girl!" into a compliment rather than the age old, childish insult.
Michel Martins, my newest career crush from NPR's Tell Me More, did a segment on women fighting in combat. I largely agree with a lot of what is said by the main interviewee, Representative Duckworth. However, there is one commenter, a female who served in and retired from the armed services, featured just before the 4 minute mark, who argues that women should not be in combat and leadership positions because some men are not ready for taking orders from a woman, and therefore lives would be unnecessarily put at risk.
That is completely absurd! Reality check:
There was a time when some white people were not ready for emancipation.
There was a time when some men were not ready for women to vote.
There was a time when some whites were not ready to go school/church/a restaurant with non-whites.
The list goes on.
Things happen before we are ready for them all the time, both in our personal lives and the public sphere. Many of these previous events lead to lost friendships, loves and even lives. That doesn't mean that we should always keep things how they are, especially if they are so incredibly antiquated and unjust.
Michel Martins, my newest career crush from NPR's Tell Me More, did a segment on women fighting in combat. I largely agree with a lot of what is said by the main interviewee, Representative Duckworth. However, there is one commenter, a female who served in and retired from the armed services, featured just before the 4 minute mark, who argues that women should not be in combat and leadership positions because some men are not ready for taking orders from a woman, and therefore lives would be unnecessarily put at risk.
That is completely absurd! Reality check:
There was a time when some white people were not ready for emancipation.
There was a time when some men were not ready for women to vote.
There was a time when some whites were not ready to go school/church/a restaurant with non-whites.
The list goes on.
Things happen before we are ready for them all the time, both in our personal lives and the public sphere. Many of these previous events lead to lost friendships, loves and even lives. That doesn't mean that we should always keep things how they are, especially if they are so incredibly antiquated and unjust.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Nine biscuits
A few nights ago, I was chopping celery that was on its way out, trimming the brown parts and the ends that were dry or more funny looking than I ideally like to consume. We all do this, but I am notorious for having "bones" (as my family has named them), for foods that definitely do not have actual bones.
Anyway, I put said bones, or the rejected parts, in our compost plastic container with other bones of food (most of it is peels and egg shells)... and then I thought about how that amount of food looks for just the two of us, which expanded to wondering about our neighborhood, city, state, country and yes, the world.
How much food do we all throw away either because it looks a little funny or is actually rotten or inedible?
Turns out a lot of people have already thought about this - not surprising, really.
Tristam Stuart breaks the whole world's food supply down, meaning everything - plant and animal - that's grown on farms / in fields, to be represented by nine biscuits.
Anyway, I put said bones, or the rejected parts, in our compost plastic container with other bones of food (most of it is peels and egg shells)... and then I thought about how that amount of food looks for just the two of us, which expanded to wondering about our neighborhood, city, state, country and yes, the world.
How much food do we all throw away either because it looks a little funny or is actually rotten or inedible?
Turns out a lot of people have already thought about this - not surprising, really.
Tristam Stuart breaks the whole world's food supply down, meaning everything - plant and animal - that's grown on farms / in fields, to be represented by nine biscuits.
- One is lost before leaving the farm due to lack of infrastructure, like food crates or refrigeration.
- Three are fed to livestock, and of those three two are lost to the livestock feces and heat they create.
- Two are thrown into bins directly (aforementioned "bones" that I threw away from the celery).
- This means four are left to feed on.
Four... out of nine!?!
After thinking about this insane inefficiency and watching the TED talk, I cannot stop thinking about how no sandwich shops use ends of bread loaves, or how there are one BILLION hungry people in the world, or how we are putting an incredible amount of environmental stress on our land only for people to throw out good food and others to go hungry. It is mind boggling, and frustrating, but the best part is knowing that we already have enough to feed everyone - we just need to figure out how to use it better.
Looks like I will be trimming that celery a little closer, whether it be celery or any other food, in an effort to have much fewer "bones" going forward.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Backpack Living
Dear God, I want this man's life. Traveling for 7 years to write, sponsored by National Geographic?! Yes please.
And I'd take the Pulitzer Prizes, if I must.
And I'd take the Pulitzer Prizes, if I must.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Beers & Banana Nut Muffins
Besides being delicious, you'll see what they have to do with this blog when you watch Brene Brown's fantastic (and wildly popular so you may have already seen it) TED talk entitled "The power of vulnerability". Seriously, it's excellent. I'm not sure why you're still reading - just go watch it.
For those of you still here, wanting to read more about it before you are convinced to watch, she is a qualitative researcher who cleverly discusses shame, fear, vulnerability, courage (which is defined by her as "to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart"), and in this discussion, exposes a lot of her researching self but also her human self - a mom, a student, a patient. And shockingly pulls in a lot of public health issues... so naturally it is excellent and intriguing.
She has many poignant takeaway messages, but in order to not ruin them entirely, here are a few "teasers":
1. We numb vulnerability - we are the most in debt, obese, addicted and medicated adults in US history.
2. We are making the uncertain, certain. Religion, politics, etc - "I'm right. You're wrong. Shut up."
3. Hoping that taking fat from our butts to put in our cheeks is something that our ancestors gawk at 100 years from now.
Turns out I am lucky enough to know a lot of really courageous people.
For those of you still here, wanting to read more about it before you are convinced to watch, she is a qualitative researcher who cleverly discusses shame, fear, vulnerability, courage (which is defined by her as "to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart"), and in this discussion, exposes a lot of her researching self but also her human self - a mom, a student, a patient. And shockingly pulls in a lot of public health issues... so naturally it is excellent and intriguing.
She has many poignant takeaway messages, but in order to not ruin them entirely, here are a few "teasers":
1. We numb vulnerability - we are the most in debt, obese, addicted and medicated adults in US history.
2. We are making the uncertain, certain. Religion, politics, etc - "I'm right. You're wrong. Shut up."
3. Hoping that taking fat from our butts to put in our cheeks is something that our ancestors gawk at 100 years from now.
Turns out I am lucky enough to know a lot of really courageous people.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Ebb and Flow
I don't typically believe in resolutions of the New Year's variety, mostly because if you want to change something... why wait for one day or time of the year? In fact, I sort of root against people who resolve to work out more since they clog up the usually comfortably full gym. (I know, that's terrible.)
However, I am jumping on the 30 Day Yoga Challenge, and today is Day 3. Amanda read in a very smart book (entitled, I believe, "How to Be and Adult in Relationships") that 30 days is a good bench mark for things. The 30 day lesson is this: If you want to do something (or not) for 30 whole days, you probably actually want it.
I like yoga. I bet I can do it for 30 days. My practice has always had its own ebbs and flows, mostly flowing when I lived above a yoga studio and volunteered there in exchange for free classes ...and ebbing at times like now when it's miserably frigid and I can't be asked to go to a studio.
Also, I decided to take this on because without classes as my weekly "to-do" anchor, I was feeling a bit adrift and lost. "What? I have all five evenings to myself? This hasn't happened since... well, never!" I have been in class(es) all of my working life, with exception of three weeks when I first got my job and summers/other breaks, which were a finite amount of time. Now I am in the abyss of life not being a working student. So far, it's lovely, but a bit daunting.
I am looking forward to seeing what happens with this. People I know who have done it previously saw enormous gains in flexibility, strength, and mindfulness, just to name a few. This morning, I was euphoric about my mittens in a way I don't think I have ever been. These are not new mittens - I have had them for years. Could be a yoga-attributed-increased-mindfulness thing... or a miserably frigid thing.
So, Day 3's challenge is remembering to do yoga prior to my date to Easy Pie (looks good, doesn't it?!) because doing yoga with lots of pizza in one's belly is not good. Yet another lesson ripe for the learnin'.
Either way, I figure this will help get me ready for my 30 days of eating only fruit happening this summer.
However, I am jumping on the 30 Day Yoga Challenge, and today is Day 3. Amanda read in a very smart book (entitled, I believe, "How to Be and Adult in Relationships") that 30 days is a good bench mark for things. The 30 day lesson is this: If you want to do something (or not) for 30 whole days, you probably actually want it.
I like yoga. I bet I can do it for 30 days. My practice has always had its own ebbs and flows, mostly flowing when I lived above a yoga studio and volunteered there in exchange for free classes ...and ebbing at times like now when it's miserably frigid and I can't be asked to go to a studio.
Also, I decided to take this on because without classes as my weekly "to-do" anchor, I was feeling a bit adrift and lost. "What? I have all five evenings to myself? This hasn't happened since... well, never!" I have been in class(es) all of my working life, with exception of three weeks when I first got my job and summers/other breaks, which were a finite amount of time. Now I am in the abyss of life not being a working student. So far, it's lovely, but a bit daunting.
I am looking forward to seeing what happens with this. People I know who have done it previously saw enormous gains in flexibility, strength, and mindfulness, just to name a few. This morning, I was euphoric about my mittens in a way I don't think I have ever been. These are not new mittens - I have had them for years. Could be a yoga-attributed-increased-mindfulness thing... or a miserably frigid thing.
So, Day 3's challenge is remembering to do yoga prior to my date to Easy Pie (looks good, doesn't it?!) because doing yoga with lots of pizza in one's belly is not good. Yet another lesson ripe for the learnin'.
Either way, I figure this will help get me ready for my 30 days of eating only fruit happening this summer.
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