Muchas Gracias

For the first couple of days that I started this, I was pretty certain it was just my sister and I who were following my yoga blog, but lately, I've been getting these amazing emails from all sorts of friends who have been following along in my journey.

It's so touching to read these emails and to see to what extent certain people are connecting with what I'm writing, and especially to see how many people are being inspired to do yoga themselves.  That was mostly the intent behind the yoga blog anyway, so I'm happy to see it happening!  I'm also so thankful for all the support I've been getting from everyone, especially everyone at the Briar Hill store, and especially from all my old and dear friends.  It's truly been amazing and it's definitely inspiring me further to continue on my mission for some happy hips!  I've got nothing but MAD LOVE for my 9 official followers on this blogger site, and for everyone who's been reading!  Thanks so much!

In other news, I've come down with some sort of a throat infection/cold, and have been too sick to do my yoga for the day.  I'm not sure what's more upsetting though.... that I've broken my record of doing yoga every single day, or that I'm sick and I am about to go to the Mayan Riviera for a week of vacation in less than 2 days!

I find both of those things really upsetting actually.  I considered doing the Easy Street video since it's not quite as rough as World Champion's Hips or Hot Chocolate for example, but I think all I really need right now (besides all the Oil of Oregano, St. Francis Herbs tinctures, thousands of milligrams of vitamin C, Echinacea, and other remedies I've been taking) is SLEEP. 

With that, I'm sorry to make this a brief little posting, but Meggo's in dire need of some Zzz's! 
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next week because as long as I can get some WIFI access in Mexico, I will be posting some ridiculous beach side yoga shots!

Sweat Once A Day

When I work out, I like to hit it hard.  I like intense workouts that really make your body sweat, and cry, and ache for a break.  Those are the kind of workouts that you can really pat yourself on the back for doing.  The kind that makes your body sore for the rest of the week, reminding you of how hard you worked.
The problem with that though, is that I've developed this little habit of thinking; if I'm not going to have time to hit it hard, then I might as well not work out at all that day.  It sounds awful, but it's essentially the truth.

This is why I like the lululemon manifesto so much.  It's filled with so many awesome truths... Among my favs are: 

"Life is full of setbacks.  Success is determined by how you handle them."

"What we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves"

"The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time, choose a positive thought."

"That which matters the most, should never give way to that which matters the least."

"Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to."

"Do one thing a day that scares you."

"Sweat once a day."

I really like "Sweat once a day."  It's such a simple message isn't it?
It isn't, ... "Run 5K everyday", or "Do circuit training for an hour, followed by a step class once a day".  It's as simple as, SWEAT once a day.  You can do whatever you want, and the message isn't even "Sweat BUCKETS everyday."  It's just sweat.  So your job...really... is to just find out what your favourite way to sweat is....and then do that...or something like it, everyday.

I definitely love practicing Yoga which is why I chose this to be my 30day challenge.
What I love (and HATE) about this challenge though, is that I have to do it every.single.day.
No ifs, ands, or buts.  When it comes to weight loss, this has always been precisely the problem for me.  I never really made it a priority to "sweat once a day".  I had the will power to go on crazy diets, to avoid certain foods, and simply approach my weight loss by always treating food as the enemy.  The truth is, food is not the enemy.  Not the food we're supposed to eat anyway.  Food and eating in general is supposed to be nourishing for your mind, body, and soul.  It gives you strength... nutrients....vitality.  My relationship with food now is very different than it ever used to be.  After my mom died, food was my "friend."  I ate as much of it as I wanted, and only the tastiest of things.  It was my comfort.  Some people turn to alcohol, or drugs, or cigarettes in times like the one I went through.  I turned to chocolate and every kind of carb known to man.  *Drool.

After doing this for a solid couple of months and packing on 50 pounds, it's easy to make a very wrong correlation.  You assume that food + all that weight gain = food is your enemy.
But food isn't the enemy.  The enemy is the negative thinking going on inside you that made you "need" the food in the first place.  That's where the real work needs to be done.  That right there is the root cause of weight-gain.  Not the food.  You can't just go on a diet and deprive yourself of the one way you know how to make yourself feel better without attempting to treat the reason you need to do that in the first place.  This is why dieting always fails.  The only way to really get past this and make a break-through, is to start getting very REAL with yourself.

So now here I am, six years later, and finally in a place where I'm capable of recognizing what it looks and feels like to feel ...not "full", but satiated.  I can eat just because I'm hungry, instead of eating because I'm 100% bored, sad, or lonely.  I'm in a place where my weight can actually stay stable and so now the only thing left for me to do is to work out on a regular basis to take the rest of what I like to call my "bereavement weight" off for good.  

It's important for our bodies to move...and not just really hard one random day of each month, but everyday, even if it's just a little bit.

It's now Day 7 of my challenge and to be totally honest, my body feels great but I'm utterly EXHAUSTED!!!

I'm working lots (which is fantastic and oh so necessary... mama needs to pay the bills!) but I'm finding that my life is so jam packed at the moment that it really is hard to find time to do the yoga every.single.day....and then blog about it afterwards!  In fact, yesterday, I did World Champion's Hips, and then sat down at my computer to start writing about how it went, and I actually collapsed at my keyboard....hence, no Day 6 posting....

So as painful as this lesson is becoming, I am finding strength in the fact that in doing this challenge I am creating new, better, healthier habits for myself.  These are habits that I can carry through with me into my next year of studying medicine and ones that will help me see my goals through to completion.

The Power of Deep Breathing

Today is day 5 and I'm starting the set of four routines all over again.
The routine for the day is Easy Street which is a great thing in my book because I'm so exhausted I don't think I could handle some Champion's Hips today.

I honestly feel like I closed my eyes for a second, and the class was over.
Somewhere after setting the timer on my camera so I could take a picture of me doing Warrior III, I popped right into the "zone".  I eased into the hip opening exercises and instead of feeling hints of anger come out like last time, I felt the need to breath deeply.  It was kind of intense.  You know the movie the Green Mile?  It sort of felt like the scene in that movie when John Coffey breathes out all that evil spirit fly stuff.  I almost didn't even hear Eoin talking in the video anymore.  I was too into the breathing.  I could feel and envision the stale energy leaving my hips and just pouring right out of me with every exhale.  This started in pigeon pose, and then the rest is a blur.  Savasana took me straight into the most restful ten minutes of sleep I've had in a long time.
I feel like a new woman!

I was reading in a book somewhere that one of the main purposes of the practice of yoga is to properly prepare the body for hours of meditation.  The postures are meant to relieve tension, realign the body and the chakras in order for you to be able to sit still comfortably, without moving, and go deep into meditation.  I certainly failed that mission by flat out falling asleep in savasana tonight.  I suppose I really needed that though.

I very much feel like I am detoxing during this first week.   The strange part is that I am not taking any herbal tinctures, or teas, there is no milk thistle in my cupboards, and I haven't started any hypoallergenic diets.  I'm strictly just doing yoga everyday for an hour, and I'm being purged of any negativity I was holding onto without realizing.  It really goes to show what the power of deep breathing can do for you.



So now, I anxiously await Day 6 and another round of World Champion's Hips and the dreaded boat poses.
Here's hoping for good outcomes tomorrow!

42

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being "heck yes", and 10 being "no way Jose", I rated my desire to do today's yoga video at 42. 

I started the day off with GREAT intentions.  In fact, I set my alarm clock for 6AM.  This way I would have tons of time to do my hour of yoga, take a few pictures, plus shower, write up a blog entry, make food for the day, and then get ready for work at 10am. 

Instead I pressed snooze on my alarm for THREE WHOLE HOURS. 
The first thing I thought when I finally pulled myself out of bed was, "Can you actually DO that?"  I didn't think my alarm would LET me snooze for 3 hours.  I was pretty sure in the past that after an hour of snoozing my alarm takes a hint and just turns itself off.  My conclusion?  While still asleep, I must have reset my alarm for later, and then restarted an entire snooze cycle.  I proceeded on to my daily morning routine, caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and was horrified.  You know when you get a ton of sleep, you tend to feel and LOOK rested?  Well, I guess three extra hours of sleep at ten minute intervals does not a rested Meighan make.  I looked like hell.
So, morning yoga today?  Didn't happen... Pictures?  What pictures?  Shower?  Unfortunately no.  Blog?  Absolutely not.  Food for the day?  I swallowed some fish oil capsules... grabbed an apple, dropped it on the floor accidentally, rubbed it on my shirt, threw it in my purse and ran to work.  Super productive morning.

Interestingly enough, today's video is called "All Downhill".  Perhaps this is some deep metaphor for the direction my energy has gone.  I thought it was pretty neat though when Eoin started the class by saying: "Yoga is an acronym: You've Only Got Attitude.  So let's practice the Feel Good Principle.  Let's feel better than when we started.  It's that simple." 

It really is that simple.  All of life's problems are in your mind.  Your problems are only problems if you choose to see them as such.

I found All Downhill to be a summary of all the other videos.  It essentially combined all of the poses from the previous videos into one shorter one that ended in under an hour.....and no boat poses!  Phew!  I still got some good thigh burn out of the Warrior poses, but I found a lot of time was spent on stretching and balancing out energy than on difficult poses I am mostly incapable of doing so far. 

It's only day 4 and I can feel a huge difference in my muscles already.
For one, they are very sore.  But mostly they just feel really toned and alive which is fantastic.  I also feel strength through my core.  That is DEFINITELY the result of World Champion's Hips....because man-alive, did those boat poses ever do a number on me.

I was pleasantly surprised today.  During the first few sun salutations in tonight's video, I realized that my chaturanga push-ups look like legitimate push-ups now!?  On day 1 I was in desperate need of modifications and had to involve my knees.  Alright, let's be honest here, I even involved my breasts to help me get through those.  In fact, any part of my body that seemed useful was used in helping me get through those first days....  Okay fine, my chaturanga's were really just me laying on the ground for a bit and then stretching into cobra. 

They've improved greatly over just four days.  I'm really excited now.  If I can see that kind of change in four days, I can't even imagine what I'll be capable of when this 30-day challenge is over.

If you're reading this and also struggle with Chaturanga, or perhaps have no idea what that is... I found this link to Yoga Journal.  It breaks down a wide variety of yoga postures into step by step instructions of how to do them properly, which anatomical areas to be careful with, what conditions (for example, pregnancy) are contraindicated with these postures, how to do these posures with a partner, and how to deepen the postures...among other things. It also shows pictures and you can leave comments if you want too.  It's pretty amazing.  Oh internet, where would we be without you?

Day 3: Hot Chocolate

So... the title is a little bit misleading...

In fact, I'm not sure why video #3 is called Hot Chocolate at all.  I felt the heat, but there was no chocolate to be found.

This routine was similar to yesterday's.  Boat pose came back!  This time there were two kinds of boats.  My friend from yesterday, and a reverse boat pose in which you start by laying on your stomach, then grab your ankles from behind you, and lift your chest and legs up off the ground.  I have a strong back, so this pose has always been an easy one for me.  Its direct inverse on the other hand.... quite challenging!  I was able to do boat pose with my legs bent this morning, but I think it'll be a while before my version looks anything like Yogi Extraordinaire's in my post from last night.

An interesting thing is happening to me as I check off day 3 of this challenge... I'm getting a little bit... pissy?
This has happened to me before when I did a hot yoga challenge at Darcy's Moksha Yoga Studio in North York 2 years ago.  I couldn't explain it then, but I got, ...well... ANGRY!  It appeared I was angry for no apparent reason.  This would be true except for the minor detail that Anger was one of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' grieving stages that I had never allowed myself to experience after my mom's death.  Kubler-Ross defines this stage as a feeling of "Why me?  It's not fair!  How can this happen to me?  Who is to blame?!"  She says that when in this stage, any individual representing life or energy becomes the subject of projected resentment and jealousy.  At this point it had been 4 years since my mother died and in those 4 years I had never expressed any of these emotions.  This wasn't a conscious decision or anything, the anger just didn't come out.  The tears sure did.  But the anger?  Not so much.

After a solid week of deep hip opening exercises with Darcy, I was all a rage.  Literally.  I really have to thank my two girlfriends Angie and Jacqueline for even being able to put up with me during this time,  as well as my sister who shared virtually everything, including oxygen, with me in our bachelor apartment that year!  The slightest things would set me off.  A couple, deeply in love, walking past me on the street would set off intense feelings of hate and I would have to stop myself and think, "What is WRONG with you?! You don't even KNOW them!? Chill the france out!"  All the yoga instructors I have ever practiced under always give caution about those wonderful hip openers..."When doing hip opening exercises, you may notice a release of previously stored emotions." 

Knowing what I know now about Asian Medicine from my studies as a Naturopathic student, it makes total sense to me that such strong rage and anger could result from something as simple as stretching my legs and opening up my hips. 

There are 12 standard meridians that go up and down the arms, trunk, and legs; one of them is the Liver Meridian.  In a Western sense, the liver organ is responsible for the storage and filtration of blood, the secretion of bile, and metabolic actions.  In Asian Medicine, the Liver also stores and governs the blood and ensures its free movement.  However, the liver has many other functions, and Anger and Fear are within this realm.  A common pathology, "Liver Qi Stagnation" will result in anger, impatience, and rash decisions.  The Liver meridian runs up along the inner aspect of the legs and across the hips into the ribs as you can see in the picture I've attached.  So it's no surprise that any kind of deep stretching around this hip area will release emotions that you've unconsciously stored away.  I think everyone can agree that yoga is a good way to detox toxins out of the system...but clearly, it's a good way to detox the emotional toxins out of your body too.

F*@#!

 Yes.  That's exactly the right word to summarize video number two: "F*@#!"
That is essentially all I muttered under my breath, especially once minute 40 arrived...when I began screaming it.  There were other variations of it as well.  Sometimes there was a vehement "What the..." before it.  Other times, I blessed it by placing a  "Holy..." in front of it.  Most of the time I just repeated it over and over.

The beginning of the video takes you through some awesome sun salutations that result in a glorious sweat.  I didn't think I worked too hard yesterday but I could already feel some teeny cries from my muscles as I stretched like a happy puppy in downward dog.

Video numero two is called World Champion's Hips.  Eoin makes reference to elite athletes training for the Winter Olympics we just hosted in Vancouver (what what!).  He also stresses the importance of an excellently trained core.  I should have known what was coming.... death by yoga.

Okay, okay, it wasn't that bad.  It was actually awesome and will give me a goal to work towards by the end of the month (like I don't have enough goals already!).  In this video, Eoin has us doing boat poses that he not only has us hold for a while, but then has us alternate lowering one leg at a time while the other one stays high in the air.  From here we go back into a full boat pose, then release and lay our legs down flat in front of us, and we sit up with our back straight.  This is the point where I thought we were done.  We weren't.

So we did all that boat stuff, and then he has us lift our bums off the ground by supporting all our weight in our arms.  Our legs then come up off  from the ground too.  Well that was the intention.  My version of this looked very different from what Eoin and crew were doing... but I did my best.  It's almost a shame there isn't any video footage of my attempt at this because it would involve a lot of breathy cursing, some intense shaking of my core and inner thighs, (and I mean INTENSE) and finally me on the floor laughing at how I failed horribly at making any of that look somewhat graceful.

Here is a picture of another lemon that can do boat pose quite gracefully:

There were other poses we did in this video that resulted in a bit of cursing and disbelief... but I don't think I could describe them eloquently enough to do them justice.  So I will save those for another post.

No matter what you're doing in life, you always have to start somewhere and the important thing is that you just start and not take anything too personally.  After doing World Champion's Hips, I realized that the next time I do it, I will likely dread minute 40, and all the other minutes that follow until savasana rolls around.  Ahh savasana.  This would be an unfortunate mistake on my part though.  Part of the lululemon manifesto is: "Do one thing a day that scares you."  I really like this and try to make it my mantra in life because it's so true.  If all you do in life are the things that are easy for you to do, things that don't instill any kind of butterflies in your stomach, and don't create any sort of anticipatory anxiety in you, then what exactly are you learning from life?  Boat pose officially scares me so I will be sure to stare it fiercely in the eye the next time I encounter it and do my darndest to find peace in that pose.  Hopefully, come June 30th, I can post some pictures of me doing it gracefully!

In somewhat unrelated news:  Best Health Magazine published an article rating the Best Reusable Water Bottles. 
I was happy to see that our Lululemon Simply Stainless was very high on that list! 
I am a proud owner of one of those bad boys myself, as I personally have a bit of a water bottle obsession.  Here's a link to the online version of that article if you're interested!

June 1st, 2010 also known as... DAY 1

Day 1 got off to a rocky start.

There was a hydro vault fire on Erskine Avenue which cut the power to almost everyone in the Yonge and Eglinton area including my Briar Hill store. My plans to start Day 1 with a bit of laundry and some Happy Hips were quickly canceled as I had no power, or water in my home until the afternoon. I didn't mind catching some extra Z's instead though! That part was quite nice actually.

I started my 30 day journey with the first video called "Easy Street". The tone of the video was just that... easy. I don't mean easy as in "psshh... that was nothin'!" I mean it more that it just had a nice, easy, flow to it. It felt more like a restorative and chill kind of class rather than a grueling, fight the urge to give up, kind of class. I feel like that was just what the doctor ordered today.

Ever have one of those days where all the little things seem to go wrong? You make tiny little plans for yourself, and the opposite happens instead? Nothing life-altering goes wrong, but enough little things happen (or don't happen) to make you feel a wee bit irked? That was today for me. This class definitely helped restore some balance.

My favourite pose from the video was definitely "Ballet Arch". (I'm doing it in the photo I've attached) It combined a lot of much needed hip opening, as well as chest opening. At one point in the video, Eoin asks us to "feel a sense of inflation in the centre of the chest... because the heart becomes so deflated in life." Ain't it the truth brother, ain't it the truth. I think it's really important to remember that. It's so easy to allow the negativity in life to weigh your heart down. I don't think everyone realizes how equally easy it can be to inflate your heart back up through conscious awareness and a few deep breaths!

Day 1 is now officially over, my hips are feeling pretty good already, and my heart has been re-inflated. I am pumped.