bikram yoga, class 4

my fourth class. a real disappointing class. for several reasons.

first, a woman came in late to class and set her mat directly in front of me. she proceeded to spend the entire class one to three beats off from the rest of the class AND talking to the (admittedly very handsome) teacher. but come on!! it was so distracting. she moved into and came out of postures at different times than the rest of the class, she left the room once, got up and got a tissue once, talked directly to the teacher 3 or 4 times.

in bikram yoga, you're supposed to move together as a class throughout the entire 90 minute class in controlled and precise movements. its not only about doing the postures, its about staying as still as possible between postures despite the sweat and the heat and the discomfort and your clothes sticking to you in the most unfortunate of places. its just part of the practice. and teachers are supposed to keep students accountable to this part of the practice -- reminding students to stay together as a class. even the corpse pose is one you do with precision and control.

the hot (pun intended) teacher, eddie, would not say anything to this woman even though it was obvious it was all a play to get his attention. it was obnoxious but mostly just really distracting.

second, for some reason it seems like the yoga teachers here move faster. there is less time to rest between each posture and so i spent this class especially just feeling like i could never catch up. normally breathing comes natural to me in class, but today i not only was not aware of my breath throughout class i also just couldn't ever get settled into breathing at all. i felt like i spent the whole class trying to catch up.

third, i'm just exhausted today. not sure really why. yesterday i felt great after class. today i just felt angry and bothered and like i just couldn't keep up.

fourth, i've been having a really hard time with anything that has to do with balancing. so many of the first postures -- the standing series; the majority of the class -- are about balancing with a strong, locked standing leg while doing some wild things with the top half of your body. i can't seem to get past the first step of any of the balancing postures. today, because of the distracting woman in front of me -- or actually because of my inability to tune her out -- i fell out of the postures (or couldn't even get into them) even more than in my first class four days ago.

on another note, my headache is still gone. my muscles are feeling less stressed and tight and more open, flexible, clean. i'm still really glad i'm doing this. it is an amazing experience even with the challenges. i can feel my body getting stronger and my life focusing in on the important things -- the things i want and who i am.

my stomach and hips still are pudgy and i wonder how long it will take with a regular practice before i start to see a difference, not only in my physical appearance but in my core strength -- which, once developed will help me go much deeper into all the postures.

on yet another note, i rode my bike to an urban organic farm about a mile from where i'm staying here in austin. i bought fresh heirloom tomatoes (oaxacan jewels), fresh basil, arugula, french sorrel, pigweed amaranth, peaches and cherry tomatoes along with some pickled zucchini sticks. me and amy jones had a great picnic lunch on the UT campus and then repeated the same exact meal for dinner. this is what we had:

• arugula and french sorrel salad with peaches, yellow cherry tomatoes, spicy roasted pumpkin seeds and a sweet vinaigrette
• fresh baked 6th street sourdough bread from sweetish bakery
• sliced oaxacan jewel tomatoes with sea salt, pepper and slivers of basil
• various cheeses, sliced
• a few pieces of fried turkey bacon

it was the most satisfying meal i've had yet this summer. so simple. so many vegetables. so many fresh, crisp flavors.

until tomorrow.

A New Home :)

I haven't posted in a while because I've been in the process of moving . . . again. I've moved everything I own into my parents' house in Dayton, O. It feels good to be here, even though I feel a little funny moving back into my parents house and wouldn't have believed it if you had told me 6 months ago that I would be moving back to southwest Ohio. Funny how life takes you down many paths you never thought it would.

I actually feel really really really relieved to have all my stuff moved into my parents place. Things have been so topsy turvy for me in the past couple (many?) years that having my things here actually makes me feel more grounded than I have in a long time. Like now that my things are all safe in the basement, I can feel more free to roam or settle in or boomerang back and forth between my many different interests. In moving this most recent time, I began to notice a pattern (finally) emerging in my collections -- kitchen stuff, fabric/yarn/sewing supplies, BOOKS and rocks. These are the things I collect. Most of these things are heavy things, which I attribute to my airy Libra self needing to be brought back down to earth from all the flying about I do in my mind, and across the planet. Did I mention how relieved I feel to have all my stuff at my parents house? I love my little dungeon (basement) bedroom/living room/bathroom and the beautiful yard, trees, flowers (blue carpets of squill are the most recent bloomers) and soon the morels will come up under the giant ash trees that dot the property.

I will be starting my annual spring raw food fast soon. I will be posting recipes to go along with it. Simple guides to using raw foods to cleanse the system at the start of a new year. Last year I did this raw food fast and I felt amazing, energetic, clear -- all my muscles felt clean, revived, energized, my mind felt the same. I have treated my body poorly this winter -- getting out of shape, over-indulging my sweet tooth and generally just eating my way through feeling bored, broke and somewhat ill. Blech!!

I will also be starting work on the farms next week -- I will be working primarily on two CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) called Smaller Footprint and Wild Soil and sometimes at a third CSA called Heart Beet Farms. I can't wait to get my hands dirty and be outside on a regular basis. This winter has lasted far too long and the spring is inching along so slowly, it's about to drive me crazy.

Check back soon for updates on the farms, raw food recipes/spring cleanse and a little story about buzzards.

A Spring Cleaning Salad

This week I've been eating the most amazing food. Here is what it mostly consists of -- a rough recipe.

A Spring Cleaning Salad

garlic (chop it up -- as much as you like to eat in one sitting)
ginger (same as above)
1 whole beet chopped into small cubes
1 whole parsnip (peeled and chopped into small cubes)

heat some olive oil in a small skillet (cast iron works best)
break up some dried whole red chiles and drop them in the oil (again as much as you can
stand to eat in one sitting -- I usually use 2 whole chiles, seeds and all but I like really hot
spicy food.)
stir chiles in oil, then add the chopped veggies to the oil
stir and mix all together
pour in some raw apple cider vinegar
and some Bragg's liquid amino acids or maybe some soy sauce (whatever you have
available)

continue heating this til the roots are just getting tender and the vinegar/bragg;s has reduced to about half its original volume -- maybe 4-5 minutes.

meanwhile, put some salad greens (organic are best for cleansing purposes but whatever
lettuce like things you have will probably work) into a bowl
sprinkle some cheese on the greens
put some homemade sauerkraut (see earlier posting on this blog -- storebought sauerkraut
is not recommended since it tends to be soggy and somewhat flavorless and either way is
not nearly as alive or vibrant as homemade) on top of the salad greens
pour the beet, garlic, ginger mixture on top if this pile of stuff in your bowl.
top with a handful (really a handful) of chopped parsley and cilantro
I put some flax oil on top of all of this just cause I have it in the house and I hear it's supposed
to be good for me.

Eat this with some fresh baked bread or just as it is and your body will love you. It makes me feel really clear, alive, energized and zing-y (you'll see what I mean).