Yesterday’s yoga took place on the bowling ally… not unlike the Starbucks Flow/Series a few days ago.

However, last night at bowling I was distracted.
Today, at work, I will be distracted.
Tonight, despite there being a yoga class I’m really looking forward to… I will be distracted.

Why?

I got an iPhone 4!!!!!!!! 

(although it has no #s in it… because the other one is TOAST!)

YEEHAW!!!!  I now owe my parents a car, or a house, or an all-expense-paid-trip to New York City… or at least the most gratitude I can muster.  There were more than a few logistical nightmares into attaining this iPhone 4 (which upon only a few hours of ownership is already knocking my socks off!–Ummmm… have you heard of Dragon Dictation???!?)–and basically the two of them dropped everything and came into the city last night because it was going to take three adults to make it all happen?! 

[Upon their arrival they were told there was a miscommunication and there weren’t actually any; long story; after the two of them threatened a  hunger strike in the store until one arrived… one appeared… I’m exaggerating… but one did actually arrive…]

But.  Let’s be honest.  No time for distractions.  I have two proposals to get in to the university today.  One is for next year’s internship; the other is for a presentation I will be giving to undergrads in November (which I am PUMPED about).

All this is alongside my regular coursework, my regular [new-to-me] job, the yoga challenge… and the like.

Oy yoy yoy… I think I, at the very least, need a countdown-to-Thanksgiving or countdown-to-winter-break app on the phone!

=)  =)  =)

[i.e. Three Full Weeks]

Friday’s gift to the revers was epsom salts.  They got used yesterday; I’d never used them before, but I think I’m pretty much on board.

Everyone keeps speaking of this time in a revolution often being filled with doubt/excuses.  I’m experiencing a bit of that maybe, but more-so: the concerns of logistics/scheduling/working-life.  I’m never that tempted to just do nothing… the concern is more: I can’t do everything.  BUT, maybe that’s the point: I can’t do everything.

I’m liking some instructors more than others… but, at the same time, trying not to judge (and just benefit from the advantages of each).  I’m feeling stretchy and good… but I’m also feeling a bit tired/dehydrated maybe.  I rarely crave junk food specifically these days but almost always crave calories in general.  I’m eating fruit like it’s going out of style (with the view that it’s probably filled with hydration too).

Am I experiencing this versus doing this?  (A question asked of us this week often.)  Hard to say.

Admittedly, the university quadrant of my life is becoming an increasingly overbearing beast.  I just rocked a mini-quiz and am fairly able to stay on top of writing assignments….. the practical/vocabulary pieces of all this network infrastructure jargon though is making me wonder: hmmmm… how able am I at getting all this done successfully?

I’m starting to see yoga as practice at that wondering.  (i.e. Can I really continue to hold this squat?)

So I guess the same other question follows through to U of L work: am I experiencing this or just waiting in the shadows until I can cross this off my to-do list?

There, probably more of the latter than should be the case.

…

Coincidentally–I’m JUST over half done both (the rev. and the masters).

Probably nearly equally confident that both will be completed as they should be.  🙂

Ah, yoga.

Yes, it’s tempting to mention the approach of tomorrow’s half-way-point.  BUT.  With this whole adventure, I’m attempting to wash the dishes to wash the dishes vs. washing the dishes to be done.

Yesterday was group [of people doing 40- and 108- Day revolutions] practice.  I enjoy those.  Within minutes of our opening meditation, the fire alarm went off.  We took our mats outside, while the firemen came and gave the all clear, and did our entire practice outside.  It was a bit nippy, but very interesting to do an entire practice under the blue sky and while smelling the fall leaves (and hearing both the wind and traffic).  I think I prefer it.  I kept cheating and opening my eyes to look at the sandstone school we were near, and to see if there were any onlookers.

Tonight is a dancefloor meditation.  Last night was a sushi meditation (and a Treatza Pizza meditation).  Tomorrow, who knows….. this week, though, might involve a new-wing-at-Chinook-Centre meditation, too.

As with the actual yoga itself, I’m zeroing in on my intention a bit.  That part is nice, because I think, now, as people ask: I’m getting a clearer more-specific idea of what I want to gain from all this.

The jist, overall, though: peace and strength.  Two things in life it’s never bad to be without.  😉

Ah, yoga.

We learn to do the work by doing the work, not by telling other people to do the work, not by having done the work at some time in the past, and not by hiring experts who can act as proxies for our knowledge about how to do the work.

Dr. Richard Elmore

Tonight’s yoga practice took place in a Starbucks.  It was my plan all along… and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Let me backtrack to Sunday in hopes of a fairly linear explanation.

Sunday, I won a pair of tickets to Sarah Harmer.  In a classy venue [the Jack Singer Concert Hall], in classy attire, following a classy opening act, I waited for the “real show” to begin.  I was just getting over the guilt of going to the concert as my weekend didn’t really have any spare moments and my working life couldn’t really cope with a night-with-less-than-the-usual-amount-of-sleep.  Being there felt right.  I looked up and saw our 40 Day Revolution organizer, Catherine, walk by.  I made a point of going to say ‘hi’… which I was proud of myself for… because I don’t always feel so inclined to extrovert in those kinds of situations.

I went over.  As the conversation developed, I found myself explaining some of the chaos of my life.  I shared the perceived benefits of practicing yoga but also some of the logistical difficulties of 40 Days devoted to yoga practice… with it being somewhat new… and with it being in and amongst some pretty other substantial ‘things’: a new job, a graduate degree, LIFE.

Here in the middle of the concert, I had one-on-one time with a bit of an expert of all this and she shared with me something she learned from her very first multi-day revolution:

Whether or not it is yoga devote an hour and a half to yourself and well-being each and every day.  Use yoga as the catalyst.  Maybe you’ll continue with the actual yoga or maybe it will evolve to swimming, or a bike ride, or a walk, or reading a novel, or whatever…

That, she said, has stuck with her.  (Although she’s a pretty impressive yogi, so I can imagine that more-often-than-not her time devoted is actual yoga.

And so.

Already the Thursday before last during our Meet the Teacher BBQ I ended up doing a 9:00 class that didn’t count.  That was my half-cheat.  Tonight I didn’t attempt a late ‘doesn’t count’ class.  I gave myself some time with two incredible members of my cohort.  I relished the time, and the green tea latte, and the honesty, and the time to just sit and be.

I’m allowed one day a week to not participate in formal practice.  Last week I didn’t use any of my get-out-of-jail-free-cards… in an attempt to super exceed at all this.  This week I used it.  Next week we’ll see.

Don’t get me wrong: Monday’s practice at the intermediate class was amazing.  I found myself housed between three fellow members of the rev. and two of my favourite instructors.

Tonight’s Starbucks session was every bit as good.

Really I can only hope the next 15 Days are as meaningful as the first 15.  Then, the next 10 just as meaningful again… and then the next, well, 30, 200, 365.

So far… so very, very good.

You’re getting sick of hearing about yoga.  I get that.  I would be too.  So then… here is the skinny on my yoga life AND my non-yoga life so far.

• I won tickets to Sarah Harmer’s concert tonight?! It’s at the Jack Singer Concert Hall, a place I adore.  I’m pretty excited… as I adore her, too.  I’ve only been to two concerts in my life really: Josh Groban in Edmonton and a different Sarah Harmer concert at Knox.  Based on ratios does that make me a Sarah Harmer groupie?  I hope she plays some of her older stuff!  I hope I get some masters work done beforehand!  …and marking?  How did I win the tix??… via the Calgary is Awesome blog.  I was the third e-mail-er through.  I’m thinking jeans, dress shoes, and a dressy shirt.
• I slept in for my 8:00AM yoga class yesterday… well ALMOST.   I barely made it.  In 9 minutes I got dressed, up, and there.  It obviously wasn’t a perfect class as I was in a frazzled coma.
• I bought myself some Congratulations-on-your-12th-day Lululemon yesterday.  Slowly but surely I’m going to fit in as a total yogi.
• I cannot believe the luck my friend circle is having these days… seriously.  I hope that each individual knows that I’m there for them….. and seriously: I hope they know that I’m also hoping nearly every second that things cumulatively turn around.
• I get one ‘cheat day’ a week with yoga (I can take one day off a week and still be in the running for a year-long pass); I probably haven’t mentioned that.  I might take it Wednesday and do some bowling.  We’ll see.
• Most people in the revolution are journalling.  I am too.  But (SHOCK!),  I’m falling behind.  I’m so bad at keeping up with journals.  MANY a late night was spent writing tens of journal entries throughout my entire undergraduate student teaching.  Luckily no one will be marking this revolution one.  Also lucky that I have the blog.
• I’m stuffed up.  Neti Pot time?  I’m increasingly stuffed up actually.  I blame allergies and germ-y kids in equal measure.
• Now that I’ve some really WOW-WHAT-A-BREAKTHROUGH?! yoga sessions… I’m starting to expect them.  Then I’m starting to get disappointed if I don’t have a perfect/great/wonderful class.  Hopefully I can learn to just take each day as it comes, not expect perfection, etc. etc.
• I want to go to Montreal (/Vancouver /Edmonton /San Francisco /Banff /Toronto) for a weekend in the worst way.  I think it’s new job butterfly escapism and yoga escapism.
• Annnnnnnnnnnd…. time for class.  =)

Best.  class.  ever.

Not for any athleticism factor….. but because part way through the class I authentically released my shoulders back and down (which I thought were sore and tight) and the progressively relaxed my body (then mind) from there.  By the end of the class I felt like I’d melted… it was a perfect end to a busy hump-day of work/chaos/lack-of-teaching-confidence.

I didn’t leap over any metaphoric walls, the walls just drifted away.

Okay enough zen-babble.  Back on the mat tomorrow……

Yes, I’m alive.  No, I haven’t quit my Revolution.

I don’t want to jinx anything and should probably touch wood 1000 times… but the revolution is going amazingly well.  I’ve had better days than others….. but so far there’s been no wall so big that it’s been able to register any level of a crash.

Some of the good:

• our ‘surprise instructor’ was one of my favourites Friday… I got to have the next-best-thing to a 1-on-1 class with her, and that’s a one-on-only-a-few class.
• I’m really starting to get to know some of the people at the studio; some well enough to share a smile, some well enough to say hello, and some well enough to laugh at the sticker chart rituals
• I feel physically stronger and mentally… well… calmer.  It’s been nice to coincide all this with the chaos of a new school and school-year

Some of the bad:

• Oops.  Yesterday I accidentally registered in intermediate/advanced.  … a bit of a happy accident though, because I think I might do it again.  It was good to push myself and surround myself with experts.
• I only have cotton shirts and shorts are less than ideal; I think I might need to lululemon it up this weekend
• Anything could throw off the whole ‘challenge’ aspect as far as: if I miss one class, I’m out.  A last minute meeting, traffic, any of it.  I know the goal isn’t to win a one year membership….. but still: I’d hate to be out so soon, especially for an external variable.

Some of the ugly:

• So far, each day, I’m actually looking forward to class.  I still feel guilty for taking all this time to myself (1.5 hours * 7 = 10.5 hours I’m not giving to….. well, all the other facets of my life).
• The schedule is crazy tight.  No room for error.  It’s keeping me on track as far as having to have a lunch and all my gear in the morning…. but again, one slip-up and…… extra stress.
• I need to not be a perfection-at-all-costs: both at work and at this yoga thing.  I’m becoming aware that I need to always do ‘the advanced route’ without breaks, without looking novice, bla bla bla.  A slow and steady route makes a zillion times more sense, yet I’m catching myself want ‘results now’, ‘perfection now’, ‘know it all now’, and these sorts of things don’t work that way.

Oh and the Facebook thing.  I’m kind of digging not being on.  Not forever.  BUT, it’s nice living life, without feeling the need to share it/dissect it all the time (says the hypocrite via his blog).  Hear the whole Facebook self-esteem bit?