Teaching is great

Today in class we group taught a 90 minute yoga practice. So the instructors wrote out a whole sequence and we drew numbers to see who would teach which pose. We spent the whole time rotating in and out of teaching and taking the class. It was interesting because we all had to be mentally engaged as well as physically engaged the whole time, listening for our number and thinking about how we were going to teach our pose. It was the funnest yoga class I've ever been to. Personalities came out, we all said weird and funny things and it was a good time.

I drew the number to teach the inverted portion of the class and basically all I had to do with give some cues and let everyone do their thing. I helped one of my classmates try out a inversion prepping pose, and it reminded me of what it felt like to teach. I hadn't really been in a formal teaching position since university and it made me really glad. There is nothing more rewarding than helping someone become better than they are.

Class on Friday and Saturday were particularly exhausting. I was beginning to wonder when we were going to do more teaching and sequence learning, but today was all about both.

On another note, Saturday's class was all about back bends and I found my way into a new pose, Kapotasana. I'm pretty stoked.

Frankenbike

I have a new friend! If you don't know, I volunteer at a bike co-op called Bikerowave. So I had been keeping my eye out for a frame that would be my size so I could build a beater bike. In August a 1980s Bridgestone walked in and I claimed it!

I spent the last two months at Bikerowave building up this bike. First I needed a narrow hub, for the rear dropouts so I had to build a wheel that had such hub. This took about 1.5 months because I did it all wrong about 5 times. Never build a wheel. There is a reason why these things are done by machines these days. I'm not going relive the frustration that was wheel building, but I'm glad I got it done. The rest of the month was just spent digging through used parts bins around the shop and finding time outside of my regular shift to work on it. Luckily things have been slow so I was able to get some stand time in on Mondays when I volunteer.

Nothing matches. If you look closely, the cranks are different colors. My brake shifters are both left shifters and the pedals don't match. My brakes are different. So I have named my bike Frankenstein. In honor of the month it was born and the way I put it together. The initial strategy was to just get it functional so I wouldn't have to pay for gas anymore, and later I could change and improve stuff. But I kind of like it this way. I think I'll just leave everything as is except maybe make stuff more comfortable.

Meatless Continued

It's week 6 of my teacher training and things are going really well. I thought 12+ hrs of yoga per week would be way too much and I would get frustrated without any variety in activity. Actually it's been pretty great. I'm learning about poses, how to teach with cues, a little bit of sequencing, and adjusting bodies, but mostly I'm practicing yoga. I am getting stronger, more flexible, and more balanced. Advanced poses are in the near future right after I am done rehabbing my carpal tunnel hand.

Anyway after the last post I made a more honest effort to cut meat out of my diet. I even went to Costco to search for those B12 pills in bulk. When I said that those things were 120% of your daily value, boy was I wrong. That sh*t is 41,667% of your daily value. Truth is on the label.

So I put that crap back down and bought 3lbs of almonds instead and a 6 inch wheel of Brie cheese. I also went to Trader Joe's and bought some hemp protein power to mix with milk and yogurt. Between all that, tofu and eggs I have my meat cravings down to almost never.

The past few days I was kind of surprised to find that I haven't missed meat at all. That thought made me feel pretty empowered. One less thing I have to rely on in life. I won't say there aren't times I want to eat it cause it smells good, but there have been just as many times where I don't want to eat meat because I know it will be hard for me to digest. The deeper I get into this process the less I will want to eat meat because it'll make me feel less healthy and more sluggish. Now I see why my teachers asked us to go vegetarian. It's a trap! A downward spiral into becoming hippy and I totally fell for it. Oh well too late now.

I also got a vegetarian coach. Her name is Heather and she sits about 5 cubes away. She's been giving me advice and brings some delicious food to share during lunch. This week I'm giving kale and Tofurkey a go. Steamed kale with sesame oil and tofurkey sausage with pasta is on the menu. I have to say that tofurkey is pretty good. Of course you can't expect it to taste like meat, but if you expect it to taste like tofu you'll be pleasantly surprised cause it's got a good flavor. Also on the menu is tomato soup with yogurt. The vege saga continues.

Going Vegetarian?

Before starting teacher training we got an email recommending that we all get rid of our coffee addictions and take up vegetarianism. The idea behind getting off caffeine was that a lot of poses and meditation we do will require that we be of a calm state of mind so having a stimulant in our system would hinder our ability to gain the full benefits of certain aspects of Yoga. That was fine because I don't drink coffee (thanks momma). The purpose for asking us to give up meat was in respect for all things living. We are what we eat and if we are consuming the energy of another living being it can convolute our own.

Whether I believe that or not is to be determined. Out of respect for the teachers I am trying to cut meat out of my diet. Those of you that have known me for a long time remember that vegetarianism is not unfamiliar to me, but it was only for 40 days a year. I always knew the commitment would end. But since then I've also developed really healthy habits, so I didn't doubt that this would be easy.

How wrong I was. Lol. Even though I'd been vegetarian before I was not working out as much as I do now, so the diet change has been tough. After going two or 3 days without  meat I get this weird headache and feel awkward or off kilter. Eating some sort of meat (chicken, fish, pork) cures it within 5 hours and I feel myself again. I'm aware of the typical B12 deficiency but I tried to anticipate that with a daily egg. Seems that one egg is not enough. According to the NIH I should  be eating 4 eggs a day to get the adequate amount of B12. This is my problem with vegetarianism. You have to up your intake of food/protein by almost 4 times to compensate because meat is such a dense source of nutrients. If you work out, you are eating often and a lot. So this is quite the experience with trying to find balance in the food I eat and finding time to go to the grocery store in between yoga classes. I have failed or cheated more than once (maybe >8 times >_< ) in the past 3 weeks.

I'm trying not to submit to the supplementary pill popping, but that just might happen. I don't like multivitamins because I don't need all those extra things. This is America, and I have a job. I am not malnourished so I don't need to take a pill that is 120% of all the vitamins and minerals I need. And I don't believe that I should need to take a pill when I can find some sort of delicious food to eat that has those nutrients.

The first new food I've tried is quinoa (pronounced "keenwa"). It's pretty good actually. It's supposedly a new "Super Food" that carries antioxidants and nutrients. It absorbs flavor really well too. [Picture is quinoa with onions, tomatoes, basil and vegetable broth.]

Is this vegetarianism thing gonna pan out? Probably not. I don't feel like killing animals is a bad thing and would be fine if I owned a farm and had to kill a chicken a day. But I'm trying to face this as a challenge and hopefully learn a lot more about nutrition and food along the way.

Why Yoga?

Over the past 4 years I've tried my hand at a lot of different sports: cycling, running, dance (social, modern, hip hop), Capoeira, Karate, swimming, weight lifting, etc. All of which are great workouts; you gain a skill and get strong in the process. You sweat out your stress, escape your day to day responsibilities, and return refreshed. So why am I choosing to teach Yoga over strengthening my skills any of the other sports?

Yoga is about loving yourself. Not in the stereotypical LA superficial way, but in the kind, considerate, take care of yourself before you take care of others way. I started doing this before Yoga. Catholicism challenged me to practice most of the same values: love others, treat your body as a temple, and avoid the vices (greed, envy, etc). Having a difficult person in my life helped me practice some of those virtues, like turning my anger into kindness or trying to approach a bad situation in a calm and understanding way. Since I left the religion I've held onto the same fundamental beliefs but I have missed the community. I found that community in Yoga. There is nothing like joining a group of like-minded people. What's more is that Yoga introduces and cultivates these positive moral and social habits in its practitioners without the overarching umbrella of religion. A yogi can choose to incorporate as much or as little of the beliefs as they want, but either way they will gain the benefits of strength, stability, flexibility, and calm through practice. The elongated breath, the heat you build, and the focus you work on in class translates to a calmer personality off the mat. Strength and stability build confidence and self-worth just like any other sport. I believe that anyone who practices Yoga will feel better as a person in areas of their life other than in the studio. These are a few reasons why I want to teach Yoga. 

I think the idea I love most about the philosophy is that you should pay attention to only your practice. Avoid comparing yourself to others because you will always be different and you will change from day to day. Listening to your body and your needs is the best way to getting better at Yoga. If you feel you can push yourself, then push yourself. If you feel that you need to rest, then rest. There is no judging and no right or wrong. I think once people truly accept this concept in their daily lives they can finally be comfortable in their own skin and will find some contentment or peace. Don't conform to society; find out what is good for you not what people tell you what is good for you. Ally did a talk last year about this idea and she explains it pretty well. I've included the link below and I agree with everything she said. I'm glad she's my teacher because she is definitely someone I can look up to. (I am finding inspirational teachers too, AJ! ;-D )

TEDx - Ally Hamilton