...because I RAN A MILE yesterday! In parts, admittedly, BUT HOLY CRAP A WHOLE MILE. I did the first half a mile straight through before I had to stop and walk (remember that bra/breathing/knee problem thing? yeah). And then I would walk at a fast pace for a song or so then run two tenths of a mile, walk again, run again, walk again, run again. I was on the treadmill for a total of 35 minutes. I have no idea how many calories I burned, but to be honest I really don't care. I'm just so damn proud of myself. I can't wait until I'm able to do a mile straight through. And then two miles! And then maybe a 5K, *squee*! I have never, ever been able to run a mile. I remember being humiliated in middle school because they made us do it and I was the last kid off the track and walked most of it. It took me over fifteen minutes or something ridiculous like that. Now I obviously am much slower than that now (I was running at just under 5mph last night) but I can't wait to get stronger and faster and be able to run longer distances. I'd say "HA, I TOLD you I'd be a runner", but you guys never doubted me. I only ever doubted myself. Well I am no longer giving power to my doubt, as Honore de Balzac would be thrilled to know.
I'm also proud of myself because of why I went running. For some reason in the middle of the afternoon yesterday I just got really depressed. I had accidentally eaten a lot of chocolate and candy yesterday without realizing it. I was angry with myself, and then the weird sudden depression on top of it was really making me feel like crap. I was tired, had to do laundry, and just wanted to crawl into bed and hide from knowing I'd have to post about it here. But instead, I changed my attitude. Remember how I said attitude is everything? I thought to myself "You feel like crap. You want to go to bed. Instead, go run a mile. Don't let your mistaken preconceptions stop you. The only thing stopping you is you. Go run a mile. You can do it!"
And I did it. And I feel great. Today, I've been so pumped up by my success last night that I have eaten healthy all day because I wanted to, not because I thought I needed to. I had a small bowl of cereal for breakfast, carrots with dressing and grapes as lunch, turkey and cheese roll-up as a snack, steamed salmon and broccoli with a cheesy baked potato for dinner, and two cookies for dessert. I'll probably have a banana as a snack later. By my count that's a serving of whole grains, three servings of dairy, two servings of protein, three servings of veggies, and three servings of fruit (I had two cups of grapes).
I did yoga when I woke up this morning and if I wasn't so sore from running I'd go for a walk. But today I'm going to take a short break from the exercise, plan out my day tomorrow, and relax knowing that I am awesome and capable of doing anything, making whatever changes I want to.
I feel so damn good.
PS: Can anybody give me good suggestions for running socks? Mine gave me blisters last night. :(
Showing posts with label yogatime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yogatime. Show all posts
4.05.2011
4.04.2011
Namaste
Ahh, finally...the post where I get to rave about how much I love to do yoga!
I had my first experience with yoga the summer after I graduated high school, when I worked outdoors at a public gardens and arboretum. During the second part of the summer, the staff all paid a certain amount to have a yoga teacher come out to the arboretum and do classes outside near one of the ponds (so beautiful!). It was won.der.ful. I quickly noticed that my back didn't hurt nearly as bad from being stooped over pulling weeds on the days that I had yoga class in the morning. It made me feel happier, less stressed, and left me open to face the challenges of the day with a positive attitude.
I've really come to believe that attitude is everything in life, from getting through a stressful week of schoolwork to finding the motivation to keep working out and eating right. If I wake up in the morning and think, "I feel fat, it's gonna be hard to get my fruit and veggies in today, my back hurts, I have no time to workout" then I'm going to start the day with good intentions, perhaps eating a healthy breakfast, but eventually I'll end up giving in to the negativity and eating bagels, cookies, and go out to eat for dinner at place with no healthy options. At the end of the day, I'll feel even worse than when I woke up, and the same thing will probably happen the next day. But if I get up in the morning and think "I may have gained weight but I can work on that, I'll do my best to eat well, my back hurts but a little yoga would help, I don't have much time but could go for a walk between classes", then I guarantee you I'm going to have a successful, healthy day and the next day I will be proud of my choices and attitude and have a second healthy day to boot.
By making my body feel good and helping my mind to be calm, yoga improves my attitude. Plus, all I need to do it is my yoga mat! I just got a new one for Christmas from Gaiam. If you're new to yoga, I highly recommend you pay the money to attend a beginner's yoga class. I've taken two now, and having a live instructor is invaluable when it comes to learning the correct alignment for the poses. If you don't, you could really hurt yourself. If you really can't afford it, then go to my favorite website, Yogatic. Esther, a Dutch woman living in Ireland, posts free, excellent yoga videos there. She recently released a beginner DVD, but it's priced in Euros and I have no idea what shipping to the States would cost. In any case, just use her search bar to find some videos labeled "beginner" or something like that. She also has great and thorough written explanations of individual poses with pictures. Look through her site, I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do. In fact, I did 40 minutes of yoga this morning (10 more than my goal of 30 minutes of movement per day!). These are the videos I did in the order I did them:
First, the Warm Up for Yoga
Then, this Flow with Jessica Hatchett which is centered around Downward Facing Dog pose
After that, this Yoga for Opening the Hips
To finish, I did some of my favorite poses to relieve lower back pain, which I experience a lot. I also did some calming, restorative poses just to relax at the end.
That was a few hours ago. Now, I feel calm and uplifted. My limbs feel long and well-stretched, and there's no tension in my hips. I don't feel stiff or sore. I am definitely going to make an effort to do at least a few minutes of yoga every day. It's better to do a little every day than a full sequence only a few days a week. At least, that's what I've noticed is better for me.
By the way, if anybody tells you that yoga won't help you lose weight, they are absolutely wrong. It's not a cure-all, but I think we're all smart enough to realize that exercise of any kind has to be in addition to healthy eating and overall mindfulness of our state of mind. But yoga can definitely help you reach your goals. A couple years ago I managed to lose about twelve pounds (the most I've ever lost to date), and I did it mostly through eating well and doing yoga. You just have to look for sequences that have you constantly moving or really testing your muscles, like the sequence with Jessica Hatchett above. That video had me dripping so much sweat onto my mat I had to get a towel, no joke. But maybe I'm just sweaty, haha. :P
Anyway, check out that site! Try some yoga! If you do it right, meaning that you feel your body's limitations and only go so far into the poses as you can handle, you'll love it. The best thing about yoga is that you can always improve. You can always stretch a little deeper or hold a pose a little longer, and everything can be modified if the flexibility for the standard pose just isn't there for you (for example, in the warm up video when Esther has you extend your leg straight up in the air, stretching it with a belt or scarf, I always have to do the modification where I bend the other knee to help my leg straighten out - my hamstrings are ungodly tight right now).
I hope you liked this post. Let me know if you're a yoga lover like me! Namaste!
I had my first experience with yoga the summer after I graduated high school, when I worked outdoors at a public gardens and arboretum. During the second part of the summer, the staff all paid a certain amount to have a yoga teacher come out to the arboretum and do classes outside near one of the ponds (so beautiful!). It was won.der.ful. I quickly noticed that my back didn't hurt nearly as bad from being stooped over pulling weeds on the days that I had yoga class in the morning. It made me feel happier, less stressed, and left me open to face the challenges of the day with a positive attitude.
I've really come to believe that attitude is everything in life, from getting through a stressful week of schoolwork to finding the motivation to keep working out and eating right. If I wake up in the morning and think, "I feel fat, it's gonna be hard to get my fruit and veggies in today, my back hurts, I have no time to workout" then I'm going to start the day with good intentions, perhaps eating a healthy breakfast, but eventually I'll end up giving in to the negativity and eating bagels, cookies, and go out to eat for dinner at place with no healthy options. At the end of the day, I'll feel even worse than when I woke up, and the same thing will probably happen the next day. But if I get up in the morning and think "I may have gained weight but I can work on that, I'll do my best to eat well, my back hurts but a little yoga would help, I don't have much time but could go for a walk between classes", then I guarantee you I'm going to have a successful, healthy day and the next day I will be proud of my choices and attitude and have a second healthy day to boot.
By making my body feel good and helping my mind to be calm, yoga improves my attitude. Plus, all I need to do it is my yoga mat! I just got a new one for Christmas from Gaiam. If you're new to yoga, I highly recommend you pay the money to attend a beginner's yoga class. I've taken two now, and having a live instructor is invaluable when it comes to learning the correct alignment for the poses. If you don't, you could really hurt yourself. If you really can't afford it, then go to my favorite website, Yogatic. Esther, a Dutch woman living in Ireland, posts free, excellent yoga videos there. She recently released a beginner DVD, but it's priced in Euros and I have no idea what shipping to the States would cost. In any case, just use her search bar to find some videos labeled "beginner" or something like that. She also has great and thorough written explanations of individual poses with pictures. Look through her site, I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do. In fact, I did 40 minutes of yoga this morning (10 more than my goal of 30 minutes of movement per day!). These are the videos I did in the order I did them:
First, the Warm Up for Yoga
Then, this Flow with Jessica Hatchett which is centered around Downward Facing Dog pose
After that, this Yoga for Opening the Hips
To finish, I did some of my favorite poses to relieve lower back pain, which I experience a lot. I also did some calming, restorative poses just to relax at the end.
That was a few hours ago. Now, I feel calm and uplifted. My limbs feel long and well-stretched, and there's no tension in my hips. I don't feel stiff or sore. I am definitely going to make an effort to do at least a few minutes of yoga every day. It's better to do a little every day than a full sequence only a few days a week. At least, that's what I've noticed is better for me.
By the way, if anybody tells you that yoga won't help you lose weight, they are absolutely wrong. It's not a cure-all, but I think we're all smart enough to realize that exercise of any kind has to be in addition to healthy eating and overall mindfulness of our state of mind. But yoga can definitely help you reach your goals. A couple years ago I managed to lose about twelve pounds (the most I've ever lost to date), and I did it mostly through eating well and doing yoga. You just have to look for sequences that have you constantly moving or really testing your muscles, like the sequence with Jessica Hatchett above. That video had me dripping so much sweat onto my mat I had to get a towel, no joke. But maybe I'm just sweaty, haha. :P
Anyway, check out that site! Try some yoga! If you do it right, meaning that you feel your body's limitations and only go so far into the poses as you can handle, you'll love it. The best thing about yoga is that you can always improve. You can always stretch a little deeper or hold a pose a little longer, and everything can be modified if the flexibility for the standard pose just isn't there for you (for example, in the warm up video when Esther has you extend your leg straight up in the air, stretching it with a belt or scarf, I always have to do the modification where I bend the other knee to help my leg straighten out - my hamstrings are ungodly tight right now).
I hope you liked this post. Let me know if you're a yoga lover like me! Namaste!
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