I'm thought I was straight

In my mind I am completely straight until, I saw this picture...

God, do those herbs smell good and please ignore that large fleshy protusion that in Yoga we politely call the "outer hips"

I have lovingly been doing headstand for a number of weeks.   Weaning myself from my wall crutch was a big deal and in my  mind my body was Straight Up and down.  (Paula Abdul, anyone?)

Though my butt flesh, that in Yoga we nicely call "butt flesh", is in a plumb line with my shoulders as it should be - my quads are angled slightly forward.  That means I am tight in my hip flexors and/or I am afraid.  My heels should be right over my butt flesh.  But, being completely straight is scary.

Straight or not hmmmm?  Certain things come to mind.  For example the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  26.2 miles is still 26.2 miles straight  and flat or as curvy and hilly as Loni Anderson.  In my orientation I am as straight as I want to be in headstand but love my girlfriends so deeply that I can see why a few curve balls might work in this game of life.   Straight or almost so, I am still in a challenging Yoga pose and I love it.  So can I be in a slightly angled headstand and emotionally love some women to the bone AND still be straight up.  Oh yes, few things in life are straight to the point.  I'm still going for a perfect headstand however. 

My friend Beth kissed a girl during the Boston Marathon, Katy Perry sings of such a thing.  Like my friends I strive to accept what is and embrace life's straight and curvy lines.  I know Beth can do a headstand, I wonder about Katy.  If not maybe she can smell her knee like me...

Straight lines or curves, what's your favorite?

Ran 4 hilly miles yesterday.  I would've preferred them straight and flat.  People? they can be what they are.  It's all good.

"L" is for luscious

Unintentionally, I have an "L" tatooed to my forehead.  Think:  Shrek and Smashmouth.

She was lookin' pretty dumb with her finger and her thumb in the shape of an L on her forehead.  Get ready, this is gross...

I'm a believer.  Since my children nicknamed me 'loser' (lovingly so) after my first Mohs Surgery I decided to rename my inference and call myself "Luscious".  I thought about 'lusty' but that's almost immoral so luscious it is - like this Easter Sunday...

First I meditated here:

6:00 a.m. after playing Easter Bunny I took my mat outdoors and began 21 minutes of quiet.  It was luscisous.  Still had plenty of time before my  peaches woke up.  Then I had time to read this:

Hindu Scripture.  Lengthy but enLighening.  Still enjoying wonderful aLone time while I wait for my chiLdren to arise.  Next:  Baskets, Breakfast, showers, Mass and then off to my most excellent sister's for Easter Sunday festivities.  
An overall great time with loved ones as 17 children romped and rolled in a pool under the sunny canopy of an 85 degreee day.  It was luscious except no one could eat near me because my head wound makes a person sick.  That's okay.  My surgeon found skin as new as a baby's bottom undeneath that scar.  It just takes awhile for it to catch up to the 42-year-old rest of me. 

Here's my Letdown:  No inversions (like headstand) for a week and I haven't run in two days.  I plan on running 4 gentle miles in the morning.  Still strategizing about my next race.  Yoga is still my most luscious form of exercise but a girl can Lust after some endorphins every now and then.  Just look at my head and you'll feel gLorious about your own. 

What would your "L" stand for?  Here are some choices...
  

Third Eye Blind

Well, I am not going to Cali in September for the Yoga Journal photo shoot.  Dang it!  These fine folks are.  Gorgeous, stunning, amazing. Perhaps this photo would've worked better for me:

(Just had dermabrasion to repair scars on my forehead.)
I do look a bit like this..

 The Yogi's 3rd Eye.  Next time I'll hold a flower near my chin.

I'm not a 'contest' kind of gal, (except for that one in college that involved tee-shirts and a garden hose and that silly little dance performance at my sister's bachelorette party) but this was fun.  I asked for help.  I gave stuff away and developed my practice so I did win!  Thanks for helping me.

Onward...

So, Spring Break is now over as is my Lenten wine fast.  I thought I would be so happy and 2 glasses deep but this is surprisingly not the case.  My wineless reflections:

• Daily wine intake in moderation is fine.
• Daily wine intake for me is not nescessary.
• Daily wine intake for me is a breakable habit but also an enjoyable, well-savored behavior.

We had great fun this wineless week.  Movies, walks, restaurants galore, Yoga, running, work, baseball, hiking, homecomings, friends who run Boston, phone calls that make me weep and the utter gratitude for every breath.  There was not time to even take a sip.  Surely I'll fit some in but after I meditate.

My Spring Break buddies:

Hope all your days feel  fun and full.  Happy Easter.

Soul Surfing and Hot Tailing

I am a huge skeptic when it comes to way-too-beautiful people.   I call them "plastics".  They can't be real, right?  They are probably mean, stupid, don't get it, or have a Daddy Warbucks (how else can a 20-year-old afford veneers?) No hard work no gristle no guts.

Here's my 'tude about some current hotties:

Hayley from AI.  Moves like a wet rope.  Knock-kneed.  Growls like a hungry dog during Elton John's classic "Betty and the J--J--J--J ets"  Cute? Oh yes.  Pretty (pretend) teeth?  For sure.  Hair I would have loved to twitch about on stage?  Amen.

Lauren Alana from AI  (is that a double first name or a first and last name?)  I'm not sure she knows.  When Randy Jackson asked how she felt about being compared to Kelly Clarkson (who's REAL) she said in her Tennessee twang:  "I'm just Lawwwren."  Help.  She sounded like a toddler who found a bottle of Benedryl and thought it was cool aid.  Swollen tongue much?   She redeemed herself a little when she laughed at herself for falling down the steps of the AI crib in spiky boots.  What, the Benedryl again?  But Lauren is talented.  She is.  Big, huge stage presence.  A real voice not torqued to squeeze out something kinda creative.  Maybe the whole picture makes her very real.  I'm starting to like her.

Is my skepticism and cynicism jealously?  Yes a lot of it is.  I want veneers.  I want to give myself over to what runs through my veins.  These people are living their dreams.  Wet ropes, and slurred cuteness don't stand in the way of me admiring them for that.  Try doing it with one arm.  Meet the Soul Surfer:

I can't say enough about Bethany Hamilton.  Go see the movie.  Take your family.  You won't regret it.  She cool, cute, real, talented, hard-working and lit up with her faith.  Just unbelievable.  Inspiring. 

I did tell my children after we saw it that if they make a movie about one of us, make sure somebody hot, and cool. and nice with veneers (like Helen Hunt) plays me.

We are hot tailing to the beach for a 2-day Spring Break get away.  Sunrise Yoga and Dusk Run.  Heaven.

Here's how I closed out my gifts from the giving project:

I became an organ donor.  Hopefully they will be very old but in good working order.  Fits the rules.  Not replacing them (God might), well-used and well-loved. 

Like my life.  Have a great spring break.  GO SEE SOUL SURFER.

Trauma in my mouth

Today, I ate ants

I'll get to that in a minute.  This morning I taught a beginner's Yoga class focused on externally rotated standing poses (Prasarita Padattonasana A, Vira II, and Uttita Trikonasana).  I opened with a quote from Albert Einstein:

"I am who I am so I can become who I always was." 

Apparently I am an ant eater.  Here's me on a trail run:

Aren't I cute?  Very weird karma in this cyle of life....

Today I sat at my desk at work and suddenly remembered the bag of nuts I left from yesterday.  Yum, sounded very good.  I opened the sealed ziploc and scooped a bit of almonds, sunflower and pumkin seeds (actually shoveled a bunch) into my hungry mouth.  Something tickled my wrist near the ziploc and I realized the bag was alive.  Crawling with ants.  I had a slight panic attack swallowed the nuts practically whole and drank a gallon of water.  I never felt an unidentified tickle in my throat or had ants in my teeth but I was highly traumatized by the event.  Protein right?

Here's me doing Vira II:

Three-legged dog.  (Not looking for ants, not even hungry)

Thank God I didn't find any ants here:



What did you eat today?

Giving Project update:  Yesterday, I gave away two big, beautiful apples I had planned to save for myself for later.  Today, nothing.  Tomorrow, a biggie...

Don't forget to vote.

Last night I got serious

You might be thinking, she's always serious. Alot of my posts lately have a contemplative undercurrent.  I suppose it's just where I am.  All my life everything has to have some big swoosh associated with it - a big goal, another child, a trip, a job, a problem, a sadness that cracks your heart, a joy so high you have to look down to see heaven.  Not much middle ground for me.  But  I believe in the stillness of the middle is the big stuff. 

So Saturday night I was painting my youngest daughter's toenails and she was painting mine.  A nice 'still' activity unless you want Picasso on your peds.  In this very regular enjoyable moment I decided I am in training mode.  I have no race picked out but I want that focus and discipline of training.  Real traininng.  I love knowing what I have to do over a week's time, build on it and be somewhere completely different in a month.  See, I dont' like to sit still.  Which is why meditation is a huge challenge and why I do it everyday. 

I find it ironic that we work towards ease in finances, in relationships, in health, and perspective and then we crave the ooze and grit of a challenge.  As long as we know some days we walk in stead of run, sleep instead of read, listen instead of talk and are cradled instead of support -  It will work out.  Balance.   

Here are some events I am considering (I have done each of these at least once accept the Sprint Tri):

Patrick Henry Half Marathon in August 
Richmond Half Marathon in November
Sprint Triathalon in August  
Richmond Full Marathon in November

Thoughts/ideas?

Mostly I am considering what will have the least impact on my family regarding training time.  I don't mind getting up super early.  Between work, their activities, Yoga and the churn of life it's hard to find the stillness in which lies the training time.  Sure It is there.  I'm hoping these will help me find it:

My new kicks.  Asics.  Usually a Nike girl.  So far so good.  Tomorrow I am teaching my 3rd Yoga class since getting my 200 hr Teacher Training.  I am in my skin when I teach Yoga.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Surely in teaching the sweet spot of stillness I'll cultivate my own.  I'm serious.

Have a great Monday.

Giving Project update:  Yesterday I gave away this to our local Goodwill:

Gently used.  Well-loved.  Not replacing it. 

What are you serious about?

The Kissing Hand

My Giving project

So, today's giveaway is also a book. 

Another favorite mine.  No coffee stains.  All pages are present.  You may think it's not a big deal for me to give away books during my "Send me to Cali" campaign, but if you are a Barnes and Noble/Amazon whore like me, you'll know I can never have enough books and I love them all. 

The Giving Project Rules of Engagement are:

It has to be something I have enjoyed, spent time with, admired and loved well.
It has to be something I will not replace.
It can be new as long as I  like it and it would've meant something to me if I had kept it.

Today is my Mom's birthday.  Though this gift was earthly for just 28 years.  (She's been in heaven for 14) is it my best, truest, most astonishing gift and I did nothing to get it.  My little soul got her.  HER.  And in her In her honor I hand you this.

A kind thought, a moment of truth, quiet/air/what is.  Place it across your heart and breath it in.  I know.  It feels good.  Now give it away and look back down at your hand.  It's still there.  The Boomerang Affect.  Happy Birthday, Mom.  I love and miss you!

P. S.  That's her engagement ring on my right ring finger. 

Don't forget to help send me to Cali.  (if you are so inclined)  Click and vote.  Tell me you did (1 entry) and you'll be in the running for my beloved Chi Running.  All Giving Project winners announced and gifts mailed on 4/16.  You can vote everyday at this link until 4/15.

What's your intangible boomerang gift?

Sit down and rest

Need a good cry?

 Read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.  This is a tale about a relationship between a young boy and a tree. The tree always provides the boy with what he wants: branches on which to swing, shade in which to sit, apples to eat, branches with which to build a home. As the boy grows older he requires more and more of the tree. The tree loves the boy very much and gives him anything he asks for. In the ultimate act of self-sacrifice, the tree lets the boy cut it down so the boy can build a boat in which he can sail. The boy leaves the tree, now a stump. Many years later, the boy, now an old man, returns and the tree says, "I have nothing left to give you." The boy replies, "I do not need much now, just a quiet place to sit and rest." The tree then says, "Well, an old tree stump is a good place for sitting and resting. Come boy, sit down and rest." The boy obliged and the tree was happy.  (Wikipedia)

As I  campaign my way to Cali through Yoga Journal's Talent Search, I promised to give something away everday until 4/15 when the voting ends.
Here's today's gift:

My beloved copy of Judith Lasater's Living Your Yoga.  Your are probably thinking:  "Used book, big flippin' deal."  It is.  This is a well-loved book and I am ready to let it sail into the world with my blessing and hope it will affect you as it has me.  And it's in very good condition.

BTW, that's me in tree pose posing in front of a tree referencing The Giving Tree.  Clever, huh?
Here's how you win one of my favorite reads with my love all over it:


Help send me to Cali.  Click and vote.  Tell me you did.  (1 entry)

Leave a comment.  (1 entry)

Follow me.  (1 entry)

Have a friend Click and vote.  Tell me you did and I'll believe you.  (1 entry)

Give something away and tell us about it.  (1 entry)

Winner announced 4/15.

Favor:  Pray for my young friend, age 8 who's on heaven's doorstep.  Pray for her parents to find a tree stump on which to rest.

Give up  your burdens and rest.  Luxuriate in your life.  Run your race.  Live Your Yoga.

I've always wanted to be a centerfold

Help me get to the West Coast, y'all.
Yoga Jounal along with Athleta (totally cool fun durable work out and street clothes) is sponsoring a talent search for the next YJ model.  The winner is flown to California for a photo shoot and treated like Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman (minus the currency for intercourse).  I am no beauty queen or pretzel but I could be a centerfold with clothes and I doing my darndest to live - REALLY live a Yogic life.  It's my soapbox, my soul and my passion.  My light.  Here's the photo I sent in.  Because it's far from perfect but a very good effort, I hope it's enough.  I think it makes me real.  Somehow I became a first round finalist.

I could've sent this one in but I needed to shave (my armpits).  The only good part is my neck screams:  I'M ALMOST 43 and nowhere on the site do they ask your age.  That could've given me an edge. 

(Date wrong on photo.  Husband took pic during Ohio State Basketball Game.  That's sayin' Something.)

YOU can give me an edge.  Vote for me.  Please, please, please.  Send me to Cali.  Make me a centerfold.

Go to the link below and click once everyday until April 15.  Taxes are due that day and your vote for a 40-something gal who wants be share Yoga in the most massive way.

 
http://talentsearch.yogajournal.com/view/1908

I would do the same for you.  In honor of my request to get something I am going to actively give something away everyday until April 15.  I'll fill you in next time.   Give, give, give and you shall receive.