I have butter all over my body

I have never had very expensive yoga clothes.  I have some high quality stuff that I splurge on sometimes.  I adore my pieces from ALO, Reebok, and others.  I hadn’t visited Oz until my birthday when the yellow brick road took me to Lululemon.  Why would anyone want to go back after THAT.  Here’s my new favorite Yoga outfit:

It feels like butter melting slowly all over my body.  (Not that I’ve ever done that)  Decadent, warm, oozing, dripping, magic woven silken threads of pure I don’t know what.  That’s why my three articles of clothing cost just under $200.00 with a teacher discount.  Lawd have mercy!  Yoga teachers aren’t rich in the wallet – they are dripping with spiritual wealth but that’s not enough to support a closet-full of Lululemonade.  A dancer in dancer’s pose:

With a daughter thinking she’s full of it.  I am.  I will love this get up and know it’s purchase was a happy-birthday-to-me moment. 

After all don’t you get it with butter on your birthday?

108 degrees in the shade

I love me some rhythm and blues.  I took an African Dance class in college where we learned the tribal skill of making love to the earth by reaching low with our hips and pouncing up with our leg strength.  I think they call them squats now. 
Anyway, if I could sing AT ALL I would grind it out from my soul to my extremities telling stories, scant singing all to the pulsation of a low bass.  Sing to me sisters and brothers!    Reggae, islands, and poetry are some of my favorite things.  I wish this were me:

This the the best song for summer. 96 degrees in the shade
Real hot in the shade.  (Third World)  On Sunday it was 108 degrees with 50% humidity in the hot room.  Real hot in the room. Bikram Yoga is NEVER easy but some days are better than others.  There have now been 2 times true panic has set in for me.  Claustrophobia, suffocating sensation where I wanted to leave The Room and give up.  And yet, I didn’t.  That is what keeps me coming back in the most oppressive of conditions in The Room.  My African sisters and brothers kept coming back time and time again in the most oppressive of social conditions to improve, progress and liberate their souls.  They still do.  And they still are.  We can then  use that inspiration to keep coming back to the mat, keeping lacing up your shoes and keep loving our lives.  True peace comes from within you not the space you occupy or the thing you do.  It comes even when it’s 96 degrees in the shade.
I wish this were me:

This is more like it:

It just needs to be 108 in the shade.  Sing it!
What inspires you?

Get Over It

I'm getting over it. Over 40. Over myself. Over the idea I have to be perfect. I used to bend over backwards to be sure people liked me. Now I realize my backbone is what matters. So, I'm tossing the perfection complex. I want the best from life, my health and performance in my endeavors because I love life not because I want it to love me.

I WANT GOOD ABS! For me. No one else. I've never had good abs. I'm on a quest, a mission. If they paid people to get good abs, I'd apply today for the job. So...

How do I go from this...

to this...

Meet my friend, Beth. She's a 42-year-old mother of two. She's a kick ass runner - just ran her first marathon in 4:03. She just completed a grueling half in 1:52. She's humble and cool and got great abs. And she's nice. Don't hate her. I just want her abs. Visit her blog at www.shutupandrun.blogspot.com for tips in a previous post. I'm looking for all the help I can get. I want good abs -I need to get to work. Help me.