outta mind outta site

Things I’ve Done in the Name of Exercise

A list inspired by the fact that yesterday, on Thanksgiving morning, I attended a two-hour spin class.

#1: Gone to a two-hour spin class.
This isn’t so bad, really. Spin is not a great exercise for me because the instructor will be like, TURN IT UP TO 10 AND DIE ON THIS HILL WITH ME and I’m like Yeah! …quietly turns resistance only up to 3. Meaning, it’s too easy for me to fly under the radar and not get maximum workout benefits because I’m too lazy if nobody is really pushing me. That said, I still like spin, mostly because it’s a great place for me to question my life choices (“Why am I riding for two hours in a dark room with other sweaty people with somebody screaming at me when it’s beautiful outside?”) and also to catch up on the music that the youth are listening to today. I like a good pop song as much as anybody but I have no idea what’s popular anymore. Some of it’s weird. Like, one of the song lyrics was all like “you can’t have this girl because she belongs to me” and I’m like EXCUSE ME IT’S 2015 THE PATRIARCHY HAS BEEN DISMANTLED DID YOU NOT HEAR.

#2: Gone to a yoga cult.
See this post.

#3. Gone to a solidcore class.
This was basically the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I can’t say they don’t warn you, though. If you go to the solidcore website, they have an introductory video where they explain how stuff works (basically they place on you on a device that looks like a medieval torture rack and you have to hold up your body only use your core muscles for like 37 hours and you cry and cry. Also the device is literally called a MEGAFORMER). The video is great because it’s like, “LOL don’t even try this class. I can see you through the screen and you’re a fat slob. Don’t come to the studio. Go be fat on your couch bye bye.” Seriously, the video basically tells you NOT TO COME WORK OUT AT A SOLIDCORE STUDIO. They’re all like, “I know you think you’re in shape, but you’re not, so don’t even try.” I can’t think of a more effective marketing technique.

I’ve only been to one solidcore class ever. My curiosity was piqued by said video of doom, so I headed over there one Saturday with my two girlfriends Emily and Arlene.

Shit got real real fast. I mean, just look at this. I’ve never felt my muscles reach total failure in such a short period of time. Honestly, I just started laughing, and laughing. I couldn’t do anything the instructor was asking of me. Everything hurt. I questioned why I was alive. In fact, did I deserve to live? I thought I was a fit person, but I wasn’t, so like, what’s the point of everything? Was my perception of reality accurate? Was this universe even a thing?

I kept wanting to cry, but it came out as laughing. I avoided making eye contact with Emily or Arlene, because every time I did, we dissolved into giggles, like, is this real life? Did we pay like $35 for this fucking torture? Why did we ever think we were actually in shape? Do you think if we called our moms they would come take us away from this horror show?

#4: Ran a marathon.
I’ve run three of these guys at this point, the most recent being October 2015. (You can read a post about my first marathon, in 2004, here.) This last one, I finished in 3:50 (30 seconds slower than my previous time, wah, but I’m still happy with it).

I trained pretty hard for this one – all the long runs (up to 22 miles), track workouts, speed workouts, tempo runs. I was lucky enough to find an awesome neighborhood running buddy who was a lot more dedicated than I was, so she came up with a great training plan and convinced me to wake up at 5am regularly to run 13 miles before work in the dark with headlamps.

But despite all the training, I didn’t go into the race feeling super confident. I was actually sort of dreading everything. I just remembered HOW HARD RUNNING A MARATHON IS. I also remembered that I don’t like to do anything unless I think I can do it better than the time I did before, so casually running a marathon at a slower pace is sort of out. I had to go all out.

This led inevitably to me running faster than I should have for the first 18 miles. Luckily, my friend Brian, who’s an incredibly fast and good runner, offered to meet me at mile 18 to get me through the last 8 miles. By that point, I was shuffle jogging and breathing hard and just like, just don’t let me die, Brian. Just tell my mom I tried. He gamely tried to have a conversation with me and I was like just shut up. Just shut up. Just run. Just tie a rope around me and drag me to the finish line. At around mile 23 or so, we passed folks handing out mini donut holes and he was like, do you want some and I yelled “DO I LOOK LIKE A PERSON WHO WANTS SOME FUCKING DONUT HOLES?” Basically, I was a gem and a princess.

But I made it. I shuffle jogged up that little hill at the end, a 12-year-old Marine put a medal around my neck and said, “You deserve this” and I started blubbering and thinking how much I love America and I think left there having signed up to join the Marines, maybe? Unclear.

I hope not to do another marathon ever again but knowing me and my masochistic bent I guess I can’t rule it out entirely.

#5: Continued to sign up for Ragnar Relays.
Running for 24 hours? In the dark? In tropical storms or blazing heat? On highways and through muddy, eerie woods? I keep doing it for some reason. Read this post and you’ll get a sense of what it’s like.

Next up on the list? Attending a SoulCycle class now that’s open on 14th street in DC. You can certainly expect a blog post out of that.

The Time I Accidentally Went to a Yoga Cult

Who, truly, amongst us hasn't accidentally once gone to a yoga cult?

Oh, you haven't, you say? Or you? Oh... nobody else has unintentionally gone to a retreat deep in the woods where everybody wore white and chanted and talked about dating God? Just me. Okay, well, cool. I guess I better tell you this story then.

It was a dark and dreary February. I was looking to treat with myself with something special, because it'd been a long winter, and, well... that was it really. It doesn't take much for me to convince myself that I'm worthy of special things that cost too much money. However, I couldn't really afford to go to a Caribbean vacation that year, so I decided I would try to find a local or at least close-by yoga retreat where I could stretch my muscles, eat healthy food, and generally meditate on the fact how, for at least a few days, I was totally being superior to all of my friends.

By coincidence, that same week I found a Groupon to a yoga center in Virginia offering weekend retreats.

(Important note: 76% of all accidental cult visits start with a Groupon purchase. You've been warned.)

Online, the center looked harmless enough. Lovely, even. It was set deep in the woods of central Virginia, offered vegan and vegetarian food home-cooked by staff, and seemed generally tranquil, remote and meditative. I signed up for a weekend retreat that promised several yoga classes, meditation opportunities, and food, as well as accommodation in a dorm-like setting (which was fine with me, and by far the cheapest option).

Friday afternoon, I booked a rental car, hopped on to I-66, and drove off into the unknown.

Getting there was a bit of a haul. One, it was like a Deliverance style drive, to start off. As my car wound deeper and deeper into remote and isolated woods, I started to feel a little bit concerned. This was how every horror story started, right? Young(ish) woman, glibly heading off to a weekend of yoga by herself, deep in the woods of central Virginia (ok, maybe minus the whole yoga part). I was getting far, far from anything resembling civilization. No worries, though, the woods and I are basically one, and it didn't freak me out too much.

But what I hadn't realized before booking (and my bad on not doing my due diligence) was the fact that this retreat is actually an ashram. Basically, from my limited understanding that means it's actually a spiritual centers for worship. And in fact, this one was an ashram founded by an Indian swami who was a spiritual guru to many.

Ashrams seem cool and all. But I'm a girl who when she does yoga, gets vaguely uncomfortable with the classes that include just a little too much chanting. I wear Lululemon-style yoga clothes, and enjoy the benefits of yoga a few times a month, mostly because it is a good workout, it has great mental benefits, and it makes your butt and arms look good if you do it enough. I'm not going to yoga for much more than that. I'm certainly not going to find God.

Unfortunately, this yoga place really wanted you to find God. And maybe, like, marry him.

As soon as I got out of the car in the parking lot, I got a weird vibe from the entire place. It was too quiet. People floated around in loose white linen shifts. The folks at the front desk were friendly, but I had the distinct feeling that when they looked at me, they were looking through me. Or not seeing me. Or thinking about something else.

They were probably thinking about the Guru that founded the place. It was impossible not to, because his photo was FUCKING EVERYWHERE. You could not walk two steps in this place without the guru staring down at you. He's in your bedroom. He's in the cafeteria. He's in the hallways. He's looking at you while you're doing yoga. He knows when you've been sleeping. He knows when you're awake.

OK. I can deal with a guru constantly staring at me. It makes sleeping a little hard, and yoga a little less comfortable, but whatever. After I checked in Friday afternoon, I did a yoga class (that wasn't that great, honestly) with the guru staring at me, and unpacked in my dorm room with the guru staring at me (which, thankfully, was occupied by only one other woman). I had dinner in the cafeteria, where we all had to have a giant photo of the guru staring over us, WHILE WE CHANTED EN MASSE TO HIM BEFORE WE ATE. Then I went to sleep. With the guru staring at me.

I might say the moment I decided that something was definitely up when we were awakened at 5am Saturday morning by a violinist playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in the hallway.

At this point, I was over this place. I can't fully convey how weird it just FELT to me. (Though maybe some of the above instances are helpful in driving the point across to you). I don't do much of the yoga chanting type stuff, as mentioned earlier, but I think finding a spiritual practice is a necessary and wonderful thing for many people. I truly do believe in the power of yoga to help people in myriad ways. I'm all about being in the middle of the woods, far from civilization, and focusing on your inner self.

But, like, no. Things felt bad.

I wanted to go home. But I had paid, and I was in the middle of the woods, and maybe I could make the best of a truly strange situation. I decided that day I wasn't going to attend any of the yoga classes - I was just going to hike. Away from anybody else. In the woods. Where, ideally, nobody had hung a photo of the guru on the trees.

So I went on, seriously, like a 4 hour hike. Along the way, I stumbled across a GIANT FUCKING BUILDING BUILT TO LOOK LIKE A GIANT PINK LOTUS THAT HAD NEON LIGHTS SHOOTING OUT OF IT THAT WAS DEDICATED TO HONORING ALL RELIGIONS AND MAYBE ALSO ALIENS.

(Also, the temple is called the Light of of Truth Universal Shine temple - its acronym being LOTUS. Yeah. I know.)

I couldn't hike in the woods forever and ever away from the weird ashram so eventually I headed back. I ran into somebody on the way who mentioned that since it was Saturday night, dinner would be a special occasion. Instead of just eating in the main cafeteria with everybody, Saturday night was, in this person's words, "Sort of a date night with God. We all wear white, we watch a video of the guru, and sometimes we dance."

HELL. TO THE. NO. 

I hid in my room for the next two hours. Eventually, I heard a knock on the door. 

"OH GOD IT IS THE GURU AND GOD TOGETHER COME TO MAKE ME DANCE WITH THEM," I thought. 

It was actually a woman from across the hall. I'd noticed her and her friends earlier - a group of friends in their early to mid 40s. We'd said hello a few times and made jokes about the weirdness of the place when we ran into each other.

"Hey, come over to our room," she suggested. "We didn't want to go to that weird dinner. We snuck in a bunch of wine and chocolate and trashy magazines and you should come hang out with us."

And so I did. I spent the night in the company of a group of wonderful women (who had been lured in by the same Groupon deal), reading US Weekly copies and snarfing down Hershey's bars and glasses of wine (it may not surprise you to hear that alcohol was actually banned at this place). 

The next morning - even before the violin player could come and assault us - I quietly packed up all of my stuff, tip toed to my car, and hightailed it to Charlottesville, about an hour away, where snow was softly falling over the town. There, I went to my favorite breakfast spot, had pancakes and bacon, and didn't have to chant before eating it.

It was perfect.

What's the Sanskrit word for 'depressing'?

Nevermind my cheery post about the chant wishing well-being, happiness and freedom to all beings from yesterday. Well, maybe it's needed now more than ever. Regardless, I just found out last night that a yoga teacher I really enjoy was the victim of a hate crime beating Saturday night.

Michael Hall Jr. and his boyfriend, Michael Roike, were heading home from a restaurant just after midnight Sunday when they were ambushed by about five teenagers in the Eckington section of northeast D.C.

“Four or five kids just came out of nowhere without any warning,” Roike said. “We didn’t think it was a robbery because they didn’t immediately ask for something. They just came out swinging and hitting.”

A woman and her boyfriend went to their aid and managed to get them to safety.

So awful. Flow Yoga is holding fundraising classes for his medical funds, if you're interested. Flow's is Friday night; here's another community event August 5th in Meridian Hill Park. I'm going to try to attend both.

Your Monday hippy dippy thought

A lot of yoga classes I go to incorporate chants in some way, whether it's just as imple Om at the beginning and end, or something more involved. Some folks I know complain about this aspect of yoga classes -- they'd rather just go for the workout than the spiritual side and think it's silly -- but I've always really enjoyed the chants and the Oms. They've got a nice, peaceful feeling to them, even if I have no idea what they mean.

A popular chant that is often used in classes I go to is this one:

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

I've said it many times in classes -- mumbled, more like it, because I didn't really have any idea of the pronunciation -- without any idea of what it means. It's chanted in a very singsong way; you can hear a recording here. (Uh, ignore when it starts to get all techno-y. That does not happen in class.)

For some reason, this morning I thought of the chant and was moved to look it up to find out what it actually is saying. This is what it means:

May all beings everywhere, be happy and free, and my the thoughts words and actions of my own life, contribute in some way, to that happiness and to that freedom for all.

Isn't that just the nicest thing? Hopefully thinking it or saying it can make a nicer start to your week.

Want to Quit Smoking? Try Yoga

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. This is all speculation and cumulative observations on the part of a woman who has a bachelor's in English, a master's in journalism, and who barely passed high school chemistry. Please consult an actual real doctor if you are looking for serious help quitting smoking. Also, don't sue me.

Most of you know who know me know that I have had a contentious relationship with cigarettes over the past several years. I had never even tried a cigarette until well past college. And I can remember exactly where it was. I was in living in Italy. Naturally. I was on my balcony with its view of the Alps. Obviously. I was sipping on a glass of red wine. Of course. My roommate offered me one, and, you know. When in Milan…

I found the experience pleasant. A nice buzz, a slight feeling of sophistication, an excuse to leave a party for five minutes and converse with the other smokers. For the next few years I became a very light social smoker, perhaps having a few cigarettes a few times a month, if that.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pair of Running Pants

There are a few things I am ardently, annoyingly passionate about. My neti pot, for example. The 30 day shred workout video. Yoga, naturally. St. Ives apricot scrub. My Kiehls lotion. And now, well, I have some news for you guys. I'm in love. With a pair of pants. We're getting married, probably sometime in October. And we're going to have adorable dri-fit babies.

The pants of which I speak are Nike Dri-FIT Be Strong Polyester Women's Training Pants. OH MY LAWDY. One day after a training run with my brother in Arlington (that ended up at Ray's Hell Burger; do we know how to run, or what?) I walked up to Pacer's running store, in search of a new pair of running pants. My old ones were threadbare, and frankly, it was getting a little bit embarrassing for everybody involved. I walked around the store, evaluating my pant needs, and settled on trying on the aforementioned Nike ones. It was just meant to be a dressing room quickie, really. I wasn't looking for a long-term pants relationship. But guess what? I'LL NEVER BUY ANOTHER PAIR OF PANTS AGAIN.

These pants do it all. They block wind. They look flattering. They're stretchy (I use them as my primary yoga pants, as well; they're what I'm wearing in my headstand videos here and here). For those of us ladies who are rather long-torsoed, they have a high waistband. For those of us ladies who are on the tall side, they're long enough. They're the bees knees, basically.

Anyways, if you're in the market, may I recommend these? They're sturdy. They're supportive. They'll be there for you through thick and thin. Till inseam splits do us part.

I Can Do a Headstand

You'll just have to imagine it being vertical, since I'm not smart enough to figure out how to rotate a video anywhere. Dur. But anyways: DONE! For those keeping track, that's two 30 While 30 goals concretely finished. 

Want updates on other goals? I'm keeping up with my reading (I'm on book #7, in fact); I saw one concert this month (Those Darlins at the Black Cat backstage, highly recommended); I have NOT done yoga every day since I started this challenge (I keep track; there have been 5 days since January 11 that I haven't done yoga, mostly due to vacation/traveling); I have been blogging at least twice a week; I'm starting to volunteer for PATC; I've started Italian lessons; I started a separate savings account for yoga teacher training; I am training for and have signed up for a half-marathon in March; and...I think that's it! Phew. No wonder January flew by so fast. It was an excellent month. Here's hoping February is as full and packed of fun activities, travel, friends, and goal accomplishment. 

Occasional Progress in Yoga: So How's that Headstand Going?

Not...great. But I'm nearly there. The most frustrating thing is that I can do a perfect headstand as long as I'm a few inches from a wall. When I'm out in the middle of the room, it is nearly impossible. So it's just the psychological barrier keeping me from doing it. Bah humbug, gotta work on that. Anywhere, here's video proof. Please ignore the fact that I cut most of my head off while talking to the camera:

Yoga and Tooth Brushing

So, surprisingly to me, one of the things people are most shocked about on my 30 While 30 list is the fact that I am going to attempt to do yoga every day. Yeah? You're not surprised I'm going to try to pay off thousands of dollars in loans in one year, all the while trying to save up a couple thou for yoga teacher training? You're not out of your mind at the fact that I, who makes some variation of mac 'n cheese out of a box every night for dinner, am going to cook a five-course meal? Those are what worry me. The yoga? Well, I could definitely be jinxing myself, but so far, so good.

"It just takes so much time," people observe wonderingly. "Doing something every single day? That's crazy."

30 While 30: Save Up for Yoga Teacher Training

Wondering what this is? I turn 30 on January 11th. Every day until then, I'm listing 30 goals I'd like to accomplish in my 30th year. If you have an idea for me, leave a comment!

#26: Start setting aside money for yoga teacher training. No, this doesn't mean I am transitioning careers into being a yoga teacher. A lot of folks take yoga teacher training classes just to deepen their understanding of the practice. And I would like to do that! I wouldn't rule out teaching yoga, though, if I turn out to be any good at it, as a side thing.

Anyways, I know right now that I am not good enough at yoga, or devoted enough, to do a teacher training class. I also know I don't have enough money (most training sessions cost at least $2-3,000; yowza!). But I'd like to do one in 2011. Hence, I'm starting a fund. Of a sort. Money under my mattress, basically. If I could save half or more of what I needed to take the training of my choice, I'd be happy.

Also, I need to do a lot of research on what teacher training I want to do. There are plenty in DC. If you have any recommendations or experiences with ones in DC (or outside of DC!) I would love to hear them.

>> You can see the full list of everything I'm thankful for over the past year here

>> I'm writing about 30 things I plan to do in my 30th year. You can see those here.

30 Things I'm Thankful For: My Yoga Studio Closing

Note: While I'm taking the time to look ahead to 2010 and my 30th year, I don't want to forget that I had a pretty spectacular 2009. So I'm going to take the next 30 days to also look back on moments from the past year that moved me and for which I'm thankful.

#15: Inspired Yoga closing. While I'm beating the yoga drum...you may remember me constantly freaking out about the fact that my beloved DC yoga studio, Inspired Yoga, had decided in late October to shut down and up and move to California. I may have shed a tear or two. It was a tragic time in my life. 

However! Silver lining and all! The fact that this studio was closing terrified me back into doing yoga on a regular basis. I figured I had to squeeze in as much amazing-teacher-time as possible—and even though I hadn't done yoga in 4-5 months, soon I was back to doing it quite regularly and now do it nearly even every day.

So! If Inspired Yoga had never closed, I may have NEVER DONE YOGA AGAIN! And truly my life would be the worse for it.

>> You can see the full list of everything I'm thankful for over the past year here

>> I'm writing about 30 things I plan to do in my 30th year. You can see those here. 

30 While 30: Do Yoga Every Day

Wondering what this is? I turn 30 on January 11th. Every day until then, I'm listing 30 goals I'd like to accomplish in my 30th year. If you have an idea for me, leave a comment!

#15: Do yoga every day. When I first started doing yoga I would have thought practicing every day was an impossibility. But guess what? I made a pact with myself to do yoga every day in the month of December. So far, there have been only two days where I haven't done it. Amazing! Doing a full, 75-minute practice every day—no, that wouldn't be feasible, for me, as much as I would actually like to do that. But I can easily do 3-4 full practices a week, and then do a light morning or evening sequence every day. And it's stunning what a difference it makes in...well, everything. It's given me clarity of mind, helped me make important decisions, improved my attention and memory, reduced anxiety, and, oh yeah, doing lots of it gives you yoga butt. If you were wavering on the yoga fence, I encourage you to make 2010 the year you give it a shot.

>> You can see the full list of everything I'm thankful for over the past year here

>> I'm writing about 30 things I plan to do in my 30th year. You can see those here.

30 While 30: Do a Wall-Free Headstand

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Originally uploaded by expatmonkey.

Wondering what this is? I turn 30 on January 11th. Every day until then, I'm listing 30 goals I'd like to accomplish in my 30th year. If you have an idea for me, leave a comment!

#13: Wall-free headstand. This photo, taken by Keith, is the one and only time I ever did a headstand that wasn't against a wall. And I immediately fell as soon as this photo was taken. I've been doing yoga for a year and a half, so this is something I should really be able to do. Come on, core strength!

By the way: Merry Christmas, everybody! I got a tent under the tree! I semi-pitched it. Turns out you can't really pitch a tent indoors as you need to stake it so it's taut enough to put up. But I'm halfway to my first 30 While 30 goal!

>> You can see the full list of everything I'm thankful for over the past year here.

>> I'm writing about 30 things I plan to do in my 30th year. You can see those here.

30 While 30: Learn to Meditate

Wondering what this is? I turn 30 on January 11th. Every day until then, I'm listing 30 goals I'd like to accomplish in my 30th year. If you have an idea for me, leave a comment!

#9: Learn to meditate. I guarantee that you rolled your eyes upon reading this blog post's title. That's okay. My slow transformation into yogini, camper, hiker, one with nature must have clued you in that things were going this way. Don't worry, though. I'm never going to become a vegetarian. THIS I SWEAR! Also I still enjoy showering daily.

Anyways, I've had too many people I admire (most of whom I don't know personally) say that meditation is their key to doing pretty well in life. They expound on it with the kind of zeal that I've previously reserved for The 30 Day Shred, my neti pot, and, yes, yoga. I figure if they love it so much, there must be something to it, right? Not just sitting still and breathing heavily and creepily for ten minutes? 

So my key for this is that I am going to try it in small increments on a daily basis for a few weeks. If it's not for me, it's not for me. But if it has any sort of effect on my life in the manner that, say, yoga has, then I'll let you know.  

Given that I'm a total meditation n00b and all, if you have any advice about, uh, well, any aspect of it, or…there are different kinds, yes? What kind should I do? I need a pillow or something? How does one keep their eyes in that weird half-open state? Ummm…do I have to buy incense? HELP ME FUCKING ACHIEVE ZEN LIKE ASAP OKAY?

>> You can follow my full 30 While 30 List here

>> You can also read about 30 things in 2009 I'm thankful for here 

The Complete Gift Guide to Buying Catherine a Really Awesome Gift

Recently my parents, because they are rather awesome parents, asked me to email them what I wanted for Christmas, just like I was 7 years old all over again and scrawling out a pleading note to Santa. Now, they do this every year, and nearly every year since I became a reasonable adult, I point out a couple of small things and say please don't buy me any more than that, even though they do.

But this year? Who knows, maybe it's the fact we're in a never-ending recession and I'm tired of scrimping, or maybe the fact that I am a greedy little whore, but I had a whole list of things ready. And these are those things. You'll notice that, due to my ever burgeoning outdoors obsession, a lot of them tend to the… outdoorsy. I told my parents to basically get me a gift card to REI. But maybe one of these items will come in useful for somebody you need to get a gift for.

Occasional Progress in Yoga: It's Back!

Hey guys, guess what? I've got yoga fever again. And I've got it bad.

You may not have known that I basically stopped doing yoga entirely for five or six months. There was no good reason except I was traveling and going out a lot and there were a lot of social requirements I had to attend. And once I stopped doing yoga for a couple weeks, it turned into a couple of months…and there you go. Shockingly, during this yoga-free period, I put on weight, was grumpy, moody, and oh yeah, I couldn't touch my toes anymore.

My return to yoga was precipitated by something, that, on its face, is a true tragedy. You may have read in one of my many whiny, frantic tweets that the studio where I learned yoga and fell in love with it was closing up shop and moving to LA. It was a dark, dark day when I found that out. I am not going to lie, I totally gasped out loud at my desk as I read the newsletter announcing the fact. And then I may have gone and sobbed in a bathroom stall, hiccuping something about "down dogs."

But with every cloud comes a silver lining, or, you know, whatever, and I am, in a strange way, thankful that Inspired announced it was closing. Because it made me say to myself: "Self, you have got to go do a fuckload of yoga before that studio closes down." And it brought me back into the yoga fold.

So 3-4 times a week for the past month, I trudged from Farragut Square up to Meridian Hill Park and took a class. It helped that as part of their closing bonanza, the studio offered $30 3-class passes, of which I ended up buying several.

And now? I am newly obsessed with yoga! The re-obsessing was a vaguely painful process, I have to admit. It was sobering to see how out of shape I'd gotten. Even at the peak of my yoga prowess, I was never that flexible, so I wasn't shocked to find out I couldn't do flat palms on the floor anymore, but my arm muscles… oy. My core muscles? Jello. And we're not even going to talk about my glutes. I spent the first week back at yoga on a steady diet of ibuprofen.

But here we are, a month later, and I'm determined to keep the yoga practice up. I just returned from a really solid class at Yoga District, which may not be Inspired, but is three blocks down the street from me, which earns it one billionty points. And I've made good use of home practice, with plenty of Inspired podcasts and Yoga Journal videos.

In fact, I think I am, for no particular reason, going to try to do yoga every day in December. Over the past month of doing yoga for me, and being more cognizant of what was going on in my body, I realized that I'd been in better shape physically and mentally in that one month of yoga than I'd been in a long time. And why wouldn't I want to keep that up as much as possible? So, here we go. 31 days of yoga. Two down, 29 to go.

By the end, I better be doing like, levitating headstands, or something.

Progressions in yoga, and how to get yoga for free

You're clamoring for a yoga update, you say? You're just dying to know how my progress in headstands and crazy twisty binds is going? The crowds are absolutely begging for the OCCASIONAL PROGRESSION IN YOGA UPDATE!

Okay, we all know nobody gives a shit about my yoga practice. And the sad truth is, there has been very little yoga practice in my life. And by very little I mean... none at all. Zilch. Nada. Not a class, a sun salutation, or a forward been for at least three months.

Catherine Goes Rock Climbing

I know, what? I start off with yoga, move to hiking, cabin-ing and camping, and now I've gone rock climbing. This blog may as well be alternately titled "A City Girl's Clumsy, Slow, and Not-Always-Successful Transformation into a Bona-fide Outdoorsperson. Er, Sort Of. Except She Still Hates Living Creatures Great and Small and Especially Slugs."

Anyways, so I got one of them there Groupons that everyone's talking about these days, and, unlike the two other Groupons I've purchased, I actually went through and redeemed it. (Seriously, Groupon and the establishments that sell coupons through it must be making bank. I know tons of people who've bought them, and very few who've used them.)

For $20, I got $50 worth of classes and rentals at Sportrock in Alexandria (they also have a location in Sterling, and in researching this, I realized there are actually no climbing gyms in DC proper, which is a bummer. I guess it's a space/rent/square footage thing; can't imagine a place that'd be able to afford rent on the giant warehouse-like-space you need for a climbing gym). Anyways, the $50 value turned out to be just enough for two people to take two basic-level introductory rock climbing classes, so I got Julia to come along and Saturday morning, after properly caffeinating at the Big Bear, we were off to climb.

weekend report: sparklers and high life

man, this was the best three day weekend in ever, basically. i think a lot of it stems from the realization matt and i had on friday: friday three-day weekends are far, far superior to monday three-day weekends, mostly because you basically get two saturdays instead of two sundays, and everybody knows saturdays > sundays.

occasional progression in yoga

you know what i realized yesterday? i spend $1200 a year on yoga. god damn. worth it, though.

anyways! unfortunately, not too much amazing progress has been made on my side. a few things, though, that i noticed yesterday:

my balance is insanely better than around six months ago when i started yoga. tree pose? i could hold it for days. warrior III? i'm there. i'm also finally starting to get the hang of half moon pose.

something else i noticed yesterday? i'm kind of strong! michael asked us to do this move, i'm not sure what it's called or if it even has a name, where you sit cross-legged then try to raise yourself up with your arms and hold it. it sounds easy,  describing it, but give it a shot—it's harder than it seems. but i could do it! i was surprised at how much core strength it actually took as opposed to just arm strength.

the handstand, however, continues to prove elusive.