The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

No, not Christmas season...marathon season! I'm not running a long one this Fall, but I sure am nostalgic for one. The November issue of Runners World always has a marathon countdown and lots of tips and inspirations for race day. I'm nostalgic to be one of "them", to have this month's issue be the one that I looked forward to as I tapered towards my race and made my strategic plan of what to eat, what to wear, when to push it, when to save my energy, where to place my family on the route. I'm nostalgic for taking on a challenge which leads strangers, co-workers, and family members to think that I have a screw loose. I crave pushing myself beyond my limits, even having run this same distance before, to find the euphoric pain, relief, and thrill at the finish line. I will miss the cameraderie with 35,000 total strangers at the starting line, everyone coming to the peak of their training together. I even yearn to have to walk down stairs backwards for 5 days afterwards, and be pleased that I pushed myself that hard. I'll do it again...soon!

I love yoga for the peace and grace that you find as you build and strengthen your body; I love team sports for the trust and reliance on others, the movement as a group towards a common goal, the exhiliration that comes from working together and, sometimes, being the best. And I love racing for the completely solitary challenge that you find, with no one to rely on but yourself, your mind and your legs. So this Fall is my yoga season, a season to push myself in my yoga practice and take that passion to the next level. Alas, this year is not my marathon season. But all of these passions will always be there for me, ready to be tapped for their turn to take center stage. See you a year from next weekend in New York City, perhaps?

Football Players can do Yoga, too!

In my training to teach yoga to athletes with Sage Rountree (http://www.sagerountree.com/), I had the pleasure of joining Sage to train the University of North Carolina football team as a part of their Sunday recovery football practice. Having won a huge game the day before at UConn, the guys were tired both physically and mentally. We really didn't know what to expect when we walked into their locker room, but I can say that I wasn't expecting what we got...an enthusiastic bunch of serious athletes who truly love yoga! Granted, the yoga session was the one part of their recovery day where they got to lie on the floor of the locker room and breathe...the rest of their Sunday practice was easy sprint work and light lifting, not nearly as fun! We took the guys through a short practice of light spinal twists, hamstring stretches, and hip and shoulder openers. In learning how to teach yoga to athletes, a football team may be the best, most diverse group of athletes you could find. From the kickers who looked like experienced yogis with their deep hamstring stretches and open hips, to the linemen, sore and exhausted from the game, who showed us how you can (and must) work around muscle-bound shoulders and legs, I was struck by how versative you can make the same yoga practice, and how one practice can be applied to so many different, athletic body types. No matter their position or level of strength and flexibility, though, they all came with a sense of lightness and humor which really made the practice fun and rejuvinating for all of them. A great take-away lesson for all of us!

40 Days

I am in week 4 of a "40 Days to Personal Revolution" program at my studio. It is basically a physical, mental, and dietary challenge for 40 Days, and really is revolutionary. This is my second 40 Days and I felt that it would be a great fit with my current training to be a teacher. Physically - 6 days of yoga practice per week - is tough. As a new mom, it often bumps other exercise out of my day because I often just don't have time to do it. But for 40 Days and considering the great improvement I see in my yoga practice, it is worth it! I find that with at least an hour of yoga a day, I'm getting up into headstand faster, taking my twists and lunges deeper, and finding more space in my muscles and joints each week. I've been dealing with a lot of back pain (apparently from running with my baby in the jogging stroller!), and this, too, only seems to improve after my daily practice. Mentally, we are doing a daily meditation practice, something that is perhaps harder for me to do than the physical part. SITTING STILL and BREATHING. It is a wonderful exercise and something I hope to continue after the 40 Days are over, at least for a few minutes a day. As for my diet, generally speaking we make an effort to eat healthful, whole foods as close to their natural state as possible during the 40 Days; this means staying away from highly-processed snack stuff, fried foods, etc. This was the easy part. The hardest has been the 3 Day "fruit cleanse", of which I am on day 2 right now. The idea is not to lose weight, but to give the body a break from digesting and processing the "hard stuff", and instead by eating lots of easy-to-digest fruit, we're allowing it to flush toxins. The secondary goal if this is the best - to physically and mentally become lighter and brighter! We truly do not need as much as we think we do. That's not to say I won't be having a nice, lean hamburger this weekend once I come off the cleanse (because I most certainly will), but simply that it makes us more aware of our needs vs. wants in the food department. So while I'm dying for some mint chocolate chip ice cream right now...I don't really need it! What an empowering feeling:)
Namaste,
Libby