Miss Mighty Mouse

So I’m pretty good at accomplishing goals that relate to health and fitness, but when it comes to the other ones? I kinda forgot about a couple… Adding photos to my Behance portfolio is also part of a school assignment, so I know I’ll do them, it’s just making them a priority that’s the tough part. Sifting through my photos is tedious and cumbersome when using the setup I have right now, and I avoid working on things like this because of it. 

Also, I’m reducing the number of workouts I have to do to two a week, so I don’t over exert myself. It seems like I am taking one step forward and then two steps back with my illness, so until I feel 100% I’m going to prioritize rest over activity. 

Last Week

• Complete 4 workouts - I completed 3
• Eat gluten free 7 days
• Do at least 1 sun salutation practice in the morning 
• Shoot First Impressions in studio, add to Behance 
• Add Best of Greatist photos to Behance
• Read in the library at least once 

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FOR THE MONTH

Health

• Complete at least 10 strength training workouts 
• Stay gluten free for the next 31 days
• Begin building the habit of practicing sun salutations when I wake up

Happiness

• Begin building the habit of reading for fun in the library
• Get M’s birthday present! 

Career/School

• Find a summer job related to photography
• Enquire about ASI
• Add last semester’s project, Sportsbyte, and Greatist work to my Behance portfolio

This Week

• Complete at least 2 strength workouts
• Eat gluten free for 7 days
• Practice morning sun salutations at least once
• Add First Impressions to Behance
• Add Greatist work to Behance
• Update my resume 

     I really really really really didn’t want to do ANYTHING tonight. I skipped the gym after volunteering at the mall for 8 hours today and was absolutely beat. 

I also had an annoying ear block today, no pain, but I could hardly hear anything. I read into it online and didn’t get much help, other than to wait it out and see what happens in a couple days. Then I googled yoga for earache, found some positions, and worked them into some sun salutations. Half an hour later and my ear was completely unblocked. DANG!

     Just to make my night even better, I noticed that I can FINALLY, FINALLY DO CHATURANGA!!! To put this in perspective: I’ve been doing yoga for the past five years, and have never, ever been able to do chaturanga without changing to a position on my knees or flopping down to the floor. I’ve had winged shoulders my whole life and terrible upper body strength until this year. Today I actually held it, and held it repeatedly without killing myself! 

I am so, so happy about all of this. 

—

     Today felt goood. 10kg is still feeling heavy for bench press, but I got 12 for DB rows, and am easily working my way up higher on goblet squats. I wanted to see how far down I could go without sacrificing form today during squats and got the BEST butt stretch ever when I did, haha.

     I also did some fooling around after yoga and am getting better at HANDSTANDS! You have no idea how excited I am to be doing these things and not have my shoulder hurt! I think I’m ready to move on to new videos to follow as well, the ones I’m doing now have gotten a bit boring and I’ve begun adding harder modifications in between poses and stuff, so yay. New yoga! 

—

The gym was way busier than normal, so I did my exercises that don’t require a bench. And I did yoga at the gym! I felt like my hammies needed some stretching out after split squats, so I hid out in a corner and went through my forward bends routine. Except one guy saw and commented twice on how flexible I was and then came over and asked me to teach him how to do one-legged downward dog, haha. Overall, it was good; I feel jello-y now! Though I don’t know if I’ll do yoga at the gym again… I’d rather practice uninterrupted. 

Also some guy stole my spot on the mats as I was putting away the dumbbells I used. RUDE. Why not ask first? 

—

Do not fret, my friends, I haven’t quite abandoned you.

I’ve been working out almost consistently, hitting a few roadblocks along the way. Roadblocks such as GETTING THE FLU THREE TIMES SINCE OCTOBER. Yeah, not cool. I was out of commission again this week, and I haven’t been posting things on here about it, but you can check out the progress I’m making on my fitocracy feed (and follow me too!).

England thus far has been much more of an adjustment than anticipated. From a different style of gym, different ways of teaching and therefore learning, to different food availability and different hours of sunlight I get, everything has affected me in some way. I still feel like I am some sort of limbo, with no real routine or purpose to my days around here. It’s not all bad, but things are taking a toll on me. This week I’m going to start to get swamped with work. And I can’t seem to feel physically better. And so I’m lightening the load on myself. 

My goals for the rest of the year include passing my courses (aka modules), not spending ALL of my remaining money, getting enough sleep, and enjoying the time I have here. I do have another semester in England to sort out more kinks.

So I feel like taking up more yoga can be a good thing. 

I’m going to take part in Carly’s yoga challenge in a slightly different way.. at the different sites I travel to in my spare time! What better way to relieve stress than to strike a pose and look a little silly in front of some strangers? 

Tomorrow’s adventure: the town of Alnwick, noted for Barton Books, where the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was discovered, and Alnwick Castle, the set of Harry Potter!

I might not make it in to the castle, but you can definitely expect to see me keeping calm in and around Alnwick.

Other locations to come: York, Oslo, Berlin, Bruges, Paris, and more. :) 

Does the two hours of sleeping in I did this morning count as corpse pose, or should I do my yoga tonight?

As I mentioned last night, I have a new plan. Details coming about that later. One of my goals for this plan/month/summer was to get back into yoga to help my flexibility and ability to focus.

Especially after seeing Jiro Dreams of Sushi (amazing movie by the way, go see it IN THEATRES if you can) annnd reading Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers, I’ve been reminded of the importance of consistency within practice. So, ths means I’m doing a yoga routine that I enjoy, but haven’t mastered yet, every single morning for the next 12 weeks (click here to see it).

Already, I can tell the difference it’s making in my days. When I start the routine, I’m usually still sleepy and so (SO) not stretchy; as the routine goes on everything starts to loosen up and I start to wake up. It’s a good balance of stretching and strengthening exercises, and it always gets my legs burning. By the end of the routine I feel a hell of a lot better and ready to start my day! And I’m hungry. Very hungry. Yoga ends with making tea, taking my vitamins, and eating a good breakfast.

So far, so good.

:)

Anusara Yoga:
0:45:00 (+175 pts)
Hahaha, my mom and both cats ended up joining me for morning yoga today!