Fit Flops are my 12th man

From Blog

When you need a helping hand, Fit Flops can be YOUR 12th man! Fit Flops help tone your legs and bottom! 

I love Fit Flops! I got some last year after I read about them in a magazine, I think I wore them all year, any time I wasn't working. The rest of my flip flops are collecting dust. I just received my new Fit Flop Lounge Slippers which really are clogs; I love them!

From Blog

If you aren't familiar with Fit Flops, they are shoes made from micor-wobbleboard technology which helps work out your legs and bottom because you are constantly making minor changes to stay balanced. It isn't like you are going to fall over, you don't even notice you are trying to stabilize yourself, that is the best part! They are great support for your feet too. I wear my all day and walk around and my feet never hurt.

I wore mine during ACL Fest in Austin, Texas which is a 3 day music festival. I wore them the entire time and my feet felt great. Previous years, my feet have felt tired and achy.

From ACLFest2009

I got myself some "ugg-like" boots recently and wore then for 5-6 hours shopping after Christmas, my feet were killing me! And my feet hurt for days afterwards. Doing balancing postures in yoga were difficult, my feet felt strained all the time.

But not with Fit Flops! They are the best shoe I have ever owned, period.

Fit Flops Help:

• Improve leg, calf and glute muscles
• Improve posture
• Mimic walking barefoot 
• Improves muscle tone

If you are interested in getting some, I suggest shopping around. I got my latest ones at Amazon. Free shipping and easy returns make Amazon my choice .

Big D Climb - it's More than Just Climbing 52 Flights of Stairs

I got a wonderful email from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with a PDF file attached, it is the training schedule for the Big D Climb I am completing as one of my 24 events in the 2010 Bike Run Yoga Challenge.

After looking at the training schedule, I might want to rethink my strategy. The first week looks fine, it is just basic training kind of things and it says after the first week the average person should be able to complete 5 - 7 minutes of consistent stair travel. Sounds easy right? When I think about how long it takes me to go up three flights of stairs at work and how winded I am, I am thinking 5 - 7 minutes is going to kick my butt.

From Blog

But that isn't the worst part. Week 2 wants me to jump rope for 5 minutes. Just once a week but 5 minutes?! My trainer at the gym tried to get me to jump rope for just 30 seconds at a time...it was a sight to see. Picture the worst jump rope jumper and then times that by 10 and that was me. The rope would get tangled around my legs. I couldn't actually jump rope by jumping up, the only way I managed to do it was the way I did when I was a kid and it is more like skipping rope. I spent more time restarting or untangling myself. Hysterical to watch.

I was so bad at it my trainer gave up and she found a different exercise for me.

So in my true rebel fashion, I don't think I will stick to the training schedule, though it was nice of them to send it, I always enjoy knowing what I SHOULD be doing. The only correct training schedule I stuck to this year was my Team in Training schedule for my San Diego Marathon. The rest of the events I did I only half trained if at all. I never had a injury and my recovery period for most events is very short. I contribute most of my success in avoiding injuries to yoga. Being flexible makes you nimble and able to withstand many things.

My Yoga Practice is Still Growing

Every once in a while something happens that reminds me I still need yoga, and daily! Today was one of those days. I made it through most of the class very focused, then in stretching I grabbed my toes and noticed one of my toe nails was cracked. I obsessed  the rest of class. Granted there was just one more stretching and spine twist but in my head it seemed like an eternity!

And why? A reasonable question. For starters, I was trying to think of what I did to crack the nail. Then I wanted to feel it and make sure it was really cracked and broken…I mean, maybe the polish was just chipping off. Then I remembered class had several teachers and I had decided to set myself right next to the podium…not the best situation to lose focus and obsess over a toe nail!

And then of course, there was the thought of blogging about it!

By the time I got home, I had forgotten about the nail, making it even more ridiculous that I would allow such a minor thing steal my focus. But isn't that the way things are outside of yoga? We let the little things take over our minds and we obsess over them or allow them to be the focus when really they are not that important at all.

I do better staying focused and not letting the little things distract me since I started yoga but I still need a lot of work. It’s a daily task and yoga is just part of completing that task. Ninety minutes in a room, focusing just on me…and trying to not think of anything but me and the posture at the moment is hard but certainly doable. Life is something else.

Tomorrow I will go back and see if I can get through all of class without worrying about my toes, the birds or anything else that might allow me to procrastinate the task at hand for one that is less important but way more fun to think about.

Bikram Yoga on Christmas Eve, a New Tradition

I went to Bikram Yoga today, love that the Austin Bikram Yoga Studio had several classes today, it gave me an opportunity to get some holiday stuff done and still make it to yoga. I've been sick with a nasty head cold for the last few days so I haven't done much but eat and sleep. I've been feeling piggy and sluggish, was SO glad to finally feel well enough to go to class!

I went to the new downtown studio on 5th street in Austin. It was a full class so I quickly set up my mat and set out my package of kleenex in case my nose decided to act up. Class was just short of wonderful, which, for being sick is really very good. I did all of the standing series, only not fully staying in Standing Bow Pulling Pose, but I at least DID all the postures, a mile stone for me in my sickly condition.

I was really quite impressed, I thought I would have a mildly adequate class since I hadn't been since Saturday and I was still under the weather. Instead I had a pretty strong class with only minor setbacks. My equilibrium was off so my balancing series was not as good as it could have been and my shoulder and back muscles were noticabley sore from laying around for the last several days.

From YOGA

In the floor series I was shocked at myself when we did Full Locust Pose and my chest shot up like I was going to fly off the ground. I was like Whoa! what is that?! Catherine the teacher even said I looked good! It was so weird, like my body picked that moment to say it was fine and on the mend. Second set I thought, lets see how high I go, maybe that was a fluke. And then boom, second set, same thing, wham....flying again! This is the type of thing that make the body so amazing, you can be sick and not have practiced in days and yet the body remembers and when it wants to show off, well, it does.
Now off to enjoy Christmas Eve with the family. Enjoy your holiday and don't forget to go to yoga! Namaste