Day 9: Leafy Greens cafe!

Day 9 of Yoga was a class at one my gyms. I like the instructor, but I'm getting kind of sick of how she follows a script of what she says EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Seriously, it becomes fake and too rehearsed. Her class may be different each time, as far as asanas go, but she says everything the same. In fact, today when she ended the class, I was mouthing her words as she said them. Creativity, people!

ALSO, at the end of savasana, while lying on my side, I peeked and saw her looking at her cell phone. Granted, she may have been taking a look at the time, but seriously...c'mon!!

Besides that, it was a good practice.

But the real exciting news came during lunch/dinner!

We went to Leafy Greens Cafe!


From the site:

We are one of the first Fresh Food Restaurants in Tampa Bay specializing in Raw Vegan delicacies from around the world.


Started with H20


Excited to EAT!!




I enjoyed the Zucchini spaghetti...
From the menu:
This is an extraordinary dish! We spiralize raw zucchini and cover it with fresh raw tomato sauce made from fresh and sun-dried tomatoes and then top this with a combination of fresh herbs, peppers, shallots, garlic, lemon juice, ginger, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers. If raw food is a new experience, this is one of the best ways of introduction to the wonderful dishes you can create!

It truly had SO much flavor. And this was the "half" dish. I cannot even imagine the mountain of food that comes along with the "full."





Mirza went with the veggie burger...
Menu:
These are so good that we always have to make two batches; one for the staff and one for our guests! We serve this burger on lettuce with sliced tomato, sprouts, guacamole, sliced sweet peppers and raw ketchup. Our burgers are made of portobello mushrooms, walnuts, sunflower seeds flax, red onion and nama shoyu. All the trimmings are meant to be piled on top of the burger and enveloped in the lettuce. Yummy!

I was so proud of him because he was being very open-minded, even though he mentioned about 3 times that he was craving fried calamari;)



What did he think?
I'll let this picture do the talking...



I took a few bites and it was amazing!!!!

We made sure to leave room for dessert:
Raw carrot cake!!



Carrot pulp mixed with the best Medjool dates, spices, raisins, apricots and walnuts to make the most amazing piece of guilt-free cake! Topped with our sumptuous maple creme.
WISH I HAD MORE NOW!!!

Mirza took his first bite and I couldn't tell if it was the look of, "mmmmm" or "blaaa, I'm going to vomit." And then he said, "oh my god..." me: "what, good, bad?!!" him: "amazzzzzing!"
YES!

We also saw The Invention of Lying, which we both agreed was THE BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR. If you love people like Bill Maher (Religulous), and George Carlin, and Richard Dawkins...or how about I just come out and say it: if you're an atheist, you will die laughing at this movie.

Day 8

Guess what I did for Day 8?

I taught my first yoga "class."
And by class, I mean MIRZA!!
Yes!! I led him through a nice 45 minute sequence. It was fun and amusing and awesome!! I think this confirms that I definitely want to go through teacher training.
I think I did quite well for my first time teaching, especially since it was spur of the moment. I did not have anything planned.

LOVED IT!!

It was also Mirza's first time EVER doing yoga. He thought it was super hard!



I love Mirza;)

New version of me

I treated myself today!
I went to Mission, Aveda Salon and Spa and got a hair cut! When you walk in, it smells amazing!! I was offered tea and hot water! The entire place smelt like calming essential oils.

The stylist was so nice and patient. We went through some books together to find out what I was looking for and what would look good. She then proceeded to massage my scalp with this peppermint smelling oil, OH GEEZ! It was awesome!!!

Before:



And after:











It was difficult getting a good picture since I was alone. My hair feels so much less heavy and it bounces...weee

I'll try to get some better pictures this weekend. I also bought some new shampoo and conditioner. Totally suckered me in!:)

Lunch was half a hummus wrap and salad from an organic cafe downtown:


And now I am deciding on whether or not I want to go to a studio or do home Yoga practice

Day 7, a day late!

I was too exhausted to post my Day 7 yesterday. I had been sitting in class all day being lectured on stroke scales, neuromuscular blockade, neuro pharmacology, and ventriculostomies. I wasn't sure if the day would ever end! And they "made me" test my nerves with the train of four--pretty much a little "zap" along my ulnar nerve to make my fingers twitch. The best way I can describe it, was if someone hit my funny bone and that odd feeling you get as the pain travels up the arm and into the fingers. It wasn't a pain though, just a zap.


Thankfully, we left early (2pm) and I rushed home to pretty much nap. I slept for about an hour. And then reset the alarm for 30 minutes more...followed by 10 more minutes, until it was time to get ready for yoga!

I'm always exhausted the day after working 2- 12 hour shifts. I feel like a walking zombie! Not to mention the fact that it was HOT and disgusting yesterday. Autumn, where are you?! Mother nature teased us with about 2.5 days of "cooler" weather (ie--cooler=high in the 80's, as opposed to 90's and no humidity). I am so sick of the hot weather. I wish that Mirza would graduate soon and be forced to move out of state to find a position as a music instructor. I will gladly pick up and move...the Carolina's sound nice, Colorado, California, Mass...seriously! Let's get moving!!

Besides that fantasy, yesterday's yoga was more than I could have imagined. As previously blogged, it was on the rooftop of a restaurant overlooking downtown St. Petersburg (Florida), as the sun set and the stars made their way through!



To begin, I arrived with two other strangers about 5 minutes late as this place was impossible to find! It felt odd to walk through a restaurant with my yoga gear and mat, but...
Once we made it to the roof, I immediately recognized the instructor as someone I have learned from at Living Room Yoga! YAY!! She welcomed us with a bright smile and we placed our mats among 10-12 other yogi's. This may sound odd, but I've never done yoga with a male in the "room" before! I go to an all-woman's gym and it has just been coincidence that no men have been at the studio on the day's I have arrived. I thought this would bother me for some odd reason, but I didn't think twice about it during my practice.

When I first sat down, the sun was glaring, BLINDING in my eyes! Directly in front of me. I just shut my eyes and knew it would be setting soon. Once we started our sun salutations, the sun was behind a building!
Practicing yoga outside brought on a whole new experience. I'm used to looking up and seeing ceiling, but outside---all you see is blue sky. And there were absolutely no clouds yesterday evening. It was kind of difficult to focus since the eye could seemingly look on forever, getting lost in the blue. To start, this was an intense class. 90 minutes, vinyasa, many sun salutations, down dogs...I'm feeling it this morning (and love that)! Literally, sweat was dripping off my face onto my mat.
As the class progressed, the sun drifted lower and lower dragging the night sky with stars overhead. I absolutely loved the atmosphere.
My practice began with the blinding sun and ended in savasana staring up at the stars.



Today is day 8! Updates to follow...


Ps: Vote for Max in this photo contest!
http://www.petcentric.com/Pics/Photo-Challenge.aspx

click on "view 16 results." His is titled "Yoga Max"

Day 6!

Work
I feel like I am progressing well at work. I've been with this one preceptor about 4 times and I definitely like working with her the best. She's a wonderful teacher, and gives me just the right amount of freedom and space without leaving me alone to fend for myself. Right now, it is perfect. Just what I need! And she says I am smart and doing very well! She's been a nurse on the unit 16 years, is CCRN and knows her stuff. Definitely the kind of ICU nurse I strive to become.

Yoga

Did my 30 minutes of home-practice from 7:30-8:00 tonight! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Today was more difficult than yesterday since it was my second 12 hour shift and I am sleepy!! I'm also kind of hyped-up, so it was difficult to get my heart rate to my normal, calm rate. I managed though.
Lit some candles, dimmed the lights, and played the relaxing music...




I must say, I think the yoga before bed truly helped me have a restful night sleep. I didn't wake up once during the duration and literally woke up minutes before my alarm feeling rested and ready to go!! I loved it.


After yoga, I took a nice, hot bath. When I came out, Max was just finishing up his yoga, apparently...


(that is my old yoga mat. My nicer one stays in my trunk. Probably not the best place for it, but it works for me)

Plans for tomorrow

8 hour neuro workshop *yawn*. I'm not a big neuro fan, but will be positive and enjoy the learning experience.

I'm going to try to make it to that rooftop yoga practice I spoke about a few days ago!

For tomorrow, look for:
-1 week review of the 31-Day Challenge (day 7!)
-thoughts on the experiment so far.
-favorite poses
-upcoming practices for the week

Day 5!

Long 12 and a half hour shift in the ICU, but I managed to complete a very satisfying 25 minute practice followed by 10 of savasana, ALL ON MY OWN. At first, I put on one of those "Namaste Yoga" shows from FitTv that I had DVR'd but they SUCK. Seriously, they go so fast, no time for actually breathing or anything. I do NOT recommend them. I did like 3 minutes and thought to myself: No, you are better than this. You can do this on your own! You're intelligent and quite capable!! So I dimmed down the lights, turned the air to 79 so it wouldn't turn on, and put on a Yoga Relaxation cd.


Honestly, everything flowed. I was focusing on my breath. I kept reminding myself that was the most important. And I think I did an excellent job considering it was the first time I tried to practice on my own without an instructor.


I've been to enough classes that I understand how to sequence together poses. And you know what I just kept telling myself? Do whatever feels right. Do not force anything. Just do! And breathe. I also let the music be my guide without putting too much thought into it. It helped to gauge my time and where I was without having to keep looking at the clock. I wasn't in a rush, but in the back of my head I know I need to get to bed soon, so that was one hindrance I think I overcame gracefully.

I feel proud and accomplished of everything I have done together...at work and at home.

Goodnight all!

Day 4: Sunday

Today was a wonderful Sunday, if I do say so myself!!

I started the day off with my usual oatmeal and peanut butter toast. I completed a few of my Neuro modules for CCIP, and around 8:30 decided to go for a walk on the beach.







Mirza is sitting next to me right now watching me blog. It feels weird since I'm usually alone when I blog! (random thought)

After the beach, I stopped by Target since it was on the way. I remembered that my nephew is turning 4 on the 7th, so I had to get him something! I bought him a big preschool workbook, and a dinosaur coloring book that comes with tiny dinosaur figurines and stickers. I think he'll like it!

I rushed home to get in a snack before Yoga! I cut up an organic honeycrisp apple, a few slices of aged Vermont white cheddar cheese, a handful of pita chips with sea salt, and sun-dried tomato hummus! This was surprisingly a very satisfying snack. The perfect combo of sweetness and salty to balance out. Sorry, no picture!


11:30 was Yoga! The new instructor (who I think is fabulous) is off for two weeks because she's at a yoga philosophy class (jealous), but the instructor today was awesome, too. We did a lot of sun salutations and down-dogs.


I spent the rest of my day cleaning, shopping, and finishing my modules. I cannot believe CCIP is going to end at the end of the month. I'm nervous!

Dinner was a lemon pepper chicken, spinach/carrot salad, and spiced sweet potato fries, recipe courtesy of Terry Walters from "Clean Food." They were absolutely delicious and the star of the meal.


And for dessert: double chocolate banana bread. The recipe came from the magazine, "Cooking pleasures." There is pretty much nothing healthy about this recipe, but that's okay!! My mom gave it to me a few weeks ago because right now she is without an oven and thought it would be good. It was! Plus, I had a lot of too-ripe for eating bananas to get rid of.




The next two days I'll be working, so my updates may be short, but I will definitely be letting everyone know how my home practice goes!


Yoga Question: Do you have a favorite
Asana (pose)? Tell me why! I'll reveal mine later in the week...

Day 3

This will be a brief post...
I just wanted to document Day 3! I did an 1130 class at my gym. Very relaxing. Learned that once a month this teacher has a free class on the beach and anyone can come, so I'll be looking into that!
Off to bed. Bigger update in the morning...

Day 2

Day 2 of yoga was a vinyasa type flow class at my gym from 1030-1130! There were a lot of down dogs and forward folding and bending. I find it so difficult to forward fold when you're sitting with your legs straight out in front of you. And with legs spread, forget it. I barely fold at all. I find this position completely uncomfortable and I'm making it one of my missions to understand why. The instructor was completed folded in half with chest to ground or legs. I don't think that is physically possible for me! The whole time I am putting all of my breath and focus into "folding at the hip," but it isn't happening!! haha. oh well.



Yesterday at work the newspaper in a patient's room caught my eye. Front and center was a photograph of someone standing with the orange/pink night sky stretching their arms high in the air. The words: Vibrant Relaxation across the top. Immediately I grabbed it since it had a yoga-vibe. Turns out they have a hot yoga class on top of the roof of a place called "Push Ultra Lounge" in downtown St. Pete. Wednesday from 6:30-7:45. I LOVE THIS!! On top of the roof, in the hot sun, OUTDOORS.
Can anyone guess where I'll be on Wednesday?;)

I'm off for a bubble bath and then more reading of the yoga book.
I would love to hear how your month is going, so please continue to comment and post in your blogs.

Day 1 of 31-Day Yoga Challenge

Boy, was today long!
But oh so good!

I came home about a half hour ago from my first Yoga class of the challenge and it was definitely the perfect start.

As I mentioned, I went to Living Room Yoga in St. Pete, which is awesome! Everyone is so nice and welcoming and the atmosphere is calming! I took a picture of our room before we started. The studio is arranged with a beautiful office upon entering and then I believe 3 rooms (could be 2, I am drawing a blank here from lack of sleep). I couldn't exactly going around taking pictures because I'm sure I'd look like a weirdo. This obviously does not do it justice.Plus there was someone in the corner, so I didn't want to disturb her!:):)


On the other wall is a mirror and to the left is a little closet with supplies, and also a bathroom.

The class was calming, but not enough that it was boring or anything. The instructor's name was Gail and she was wonderful!! Her energy was just smooth and tranquil. There were only 3 of us total in the class and you could feel a great mood in the room. I did not feel self-conscious or worried about others. I loved it!
90 minutes of pure bliss.

I'm a little pooped right now, so I will have a more thorough account of the class tomorrow morning.

What did everyone do for their first day?

I want to leave you with a beautiful picture of the sky that I took last night outside my apartment...

1 more day!

I just got finished 12.5 hours in the ICU, so I apologize if this post is short (I work tomorrow too), but I wanted to update it before tomorrow since it will be OCTOBER 1ST--Day 1 of the 31-Day Yoga Challenge!!

October is going to rock.

I'll be kicking off the challenge immediately after work at Living Room Yoga in St. Petersburg, Fl. There is a "Yoga for Stress" class at 7:30, so I think I can make it! I'm not sure how this class will be, but it's the only thing being offered in this area and I wanted to start the challenge off in a formal setting (as opposed to home). And since my work is pretty stressful, I found it fitting:)

GOALS

For the challenge/adventure/journey, I plan to stay completely open-minded and broaden my ideas of yoga. I am going to accomplish this through visiting other yoga studios and subsequently practicing with different teachers and styles. I feel this will also help me decide if there is one area of Yoga I enjoy most, which will be helpful for when I start a yoga teacher training program...

(see how I totally said "when," and not "if"...hmmmm?)

I've already picked out about 5 different yoga places in my area (Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater area), so I'm enthusiastic. I definitely also want to try Bikram!

Physically, I'll be interested in seeing what sorts of changes my body goes through. I definitely need to increase flexibility in my spine/hamstrings. For instance, I don't get very far when I forward fold, especially in a seating position. It is so uncomfortable for me. I know they say bend/hinge at the hip, but it just doesn't happen for me!! So this is an area I'll be keeping an eye on. I feel pretty good when it comes to strength and balance, but there is always room for improvement!

Emotionally, I'm hope to see a change in my mood and the way I react to people and situations. A more level-headed, mature, and calm feeling is what I'm after...

And I definitely plan on bringing Mirza along to one (or more, maybe???) yoga classes. He has never gone, but I honestly think he would totally enjoy it since he is a calm person in general. But we all get stressed with daily life and I know if he could get into it, he would benefit. He said he would go to a class, but I sense hesitation:):) He's open-minded and loves me, so I know he won't resist too much *muahahah*

Well, I'm off for the night. I want to get caught up on some television and reading. I see that my Clean Food by Terry Walter's book has arrived from Amazon, so I want to take a look at that.


And I also purchased a book for the 31-Day Yoga Challenge kick-off:

The Inner Tradition of Yoga: A Guide to Yoga Philosophy for the Contemporary Practitioner by Michael Stone. I'm honestly not familiar with the author, but found it while browsing yesterday at Borders and thought it'd be a good way to start.



Check back tomorrow night for the first update!

For those who may be participating in the 31-Day Yoga Challenge, please leave a comment with your goals and how you plan to accomplish them. I feel that once you put your goals out there for others to see, it may hold you more accountable!!

Randoms

First business...
If one more person enthusiastically tells me that a "cold front" is coming through over night, yet the high is still going to remain 85-90 all week, then I just might explode. No, it is not a cold front when your car reads this:


Until I'm able to go outside for a nice, leisurely walk without feeling like I hit a brick wall of fire, then it is still summer and cold fronts do not exist.

Since that business is taken care of...
The weirdest thing happened to me yesterday. After my post on the 31-Day Yoga Challenge, I took a drive to the library for some inspirational reading. As I am browsing the aisles, I do a double take at a woman on the computers. I realize it is the yoga instructor from my gym who used to teach on Sundays! For me, this was a total sign that I need to do the challenge. It was like the universe was opening up and saying, YES, YES, GOOD PLAN!! It's not like I live in a small town or anything, either. I also had a Bikram Yoga book in my hands at the time. Coincidence?

When I came home, I made a smoothie that consisted of:
-1 Stonyfield Farm Fat free vanilla yogurt
-handful of baby spinach
-about a cup of frozen organic mixed berries
-banana
-1 packet of Amazing Grass Meal
-ice cubes







!! It was so creamy, but went down smooth. Perfect amount of sweetness. And it kept me full for a surprisingly long time. When dinner time rolled around, I kept thinking to myself, "why am I not hungry?? What the heck did I even eat today!!?" Then I remembered the smoothie with the Amazing Grass product and everything made sense.

I have a few domestic things to take care of, but expect a post later on about my yoga goals for the 31-Day Yoga Challenge. I'm super excited, in case anyone hasn't caught on!!

Until then, I leave you with a delicious organic honeycrisp apple sitting on an apple shaped cutting board.



And I totally smashed my head on the cabinet trying to get a different angle<---loser.

Announcement

For the month of October, I will be doing a 31-day Yoga "Challenge." This means, every single day, I will incorporate yoga into my day NO.MATTER.WHAT. I hesitate to call it a yoga "challenge" because that word creates a sense of negativity in my head, and this little project of mine is all about positivity, self-awareness, and HAPPINESS.

Background:
As some may or may not know, I love yoga! I've been doing it on and off for about 2 years. In the beginning, I did not "get it." Yes, it was fun and a great exercise, but I never understood what the hype was all about! For some odd reason, something clicked with me last summer and I started to understand and feel the true power of yoga physically, mentally, and emotionally. There are times when I go from practicing yoga 4 times per week and times when I may even go a week or two without it. Too inconsistent, in my opinion. But I always come back...

The idea for the 31-day challenge came from Tina of Carrots 'n' Cake.

The last couple of days, I've really felt that yoga "urge" drawing me closer. To be honest, I cannot put my finger on why some days this urge exists and others it does not (probably hormones, hehe), but I'm looking for more with my yoga. In all honesty, for the past 8 months or so, I have seriously been looking into a yoga teacher training program. However, at the moment, all the programs in my area are over $2,000, so needless to say, it is not within my current budget!

I happened to stumble upon Tina's blog yesterday and saw that she did the same thing in March. Lightbulb!! Genius!! I was sitting in the bubble bath just moments before pondering what I could do to increase my yoga practice and give myself more accountability towards it. I then started to google "31-day yoga challenge" and I see others have done this as well throughout the blog-world.


The "rules"
On my days off, I need to do at least 30 minutes or more of yoga. For me, this is probably doable since all yoga classes are over one hour. Keeping in mind that some days my gym does not offer yoga, so I will need to do home-practice.
However, for the days that I am working, it gets a little trickier. For one, I work 12 hour shifts, which quickly turn into 13 from driving and getting/giving report to the oncoming nurse. On these days, I will be doing minimum 20 minutes of yoga at home, if there are not any late yoga classes offered on those days. With all the time I spend online reading blogs, facebook, etc., I think I can spare 20 minutes.
However, it is definitely going to be hard. Keep in mind, I am currently involved in rigorous Critical Care Internship that requires I work at the hospital, complete labs away from home, and tons of homework and computer modules. Challenge, yes. But beneficial, indeed!


Goals
What do I want to get out of this? What's the point?
Well, for one, I would like the whole month of October to not be just about the physical aspect of yoga, but the mental aspect, too. Let's call it a month of positivity! During this time, I will not only be doing yoga everyday, but also incorporating other things in my life that are positive, like reading certain books, trying new foods, anything that will inspire me. I'd also like a great way to reduce stress because I am sure most can imagine that working in the ICU is not a walk in the park.

October 1st is this Thursday!

My next post will be related to specific goals I have for the month of October related to yoga.
If anyone would like to join me in this challenge, you are more than welcome. Also, if you have any ideas, feel free! Please do comment though if you will be participating:)

positivity!

I have an announcement for tomorrow!!
Something exciting (no, I am not engaged or pregnant or anything remotely like that)...
Hope you all will read!
I need to sleep on it for more ideas though...
goodnight.