Monday, February 4, 2013

"Feeling unlimited in her flow..."




Teaching at Lululemon at South Coast Plaza this Sunday was fun. I met up with Bobbi from Lululemon on Wednesday and she had me try on a few new items, and strike some yoga poses in the über comfortable clothing for their newsletter! I had just visited the doctor about my chest, as I've re-aggravated an old rib-injury, and was a little nervous about doing yoga in front of the camera, but the room was warm, the process quick, and after a few deep breaths I felt relaxed and at ease on my mat.

Thank you to SCP Lululemon Athletica for having me. Special thanks to Bobbi. I will be back on Sunday, February 17th, 9:30-10:30am!


Friday, February 1, 2013

my beautiful vibrant friend




There are few people in the world that offer my as much inspiration as Lionda does. In the midst of any adversity, you will find this little nugget smiling bigger and wider than a man who just won the lottery. And it's genuine. She's got some massive spunk and when life kicks, she kicks harder, and even though she's almost two heads shorter than me, in many ways, I look up to her.

Over the years I have become very close to Lionda, and we share a mutual passion: health and fitness. Lionda is a trainer at "The Perfect Workout" - a slow motion strength training specialty gym. No one has broken me down the way she has: sweating bullets, laughing, groaning, more laughing, more animalstic groaning - thankfully this ridiculous kick-your-butt-cheeks workout only lasts 20 minutes, and thankfully I have the best trainer in the world.

I also went on my biggest running adventure with her: 18 miles along the Santa Ana River, from Yorba Linda to Huntington Beach. Even though her knee was beginning to hurt about 16 miles into it, she was the one encouraging me as we paced ourselves towards the blue crisp line on the horizon. "Just close your eyes, and imagine you are sitting on a big comfortable couch, feet kicked up, drinking a glass of wine..." I felt like I could barely smile, but she managed to make me laugh. She knows I love my wine.

Most recently, she managed to talk me into a cleanse. No processed foods, no processed sugars, no dairy products, no meat (which we both already don't eat), no breads, cereals, potatoes, and the list goes on... (I know, right? Sounds like we can't eat anything - ha ha). As we were negotiating the terms of this cleanse via text, I found my monkey hungry indulgent mind resisting. Why do this? I already eat clean and healthy, and even my indulgent moments are fairly mild. Why put myself through this ... torture. Why put so much thought and energy into this? Why obsess? My thoughts were lashing out.

I was trying to wiggle myself out of this one. Why is my beautiful vibrant friend challenging me again?

"What about wine?" 

The negotiation room went silent. This was the deal breaker. Wine and health is an issue of considerable debate, and in my head I had already begun to defensively prepare a deliberate speech on the pros of wine consumption. Wine drinkers tend to share similar lifestyle habits - better diets, regular exercise, non-smoking, etc. ( P. Mansson "Eat Well, Drink Wisely, Live Longer" Wine Spectator, Nov. 29th, 2001). That's US! Hello! We love to share a glass of wine together! Wine is probably a contributing factor to the strength and divinity of our friendship :)

My phone buzzed. "One glass of wine per/day."
She knows I love my wine. I smiled. 
"Okay, I am in."

In my head I told myself that these glasses could accumulate, like sick/vacation days at fancy corporate jobs, and at the end of the week I could drink the whole damn bottle if I so pleased. I had to tell myself this, even if I never took my big vacation to Cape Coast.  

We originally agreed to the cleanse for 30 days, but after doing some research on www.psychologytoday.com, I was the one that insisted we do it for 66 days. Lionda agreed immediately. An extra month didn't seem to intimidate her, and she barely asked for any rhyme or reason to my suggestion. The rhyme and reason? Recent studies show that it takes anywhere from 18 to 66 days to create a good habit. There is a lot of variation - among people as well as habits. Some people are simply "habit-resistent", and some habits are just more challenging to create. I wasn't sure what we were up against, but if we were gonna put all this effort into it, I wanted to do it right, and leave absolutely no room for error. To be sugar-proof, we needed to do the full 66 days.

Today is DAY 11. 

We log what we eat on the "My Fitness Pal" application. It's easy to use, and a simple way for us to reflect on our day and stay on track. It's not really necessary, but it helps. She's my only friend on there, and I am pretty sure I am her only friend, too. We occasionally comment on each others progress. Not that we don't already know what the other one is up to. We picture message each other the healthy delicious foods we love and are enjoying, and on rare occasions the yummy and not-so-healthy things we see that we are missing a little. We also workout and cook together. She is a better cook than me (well, everyone is a better cook than me, ha ha) but when I get really bored of the salad routine, I run to her for ideas and comfort. 

I would never have finished those 18 miles without her, and I certainly would not have gone 11 days (and still going strong) without my favorite little breakfast burrito at The Lost Bean. I am so grateful to have a friend like her, constantly motivating, challenging, and encouraging me. Her love for life is contagious. If it's not with my own will that I complete these 66 days, it will be with the help of hers.

I will continue to blog and share about this adventure that Lionda and I are on, so tune in! To find out more about The Perfect Workout visit http://www.theperfectworkout.com/why-is-the-workout-perfect/  Lionda  Liepiņa works out of the Anaheim and Tustin locations.












Happiness



We can experience pain and trauma, and still find ourselves singing and smiling, even if just for a few seconds. It reaffirms the will to live, and propels us towards a greater joy. These are my happy feet, and this is that moment for me.