"I'm a batman kind of gal. That is to say I believe in self improvement and taking things into your own hands, rather than waiting for a radioactive spider to bite you."
I’m back from a lovely hot yoga session with my friend JM.
To be honest, it was a long, dreary day. It was raining, and naturally I didn’t have an umbrella with me. After making it through a shift at the hospital, I wandered woefully into the cruel downtown streets.
My life is in disarray, I lamented to myself. Where am I going? What am I doing with myself?
I noticed a Cultures and ordered myself a frozen yogurt. I perked up a bit, and thought, “Aren’t the little things in life lovely? I’m like a ray of sunshine!” I made it about twenty steps before sinking back into my former state. It was hard staying so cheerful when everyone else was still so miserable from the rain as well. No one was moved by the rain sodden girl with an ice cream cone.
Dejectedly, I headed to King and Bathurst to the Moksha Downtown Yoga Studio for a 1 1/2 hour session. Resting in savasana (corpse pose – aka lying down) in the beginning of my practice, I nearly fell asleep. I got carried away thinking about some things that have been on my mind, and the heat on my skin felt good after being soaked to the bone from the rain. Free to relax and be still, I wanted to angst; I wanted to spend my 90 minutes lamenting over life.
Our instructor arrived, and I stared intently at myself in the mirror. My instructor told me to clear my mind, but I was resolute in defying her. I wanted to think about everything that had been eating away at me. We went into the tree pose, which involves lifting a leg. I couldn’t balance.
The thing about hot yoga is that it really forces you to take care of yourself– it’s very physically demanding, especially compared to “regular” yoga. With hot yoga, I have to make sure I eat properly and drink enough water during the day before my session, or else I get dizzy and want to pass out/commit suicide. There’s no half assing it– I’ve tried desperately chugging a bottle of water right before a practice after not having much during the day, and you can really notice the difference. So, physically, I had prepared myself.
But I forgot. If you’re not focused, you’re going to be a disaster.
My balance is generally pretty good, but today, I just couldn’t do it. I kept thinking too much. My mind wasn’t clear. Wobbling, I thought to myself, Ingrid, get your head in the game. I started preparing myself for a High School Musical inspired pep talk. I’m serious – a Zac Efron/basketball montage was starting to play in my mind. It’s–
And then I nearly fell over. Embarrassed, I realized I couldn’t afford my ridiculous internal monologue either. My action had to be immediate. It was strange. For the first time in a long time, I was forced to just… get to it. No emotional reaction, no resentment, no thought– I didn’t have time to think, I just had to do it. For once, I had no choice.
During the next hour, my head was actually clear for once. It was really, really nice. After what’s felt like two months of continuous turmoil (mostly because of graduation), I was able to calm down for an hour and to really appreciate that thing that everyone has been telling me to appreciate for ages: the present.
I feel like I have a bit more strength now. Cheers to that.
Super Bowl tonight. It’s a shame, I still never got around to getting into football, although I feel closer to it than ever! I feel that the day will soon come when I will watch it and understand what’s going on.
Speaking of football and athletics though, I’m always impressed by all of that training that they do. It inspires me to stay active. I know some people pick celebrities that they admire to motivate them into working out.
I can see why this would work for some people. She looks freaking amazing. But Britney Spears circa 2001 doesn’t do anything except for make me miss Britney Spears circa 2001.
Although I’m as narcissistic as the next person, the main reason I exercise is to work on my lung capacity, cardiovascular system etc., so the things that motivate me tend to fall on the less glamorous side. In short, I need to be able to visualize the athleticism I’m trying to attain–which brings me to my #1 source of inspiration right now: the game sequences from “Friday Night Lights”. My friend PH loves razzing me by finding parallels between Tim Riggins and myself, but when I told him that I use Riggins as a workout inspiration, he was a little concerned.
It has been over a month since I’ve blogged. I think every blogger goes through this– the whole “Ahh I’m so bad, etc etc.” Except can I really call myself a blogger? I don’t exactly have a vast body of work behind me.
I thought if I was going to blog, I might as well write about the restaurant I’ve been practically living at for the past month. I was vaguely aware of this, but then my friend MK pointed out that I had tweeted about eating there 3 times in the last week…
Hibiscus is located in Kensington market. Just take the westbound streetcar outside College Station, and get off one stop past College & Spadina. Walk down Augusta Ave. and you’ll find it tucked away.
After spending a productive weekend writing two essays, I thought I’d write about something a little more carefree than Eurocentrism or a child burdened with an inferiority complex. There’s actually been a bit of a Battle of the Sexes, in regards to my blog: The girls want more shopping, the guys want more of the serious business. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, I am not so clever as to pick a specific angle to write my blog from–a logical strategy for success. Instead, my blog will be a variety of pithy little nothings with the occasional depressing (thought provoking?) entry like my last one.
I’ll start with something gender neutral, as the posts that will follow today are going to be a little more related to the gals.
I was actually going to do a post about Fast Dinners a little while back. A lot of us are under stress right now, but we’ve still got to feed ourselves. So, I was going to post these lovely, express meals. I was gonna grab a few recipes from my beloved Nigella Lawson, and take my friend SM’s delicious home made Asian noodle soup idea. I was gonna say how quick and easy it was to make a gourmet scallop & spaghetti squash dinner. I was going to preach and say how we can cook something a little more sophisticated that’s quick–other than KD or pasta and sauce from a jar. But alas, I too have fallen.
This brings me to ITEM 1: Lean Cuisine Frozen Dinners
