A Pet Peeve

If you're dirty, it means you need a bth

I don't understand why people think that they need to be flexible in order to practice yoga. A yoga practice is just that, practice. Just as you practice anything, you do it in order to get better at it. As a musician would practice his or her instrument, a yogi practices his or her yoga.

Additionally, with yoga the goal isn't to get better at doing certain postures but rather to get better at achieving flexibility, awareness, and stillness of the mind. So if you say "I don't do yoga because I'm not flexible", it means you need to do more yoga. The cause is the cure.

Juice Cleanse

I've really been into juice lately, so I decided to try a 2-day juice cleanse. The benefits seemed reasonable: giving the digestive system a break, zapping your body with extra vitamins and minerals, detoxing the liver, and being a little more mindful about consumption for a couple of days.

So I got my juice from my favorite juicery here in in Oregon: 

 12 juices, 6 per day...no big deal, right?

Wrong.

Things started out fine:

I was enjoying the juices that I had chosen, taking selfies, and feeling like a real champ. Then, around 4:00 things changed. My head began to hurt and my vision was blurring. All I could think about was all the amazing foods that I wanted to eat: cheeseburgers, Chinese food, egg sandwiches, burritos, and coffee. 

Then, my mind began to play tricks on me. I saw turkey sandwiches dangling from trees and kettle chips scattered all over the ground. I even thought about trying the dog food. Was this shoddy willpower on my part or the symptoms of malnutrition setting in?

I decided to drown my doubts with another juice and a little internet googling sesh. This resulted in me falling down a rabbit hole of articles about juice cleanses. What I found was that juice cleanses may or may not be good for you. Juice may or may not detox your system. Juice may or may not flood your system with an overload of sugar without enough fiber to digest it, causing your body to produce too much insulin and send it into diabetic shock.

I felt like shit. And these articles weren't helping. By 9:00 that night I was forcing down my last juice and ready to call it a day, literally and figuratively. Why do this to myself? Maybe I would feel better after the day 1 one toxin hangover (this is what pro-juice cleanse people call the shitty feeling that you feel, but I think it's just hunger), maybe I have no will power, maybe I need a lesson in self-determination. Or maybe I'm just really smart and know that my body needs balance. Juice cleanse, I quit.

So, here's what I learned from my 2-day 1-day juice cleanse:

1) Juice is good, but food is better
2) Trying to restrict something from your diet (like food) is stupid and psychologically unhealthy
3) You're not exactly cleansing, if you feel like total shit while you're doing it
4) Too much juice is just as bad as too much of anything else
5) Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. (thanks to Michael Pollan for this one)

Love your body photo shoot

My yoga studio did a photo shoot to promote the idea that yoga is for every body.

Everybody and every body.

I like this idea since most of the media around yoga shows extremely skinny "fit" people doing advanced postures and when it's not that it's somehow deemed not as legit or not "yoga".  I'm just as guilty as everyone else, I suppose, in thinking this. I mean, I follow these people on instagram and am even inspired by them.  But I like to also keep an open mind about what is and isnt't yoga.

Yoga means union and yoga is everything. So certainly yoga is for everybody and every body need not look the same in a yoga posture. 

Here are a few shots from our photo shoot:

Hawaii (Part duex and beyond!)

Little did I know that after my previous post, I would be struck down by the worst food poisoning/stomach virus/tape worm/amoeba/I don't really know what the hell it was sickness that I have experienced in a very long time. I'm talking serious nausea, dizziness, retching, stomach cramping, diarrhea, the whole nine, ya'll. It was real. It lasted about 2 and a half days and yes it did cramp my vacation style just a bit. However, between trips to the bathroom and sad naps, I did manage to do and see some pretty awesome stuff around Gennie. By Thursday I was back to 80% Blaine, at which point we road-tripped up to the north shore, did some stand-up paddle boarding, and ate some pretty delicious food.

Now, we're back. I'm 90% Blaine on the health front and yet 10% Blaine at heart because, seriously you guys, Hawaii is the best place ever and if you want to really shock the senses go to Hawaii and then go to Oregon in the winter. (like my run on sentence?)

Here's some more pictures from the trip!

Yummy acai bowl for breakfast on the beach

Beach!

So beautiful!

Chickens everywhere!

Alan Davis jumping plank near Makapuu Lighthouse

Gennie jumps off...I'm still thinking

Still thinking...

Loungin'

Jason soaking it all in

Sea kayaking

Triangle pose on Lanikai Beach

Standing bow pulling pose

Bonzai pipeline, half moon, tattoos

Huge waves at Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore

Testing out the SUP

Here we go!

It was super windy

Down the canal

So much fun! I want a SUP!

Paniolo Burger at Kahuku Grill at the North Shore

Coconut Macadamia Shrimp at Kahuku Grill...world famous

Tree Pose, a banzai tree, blue skies

Toe stand on a little table

Dear Sinuses, I hate you.

For letting this guy set up shop for over 3 weeks,

For giving me throbbing headaches,

For making it hard to hear,

and finally for tricking me into thinking I was all better a week ago, and then out of nowhere inviting this guy and his plus one back into my face

At least somebody has been productive this week.

Love,
me

Teacher Training Anniversary

Today is the official 1 year anniversary of the first day of my Bikram Yoga Teacher Training.  I lived, studied, and practiced in the LAX Radisson (which, hilariously, is now closed down!) with 315 crazy Bikram yogis (pictured below) for 9 weeks:

315 "would be Bikram Yoga teachers", as they called us

I can't believe it's been a year. I've taught 188 classes since November 20 when I taught my first. I've learned so much! The 9 week stay at teacher training was only the beginning. The life of an actual teaching teacher is the true training. Working with so many amazing teachers and students is the true training. Maintaining and growing in my practice is the true training. The training is a lifelong training, wherein we are all constantly learning and growing. We "continuously keep kicking".

Thank you, Bikram. You might be a nut, but you are a yoga genius too. Thank you.

"You are not proving how good you are. You are giving them something. You have to be compassionate. Then, you put nails in their ass" -Bikram (9/17/13)

7 Beautiful Women I Just Can't Stop Looking At These Days

Beyonce! Because, well...duh!

Cat Power (aka Charlyn Marshall)
Devine singer with devine style.

Kat Dennings.
Hilarious and Hot.
And the star of her very own mediocre and slightly raunchy sitcom, 2 Broke Girls.

Aubrey Plaza.
Another hilarious brunette.
Check her out on Parks and Recreation  being snarky and awesome.

Zoe Deschanel.
She's adorkable.
She can sing.
And she has bangs every girl would kill for.

Christina Hendricks.
Or Joanie,  the saucy, indispensable secretary as you may know her from Mad Men.
Curves for days.

Oh, and myself of course!
Not in an arrogant way.
But ladies, it's important to love yourself and find beauty in you.
Especially when we're bombarded with media images of "perfect" women as I've presented above.

Not a Competition

Yesterday was the demonstration at Bikram Yoga Durham.  There was about 14 of us who got up in front of our yoga peers and demonstrated the progress of our practice.  Though it wasn't a competition exactly, it held the format of a typical Bikram competition sans scoring and judging.  Basically, this means that we had to include the 5 basic postures designated for competition and 2 postures from the advanced Bikram series.  We had to bow before and after our routine, and announce the names of each posture before we did it.  There are also weird rules about which direction you have to face when doing whatever posture.  That was hard to remember.  I went last which was extremely nerve inducing as I had to watch each of the others demonstrating, finishing, and plopping down on the floor in relief.  I had no idea how nervous I would be once I got up on the podium.  I was shaking, folks.  It's one thing getting up in front of people and speaking, or singing, or whatever.  But getting up in front of people in tiny little shorts and trying to balance?  Scary.

My Routine:

Standing Head to Knee Pose (not the full expression, I guess the camera-man missed that)




Standing Bow Pulling Pose



Bow Pulling Pose




Rabbit Pose





Stretching Pose



Bound Lotus Pose





Headstand with Lotus Pose (Again, my camera man missed the full expression of this one, but got me "gracefully" moving into it)




The group who demonstrated. This was an awesome group of people with whom to do this.  Representing a variety of levels and ages, each and every one of us have such unique practices and are on such different yogic paths.  It was very inspiring to share this experience with each of them.





What a learning experience!  My postures are not perfect, in fact I could probably go through and pick apart each one, but that is not the point.  The point was to share my progress, and demonstrate my experiences and love for the yoga.  I feel honored to have been asked to participate and I would do it again in an instant!

Here we go again...

If you've been in my recent closest circle, privy to my ups and downs and wants and woes, you know that this Sunday I will be running the Tobacco Trail Marathon.  You might also know that technically I have not appropriately trained for this race due to a myriad of excuses/legitimate reasons.  Moving, trips, and an overall strange lack of motivation coupled with a rebellious discontent for anything that I "have" to do:  these things have sunk me...or not sunk me.  We shall see.

What I do know is this: I have run 3 marathons before.  I have been consistently running for the past 4 years.  I am a badass.  So, because of this I will prevail.  And if I don't, I will pretend to faint and get airlifted to the finish where medics and volunteers will wrap me like a cheap gas station burrito in foil blankets and massage me like a rack of lamb.

Peeing on the Wall

Every year, without fail, a 5th grader at our school gets in trouble for peeing on the wall in the boys' bathroom. I'm always baffled as to why someone would do this and why it happens every single year. Well, today I cracked the case.
As I walked out of my classroom on my way to the bathroom, I suddenly had the urge to do something crazy just to shake things up a bit. And, for a split second peeing on the wall crossed my mind. Now, I am an adult. I have self control and a sense of perspective, so I was able to contain myself. Then, I remembered how when I was in 5th grade I used to sit on the windowsill of the second story girls bathroom at my elementary school and dangle my legs out the window. Some girls were scared by this (rule followers!), others thought I was crazy for doing this (robot children!), but for me it was a small way that I could carve out a moment for myself in the rote routine of my public school day. My thoughts went to the bevy of misunderstood boys from the past 5 years. Then, I realized it: the boys are so bored out their minds that they must do something to break the monotony of the day. Peeing on the wall is an outlet for them...literally. It may seem disgusting and necessary to you and I, but to a 10 year old it is the perfect way to exercise one's independence and control of their situation. It says "Even though I'm stuck in here all day, I can do what I want for a couple of minutes and man, it's thrilling!"

Lessons Learned: Students need ways to feel independent.
Students need to break out of their routines sometimes.
Students need to go against the grain sometimes, constructively of course.
But for cleanliness and safety reasons, we need to find alternatives to peeing on the wall.