bootcamp completed!

yesterday i completed my 2015 elite bootcamp challenge! it was another great journey and i am so proud that i did not miss a class! even though they were at 6am! and while i did it, i learned that i am just not cut out to work out that early. i didn't enjoy it and it wasn't fun for me. usually i am the one smiling in class ready to break into a dance party at any time but at 6am there will be no dancing and please don't encourage me, i might punch you. but that's okay, part of growing is learning what's best for us and our bodies. it was difficult for me even to get my heart rate that high so early. i still love to workout and do bootcamps but just not the same thing everyday at the butt crack of dawn. i also found that i missed the freedom of going for a run one day over lunch or going to a yoga class after work to decompress. i like to switch it up! but as always, corepower impressed me with their programming and it set me in motion for a much healthier lifestyle (even drinking a green juice as a i type). one of my biggest goals was to continue this healthy lifestyle well on past the two weeks. hopefully forever but definitely long enough to get me looking slim and trim for the big day. as we closed out camp, our coaches gave us a piece of paper and envelope to write ourselves a letter that they will mail in one month. we were supposed to put a few things we were proud of accomplishing and then a few more that we hoped to accomplish. i did this activity in high school and when i was in chicago the letter found itself to me. it was frightening, i was obsessed with my high school boyfriend and only wrote about marrying him and nothing about what i wanted to achieve. let's hope this letter doesn't find me so dramatically changed, chugging down drink juices, crying at the thought of doing another push up.

my coach shared this with me and well he is just so cute... do something!

namaste

melissa 

Goal Setting 101

well i am all settled in my beach pad... again pics to come later. i should have taken the pics when it was all party ready. its not a complete mess but by my neurotic standards, i am not photo ready. still to come! after spending all my free time plotting and pillaging through home goods, antique stores, and ikea, i realized i now had free time back on my hands! well kind of, seems i tend to fill every hour of every hour no matter what is going on in my life.

but generally the days were turning into blobs and with some other new distractions in my life, i needed to get back on track. as the yogic niyamas tell us, we need to do some svadhyaya every once in while to keep it all in check. i felt like i was spending my whole day doing everything but accomplishing nothing. a fellow fitness junkie/coach/blogger, Alison Blaker, often writes about her goal setting and i realized, i hadn't written down a goal in a long time or maybe even ever so off i went scribing my goals and hopefully making myself accountable. i don't have a fancy goal setting process or book (although now i might need one) but i put the pen to the paper and started with my weekly goals. there were a lot. not all of them time consuming but since there were so many, i decided to map out each day and decide when to get each one done. without scheduling goals each day, i knew at the end of the week i would have ended up with a list of unaccomplished tasks. and it's off to a great start! yesterday i was able to check everything off and i am well on my way today. yesterday there was even a car issue that could have easily thrown me off but i stuck to it and got it done. and now here i am blogging which was  also on the list! just thought i would share my success story of goal setting, i have never really tried this but it worked for me this week and just might for you too!

my yoga/zumba/tarot/goal setting notebook 

namaste

Melissa

The Year of the Headstand

For the past year, I have been obsessed with getting myself into a headstand. On January 1st, I posted this on my Zumbamel FB page (where I include all motivational fitness related posts...like it if you haven't already!)... Here's to a year full of health and fitness! Started my morn with a great yoga class at CorePower Yoga! Fitness goal of the year... HEADSTAND!

Some of the classes at Core Power include time to play with headstand and some don't. Then when I went to the ashram, almost everyone could do headstand including those that didn't seem to be in that great of shape (I know that isn't yogi of me but darnit I workout EVERYDAY). Then I became slightly obsessed with getting into this asana (pose).

This time of year has been difficult for me as I shared this is really when Matt began to change. He just wasn't himself, he held onto it as long as he could but it was starting to show. I regretfully did not spend New Years with Matt so I know this one will be hard. Plus at New Years, it was undeniable that Matt was very ill and would probably not make it to another New Years. I initially planned to spend the evening alone, I know boring as all heck but I was tired and looking forward to a night of relaxing on the couch. I had plans to meet up with friends on New Years Day anyways. Unexpectedly I got a call from a friend who had gotten engaged. I pulled myself out of my sweatpants, still didn't wash my hair but I made it out to celebrate her engagement. I was so happy for her. At the same time, I simply couldn't believe that while most people's lives were just starting together, mine was coming to end. 

I had an enjoyable evening and the next day, I woke early to attend a New Year's Day yoga class before I met up with my friends. When the time came in class, I tried to get into headstand which I was newly enthralled with after the ashram but wasn't close to getting up there. I was still excited about the prospect of doing a headstand and made it my goal of the year. Looking back, I wonder how the hell did I post this when my life was falling apart? How did I have the mindset to hope for something and set my mind to it?

Proudly, I can now say headstand is mine! And it's almost the end of the year! I have been practicing in class whenever I get the chance and sometimes when I stick around afterwards to practice. I started by the wall and slowly inched myself away. While at the beach for Thanksgiving, I asked my aunt to spot me in the sand. To my surprise, she didn't even help me up and I held it long enough to enjoy the view of the ocean inverted and snap a few pics. The next day, as I was practicing yoga by myself in the early morning, I decided to try it by myself and up I went! Soon I was acting like an inverted fool trying it whenever I could watching; the sunrise, the sunset, people walking by. The sand was the perfect practice place!  

I am elated that headstand is mine!  I am so proud! You see, it's all about getting over that fear. Getting yourself up there and realizing, that if you fall down, you will be okay! I feel backwards several times but landed softly and gave out a chuckle. It was even kind of fun to fall backwards and  I soon found myself envisioning a headstand to wheel maneuver. Perhaps my next conquest? I was so fearful to fall but once I did fall and realized I would be okay, it was on! Not only is it amazing to accomplish a goal, there are many health benefits from a regular headstand practice including; stimulating a face lift, decreasing gray (now ya got me here!), minimizing depression, and of course reversing your blood flow. Please see a list of more reasons here; http://tinyurl.com/d6mbzn4. And as the article mentions, it is a darn pretty cool party trick. 

Somehow amongst all the craziness of last year, I somehow found the optimisim to set a goal for myself and accomplish it. I think I just had to find some sort of manageable goal amongst all that was uncontrollable in my life. Sorry for gloating but I am pretty damn proud of myself. Here's to fitness goals and to my next conquest! And be sure to check out a few headstand pictures below ;)

 

Namaste 

Melissa