The Ex-Perfectionist

Checking in.

I’ve failed to get back in the MJ Experience grove.

I did my prenatal yoga class last night. Worked on chest openers. Also got a good work out on the shoulders.

I think I have gotten to that place in my pregnancy (third tri) that I just feel exhausted again. I have about enough stamina to get me through the work day. It’s 7:20 now and I am about ready to go to bed.

The reason this is relevant is because since my last check in I’ve pretty much only had the stamina to do some light stretching and read a yoga anatomy book.

I haven’t felt guilty about this thanks to the wonderful comment on my last post. For my next check in I hope to write something a little more substantial.

Going to force myself to stay awake another hour to work on designing baby shower invites on Photoshop.

Shawnee

Sometimes I wonder why I sign up or commit to things like this. It never fails that life gets in the way and foils my attempt at success.

After my health scare the nurse did confirm that I had high blood pressure, though it has since gone down. No preclampsia…yet.

Now I am just super freaked out to over exert myself. Example, I started doing dishes tonight and my heart started racing. Now the dishes are not getting done and I’m sitting on my arse. It is probably just normal pregnancy stuff.

It doesn’t help that everyone treats me like I am a ticking time bomb. People just make me more nervous with their comments to take it easy, etc.

I have done yoga since this little scare, three times in fact. All three times I have felt that massive pressure in my head from inversions. But other than inversions, I feel just fine. I’ve also painted in the nursery for several hours straight and felt pretty good.

I see my Ob on Friday. I am excited to see if it is ok for me to resume exercise so I can shake it like MJ. I think seeing her will take some of the edge off.

My biggest fear is bed rest. I couldn’t imagine not doing yoga or doing work around the house. Even partial bed rest would give me depression. I mean how awesome does sitting at a desk for 9 hours and then coming home to lay around sound?

Grrreat.

I mean I have yoga to do, nurseries to paint, closets to organize, high scores to beat on MJ.

Overall I guess 6 out of 10 days of the yoga challenge isn’t too bad. I guess.

Namaste
Shawnee

20 Minutes of MJ: Check

20 Minutes of yoga: Check

5 Minutes of Meditation/Pranyama: Check

Since being pregnant, I’ve added in the usage of one of those big balls.  Haha.  Off topic but have you seen the Shweaty Balls segment on the Christmas SNL?  Anyway…I love the big balls for for hip circles (lol sorry now I’m laughing), modified windshield wipers and a modified thread the needle pose.

I started doing sun salutations last night and had this incredible pressure in my head during down dog and child’s pose (almost like I was experiencing high blood pressure). :/  That plus swelling in my feet and hands, and a weight gain of 4 pounds in two days has made me think preclampsia!  Yuck.  Going to the dr. today to make sure it’s not.  I’d much rather work than be on bed rest for the next 3 months.  It’s probably not, but better safe than sorry.

I wouldn’t have known about high blood pressure and inversions (any pose where your head is lower than your heart) had it not been for teacher training!  I think Downward Dog is normally safe for people with high blood pressure, but like I said I have never felt that much pressure in my head before.

Check out the below quote from elisiumyoga.com:

“When we invert the body such that the head is below the level of the heart, there is a tendency for blood to pool into the head. This pooling of blood into the head greatly increases when one also elevates the lower body and legs above the level of the head. When we do Yoga poses and other forms of exercise, there is an increased demand for oxygen by muscle cells. The way that the body meets this increased demand for oxygen is by increasing heart rate and blood flow. So if we invert or place the head below heart-level during Yoga poses and other exercises, not only is there pooling of blood in the head, there is an elevated blood flow and pressure coming into the cranial region.”  www.elisiumyoga.com

From what I was taught there isn’t actually a “pooling” of blood in the head, just an increased blood flow, but they got the increased demand for oxygen and the increased blood flow part right.

Anyone else have a better explanation or link to an explanation for why to avoid inversions with high blood pressure?  I was in a hurry today and that’s the best I can find.

Also, ABC-of-yoga.com has some good suggestions for yoga poses to do with hypertension.

Well, off to my doctor’s appointment.

Shawnee

Update:  I went to the doctor and I do have high blood pressure!  :/  I hate when I’m right.  My doctor wasn’t in today so when the nurse asked the other doctor and he said he wasn’t that concerned.  Even though he’s not that concerned, I can’t help but be concerned.  I often don’t trust doctors.

I am still getting swelling in the hands, I’ve had swelling in my legs and feet for a couple weeks now and I have a pretty bad headache today.  Not to mention the sudden weight gain.  How do you explain that?

They want me to take it easy, keep my feet elevated and watch my symptoms.  I’m staying home from work today (Thursday) and hope to be back tomorrow.  We’ll see.

Looks like my yoga will be very light today with lots of pranyama.

If I learned anything from my year-long yoga teacher training it’s that some days all you can do is go to your mat. You might not do any physical practice that day, but you can still benefit from the discipline of going to your mat daily.

That’s about all I could handle today.  No Micheal Jackson Experience or physical asana practice for me, just meditation and pranyama: pure and blissful.  I did about 25 minutes of breathing, relaxation techniques and meditation on God’s Word; Psalm 139.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. –Psalm 139: 7-12

Teaching Yoga

In today’s email from Yoga Journal, there was an interesting “Challenge Tip,” which I thought could be useful to not only include in one’s own practice, but also for a teacher to explore in class:

“When practicing standing postures, it’s best to keep your eyes open. That helps with stability and balance. It’s also important to keep your gaze soft, especially when attempting more challenging postures. Staring hard at something can contribute to tension in the body, whereas soft eyes help you relax into a posture” (Yogajournal.com email, Jan. 10, 2012).

I was intrigued by the idea of writing up an entire sequence based on “feelings.”  It would be a fun practice to play with and help students become more aware of their bodies.

For example, playing with the eyes open and closed in a simple balancing posture (near a wall, of course). Or even something as basic as playing with the position of the feet in tadasana (parallel to the mat, toes pigeoned, toes in second position, etc.  Through out the class the teacher could make several inquires such as, “How is your balance with your eyes closed? or How does this position of your feet feel in your hips or knees?”

Anyone else have thoughts on this or written a sequence on this?  What areas could we teach students to feel and explore their bodies?

Shawnee

I ain’t no holla back girl!  But sometimes the blog just speaks to me.

Today marks day 1 of Yogajournal.com’s 21 Day Yoga Challenge.  Each day Yoga Journal will provide participants with a video, vegetarian recipe and a yoga tip.  Since I’m 5.5 months pregnant  I won’t be doing the videos and I’ll probably continue to eat meat.  I need all the iron I can get.

My goals for each day are simple: 20 minutes of Micheal Jackson Experience, 15 minutes of yoga, and 5 minutes of meditation.  I’ve actually been at it for 3 days now.  Yay me!  Just decided after today’s workout that I wanted to journal this journey.  Something about my yoga teacher training must have sank in.  Wasn’t really a fan of the journaling during.  Hmm I wonder what kind of psychological unconsciousness is going on there?

Anywho, I don’t feel like writing this on a pad of paper so I figured I’d resurrect the ol’ blog one last time.  I’ve already ended it 3+ times.  What’s one more?  I’d start a new blog all together, but I’m not ready for that sort of commitment….yet.

Back to the journaling…

24 minutes of Micheal Jackson Experience. Check.  Beat my own score on Bad.  I’m getting so so good.

15 minutes of yoga.  Check.  I did a short segment on a prenatal dvd I own.  It’s a lovely dvd minus the girl’s accent.  Segment included, tadasana, uttanasana, down dog with a chair, squats, trikonasana, dancer’s pose, and vrksasana.

5 minutes of meditation. Check.  More like pranyama tonight.  I did some deep diaphragmatic breathing and included keagles.  Also did some ujjayi breath with keagles.

I ended my pranyama time by allowing some thoughts to flow so I could take a sneak peak into my brain.  I kept thinking about my birth plan.  Then my mind wandered to the doctors putting me on an IV.  There is a lot of fear associated with that darn IV.  I mean I did pass out the last time they tried to put one in me.  Ok, so I guess there is a lot of fear associated with child birth period.  Good thing I have yoga.  And Jesus.

Namaste and God Bless,

Shawnee