Yoga Challenge Check In

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

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

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21 Day Yoga Challenge: Day um?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by

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

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Day 3: Check!

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

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.

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Day 2: 21 Day Yoga Challenge

Posted on January 10, 2012 by

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

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21 Day Yoga Challenge

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

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

 

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Poof! Blog be gone

Posted on August 29, 2011 by

Hi all.  I am sorry to report that I will no longer be updating The Ex-Perfectionist.  I need to put my blogging on hold.  At least until my Yoga Teacher Training is complete.

If I do pursue blogging once again, I’d like to focus a new blog on writing/yoga/healthy living.  Perhaps in the future, after I have established a couple yoga jobs, I may create a blog as part of a website to help market myself via social media.  Also, I may eventually start a family blog just for close friends and family to have updates about my life.  

My blogging style, like my life has definitely grown and developed over these past few years.  It’s been a journey, one that I’ll continue when the time is right… just not right now.

Namaste, Friends.

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Searching for New Simplicity. Found in Socca.

Posted on July 18, 2011 by

Scrambled egg with red onions, green pepper, salsa verde and tapatillo sauce rolled up in a Socca.

Simplicity.

One would think this is a word that carries meaning across all walks of life.

It doesn’t.

Don’t get me wrong.  I thought it did.  I have been under the false impression that simplicity is defined as: 1.) Easy; and 2.) Fast.

Looking over a much broader spectrum of people and cultures that definition would clash.  Take for example, the definition of American simplicity.  Our Container Stores and 10 minute meals would be completely foreign to a Buddhist monk.  The monk might say to us, all the technology, day planners and containers we use to try to simplify life actually makes our life more cluttered.  We might say to the monk, your life is boring. 

Side note: At this point in life, I think I’d prefer the quiet of a convent.  Send thee to a nunnery!  

Recently I visited a naturopath to set up a supplement, eating and lifestyle plan to heal me from my Hashimoto’s disease.  It is anti my definition of simplicity.  It is not fitting into my box.   It is not fast and it is in no way easy.

No longer can I get a quick bite to eat.  I can’t take 10 minutes to get ready for bed.  I can’t pack my lunch in under 5 minutes, and it is absolutely essential that I plan and pre cook meals.

BAH! 

I found a little slice of my New Simplicity.  It isn’t quite as quick as grabbing a corn tortilla from the fridge, throwing on a small handful of pre-shredded cheese , topping it with salsa, and microwaving it all in 30 seconds.

But under my new definition of simplicity, it doesn’t get much simpler.

Behold Socca.  According to Wikipedia: “Socca is a specialty of southeastern French cuisine, particularly in and around the city of Nice. Its primary ingredients are chickpea flour and olive oil, like the northern Italian farinata.”

Socca: 1 cup garbanzo flour (aka chickpea flour), 1 cup water, salt, pepper and your choice of seasoning.  Whisk all ingredients together.  Cook like a pancake in a well oiled pan.  I used coconut oil.  This recipe makes about 4 Soccas.

From the time of starting the recipe to the time I took my first bite it was about 10 minutes.  Keep in mind I stopped to take a picture.

It’s crisp, it’s soft and it’s warm.  Plus it is gluten, dairy, corn, soy, sugar, peanut, and processed food free. 

I got my new edition of Real Simple Magazine in the mail today.  My husband said, “But you know, it really isn’t simple.”  Fitting right?

Because I like food and I like cooking… (really I do…I know. I know. My fellow foodie bloggers have pretty much disowned me because of my over abundant writing prompts and no food pictures.) 

And because I love writing, check out this list of  food writing writing prompts from Build-Creative-Writing-Ideas.   And Because it really is ok for food blogs to have some depth.  :)

Check out this fantastic article on the Himalayan Institute website about “The Yoga of Simplicity.” 

Fun tid bit about me that kind of goes along with this:  To simplify my life, I packed away all my extra dishes and have only kept two of each dish (except the butter knives…my husband insists on three).  I am planning to do this with my clothes as well.  I am going to pack away all my clothes except for two weeks worth.  This is all in an attempt to simplify.  I thinks this counts as a yogic practice.

*All artwork by me.  No stealing it now.  :P

A questions for the comments:  Ever had or heard of a socca.? What do you do to keep your life simple?  Because no one every comments any more…I’ll send something to the first commenter.  Even if you comment two months after this post is posted.  I’m not desperate or anything.  I just like to share.  Most likely the prize will be a coupon for a free product.

Posted in Health, Healthy Eating, Writing, Yoga | 4 Comments

Geeked out for Harry Potter

Posted on July 15, 2011 by

Bellatrix Lestrange Tee makes its debut.  I tried to get the hubby to take a photo of me doing the Tree Pose (aka Whomping Willow Pose) in this outfit.  I think that was too much nerd for him to handle.

T - minus 40 minutes until epic finale commences.  Feeling some mixed emotions about the end.  Emotions also include my desire to sip on a milkshake.

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Worm Face: A Nerd’s Revenge

Posted on July 11, 2011 by

Prompt:  That was the last time he would say that to anyone. (From Adammaxwell.com)

Exercise: Write a short fictional story with a beginning, middle and end in 15-20 minutes.  Take 5-10 minutes to edit after the timer goes off. 

Want to join me in this prompt? Write your short story, copy it in the comment OR post it on your blog and link back to me.  If I get any takers on linking back to me, I’ll give you a shout out.

Fiction On!

Corey Maxwell Jamison is a lot like other 13 year old boys in his school.  He reads for hours up in his room about fantasy, Sci-Fi, the animal kingdom and physics.  He draws characters in knight’s armor and sometimes stays late at his school’s biology lab to dissect the worms and frogs the cheerleaders won’t touch.  Ok, so he’s not like other kids at all.

One day in the biology lab he ate his Saturn shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich (made with love by his mama) while cutting open a particularly juicy worm.  He opened his biology notebook and began to draw a diagram of the worm’s insides: its heart and tiny organs.  He moved his face closely towards the worm to get a better look.  As he did so, he felt an incredible force on the back of his head.  Nick Wilson, the captain of the junior high football team slammed his face into the worm.

“Eat worm, you freaking weirdo,” Nick said.  His groupies laughed and followed him out of the room. 

Corey lifted his head and just stared at his biology notebook.  The worm dangled off his face and the smell of formaldehyde lingered in his nostrils.  All throughout fourth, fifth and sixth periods Corey dreamed up his revenge.  

“Worm sandwich?” he thought.  Too juvenile.  “Death by light saber?”  No, it would take much too long to construct a functioning light saber. 

On his way home from school, Corey passed the football field.  “Hey worm face.” The cheerleaders and football team yelled in unison.  That’s when it hit him.  Corey could taste sweet vindication as he ran home.  “It could just be the formaldehyde,” he thought.

Twenty minutes later Corey showed up on the football field wearing his knight suit, holding a padded sword.  He is a master LARPer (that’s live action role player).  He stood on the field and faced down his enemy.

“Is that worm face?” Nick asked out loud.  Just then, Nick got into a line backer stance and began to charge Corey.  The cheerleaders yelled “Yeah! Go Nick.”

Corey stepped to the side as Nick was only inches from knocking him senseless.  Corey smacked Nick on his back with his sword.  Nick turned around and began to charge again.  Corey gave a battle yell, turned and swung his sword over head.  This time he struck Nick in the helmet.  Nick’s face turned the color of beet innards.  He charged again.  Corey kneeled onto the ground, tripping Nick and flipping him onto the grass.

Winded, Nick rolled over onto his back and peered up at Corey.

“I’ll kill you worm face.”

Corey placed his foot on Nick’s chest to pin him down.  He pulled a handful of worms out of his pocket and squished the wiggling specimen inside Nick’s helmet.  Corey raised his sword into the air in triumph.  The football players and cheerleaders applauded.

And that was the last time Nick would ever call Corey worm face.  In fact, it was the last time Nick would even look at Corey.

Copyright: Shawnee Randolph.  7/11/2011

I strayed a little from the prompt.  But I love where the story ended.  I heart fiction.  :)   Side note: I won the Creative Writing Award for my senior class in high school.  I forget that sometimes.

Because peanut butter and jelly sandwich  come in more than just heart shapes.

Check out these super cute Bobba Fet Peanut Butter and Jeally Sandwiches from Wendolonia.com.  Her blog is adorable and she puts together the most clever bento boxes for her kids.  What an awesome and unique blog idea.  She’s inspired me to get some bento boxes.  I wonder if gluten free bread would cooperate with cookie cutters.  hmmmm…

*Image from Wendolonia.com

Because this weekend is opening weekend of Harry Potter and because yoga, Starwars and Harry Potter always belong in the same blog post.

Check out Starwars vs. Harry Potter vs. Anusara Yoga from YogaDork.com.  bahahahaha  I have to laugh.  I love Starwars and Harry, and my yoga teacher studied under John Friend.  :)   Too cool.

A word about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Okay, so more than one word: I’m excited for the epic battle scene and I am sad this is the final movie in the series.  With all of these emotions I am feeling, it is a good thing I don’t have the emotional range of a teaspoon, otherwise I’d need some serious counseling.  BTW, I so bought my Bellatrix Lestrange graphic tee.  WOOHOO.

Have a wonderfully Nerdy rest of the week.  :)

Posted in Healthy Eating, Organization, Writing, Yoga

Heaven.

Posted on July 9, 2011 by

Today’s writing prompt from writingfix.com, using their awesome random writing prompt generator. 

The prompt:  “What SHOULD Heaven be like?  Everyone has an image of Heaven, even those who aren’t religious.  Write about yours.”

The assignment: 15 minute free write.  5 minutes to edit.

Set a timer.  GO.

My prompt:

Heaven.  When I get there, I imagine, I’ll walk on streets of gold and surf on the crystal sea.  At least this is what I’m told.  I’ve also heard we won’t really have bodies, we’ll just be more like floating energetic presences.  Most people believe, however, we will bodies, brand new ones.  We’ll be able to fly like Superman, and  disapparate like Harry Potter.  We’ll even get a mansion with our name on it.  All for ourselves.

I’m fond of the new bodies and the super powers.  That can stay in my heaven. 

I picture heaven being the place I am most comfortable.  I don’t want a mansion, I want a Victorian/craftsman style Bed and Breakfast.  I want a front porch with big southern rocking chairs and a swing.  I’ll have an endless supply of strawberry lemonade and eggs and cheese.  I’ll even do the cooking and the serving, as in heaven there is no such thing as time.  I’m not sure if guests would actually stay at my B&B, since everyone else has their own mansion, but maybe.  Perhaps I could serve Jesus.

Down the street from my B&B there is a quaint little brick coffee shop ran by John the Baptist.  I imagine the man who ate locusts and wore camel hair would make a mean cup of coffee.  Above St. John’s Coffee Mecca is my yoga studio.  When I’m not serving B&B guests, I’d teach yoga.  Because in my heaven we do have bodies.  Though, now that I think about handstand would not be challenging if we had super powers.  Perhaps yoga would be recreational in heaven.

Even further down the road from my B&B, yoga shop and St. John’s Coffee Mecca sits a gigantic Roman looking library, with people in togas and olive branches in their hair reading on the one thousand steps.  Below the library steps is a large grassy field.  There is a group practicing tae chi, another group in a drum circle and there’s Jesus, all fresh from staying at the B&B explaining to a some listeners what he was actually talking about in Matthew.

This street opens up to the famous Crystal Sea.  But it’s not like real crystal, there is nothing better than warm ocean water, glistening in the sun.  People are surfing on the backs of dolphins.  And you should see the size of some of these sandcastles.  My humble B&B could fit inside of one of those things.

In my heaven everyone gets along, there is no discrimination, we worship together, share food together, exercise together and serve each other.  Plus we have B&Bs with southern hospitality, coffee, books and yoga.

Join me in this writting prompt.  Share your prompt in the comments or post it on your blog, link back to me and comment letting me know you did so.

Picture from cheeseslave.com

Heavenly Brownies.  Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free Brownies!  From cheeseslave.com:  Serve warm with a tall glass of coconut milk or almond milk (homemade if you are on GAPS). Or cut up the brownies and add to some homemade coconut milk ice cream (vanilla, or even better, chocolate) — heavenly.”

Seriously?  I haven’t had much luck with coconut flour, but I have to give this one a try.

Geeks in Yoga Heaven

Image from Odditycentral.com

Read more about yoga for geeks here: “Starwars Yoga, Because Geeks Need to Exercise too.”

Happy Prompting!  I’d love to see your prompts.  If you don’t want to join the prompt comment with this:  Heaven in 10 words or less. 

Posted in Healthy Eating, Recipes, Writing, Yoga