Yoga!

I've never really been one for group fitness classes. In fact, I went about 26 years before I took one. And I had no idea just how lucky I was that my first one was with Mandy Ingber. Mandy and I met through unusual circumstances- at a support group shortly after our fathers passed away. Although the support group didn't work out as I had hoped, meeting Mandy was a huge gift from the whole experience. She was teaching at YAS in Venice at the time that we became acquainted and this was just the push I needed to finally give yoga a try.

With everything going on emotionally surrounding my father's death, I figured giving yoga a try wasn't going to be a bad thing. I found that I really enjoyed yoga and I loved taking Mandy's classes. It was focused heavily on humor, patience, fun and really accepting your body as it was and for exactly what it could do in the moment. Never having done yoga before, I was a little apprehensive, but I was really happy to find that the classes were taught in such a way that you could just do whatever you could. Modified poses were always shown so if you were more advanced you could do something a little more challenging, and if you were just starting out, you never felt like you were far behind. Instead, you felt inspired and excited to work up to the more advanced poses. And Mandy had such a welcoming and fun way about her that at times, you almost forgot you were in a yoga class. Even more exciting, she even persuaded me to give her spin class a try- something I really thought I'd never do!

Spin is an entirely different beast and I wasn't sure I could hang. But with great advice from Mandy right before my first class- "Just sit in the saddle the whole time if you need to. My first time spinning I never got up out of the saddle once."- I managed to feel accomplished at the end when I not only pedaled the entire time, but managed to get out of the saddle even for a moment!

The few times that I went to Mandy's class and there was a substitute, I was disappointed that she wasn't there. I get that each teacher has their own individual style, I had just adapted so well to Mandy's. Even though I didn't go to Mandy's yoga and spin with strict regularity, I was very very bummed when she stopped teaching at YAS. Mandy has an amazing gift as a teacher and I knew from the few times I took classes with other people, that there was just no way to ever replace her. But I knew there was a reason for her absence.

Having spent the better part of the past two years creating her amazing DVD Yogalosophy (which you can buy here on Amazon or here on her website), she's slowly coming out of hiding to get back to teaching group yoga classes. I've spent the past couple of months doing her DVD and have loved getting back into yoga.

I was beyond excited when I saw Mandy was teaching a free yoga class at Lululemon in Brentwood. I signed up a few weeks in advance and despite some moments of anxiety about working out in a group setting, I walked in the door earlier today and was so happy to be taking Mandy's class. It'd been quite a while since I had seen Mandy, but as she was making the rounds, I gave her a quick hug hello and sat and took it all in.

First, let me say the place was packed! I had never been to a class at Lululemon before, but I have to imagine that this was probably one of the most attended classes they'd ever seen. I sat next to a woman who had never taken a class of Mandy's before and only happened upon Lululemon by chance- not wanting to drive all the way to Hollywood for a yoga class she often went to. All she knew was the buzz that "Jennifer Aniston's yoga instructor is teaching the class." I filled her in a little bit about Mandy's amazing gift for teaching and assured her that while it would be challenging, she'd be able to go at her own pace and just do whatever she could.

I sat back, stretched and watched Mandy work her magic around the room which was getting more and more full! Almost every single person was greeted by Mandy. As she crouched down by the top of their mat, she'd introduce herself and ask if there was anything she needed to know about their body. (As an aside, my favorite reply was the woman on the other side of me who said, "Yeah. That I'm old!"). I love this about Mandy. I know other yoga teachers do this. I get that. But again, going back to Mandy's style, it's done so warmly and instantly makes you feel glad you're in her class.

After getting everyone situated and placed just so, the class began. And it was awe-sum. Any nervousness I had was gone. Any apprehension I may have felt in the past because of my appearance and being overweight wasn't there. Because I've been working SO hard for the past year that all of that just disappeared. Plus, because I've been doing Mandy's routine on a somewhat regular basis (combined with my own weight training and hardcore cardio workouts), I could not only hang, but do almost everything in the class. The ab routine was KILLER and most people groaned their way through it. So even though that was quite challenging, it was nice to know I wasn't the only one who struggled to make it through.

It felt so great to be able to do these moves that I had never been able to do before. The energy of the group class was amazing. And as always Mandy was inspiring and funny! Her musical choices literally made people burst out laughing (Purple Rain especially). By the end of the class, I felt fantastic- strong and happy and sad that it was over. As I walked out of the class, I thanked Mandy and left with a huge smile on my face ready to finish my day.

For any of my Chicago friends and co-workers reading this, Mandy's going to be doing another free yoga class at Lululemon in Chicago. More details here. Just scroll to the bottom. I promise you, you'll be in for a huge treat and your body and mind will THANK YOU for setting aside this time. You will feel happy, inspired and strong. Don’t walk- run there!

I'm hopeful that Mandy will begin teaching more in the Los Angeles area and that we'll all get to benefit from her tremendous gift. But in the meantime, I will be satisfied with her amazing DVD. Full review to follow in the next few days!

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Spin & Yoga

In my ongoing quest to make goal tomorrow morning, I packed in two workouts today. My day started with a 554am wake-up call. A 610am pick-up of the twin. And a 630am spin class at the gym. I've only taken spin class about three times. The last class I took was well over a year ago and my only goal at the time was to remain pedaling the entire time. I didn't care if I ever got out of the saddle (thanks to great advice from then spinning instructor, Mandy Ingber), but was very happy when I could get out of the saddle.

Today, my goal remained the same; pedal for the 50 minute class. And with the exception of about 10 seconds when I had to readjust for long-term comfort (and the ability to bear children in the future- what, too much information?), I was able to do just that. Right next to me, kicking my ass all the way up the "hills" was my twin who could have taken on Lance Armstrong- for reals. I burned nearly 500 calories and was sweating like a pig. And it was great to be done with my workout by 720am.

The rest of the day flew by and my next workout on tap was a "gentle yoga" class back at the gym. I picked up a friend and off we went for this 7pm class. I've taken yoga before, but only at YAS (Yoga & Spinning in Venice). I feared getting kicked out of the class because of the mandatory and drawn out "ohhhhhmmmmmmmmmmsssss" we were expected to exhale every now and again. It's just not my thing. And although it wasn't a workout which increased my heart rate or had my muscles burning, it was a great way to end this Game On week and a wonderful thank you to my body for all it has done for and with me this week.

I'll report back in the morning!

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Week 2 Goals

I was a little anxious tonight when I solidified my goals for week two. Which I'm taking as a good sign. It means I'm going to have to work hard this week to make them happen. And I'm okay with that.

So here's what's on tap for this week:
1. No Drinking- I actually went all last week without a drink and it was fine. Although I don't think I have a drinking problem, I do have an eating problem and when I drink, I tend to give myself permission to eat whatever I want and I can't have that going on right now. So, no drinking for another week.

2. No Eating Out. I'm really craving sushi right about now, and tonight I almost blew it, but thanks to my lover who went out and got salmon and other groceries to make dinner, we stayed in and we haven't broken our streak yet. So with that renewed sense of commitment, I'm sticking to the no going out to eat rule again this week. Especially because I'm going to NYC next week and I know it is unrealistic to think I can keep that up while I'm there. Sushi will have to wait until early February when I have a friend in town visiting.

3. Try Spin Class...Again. Spin class is guaranteed to kick my ass and I definitely need to work up some nerve to getting in a class. I know 100% that I will feel so much better once I do it, but it's so insanely hard and my friend is no longer the instructor, so it's a little intimidating. But, it's a goal of mine, and I'm hell bent on reaching these mini-goals, so it looks like I'm going to a spin class this week. If any of my friends in LA are reading this and interested in going, let me know :)

4. Get Out and Write- at least one night I will go to a coffee shop to do some writing. Time to catch up in my journal and on some letter writing. Plus, I like getting out of my apartment and being around other people.

5. Go to the Farmer's Market. One of the highlights of last week was when my team call ended early and we all agreed to step away from our computers. My twin had asked me to go and get her some clementines at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market and so I went and was totally blown away at the size of it- much larger than the times I've been on Saturdays. It was a great way to spend my lunch break- surrounded by good food and flowers and I got to be outside. I definitely plan on making this a regular thing for my lunchtime break.

So there are the five goals on deck for this week. I'm off to a great start already and feeling good about the week ahead.

One quick note. I had a loooooooong workday, but I realized last week that if I start off my Monday morning with a workout before starting to work for the day, it helps me stay grounded and gets my week off to a productive and helpful start with the whole working out and weight loss effort. So Susannah and I met along Ocean Ave. to do yoga while looking at the ocean.

Here was our view:




Not bad, huh? I love Santa Monica!

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Hello Yoga

I did a yoga workout in my hotel room and it's one more illustration of just how out of shape I am. It's also a really good example of how I can't wait to learn how to meditate and quiet my thoughts.

I'm sitting here doing an hour yoga workout, and almost all I can think about is how much easier this would be if I was not overweight. In a sense, I kept beating myself up for a multitude of reasons. When in reality, I really should have cut myself some slack. I didn't shirk the workout entirely (even though that would have been very very easy to do). I didn't skimp through the session (even though I obviously could have- I mean who was watching? No one, thankfully!). I did a really good job considering I truly don't even know when the last time I did yoga.

Next week a good friend of mine is coming into town who is a spiritual guru (among other things). She's all about kharma, and good energy, sending along positive vibes, meditating, sweat lodges...basically a lot of stuff I'd like to be better at (minus the sweat lodges) but just don't feel like I have in me. I told her a few weeks ago that I wanted her to teach me how to meditate. Part of me feels like if I could just learn to quiet myself down, my life would be sooooo much better.

I've had trouble sleeping for the past couple of weeks and a huge part of it is because there is so much running through my brain. I want to shut it off and have some peace and quiet. The yoga earlier helped a little bit, but it did two things:
1. Highlighted just how noisy all the crazy, negative thoughts about myself are rolling around in my head.
2. Reminded me that I'll likely be sore in the morning (or sooner).
Regardless, it felt great to move my body that way.

I leave tomorrow to have a very very short stint at home. I'm not even there for 10 hours before I leave again and go to NYC where I get to meet my new niece Lila Brady! I'm very excited to meet Lila and to spend time with the rest of my family there. Probably the best decision I made was to not work on Friday or Monday. I'm usually really bad about that- trying to cram EVERYTHING in with family and friends and work. And I've just decided to not do it. So not only am I taking Friday & Monday off from work, but I will also be leaving my computer behind in Santa Monica and I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to the break.

After NYC, I have one more work trip and then it's a three-week traveling hiatus to spend time with Steve and Clancy and then I'm off to IRELAND AND ITALY! I'm craving that trip like nothing else. I'm so looking forward to just being away and disconnected (well as disconnected as I want to be). I've never taken a vacation for three weeks and I know it's going to be an amazing experience. Yikes! It's going to creep up on me so quickly.

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Go Me!

So I started this post last Saturday, but I'm just now getting around to actually finishing it.

But the title refers to the fact that I had just come back from my second yoga and spin class of the week! In this post I talked about bringing my friend Mandy to work since she had an injury. It was great that she asked for my help because it forced me to go to spin class for the first time at YAS. As I mentioned, it was a goal I had in the month of September and that didn't exactly pan out as I had hoped. So having to bring the actual instructor to class was just the motivation I needed.

I'm happy to report that the spin class itself was fantastic! I felt so fortunate to have Mandy's guidance before and during the first class. It was helpful to have that extra support. I was instructed not to get up out of the seat during the first class unless my crotch hurt (gross, but true). So my goal for that first class was to just pedal the entire time. And I did it! It's an intense workout. I spent the entire time sweating and pedaling and just getting my heart rate up there. I loved the sprints, the pedaling as fast as I could, the constant motivation, direction and instruction. It was great! Then after I did spin class, I walked across the hall into the yoga studio (after changing clothes, of course) and attempted to make it through an hour-long yoga class. That was...really really hard. My legs were wobbly and my body was just really tired overall.

However, as expected, when class was over I felt amazing. So amazing that I signed up to do it all over again on Saturday.

This time though, I did the spin class first and then yoga. Seriously, it made a huge difference. The spin class was great and at times I felt like I was actually holding myself back. I sat up out of the chair much more. It's very cool to see how standing up out of the seat really does intensify the entire workout and how much it engages parts of your body that you don't normally work that much- abs and inner thighs. I really loved it. And, the yoga class beforehand was really good too.

I'm really proud of myself for doing such intense workouts and am really looking forward to continuing with the spin and yoga. I'm glad I've found two activities that really move me (spin) and ground me (yoga) and I can't wait to keep it up!

In the meantime, I'm just going with it.

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Loving Yoga

Yoga was great today. You know how sometimes things just feel great? Today was one of those days. I felt strong and grateful to my body. Grateful that even though I don't always treat my body as well as I should it can still go through an hour long grueling yoga class. I'm just going with it.

I've done almost everything I said I was going to do yesterday. I iced my shins (last night and this morning) and I went to yoga. The last thing left on my list of things to do is to pick up a new pair of sneakers. I'm going to get them before I go for my run tomorrow. Today my shins are feeling okay and I'm eager to see how they do tomorrow.

What have you done to take care of you and your body today?

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Don't Limit Yourself

Today I learned an important lesson. I walked into yoga class for the first time in about two weeks, all excited to see MI, my friend/yoga teacher, only to find out that she wasn't teaching today. Someone named Claire was filling in for her. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little panicked about the prospect of doing yoga with someone new. I like my class with MI. I feel comfortable with her and feel a special connecttion since we met at a support group when our father's passed away. And I haven't really branched out that much in terms of trying new classes. So I sat there contemplating what I was going to do.

Should I leave? Would I like it? Would it be different? In trying to quiet my brain, I found myself saying (yes, to myself), "Be open Molly. Try it. This could be good. Don't judge. Take deep breaths."

Not even a minute into the class, I knew this was going to be different. Claire started us off with a handful of deep breaths. Only when we exhaled, she wanted us to sigh and to release all the tension and stress by having audible sounds come out of our mouths. So we sounded weird. And I didn't like it. It was different for me and I wasn't really into it. I did realize that I didn't have to do it that way, that I could do it the way that I wanted, the way I always have.

For another 30 minutes or so, I sat there talking myself through not judging, being in the moment, focusing on the movement, thanking myself for being there, for taking the time during the middle of the day to take care of my body and then I had this shift.

I realized that Claire wasn't so bad. She wasn't who I was used to, but the important thing was that I was getting a great workout and I was feeling great about myself and great about what I was doing for me and my body. In regards to yoga, for me, it's about showing up and doing it. So does it always matter who I'm doing it with?

The conclusion I came to was that no, it doesn't matter. I've been limiting myself since the beginning of the year by only going to classes that are led by the one person I thought I felt comfortable with. There are tons of classes that I can attend throughout the week and the weekend for that matter. And if I start to open myself up to the possibility of learning with other people, I can accomplish a lot more!

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