Laurie's Blog

The Challenge

I can think of a million and one reasons not to do this challenge.  Shall we start a list?

1. As a Celiac with intolerance for all dairy products, there are already a ton of foods I can’t eat. 
2. I shouldn’t add meat to the list.
3. I’m tired.
4. I have unsolved health issues that cause a great deal of pain daily.
5. I haven’t practiced yoga in over a year with the exception of less than 10 visits to my mat.
6. It’s going to be too hard.
7. I am planning a wedding for the end of August and quite frankly don’t have time.
8. I’m not a yoga teacher (I’m convinced they have superpowers when it comes to will power, strength and determination).

The list can go on and on.  But when I sit down and face all the reasons I think I shouldn’t do this challenge, it all comes down to one reason.  I’m scared I will fail. 

I don’t know when in my life I decided that anything less than perfection was a bad thing.  But I’ve realized that more often than not, we as people decide to skip out on things that we think we won’t be good at.

I got to thinking about all the reasons I should do this challenge and realized that the benefits far outweigh my fears.  Sure it will be tough and I’m sure I won’t be perfect.  I miss yoga. I need to correct my terrible posture.  I need to strengthen my instable joints.  I need to re-learn how to quiet all those chattering monkeys in my head and  find some inner peace in the crazy blur that I call my life.  

So it may be a few days late- but I’m on board with this challenge.  Tonight I pulled together the WORST vegan dinner imaginable and decided that the first thing I need to do tomorrow is buy a cookbook and some groceries.  But for tonight I will be happy with setting some reasonable and imperfect goals.

1. Yoga – one class each week plus 2 independent practices.
2. Vegan diet – I would love to say that I will eat entirely vegan for a month, but I won’t. I come from a very meat and potatoes family. I’m going to give myself 3 cheat meals a week.
3. Exercise – I really need some cardio in my life. I’m going to run/swim/bike or rollarblade 3 times a week.
4. I’m going to do everything in my power to find ways to deal with my pain – details to come as I figure it out!
5. I drink at least 7 cups of tea a day. I’m going to start with cutting down to one tea a day – we’ll see if decaf is an option next week!

The Blog

I took engineering.  I like equations and numbers.  I don’t write.  And I NEVER write anything personal – especially if other people may read it.  Asia asked me to blog about my experience.  In writing my response to her, I wrote “Thanks Asia, but I’m not really comfortable writing on a public forum”.  But before I hit send, I decided that it’s one more thing I should face…..maybe it will help me stick to the plan!  Bear with me as I learn the ways of yoga, vegan lifestyle and blogging!

I’m excited to start this journey and would love to hear from anyone else that is trying to put an end to all his or her excuses!

Week One

It’s been a week of challenges.  But it has been wonderful!  I managed to make it onto my mat 3 times (and plan on another this weekend) and got out for a run twice.  I’m sure I can drag my fiancé out for one more run this weekend.

Being Vegan

I was struggling with eating vegan for the first few days and decided to pick up The Thrive Diet.  I ran the theory past a dietitian and she was in full support of a trying a vegan lifestyle, especially with the pain I have been experiencing.  I've had fun exploring my community to find the local organic food stores and have really enjoyed the experience of gathering the ingredients to make some of the Thrive recipes.  Having a stressful and time consuming job downtown, I seriously questioned if I would have the time to shop for some of the more uncommon ingredients, but I found several shops right in the downtown core.  I've passed them a million times without even noticing their existance!

My Own Personal War

My experience on the mat this week was eye-opening.  I used to be bendy and needed to work on strength more than flexibly. WOW has that changed.  I’m tight EVERYWHERE and I’m back to using all the modifications.  I struggled with strength, flexibly and distractions of the mind.  My right side was fighting my left and my front body was fighting my back body.  It was a war on the mat.  Perhaps it is a reflection of how I feel in my life right now, everyone and everything fighting for my limited time and attention. 

Despite the challenges, it was nice to make an effort to set aside some time for myself to move and bring breath and awareness to my body.

Goal for Week Two

I take the subway to and from work every day.  Typically I read a novel, case law or the paper.  No one has ever commented on any of my reading material.  This week I was reading The Thrive Diet.  On each subway ride I have taken (7 so far) at least 2 different people have commented on the book.  Here are some of the comments.

“You don’t need a diet. Why are you reading that?”

“Young girls these days, so influenced by the pressures of society”

“Excuse me, but are you starting a vegan diet”- and then would continue on to tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t.

To be fair, there was one guy who had tried the diet and was excited to tell me how much it had helped his health and training program, but for the most part the comments were negative critiques.  

This has helped me determine my goal for next week.  I am going to try and be as non-judgmental as possible both on my mat and off.  I’m going to try to observe and be aware of my physical and mental being, without criticizing.

All in all it’s been a great, but challenging week.  I haven’t noticed too many changes yet, but am excited to see what is to come!