morning yoga, afternoon shop-athon

2 weeks til graduabirthday — my graduation and 22nd birthday all in one!

I may or may not be typing this as I am wearing my brand new dress I bought today for graduabirthday…..and my Mickey Mouse graduation cap………

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Today was Day Two of my 22 day Yoga Challenge !!!!!

Alarm goes off at 6:15AM. why god, why am I still getting up crazy early when I don’t have any plans til noon? Because I’m crazy and masochistic? No, no, because if I don’t go to yoga now I am not positive there will be time later in the day… and either way you love Amrit’s 7AM antics in Sunrise Salutation, no?

The class was worth the early wake up call, I mean really, it always is. My arm is still being bitchier than usual, I think it is because of all this rain and humidity. The class was super hot and schweddy and I was seriously working. I’ve been thinking a lot about music and yoga. At yoga vida all the instructors use music in the background, while the morning class I take at Crunch never has music. I love having music in the background, it gives me a focal point and quiets my own thoughts and “to-do lists”. However, a silent yoga class allows me to focus on my breath and body more. What do you prefer, silence or background music?

My focus was definitely better than yesterday, I felt more in the moment and connected to my breath. The biggest distraction today was my arm, I could feel Amrit’s eyes staring at my bent right arm– no I am not lazy, I am injured. 6 weeks of being injured actually….

It is weird when you are injured for that long of a period of time. This is my first  real “injury” ever– I might have fractured my pinky this summer which hurt for a bit but didn’t alter my daily life. I’ve broken a toe here and there and have been seriously sore and achey from trapeze but nothing lasting until this

I now look at other people doing particular exercises and think “oh, I can’t do that because of my arm”. I look at people dancing and start modifying in my head how I would do it. My right arm has always been a slacker, I do everything left handed, and I always joked that my right arm was sort of a waste, but I take it back. I miss feeling even, not having to rely on one sides strength, and I miss the equality of having two strong arms. Most of all I miss feeling strong, I hate having to modify something not because I lack the strength and muscles, but because I physically cannot do it with a torn rotator cuff. This has definitely been a wake up call for me about how I treat my body, and how my “go go go” mentality has to slow down for this injury.

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Today was technically my first day of freedom. And I really do mean technically— I had a rehearsal early afternoon and still have to attend class tomorrow, but essentially I’M FREE I’M FREE I’M FREE!

I spent my first day of freedom doing a shopping marathon with my mama at bloomingdales and macy’s. we have a massive mission: buy a pair of wedge shoes & buy dresses for NYU graduation, Tisch graduation, my cousins wedding, my cousin’s pre wedding celebrations, and a dress for my friends bridal shower. Trying to cover all the requirements for those occasions with as few dresses a possible? definitely a challenge. But we did it!

Look at the beautiful shoes I gots:

Despite being rather short, I have never got the hang of wearing heels. Enter my new wedges! I am already obsessed and don’t have to worry about falling flat on my face during graduation!

After being a bit worried about finding not one but 2 graduation dresses that I would also be able to wear to other events, I am SO SO SO happy mama and I found everything today (and got some awesome sales). Can it please be graduabirthday already so I can rock these pretty dresses?

Day 2 of yoga challenge and successful shopping extravaganza, winning.

” this is the dawning of the rest of our lives”

Oh, so, much, has happened today…..

For one, the weather went from one extreme to the other. Pouring rain and cold to sunny and warm. Thanks New York! At least it felt like spring for a portion of the day

—> Today began my 22 DAY YOGA CHALLENGE! What better way to start than with a late night class with one of my favorite instructors?

Thoughts from day one:

First of all I love doing yoga at 9pm. There is something very relaxing about using a class as the last thing  I am going to do that day and using it as an opportunity to totally unwind. I felt very off tonight in class though, a bit jittery and unfocused. My arm has also been bothering me more than usual so I decided to take it easy on a few poses.

I started thinking about flexibility. For as long as I can remember my body has been less flexible than most. It has been a struggle for me in dance and flying. A teacher at college last year told me that there are two types of bodies, flexible bodies that will never look as muscular and there’s strong muscular ones that will never be as flexible. I believe my body composition reflects the latter.

Flexibility is more than my body though, it is a way of living life. I am not a flexible person in life either. I like schedule, follow rules and having an order to how I do things. When I stray from the schedule it gets me incredibly anxious. So I am not a very spontaneous person. If I said I was going to do homework during that block of time, I won’t take someone up on a dinner offer. If i said I was going to the gym during a specific time, I won’t change my plans for someone else. There are definitely positives and negatives to my inflexible but regimented way of life.

Some of this I think is unchangeable, it’s in my nature, but I want to try to exercise a bit more flexibility in my life. Every so often stray from the schedule. Be able to quickly adapt when things do not go according to plan. Something to think about and work on, as I am making my body more flexible, how can I also bring this into my mind.

So exciting that today is only the beginning.

 —>Today was TONY NOM DAY! For the first time ever, I got to watch as the Tony Nominations for this year were announced. I am fully aware that the majority of the world could care less about these people, but for me they are my celebrities and superstars. And so  begins Tony Season 2012! I personally am rooting loud for Peter and the Starcatcher, a beautiful, innovative and new play.

—> Today I took my final final EVER! this means I am [essentially] DONE WITH COLLEGE! say what? I am in shock that this day has come. I am finished with all homework—- all that’s left is a cabaret I am performing in for my program…. and graduation!

It is a weird feeling, essentially being done with college. It feels perfect to use a quote from Green Day’s “Holiday”. In the musical, this is when characters Johnny and Tunny leave suburbia behind for the city. I feel a similar sense of thrill to those characters– we don’t know what is in store for us as we move onto the next phase of life. and that feeling is terrifying and thrilling all at once.

Challenge Accepted

1. I am thrilled to say I am now a FitFluential Ambassador! It is an honor to now be a part of this community!!!

2. My injury has got me feeling all meh. Feeling like I am super weak because of my injury makes me feel even more meh. Not being able to do flying trapeze makes me meh. End of school year also has me even more meh (I probably should be spending this time sleeping, memorizing my monologue I’m performing tomorrow or studying for the final I have Tuesday).

So my solution to make this gross “meh”  feeling go away? A challenge.

I’ve been reading up on lots of yoga challenges. Now that I am thoroughly hooked, I propose a self challenge.

22 DAYS OF YOGA starting May 1st

Why 22? Because my 22nd Birthday is on May 16th (as is my college graduation).
The goal is to get those 22 classes in the first 22 days of May.

Why a challenge? first to combat that meh feeling. and second because I need an obtainable fitness goal in my life. Weight loss is not a goal for me, ever, and my whole fitness regiment is out of whack because my right arm is pretty lame right now and weight lifting is out of the question.

I currently need a goal to work towards. Recently I have become addicted to the mind body connection that yoga offers, and it also possible to do with my arm injury.

Life is about to get weird, as of Tuesday night I will be done with all of my college homework. That’s terrifying and thrilling. I will spend 2 weeks in awkward post finals, pre graduation limbo. I need something to concentrate on, something to document, and something to keep me sane and focused as I approach adulthood and summer.

 

 

If all goes according to plan that will be 22 classes by May 22. By then I will be a graduate of NYU, 22 years old, and probably back home in the ‘burbs. May 1st, let’s do this?