not your ordinary princess: sweet yoga

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

sweet yoga

I've taken up yoga again. I'm quite excited about strengthening my body and improving my posture and breathing. I feel like this is the right kind of exercise for me because I don't particularly like regular weight lifting or cardio. Well, I do like riding my little bike machine, but I'm so excited about yoga.

My current goal is a small one. I'm trying to get under a certain number weight-wise (only about 2 more pounds to go) and I'm trying to fit a little more loosely into my size 12 jeans. Once I hit that goal, I'll set another one. I don't want to set huge goals and then get completely overwhelmed.

To date, I have lost 44 pounds from when I was my heaviest. I'm really excited about the progress I've made and I'm excited to keep it moving.

It's been a rough start. I stretched muscles I didn't even know I had. I'm actually about to go start another session. I really need to stick with this. It's so important to me.

lindsayallison

2 comments:

MelissaFebruary 23, 2011 at 7:13 AM
Congrats on the 44 pounds!! I am so proud of you! You've done a great job!! Yoga is awesome to get into. I really enjoy the stretching and loosening of my muscles. And I do believe it is a workout as opposed to some of my trainer friends who say it is not. It just depends on how you're doing it and how challenging it is! Remember to start slow and that stretching is never supposed to be painful! Yoga is all about the breathing and the stretch, but never force your muscles into the stretch or you could injure yourself. The longer you are at it, the more limber you will get and the easier the postures become!!

Keep up the great work!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Lindsay AllisonFebruary 24, 2011 at 2:13 PM
:) Thanks SO much! That means SO much coming from you!

The DVD I have has a fantastic instructor who is all about reminding me that I don't need to force anything.

I have found that it is a work out because I work up a sweat and feel my heart rate increase during the session. I find that it's challenging trying to keep my alignment and focus on the braething at the same time. But I AM getting better!

Thanks for your support!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

What I'm Reading...

Here is the complete honest truth: I have not read a novel in some time. I have a pile of books I want to read. Most are old titles of Karen Hawkins (What did you expect?) that have been collecting dust and diet coke cans for a couple of months.

As I bought three more books today, I realized that I need to actually read these things. It’s important for writers to spend time reading as well. You have to be caught up on what the market is trending, what readers are reading, and what is making and impact and what isn’t.

I have been so bad about this. It’s appalling really.

I used to bring a book with me to work to read during my lunch break. It was great. THEN I got a smart phone and started spending time on that during lunch instead of reading. I think this needs to stop. I really need to spend my time appropriately and reading some of these novels I keep spending money on.

So that’s the new plan then. I am going to pick up that novel I’ve started three times and keep putting down and actually finish it. I think it’s also time that I expand my favorite authors list. I need to read more than two authors on a regular basis I think.

What I'm Working On...

I have been working on lots of different things lately.

January I was working on some old projects that I don't care to spend a lot of time talking about.

As part of a writing group that was formed during last year's National Novel Writing Month, I was part of a writing challenge for the month of February. We came up with a 20K challenge. Yes, that's right. We wanted to write 20,000 words in the little month of February.

I spent most of February working on THE novel, "The Curious Tales of Lost Girls." This novel is a dark piece and it's really hard to get these words out. So the fact that this thing is about half done is quite a huge relief to me at the moment. I have a love/hate relationship with this novel at the moment.

Because it's so dark, that once I completed the 20K, I moved on. I edited/revised an old short story entitled, "Far Away." You can find the short story in its entirety posted on this blog. It's a sappy, romantic piece that I wrote a couple of years ago. I am so pleased with the final product.

After that I moved on to a "novellette" that I started a couple of years ago called "Home for the Holidays." I am happy that it's finished. I am NOT happy with the words it contains. It's currently a piece of crap and so I will let it simmer for a bit before I start the editing/revising process on that one.

Now that March has started, the group has come up with another challenge. Short stories from writing prompts! One per week! I'm currently finishing an old short story (it only had 400 words) while I let my "real" short story for this week form in my head. The first one is another sappy, romantic one about soulmates.

I haven't completely decided on what this new short story is going to be about yet. The writing prompt was "It's 1969, you're 17 and normally quiet and reserved. How did you spend your summer vacation?" I think the title is going to just be "1969". I like the simplicity of it. I know I want to write about a young woman, but I'm not sure where to go beyond that. There was so much going on that year! But what to throw her into?

Character of the Month

Kallista James has been on her own for pretty much her entire life. When Kallista was born, her parents had not been ready for a child. They had been very young and wanted to continue their partying ways, so they did.

At the age of five years old, Kallista met the girl who would become her lifelong best friend, Jade Bennett. It didn’t take long before Jade’s parents realized Kallista’s home life left something to be desired and they took her under their wing. Kallista flourished like never before in the Bennett household. She was close with the whole family, including Jade’s older brother, Chris.

When Kallista was sixteen, her parents were killed in a car accident. In a moment of intense grief, she found comfort with Chris. After sharing an intense kiss, Chris confesses his feelings for her. Before the teenagers can explore their feelings, a fight with his parents sends Chris packing, swearing never to return.

Kallista moved on. She dedicated herself to her schoolwork and to her photography. After graduation, she made a name for herself as a photographer. When she goes home for a summer vacation, she finds herself face to face Chris once more. Now all the feelings she thought she was over have resurfaced and she must find a way to deal with them and him before disaster strikes.