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Yoga Class Week 2

March 1, 2016

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I am starting to dislike Mondays because the fun of the weekend comes to an end, and I am getting Spring fever when we have nice weather on the weekend. But what is helping me get through, is looking forward to my Monday night yoga class. I went to my second week of Yoga class this Monday and it was fantastic! It was even better than the first time! The instructor, Margaret, is very good. I really like her style of teaching and attention to the students. We have a small class of 6 people and tonight there were only 3 of us, so it is a nice intimate size.

This week she incorporated some Yin yoga into our poses. Yin is a practice designed to have you hold a pose for an extended or fixed period of time. This helps you to meditate and stretch the connective tissues around your joints. The typical hold position is for 3 to 5 minutes. For us, since it was our first time doing such a practice, we held our positions for about 90 seconds.

For the beginning we started off sitting and did some neck rolls and warmed up our shoulders, then we stood and did some airplane poses which were great for the shoulders and the arms. I felt the burning in my muscles. After that we moved to the floor to do a Sphinx pose in the Yin style. Then we did some Cat/Cowl with a twist and then a Child pose to open up the spine. Then we did more floor work lying down and opening up the hips and doing hip bridges and spinal twists.

After working on the floor we stood up and did shoulder rolls, crossing the arms in front and back to loosen them up. Then we did more shoulder rolls with our hands touching the tops of our shoulders. Then we did side bends to stretch our sides and backs. We put our hands on our lower backs and did pelvic circles. It was a lot of fluid movements to wake up the body in certain areas, especially when we sit most of the day.

Then we worked on our balance. We stood on one foot and kicked our legs to the front, then swung our legs to the side for the hip abductors. We did this on each leg to ensure balance on both sides. Then we did ankle circles for both feet and moved back down to the floor, put our legs out in front of us and pointed our toes to the ceiling to stretch out our lower body. This is called the Dandasana pose

To wrap up the class, we laid on the floor in what is called the Savasana pose (the corpse pose). This puts the body back into a neutral position. We began with our knees bend, then lowered them to the floor, feet hip width apart, then we pointed our toes together and then apart to release the tension in our body. It is important to be comfortable in this position because we were going to remain there for several minutes. While quieting the body physically the instructor also spoke to us to have us be aware of every part of our body that she calls out. It is important to soften the root of the tongue, the space between your eyes. Let the eyes sink into the back of your head, release the brain to the back of the head. It’s all about being still and quiet and ending the class by thanking your body for what it has done for you during the day. Giving it quiet time to rest and recover and rejuvenate. It is one of my favorite parts of class and I hate to have to get back up again to go home!

I really enjoy Yoga and want to do it every day; but in reality, I will only do it in a classroom environment. I have the dedication to my running routine; but for a class that has more structure, such as yoga, I need someone directing me what to do, which order to do it in. The shoulder roll exercises and the airplane stretch exercises are something I’d like to do a few time a week to work on my arm muscles and opening up my shoulders from hunching them over a computer all day.

I am also going to work with my kids to help them unwind at the end of the day. When I got home from my class last night I had them do a few stretches with me, until their attention span wore off! My daughter is very interested in it. My son can’t sit still for more than 6 or 7 minutes. But getting them engaged and trying new things with me is part of the fun.

A Walk With My Son

February 29, 2016

Mondays haven’t been good days for me lately. Mainly because I was getting the Sunday blues knowing that the fun from the weekend was coming to an end. But then last week I started taking yoga classes on Monday nights. Now I have something to look forward to on Monday. But it’s still a drag on Sunday when I know we all have to go back to the daily/weekly grind to get work and school done before another weekend or vacation comes along.

Since I ran yesterday I wasn’t planning on running today; but I did want to get my fresh air fix and would take a walk instead. Unfortunately, it started raining during lunch so I had to wait. My son got off the bus and I told him I was going to go for a walk and asked him if he wanted to come along. He didn’t even hesitate! He wanted to get a snack first and then we went out for a leisurely walk.

What I enjoyed most about this time was his ease of conversation with me. We just walked and talked and he told me all about his day at school and how he enjoys taking this walk with me. It was about 55 degrees out with a slight breeze but it was very enjoyable and I want to make the time with them after school fun and enjoyable. The days are getting longer now, the sunlight will remain bright after 6:00. So I am looking forward to bike rides and walks or runs with the kids when I am finished with my workday. With tomorrow being March 1 I want to have a March 1 party to kick off my unofficial start to Spring!

Disney Released Tiered Pricing Structure Or “Seasonal Pricing”

February 28, 2016

I am a Disney lover, you should know that about me by now. But I am not a lover of the higher prices it is now costing us to take a trip to my favorite place. Unfortunately my husband is more angry about the pricing increases that have been going on at Disney World than I am. Enough so that he is mentioning skipping our annual trip and considering going every two years instead. We are still in discussions about this. Mind you, we got married in Disney, we are DVC members and have taken our children since they have been born. When it gets to this point, it must be serious. The bottom line is, it’s becoming too expensive.

Effective Sunday, February 28 at 6 a.m., Disney will have special pricing for value season, regular season, and peak season. As I watched the announcement on the news, the reason that was mentioned was to help control the crowds during the usual peak seasons, to better spread out visitation throughout the year. Last Christmas the Magic Kingdom reached its capacity by 10:00 a.m. and had to close the park to additional guests.

It is important to note that this pricing is for one day passes only. It does not affect annual passes and multi-day tickets. However, multi-day pass prices will rise starting today. Four-day tickets are increasing from $305 to $325. Ten-day tickets are increasing from $365 to $400. When does the price increase stop? Are we at the point now where we will push back and not attend? I’m kind of there. I hate to say it. But we are finding alternatives to purchasing our tickets. Instead of purchasing an annual pass for all four of us; we are considering a multi-day pass and now we won’t go to the parks every single day on our vacation. We are going to plan in some resort/pool days and do other activities such as mini golf, a water park. or perhaps Disney Springs (a movie or the balloon ride).

I always try to find the silver lining and find the best, most affordable way to make our Disney trips possible and I will still do the same to try to get the most bang for my buck. We will shop at Target or Wal-Mart when we arrive to get our groceries to use in our room so we can eat breakfast and pack lunches to bring to the park. We also save a lot of money on water, drinks and alcohol by purchasing it off property and having it in our room to bring to the pool and parks.

Here is a breakdown of the new rates:

Magic Kingdom one day ticket (no park hopper)

Value Season – the current rate of $105
Regular Season – $110
Peak Season – $125

Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

Value Season – the current rate of $97
Regular Season – $102
Peak Season – $114

The dates for each of these seasons can be found on Disney’s website. Here is a breakdown below:

Photo by Attractionsmagazine.com

Has this new pricing structure affected your decision on planning your next vacation to Disney? Will you change dates to a different time of year to avoid the higher price?

I Started Doing Yoga!

February 26, 2016

During my last visit with my AMAZING chiropractor, he mentioned that his practice is starting to hold yoga classes and the recommended that I give it a try to help with my core and balance. I thought that was a great idea because the day and time of the class works well with my schedule, I trust him and what he recommends for my wellness and back health and I have been on a quest for a more holistic approach to my wellness and health by using essential oils and now yoga would be a great complement to that approach. My mom also heard about the class and mentioned that she was thinking of doing it as well so we both signed up.

The day of my first yoga class was an extremely stressful day at work. Two hours before class I had come into a very high stress situation and was very upset. I didn’t want that bad energy to come with me into the class and I was hoping that the yoga would give me the relief I needed of that stress and anger that I was holding on to.

The yoga instructor started with us by explaining what yoga is and talking about how we need to take care of ourselves. To use the practice of yoga as a time of healing ourselves. Looking inward for peace rather than outward. Use your breath, body and mind to unite yourself. Harmonizing your body and mind with breathing, posture and meditation is the soul purpose of doing yoga, as well as making your body and balance stronger.

After she talked to us she had us find a comfortable position for sitting and focus on our breathing and become aware of how we breathe. Then she had us close our eyes and be still. Then we worked on laying on our backs and feeling our abdomen rise and fall with our breathing. As women, we typically take shorter breathes with our upper airway and don’t usually take deep breaths through our abdomen because when carrying children we didn’t have the space while we were pregnant. So we practiced taking a deeper slower breath and it calms your heart rate down.

Then she helped us practice opening up our hips because as Americans we sit too long in our chairs and our cars and our every day life. After some gently stretching we worked on opening up our shoulders and then we stood up to begin working on balance and posture with a tree pose and a warrior pose. After doing these exercises we got back down on the floor to lay down and get focused on breathing again and having quiet time to meditate and relax.

I really enjoyed the class. I felt calm afterwards and when I got home to the house with the kids all fired up and loud, I sent them outside to burn off their energy. I was hoping to try to do the exercises at home during the week; but I did take the practice of what she taught up regarding self-awareness and used it when I could to remain calm during situations that would have stressed me out. I made myself aware of what I was feeling and then rather than tensing up my body I was making sure that I was breathing and also opening up the areas that I tend to tense up.

I can’t wait for the next class. I also told my husband that I think this would be a great class for him to help him unwind and learn to quiet his mind. If i can quiet my mind for even just and hour, then I think he might be able to as well. I can’t sit still. When it’s nice weather out and we sit on our deck to relax I can only last about 5 minutes in the lounge chair before I start to get antsy and need to do things.

What I really enjoyed about the class was not just the exercises themselves but the practice of being aware of every part of your body. We felt our muscles from our toes, up our legs, to our hips and then throughout our shoulders and fingers. We let our head relax and did neck curls to release tension from our neck from holding our head up all day long. I think learning to be present is going to be key to this class. We are so busy with work, kids, emails, messages, all of the “noise” in life that it makes it very hard to remain present. I think this is going to help me with that, or at least raise my awareness of it so that I may think twice about how I manage my time, my stress, my projects and my health and family.

I’ll keep you posted of the progress for the next 6 weeks!

runDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend Merchandise

February 17, 2016

Are you going to the Princess Half Marathon this weekend? One of the best parts of the weekend besides the races is the shopping! The expo opens on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. at ESPN Wide World of Sports.

The Disney Parks Blog released some previews of some of the race merchandise that will be offered. Every time I attend the race weekend I am sure to pick up a magnet, a sweaty band and a wine glass or tumbler if there are any left.

I really like this purple sweatshirt hoodie shown above they have for the Princess race weekend.

I love these shorts shown above along with the Jacket, but my closet is overflowing with rundisney clothing I have to cap it at some point. I do like the Sweaty Band shown above though! So that’ll be on my shopping list.

I had been trying to get an I Did It Shirt at all of the races; but now that we get nice shirts from the official race swag bag that are usually the tech materials; I don’t bother with the cotton I Did It shirts. But I always liked their designs.

And of course the Dooney and Bourke are always a favorite; but I am passing on the Princess design. This one just doesn’t do it for me. I have my eye on a particular bag that I am saving my coins up in a jar for!

The Glass Slipper Challenge merchandise is what I usually favor out of everything else since I have run the past two Glass Slipper Challenges. I am hoping to become a legacy holder after this year and the next to years. Legacy status is when you run the races from the first year they started it and every 5, 10, 15, etc.

What will you be shopping for at the Expo? Perhaps the new shoes released by New Balance? This race weekend New Balance is doing something different. The Virtual Queue is allowing for sign ups the evening before each expo day at 7:00. (I believe it is West Coast time because I checked and it wasn’t open yet at 8:45 EST). So if you plan to be at the expo on Thursday, February 18th, you can sign up with the queue Wednesday night. You may only use the service once during the weekend. All other times you can walk up and wait in line. I have found in the past that when I arrive later in the day I have no issues going right in and trying on and purchase shoes.

The expo hours are the following:

10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 18, 2016

9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Friday, February 19, 2016

9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 20, 2016

I plan on going to the expo around 5:00 on Friday after I land. Hope to see some of you there!

2016 Marathon Olympic Trials

February 14, 2016

If you are part of the running community, or maybe if you are not, chances are you are seeing this in your news feeds. This was such a powerful example of teamwork. Running is a solitary sport. You can run with team mates and friends; but it’s your body, your training and your skills that get you to the finish line. In this photo taken at the finish line of the 2016 Marathon Olympic Trials, Shalane Flanagan collapsed in her team mate Amy Cragg’s arms.

They had run most of the race together and quite well for 24 miles of the marathon; but it was a very warm day, the warmest in any Olympic trial races, and Shalane wasn’t used to racing in those conditions. Around mile 23 you could see that she was hurting and her teammate was worried for her. In order to make it to the Olympics you have to be the top three finishers. Amy and Shalane were the top two at the time. But then Shalane was losing steam. She was overheating. Amy pushed ahead to the finish and Desiree Linden passed Shalane and then the race as on for the last spot on the team.

Shalane crossed the finish line and collapsed. Her body could not push any further. Her husband scooped her up and put her in a wheelchair. I am surprised she wasn’t vomiting or passed out. I have run races in extreme heat and felt sick from it. The dehydration caused me to feel dizzy, gave me a headache and I felt sick. I am not a professional runner and can only imagine how well she was taken care of after the race to make sure she recovered quickly and safely from pushing herself so hard. The Olympics are taking place in Brazil, which is obviously going to be hot during the summer, so she will need to learn what will work for her to avoid getting sick during the Olympics.

Runner’s World interviewed Shalane after the race. I was curious to know what she was doing to recover and had been following her on Twitter. Check out the article to see what happened after the race and also to know what she experienced during the race. I was curious to know if she was laying in bed being pampered with a massage by her personal physician and given special anti-inflammatory foods by her nutritionist. Come to find out she was laying in bed but she was eating donuts and pastries!

Congratulations to the women going on to Rio in the summer! This was my first time watching the Olympic Marathon Trials and it was a lot of fun and exciting to watch the runners. I’m looking forward to what the world has to present for the marathon during the Olympics!