finding gratitude

Sometimes, to get away from your own difficulties, you either have to focus on helping someone else out of their struggles or take the time to notice the wonderful things in your own life that you feel grateful for. 

Here's what makes me happy today:

1) this incredible man i get to live with every day. i am so lucky. and i know it.

he's wearing all those beads so that i can just wear the pink, purple, and silver ones we caught so far that day

2) my education. my grandparents put me through both undergrad and graduate school and while i know it's disappointing them to that i'm not currently working as a mental health therapist, i am so grateful for those experiences and everything i learned, and who it made me. plus, i see the knowledge i gained from it helping me out in my every day life. i wouldn't change a thing.

that's my friend Leigh on the left. hi Leigh!

3) A hot rod sno bliz from Hansen's. well, the photo is actually a chocolate milk snoball from Beaucoup ( i wouldn't go that direction again, but their mango is ammaaazing). anyway, on a hot day there is nothing like a snoball from Hansen's but to make it even better you can get a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle. i will wait in line for 45minutes in the sun for one of those. it's less than $5 and blissful.

4) Savasana (corpse pose). Lie down on your back, spread your arms and legs wide, shoulders pulled onto your back, close your eyes, relax every muscle in your body, and just be. along with this i'd like to add my gratitude for restorative yoga is immense as it has gotten me through a lot.

5) my general good health. sometimes i think that my wrist pain, bursitis, rib problems, migraines and whatever other little physical ailments i have remind me that overall i am healthy. yes, i have physical problems that bug me and not having health insurance is a pain. but, i am not dealing with any long term physical illness that requires painful procedures or intense medications and i am grateful for that every day.

6) good friends. friends are the family that you choose and i have some really truly incredible ones. ones where you don't see them for a year but you talk all the time and when you're back together it's like a little piece of your heart has fit back into place. 

that canon was burning my thighs 

7) my bike. it's two trillion degrees down here but i'm gonna pump up the tires (why are they always losing air?) and ride to work in a little bit knowing that my body can take me places, i can breath in fresh air, and i don't have to pollute the environment to get around. plus, my car is out of gas. hehe

8) my family (and technology). they seriously drive me crazy sometimes. seriously. and i'm sure i really bug them at times too. but, watch this video of my little cousins from December 2009 and you just have to smile. at one point D punches Ben in the crotch and then goes to get a little gun toy to shoot him. C is so young then and just wants to be in the mix. thank goodness for photos and videos... (i've never posted a video...hope this works!)

9) we have been so lucky to live in some amazing places. I was privileged to grow up in such a nice place as Greenwich, CT. Ben moved around a lot but as a teen he got the land he (truly) needs in NH. I got 8 whole years in Boston before moving to New Orleans. and i'm grateful for what each city has offered me.

Ben, Boston, November 2009 

New Orleans, November 2010

What makes you happy? What are you grateful for today?

hot hot heat

Living in New Orleans, you learn a thing or two about heat. There's just no other way to put it, it is hot down here.

after my first ever full class (at Audubon park) my friend Sora on the left and me (drinking water) on the right

I  recently had the incredible opportunity to take a trip back up North where they suddenly had a heat wave that coincided with our arrival (and we've heard that Nola cooled off with daily thunderstorms). We got to spend an entire day in Boston with my friends having breakfast at Zaftigs, strolling around Newbury Street, and just spending time together out in my former city. (We also ate Naked Pizza, which I think is hilarious because it's a New Orleans company). Anyway, the weather that day said that Boston got up to 103F. Only last year I would have been melting right on the pavement, just like my friends were. But, 103F in Boston does not feel that hot to me anymore, although it is a tad warm :p. Before you think I'm crazy, consider that in New Orleans we live in the mid to high 90's for a majority of the year but we also live in humidity that matches the tropics. The other day the temperature was 92F but the heat index was at 115F which means that the temperature plus the humidity made it so that we were living in 115F weather! Heat + Humidity = swamp like warmth, we're talking about just constantly being sweaty like you're living in a sauna.

Since moving to the south and becoming a yoga teacher I've had to consider the heat quite a bit. I've asked my fiance to teach me about why and how we sweat and cool ourselves (being in his second year in medical school I pretend he knows everything a seasoned doctor would know). I've had students tell me they want to sweat out toxins in class, I've had students tell me it's just too hot to move, I've had times when we left the air conditioner on high throughout the entire class so that they were only heated from the inside using movement and ujjayi breath.

In my own practice I know I'm going to sweat. I bring a bandanna to class to wipe my own sweat when I'm teaching- and that's just walking around the room talking and adjusting people! The humidity down here immediately covers me and in classes where the windows and doors are open I sometimes leave a puddle on my mat. But, I have to say that I'm not one who would take a class (although I have) in an intentionally heated room (i'm talking Bikram and hot classes) because that's just not for me.

I recently came across this article on elephantjournal called "Are supporters of excess heat & sweat in yoga class just full of hot air?" by Dan Pitko that I really liked. He has done some research and makes everything clear and to the point. He makes the argument that yogis need to exercise caution when practicing in a hot room that is also humid.

I'd love to know what you think about heated yoga. Do you need a heated room to feel warmed up enough to stretch? Do you believe that the warmth of your movements and breath is enough? Have you ever felt woozy in a heated yoga class (I have!). Leave me a comment!

(Also, no matter what type of yoga you're practicing and where please make sure that you are staying hydrated and always do what is right for you (ie take breaks when needed and lower your head to the ground to cool off)