habit

January 13: Yoga

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My friend from German school, Iva, kindly invited me to try out a yoga class at her husband’s fitness, training and wellness centre, which specialises in karate. Her husband, Marko, is a very important Dan in the karate world. Maybe, down the track, I’ll try a karate lesson at Maru Dojo?! I’m open to everything.

Last night’s yoga was a wonderful re-introduction to all the past yoga courses I’ve loved and tried. And ultimately forgotten. Some of the moves feel so convoluted, until you look around and see others doing it with style.

The teacher was lovely, patient, and (importantly for me) had a nice voice – even if I couldn’t understand everything she was saying. She was speaking the Bern dialect of Swiss German (there are also Basel and Zurich dialects). I’ve only learnt High German (spoken and understood in Germany and Austria too) which is what the Swiss read and write in the Swiss German parts of the country. (The other official languages spoken in Switzerland are French, Italian and Romansh – the latter being a very old language spoken in the mountains to the east by a small, but proud, group.)

Oh, I know, it’s darn confusing. Swiss German is officially a spoken language, not a written language. All the written materials are in High German, such as newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and so on. My partner tells a crazy story (for us foreigners) about speaking Swiss German in a meeting at work with colleagues, clients and business associates, then going back to his desk to write them an email … in High German.

The class was a little package of relaxation and energy all rolled into 90 minutes. The time went really fast. The room was just the right size, and the mood was calm. My balance is shot, but it was a great challenge and I look forward to going back again. I joked with Iva I’d like to be able to do the bridge move by December. She agreed – by December 2017!!

Here’s a photo from the yoga section on the Maru Dojo website. This is the room we did our practice (ohhh, fancy terminology and all!) and she was our teacher too.

I slept very well last night and enjoyed my morning routine this morning. Finally – a few good habits!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

On the right path to a good morning routine

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Plenty of big-name bloggers and health experts talk about the benefits of a regular morning routine. Stick ‘morning routine’ into a search engine and away you go!

Courtney Carver from be more with less steered me towards the idea that being more productive and ‘intentional’ in the mornings would make a massive difference to the day. Because I’m not working over here, it’s been hard to find a motivating reason to get out of bed early. The lure of “just a few more minutes” (especially when it’s cold!) can easily become a few more hours, as I trawl through email, Whatsapp and Viber messages, blogs, books, Facebook, Instagram and the news on my phone. Oh and play card games. How slack is that?

This morning I still read some Facebook posts and email, but when it got to a certain point I knew I’d had enough, because I was looking forward to the meditation and stretching habit I’m trying to form.

The whole morning plan is now becoming clearer to me, and I’m devising a routine that maximises … ummm … my time? My energy? My renewed desire to have everything just so?!

Wake up, enjoy a few minutes of being awake and look out the window, get out of bed, go downstairs and turn on the kettle, go to the loo, when back in the kitchen cut some lemon slices and put them in a mug, come back upstairs and do 10 minutes of meditation on the floor, followed by five minutes of stretching, go back downstairs and pour the boiled water into the mug, bring it back upstairs, and enjoy the warm lemon water while writing/studying/responding to emails etc. This way I’m sitting at my desk waaay earlier in the day, which surely can only mean productivity ensues?!?!

Drinking warm lemon water in the morning is another new habit for 2015 and today was the first time I’ve done it in a long time. If I can follow the plan above Following the plan above will make it second nature before too long. The benefits of warm water with lemon as your first drink of the day have also been touted a gazillion times. Good for your liver and so on.

Meditation this morning felt easier than yesterday – sure I still fiddled and fidgeted and couldn’t get comfortable, cross-legged, for what seemed like ages. Must keep an eye on slouching too – you should sit straight and tall, but I found myself shrinking on occasions. My mind wandered to all sorts of fun and urgent things too, but as soon as I realised that, I refocused on my breath going across my top lip.

Stretching included some new ideas today, and some new goals. Currently, when I sit with spread legs and lean forward holding my elbows, my arms, when at their limit, are between 15-20 centimetres off the floor. My aim is to get my elbows on the floor. Bring it on! This old dog is relearning some old tricks.

The second goal is to be able to keep each shoulder on the floor when I do a horizontal bent-leg twist, you know the one where you bring one knee up and then lower it, bent, across your other leg to the floor, and turn your head in the opposite direction to look at your outstretched hand? Well, my shoulders pop up really high, and when I lie my left knee over my right leg, I can’t even touch the floor with the knee and hand at the same time. It’s either the knee on the floor and the hand in the air, or the hand on the floor and the knee hovering. Bring it on! Another new goal.

Last but not least, the final goal I thought about today, while I was supposed to be focusing on my breath, is how to get the neighbour’s cat out of our roof!!! The damned thing spends a helluvalotta time up there and makes a racket!

Wishing you a great day.

p.s I’m going to a yoga class tonight with my friend Iva. This will be my first group-exercise class this year, and we’ll see how it goes! By the time I get home, I may not be awake enough to write about it, so just letting you know you could receive two emails tomorrow. But rest assured (!) … I am exercising today. fitfor15in15!

Starting a new habit – morning meditation and stretching

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The sunrise this morning, from our bedroom window

The sunrise this morning, from our bedroom window

It’s been a while coming, but I didn’t want to start doing everything at once and feel overwhelmed. So a series of new habits are being introduced over time.

Two new habits (I’ve planned for about six) will start today. Morning meditation and stretching, and study (more on the second one in a future post).

If you need meditation or general health apps for your phone, you could have a look at this story from Sarah Wilson’s “I Quit Sugar” website. Body and Soul is also a great source of information too.

I already have a couple of free meditation apps on my phone, from previous attempts to be mentally fit. (Are you seeing a recurring theme here? I am! I’ve sourced so many things – apps, gear, blogs, books etc – in order to get fit, in all meanings of the word, but have been too slack to act on them long enough to form a habit.) There are loads of meditation apps around – see which one or ones work for you.

I’m pretty fussy when it comes to listening to other people talk, especially when they’re trying to make you relaxed. I suffer from Misophonia – literally meaning a hatred of noise (more on that in a future post too, promise) and suffer extreme reactions if people make ‘unnecessary’ noises such as lip smacking, loud inhalations of breath, or you can hear saliva in their mouth.

But my most severe reactions come when people speak with a very trill, high pitched, sickly sweet, exaggerated ‘s’. I’ve noticed when these relaxation/meditation voices want to make you feel relaxxxxxxxed, often they make the ‘s’ sound last longer than normal (for example “let go of your thoughtsssssssssssssss, think of peacccccccccccccccce, close your eyessssssssssss”) and when that s sound is very high and hissy like a snake, my immediate reaction is to want to smash the phone and then punch the perpetrator in the face. Ten deep breaths (not breathssssss) and relax (not relaxxxxxxxxx) … Ha ha, yeah, I can make a joke about it here, but for me, honestly, it’s not a bloody joke!

Anyway … back to the task at hand …

Meditation. It’s hard! The mind wanders but that’s all part of the plan – to bring your thinking back to focusing on your breath. I try to focus on my nose and top lip, where I can feel my breaths going in and out.

The meditation app timer was set for 10 minutes (normally the apps give you options of say five, 10, 15, 20 minutes etc), the music or natural sound options were pleasant and I chose a track, the guide voice was turned off, I got into a comfortable position on the floor (which quickly became uncomfortable) and off I went.

A few minutes in, I started thinking about my friends in Adelaide, then I noticed my hair was tickling my neck. Focus, focus … After six minutes, I couldn’t cope with my hair any more and tied it back with the band on my wrist. Much better. Made it to the end! Then I switched to the five minute meditation and did leg stretches on the floor. Wow, my hammies are tight!

Doing this 15-minute routine really got me into ‘wake up’ mode and hopefully will set the scene for a productive day. Well, it’s worked so far – it’s 8.46am and I’ve already written a post.

Do you think you could set your alarm 15 minutes earlier tomorrow for some meditation and stretching, before you have a shower? You don’t even need an app or music – set a timer for 10 minutes and sit still. Then set the timer for five minutes and try to touch your toes with straight and spread legs. No fast movements, it’s all very calm, and hopefully you’ll be feeling abuzz with added energy and clarity.

I’m really looking forward to making this part of my morning routine. Want to join me?

Wishing you a great day.