It's hump day!

Oh the benefits of having a long weekend.

And what a great weekend it was.....I went to yoga again on Monday.

Took a break for no good reason yesterday and plan on going back today and tomorrow and then my challenge will start.....

I also decided to put my gym membership on hold since I never go and that's $20 a month being pissed away. It's not a lot but it adds up and is coffee money LOL.

It's slow but I AM noticing a change in my body again just from the hot yoga. My arms especially are thinner and more defined.  

I have some stressful client things coming up at work in June so it's so nice to know I have this practice to continue to go to outside of work, whose benefits come back to me in all aspects of my life.

How has your week been going? Was work crazy yesterday after the long weekend?

Any plans you are looking forward to in June?

I signed up!

Well, after completing 3 days in a row of yoga on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I decided to sign up for the yoga challenge. I don't know if I will be able to do 40 days of yoga in the months of June and July, so I made my goal to hit 20 classes.

We shall see how I do.

I'm really going into it with no expectations at this point, beyond just wanting to keep a solid committment to my practice.

Do you have any goals or challenges you are planning for the summer months?

How has your holiday weekend been? 

I hope like me you are enjoying the lazy days and getting in some sun and fun with not too many plans or expectations.

I went to an airshow yesterday and then had friends over for an impromptu BBQ and it was the perfect kick off to summer, along with remembering the real meaning behind the holiday weekend....those who have served for us in the military. 

Freedom definitely isn't free.

All you need to do is breathe. Nothing else.

As constantly stated by my yoga instructors.....such an easy thing to do, yet so hard.

I've been missing a lot of yoga time this month, for no good reason.

I went back to my mat last night and let these words sink in.

Why is just focusing on breath such a challenge? I tend to let the 123456789 things I am doing take over my thoughts, and most regularly my opportunities to attend class more often.

I am hoping to change that this summer.

I want to make the committment to complete a yoga challenge.

They are having a 40 class challenge starting in June, and if you complete that many sessions in June and July, August will be free. Plus, the teacher will reduce the unlimited monthly cost in June & July by a few bucks....

All I have to do really is just make it to the studio and breathe. Nothing more, nothing less.

Why is this so hard to do though?

Everytime I go to the studio I never ever regret it.

I even ate cheese before class last night and survived. :)

I know 40 classes is not easy to do, especially with everything else going on in the summer, but I'm thinking really hard that I should be able to do at least the 20 in either June or July. I still have a few more days to decide if I'm going to sign up.  

Made a year!

Yesterday I celebrated my 1st anniversary at my job.  I was so excited and my co-workers, clients and even some of the aides who take my clients to the program made me feel extra special and appreciated.

While there are stressful moments on occasion, overall my role does not ever truly feel like "work". As sappy as it sounds, I don't ever remember a day when I actually didn't look forward to going into my agency (well, okay, maybe during our many snowstorms earlier this year LOL). Sometimes I think that maybe I'm just in a very unique place, but I always feel emotionally healthy and my clients have even become like a second family. There is also rarely if ever any co-worker bullshit and the stuff when it surfaces is like a blip on my radar. 

I know this is very, very rare in our field, and I feel grateful and blessed to have found and been offered such a wonderful opportunity.

I also am sure that it even appears like I'm bragging sometimes when I talk about work, but I do share because I feel that especially in our field, it's so important to contribute so much of ourselves to a place that is healthy, where you enjoy what you do and overall, know you are truly appreciated.

It may take awhile to get there, but there are employers like this.

Having been on the opposite end of the spectrum makes me see this even more, and I have become all that much more appreciative.

It also has made me realize that I've stayed in bad situations for far too long thinking this was the norm in social work.

Awesome class

I think I hydrated well beforehand and was in a better mindset emotionally because I felt like I rocked class yesterday.

I only took one short break and even got all the way into camel.

Yay, stress release!

I want to start trying to make 3 days on, 1 day off my routine. We'll see. As is my history, that's often easier said then done. 

My studio is gearing up for another summer challenge and the "prize" is a month of free yoga.....how awesome would that be! 

In any event, it's day by day with me. I try not to set myself up for failure here because that's not what the yoga is all about. Have a great week all!

Yog-emotion

I had a very emotional class earlier today.

I felt like I was crying the whole time, except with no tears.

Sounds very strange, I know.

I have been dealing with a great deal of stress lately, especially to do with house reno stuff.

So it makes sense.

I feel amazing right now though. Refreshed and relaxed.

I hope to get to the studio tomorrow, too.

How's your weekend going? 

Wobbly

I finally went back to class last night after a very long and lazy break from my mat.

The best way I can describe my practice last night was wobbly.....I was feeling wobbly even during the opening breathing exercise.

But it is what it was and I was glad I went back as soon as I was into the first couple of breaths.

There was even a pregnant woman in class last night....first time I've actually seen that even though I heard it's pretty common and healthy to practice Bikram with child.  She looked like she was very early on and I give her a ton of credit for just going into the hot room. Now that to me is what makes a true yoga rock star.

I am planning to go tonight again after work too......

Speaking of work, a few weeks ago I wrote about applying for a PT position. I was going back and forth in my mind about whether or not I wanted to take on the extra responsibility. Well, to provide an update, the decision was made for me.....after the person reached out, was in constant touch, and provided me with the direct # to HR saying to tell them that they referred me....I got an email from HR that they reviewed my resume and there are no open positions.

I tried emailing my contact to thank them and delve a little deeper (I thought it was bizarre that I was recruited and then the HR response), and their email bounced back to me.......not sure what that is all about...

But in the meantime I'm taking it as a sign.

I do want to do something for extra money, but I just think the timing is off right now.

Right now I will just focus on my yoga 😎.

The rest will come.

Refreshed

I went back to yoga class this afternoon and it was just what I needed after quite a stressful weekend.

I think my teacher had the heat turned up as high as it could go, because warmup series was harder than I remember it being in a long time.

I was able to conquer it though and while I didn't rockstar in second half of floor series, I at least was able to remain on my feet before I decided to allow myself a short break before tree pose. 

We've had a lot going on with DS lately so I needed to get away for a bit today to clear my head.

Maybe I will post about it soon, but in a nutshell, DH and I completely disagree on an extracurricular activity DS is currently involved in. It's caused so many issues lately. 

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already. Weekends seem to be going by faster and faster these days.

Thankful I got my yoga in.