Making Progress

Slowly, but surely I'm making progress with my 100 Days Challenge. 

I decided to kill two birds with one stone, (pun intended) by using the beads I bought in a kit that I wanted for just the instructions with the goal of joining a beading challenge and now I'm covering a rock with beads for the "Found Objects Free Form Peyote Challenge," being hosted by Mandi Ainsworth and Karen Williams.

 

For anyone interested, the last day to sign up for this challenge is Saturday, October 12th, and the reveal date is Friday, November 15th.

The big messy pile of assorted beading, crochet, and cross-stitch kits you see there on the left has now been sorted and organized.  Realistically I won't be able to get through all of this by the end of the year, but it's a start!
 

I can't say enough about how strong and peaceful I've been feeling as a result of starting and ending each day with yoga and meditation.  I think it's safe to say that yoga is my greatest passion because it enhances all of the other things I love to do.

I've also added another bonus challenge to my list, but for now it's a secret.  All will be revealed sometime in late November.

Close Encounters of the 6th Purple Kind

I know.  I know.  Long time, no post.  But in my defense I have been beading, beading, beading away.

Just a few days into Fusion Beads 30 day challenge my beading muse began bombarding me with ideas for jewelry that I'll be submitting for publication. I've had to say goodbye to the challenge in favor of developing ideas, writing tutorials, and taking pictures.  It's been a long time since I had anything published, and I'm looking forward to getting myself back into it.  

In the meantime I thought I would share with you a deliciously purple necklace I made using a Caldera triangle from Kate McKinnon's book Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.  It's the first in a series of necklaces that represents each of the 7 basic chakras. 

In other non-bead related news I just finished a 30 Day Belly Dance Challenge and I'm currently participating in a 21 day meditation challenge.  The harder of the two has definitely been the meditating.  I can commit to dancing anytime, but sitting still and training my mind to be quiet for as little as 10 minutes is taking some monumental effort, and in some ways is more exhausting and rewarding then dancing.

Also, starting in April I'll be doing a 28 day yoga challenge with fellow beadiac Jennifer Chaslow VanBenschoten.  Please join us if you can!   

The 100 Day Challenge

A fellow belly dancer, Gina, recently issued an interesting 100 day challenge.  Why wait until the New Year to start on the list of goals and resolutions lurking around in the shadows of your mind?  Why not do it now, during the last one hundred days of the year?  The challenge doesn't start until September 23rd so there is still plenty of time to get that list together and it doesn't have to be anything even remotely related to belly dance.  If you don't want to share your list on Gina's page, then post it on your own blog, FB page, on the refrigerator, or anywhere that works for you, just as long as you make yourself accountable for it.

Here's my list, in no particular order:
1.  Clean out closet and revitalize stale, boring wardrobe.
2.  Lose weight.
3.  Finish up a few crochet projects.
4.  Yoga.  Everyday.
     -I just bought Rodney Yee's "Yoga:  The Poetry of the Body" and downloaded "Yoga
       With Weights" on the e-reader to keep things fresh and interesting.
5.  Start a vegetable garden.
6.  Reduce the "To Read" pile of 20+ books down to zero.
     -This is mainly so that I can justify buying more books.
7.  Transplant rose bushes.
8.  Organize notes from Flamenco class.
     -Right now they're in 3 different places:  a notebook, on the sticky note app of my
       phone, and on the e-reader.     
9.  Take "Teaching Yoga to Kids" class.
10.  Write.  Everyday.
       -It doesn't have to be good, it just has to be done.
11.  Organize yarn stash into just one room. 
      -Only the bathrooms and kitchen are currently yarn free.
12.  Treat myself to a super awesome spa day.

I deliberately kept my list simple.  My summer hibernation is barely at an end and my calender is already overflowing with bead related deadlines, workshops, classes, recitals, rehearsals, and volunteering, along with the usual never ending Mommy-Do list.

Some really exciting things are happening in my life and I'll be blogging about a few of them over the next few days.

The Rachel Brice Weekend

"Fantababricealicous" is how Heidi Alexander described Rachel Brice, and I have to add that Rachel's business partner, Sol, was "supersolireffic."  Both of them are warm, friendly, funny, borderline goofy people, which made for a delightful atmosphere.  Rachel effortlessly used her warmth and humor to create a safe, positive, and inviting environment for all levels of dancers.  To say "inviting" may sound strange, but I've taken workshops and classes from instructors who intimidate people with a "don't question just do" attitude and glare daggers at anyone who dares to sit down for a few minutes to take notes, get a drink of water or, rest.  

Each day the workshops began with yoga, and you know that anything involving yoga is a good thing in my book.  Next came strength building exercises, isolation drills, and combos that gradually sped up so that we also had ourselves a great cardio workout.  After 2 hours we were treated to a chocolate break.  Yes, you read that right chocolate!  I think they may have been some other snacks, too.  

At the end of the day we cooled down with some more yoga, followed by Rachel leading us in a chant to honor all of her belly dancer teachers and their instructors, and finally ending with a zaghareet to honor all dancers everywhere.  That last part always had me a little bit teary-eyed.  


One of the topics Rachel touched on was how to create a home practice.  One of her tips, taught to her by her yoga teacher, Gary Kraftsow, was to formulate a practice, do it for 10 days, then change it.  I really like that idea and I'll be giving it a trial run in the next week or so and incorporating some of her other ideas, like "scales" and "stacking."  

And then there's the show Saturday night!  Yowsa wowsa!  Rachel performed twice, along with Elissa & Melissa, Ellisha, Ava Fleming, Heidi Alexander, Eric Salazar, Bastet, Yasmina, Anaya Tribal, and Helena Vlahos.  After the show Rachel and a few of the other dancers had a little meet & greet for photos and autographs.

I have now been dancing for 176 days, 8,453 minutes.  

I'm also a busy l'il beadin' bee right now with 4 deadlines to meet in between now and mid-July.  Some of it I can share with you and some things I can't.   

     

Oh, My Aching Back!

See that picture?  I just wanted to show you what I have not been doing lately.  I stupidly pulled the same muscles in my back twice within a few days of each other which means that I've had to seriously modify my practice this week.  

Hurting my back forced me to miss rehearsal on Sunday.  I was not happy.  A sick husband and child had me missing class as well rehearsal on Monday.  I was not happy in the extreme.  This week did not start out well, but I'm determined that it will have a better ending.

I love, love, love yoga!!  It always seem to be good for whatever is ailing a person.  Almost 10 years ago a yoga instructor and a physical therapist worked with me to create a program to heal and strengthen my lower back after I herniated 2 disks.  Yoga has also helped me to control the almost daily migraines I have suffered with for most of my adult life.


Since Sunday my practice has consisted of the back pain yoga sequence from the book Yoga As Medicine and the 30 minute isolations and drills from Rachel Brice's Tribal Fusion Belly Dance DVD; which meant that by yesterday I was able to attend a tribal belly dance class.  Yipee!!

My back is still a bit sore and I'm very aware of those pulled muscles when I move just right, but the debilitating spasms are gone and that makes me happy.  And now that my hubby and kidlet are also on the mend I am extremely happy.  

I love happy endings, don't you?    

*belly dance clip art provided by: Me'ira's Clip Art for Oriental Dancers

41 Days & Counting

My 30 day yoga challenge has been extended to 61 days and I'm on day 41. For the first 38 days I did a physical yoga practice; brief meditation, asanas, and Savasana. On the 39th day, Oct. 9th, I got a call. My 91 year old Grandmother had had a stroke. She was found on her bathroom floor.

What has that got to do with yoga? Everything! I didn't do a physical practice that day, but I did do yoga. Breathe, focus, and quiet the mind. Breathing slowly and deeply helped to focus on getting my daughter fed and dressed. I had to keep my mind focused on driving, just driving, so that we could get to the hospital safely. Then, to keep myself from imagining the worst I had to work really, really hard on quieting my mind.

Breathe, focus, quiet.

Grandma's stroke was a mild one. She'll be spending a few weeks in physical therapy and rehab, then we'll have to decide from there what her living arrangements will be.

I started my physical yoga practice the following day being grateful that I can. I also want to explore yoga more deeply. But, given my limited time schedule I'm not sure how to go about it.

In the meantime,

Namaste

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga-15 days & Counting

Yes!!! I am now 15 days into my 30 day yoga challenge and am feeling better than good.

I started this challenge with no specific goal in mind other than to practice every day and quietly observe the changes within myself. The most significant change has been that I can direct my breath into and release an area of muscles that feels tense, which is something I've been able to carry over and use when practicing belly dance techniques and drills.

The improved mind-body connection also means that I am feeling more fluid and light as I move through the asanas, (and through the rest of my day), as well as more relaxed and energized.

The big bonus is that I am sleeping better and have returned to being aware of and able to control my dreams, which is something that I have always enjoyed.

On a purely physical level I have recovered my ability to set in a straddle position and bend forward all the way to the floor with ease and have nearly recovered both splits.

30 Day Yoga Challenge

Yeah me! I'm on day 7 of a 30 day yoga challenge.

I usually practice yoga once or twice a week, but having heard and read so many stories lately about the transforming power of a dedicated practice I decided to experience it first hand for myself.

Three of these first 7 days were a bit rough because I was having back to back migraines. What can make it difficult is that along with the pain, I can sometimes experience nausea if I move around too much. But I stuck with it, even if I did only 20 minutes of a gentle practice consisting of mostly seated forward bends, child's pose, and breathing exercises.

I started this challenge with no specific goal in mind other than to practice yoga for 30 days in a row and observe how I feel.

Migraines & migraine hang-overs are all gone, so right now I'm feel pretty darn good.

The photo is of my cat, the late Tia Sushi, aka Yoga Poodie, hanging out in one of her favorite spots, the cupboard where I keep all my yoga gear. She wasn't too happy with me for disturbing her nap simply because I wanted my mat. But she never had knickers in a knot for very long. She was nicknamed "Yoga Poodie" because she would always snuggle with me during Savasana. I miss that. She was an amazing cat. Almost 2 years ago she saved my life and the life of my then unborn daughter.

But that's another story for another time.