Day 71

Holy crap! Tomorrow is our 72 Sun Salutations day! I can't believe how fast time has gone by since I have been doing this program. Between life happening and the yoga train madness, we are 37 days away from reaching our goal. Isn't life fabulous?
Today I decided to do Yin in the afternoon, since I had a lot of errands to run in the morning. I also took my lil' doggie to the vet so she could check him out and see how he was doing with his boogery nose. She said he needed a bit more medicine and that we should go back on Wednesday. Oh well. I know I haven't told you the whole story about my dog, and today seems a good day to do so.
Once upon a time, when we lived in Mexico City, my husband and I were strolling through the mall when we spotted this cute lil' white pup on the window of the pet shop. Us, being the compulsive buyers that we are, went in and bought that cute puppy. We named him Idefix and he was just a couple of months old.
When Idefix turned three, we found out he had cataracts on both eyes. Holy shit, right? That's what you get when you buy a dog from the pet store, the fuckermothers. Since he was just three years old and with a lot of life ahead of him, we decided for him to have the surgery so he could regain his sight. After a tough recovery, Idefix can now see things far away, but not up close, so it breaks my heart every time I have to gently touch his nose to give him a treat. He loved playing with the ball and he was a damn good catcher. Now? He tries his best and always fetches the ball, but it breaks my heart when the ball is right there next to him and he has no clue.
Ok, so after a few years, we moved to Scottsdale, AZ and Idefix came with us. After a year of living in the States we found out that he was diabetic. Holy mother of all shitloads, right? After a long period of adjusting his insulin and checking his glucose levels, we finally got him under control. I forgot to mention that he also suffers from allergies, so he is on a special diet. Phew!
After a few more years, we moved to Valencia, Spain and of course that Idefix came along -he is my first child and I could never leave him behind!- So now we live here and he is doing really well with all his afflictions and leads a happy life. He is now 12 years old and when people ask me about his age, no one believes he's that old because he still has that energy and bounce that young dogs have. I love him more than words can express. He brings such joy to our lives and doesn't ask anything in return. My son talks to him as if he were a person and shows him his drawings and soccer tricks and whatnot. I am convinced he is a child trapped in the body of a small white dog. For real.
So now you know the story of our sweet Idefix. Even though he has faced some huge challenges in his life, he's doing perfectly well and living life to the fullest. Here is a pic of him right before we left the States to come to Valencia. It's one of my favorite ones:

Ok yogis: after that nice story, here's what I had for my vegetarian lunch today. It's a yummy quinoa burger with lettuce, tomato, onions, cheddar cheese, ketchup, mustard and mayo. It was good; but I prefer good old fashioned meat in my burgers. Check it out:

In the afternoon I finally finished reading my book; which I highly recommend. It's by Neil Gaiman and it's called "The Ocean at the End of the Lane". Beautifully written and it's such a lovely story. Here's the link, if you're interested: http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/The+Ocean+at+the+End+of+the+Lane/
A little while later, my order from Lululemon arrived in the mail! Wohooo! I am so happy that Lulu ships all the way over here! And for free! Every day more and more companies are shipping internationally and I am so very grateful for it: there are so many things I am used to and I just can't find them here or find a decent replacement for them. Now this yogini is better equipped for these power classes in this heat and humidity. It's on like Donkey Kong!

Around 6:00 pm I finally rolled out that mat to welcome Yin back into my life. Oh how I had missed Yin! I still don't get why some yogis out there have trouble liking Yin: I find it to be such a delicious treat. And I had several surprises waiting for me. First, is that immediately after slipping into pigeon, I am able to get that buttcheek right on the ground. Before it took me a minute or so, but now it was instant:

Second, I noticed that I am able to go much deeper in the straight leg seated forward bend as well as in one leg seated forward bend:

And finally it was the biggest of all. You know that pose where we have one knee bent and the other leg extended and Travis tells us to lean back? Before I was only able to lean back with straight arms and only a tiny bit. Well look at me now:

Holy yoga, right? This made me so very happy! As I started to lean back and ended up all the way lying on my back I was very surprised with how much I have progressed in so little time. It's truly amazing! I never thought I would be able to do it, honestly; so you can imagine how much this means to me. *I'm still doing a shimmy dance*
After a very rewarding yoga session, I was ready for some dinner. Tonite I had a mean fruit salad with peaches, figs, red plums and bananas with a Greek yogurt to keep it company, of course.
I am off to bed early tonite so I will be ready for our 72 Sun Salutations tomorrow. I am super excited and proud of what we have accomplished! Tomorrow is going to be awesome and I can't wait to read all of your posts to see how you did and how you felt.
Sending a ridiculous amount of good vibes your way!
Namaste.

Day 70

What a nice round number, right yogis? We have been at it for SEVENTY days straight. We are now stronger, wiser, calmer and so much more balanced than before. God bless yoga!
Today I did Gentle right before we left for the beach. I have to say again that Gentle is one of my favorite classes: the music, the mellow feeling of it all is just wonderful. I specially like the neck rolls that we do at the beginning: I can hear every vertebrae crack and pop with gratefulness. Another favorite part is the shoulder roll that we do in triangle pose. I feel my shoulders opening up and then going perfectly back in their sockets. Such a lovely groovy class.
After the class, I packed all our things for the beach and off we went. The day was just lovely: not too much sun and not too many clouds. The breeze was blowing softly, the water was at the perfect temperature and the ocean was a bit choppy so the waves were a lot of fun.
For our veggie lunch, I had a tortilla de papa sandwich. This is kind of a potato and onions frittata slice put inside a baguette. I didn't take a pic of mine, but I found this one online that looked very much like mine so you can get an idea:

The rest of the afternoon I spent most of the time dozing on and off: the perfect Sunday.
Back home I had a mixed greens salad with pine nuts, cucumbers, onions and bits of fresh goat cheese in a balsamic vinaigrette for dinner. For dessert I had a Greek yogurt and a humongous fresh peach. Hope all of you have been doing well with your raw lifestyle these days. Post some pics of those raw dishes! We wanna see!

Tomorrow is Yin. I can't tell you enough times how happy I am that Yin is back and that we have it tomorrow. Yay for Yin! I am also excited to see how I have improved with stretching and flexibility this past section of the cycle. I want to see if I can stretch any further than before. Will let you all know tomorrow.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and I leave you with a pic of me and my hubby at the beach today. Namaste!

Day 69

I am so grateful for the extraordinary response I got from yesterday's blog post! I was feeling very meh about the whole program and in need of a break; but the support I found within the UY FB group lifted my spirits. I was relieved to see that I am not the only one who has gone through this tiny slump in the cycle and everyone had kind, warm words of advice for me.
I also got a comment from a dear friend on my FB personal page and that motivated me even more. He has been toying with the idea of going back to yoga and we have talked about it a bit; and in yesterday's comment he really opened my eyes and basically told me that I was giving him the final push to jump back into the yoga train and that I couldn't just quit now. Well, you are absolutely right Ro! We can do this and we can do this by staying strong and committed. Si se puede!
So, after a good tug on my ears, I am happy to say that my mojo is coming back. When I committed to this program I knew it was going to be hard to stay focused, so I promised myself to see it all the way through.
Now, there is something that I have to admit: I haven't been the best at sticking to the common sense eating plan -I am fully aware that red meat and cheeseburgers aren't in that category- but eating is one of my pleasures in life and I enjoy having a good meal after my yoga practice: it complements my day. I don't over indulge or eat unhealthy: I just eat what I like in moderation and that's good enough for me. I started out the program all hopped up on quinoa and whatnot, but I have derailed -if you wanna look at it that way- at some point. I guess we have to do what makes us happy and not try to be someone we are not, yes? Who are we fooling but ourselves? I like quinoa; but I also like red meat, I love doing yoga, I have always eaten in a mindful manner, I like to meditate because it calms my mind and makes me a bit more patient; but what I am not is one of those people that suddenly turned all holy because they can do a power yoga class. I am very sarcastic, I don't take any shit from no one and I will always be that way.
A couple of weeks ago, my best friend -Megaroo, are you reading this?- asked me if I was gonna turn all tofu-loving-no-wine-drinking-all-holy-no-curse-no-fun-shame-on-you-if-you-don't-do-yoga person and, after a good laugh, I told her "No way in hellz, guey!". That is just not me. Yoga has made me a better person and has made me take a good look inside and around me; but I am not gonna be all sitting down under a bodhi tree playing it all fake so that everyone else can see it. So, I will always be the same inside and out; it's just that so far I am now a bit more patient and understanding Ale with a killer bod to show for it. Oh lol!
So, after another one of Ale's rants, it's time to move along and comment on today's Mountain Pose. Today I had a very good night's sleep and woke up close to 11:00 am. Glorious!
I went ahead and did some stuff around the house and then did the class. Today, my son told me he wanted to do the class with me; but he only stuck around for five minutes and then left because he said it was boring... children. For me it wasn't boring at all: it was the peace and quiet that I needed and the confirmation that this program is truly wonderful. The results seen here? Totally worth it. That we are about to reach our 72 Sun Salutations? Exciting and rewarding. So no more of that demotivational nonsense: we can do this and we can do this the right way. We gotta stay strong, and to quote Travis: we gotta keep showing up.
For today's vegetarian lunch, my husband made mushroom curry with rice noodles. I got the recipe from another fellow yogini from the group that posted it a couple days back and it looked delicious. My husband added cauliflower to the mix and our rice noodles were organic rice penne pasta. I have to admit that the pasta wasn't very good: it tasted so weird! But the cauliflower, mushrooms and curry sauce were super good; so not all is lost ;)

I spent the whole afternoon out on the terrace reading my book and dozing on and off. A wonderful treat from my husband, who kept the little dude entertained all day. Aaaahh... just what I needed to refuel and regain my hope.
For dinner I had a fruit salad with fresh figs, peaches, red plums and manila mangoes. For dessert? You guessed it: a Greek yogurt.

Tomorrow we head out to the beach -yes!- and I'll do Gentle before we leave so it will set the mellow mood for the rest of the day.
Once again: thanks for all the support and kind words. They mean much more than you can imagine. And, when in doubt remember:

Day 68

Oh damn you Detox. Damn you to hell, I say!
I was soooo not feeling the class at all today! But to Detox's defense I think I would have felt the same way towards any power yoga class today. I guess my body has gotten used to taking a break with Gentle after those powerful three classes that come before it, because today it was super out of whack.
In the morning I did some errands and took my dog to the vet because he's been having a lot of boogers in his tiny nose for a while, so I wanted her to check it out. Got the meds we needed and headed back home. Right away I rolled out my mat but it was close to 1:00 pm. The minute the class started I knew it was not going to be smooth at all. I flowed through the whole class, but found myself extremely tired doing it and just wishing I was in Shavasana all the time. I felt frustrated, exhausted and a bit angry towards the end because the class just dragged on and on and on and on....
You get the picture. Just not a good day to do yoga. The kind of day that makes the 108 goal line seem so very far away and having second thoughts about completing the cycle. I really wish there was a day we didn't have to do anything yoga related at all. Just one. It is one tough commitment doing yoga for 108 days straight. I mean: WE STARTED ON MAY 6th!! And we still have over a month to go! Oh man. Don't pay any attention to my ramblings; seems my mojo took a day off and left me all exhausted and moody. Pfft.
Moving on to lunch, then! Today we had grilled lamb ribs with a side salad of mixed greens, grilled peaches and chives in a creamy balsamic vinaigrette.

In the afternoon I did some more backed up errands and got home close to dinner time. I had a couple slices of jamón Ibérico with fresh goat cheese and a Greek yogurt for dessert. Here's our brand new leg of jamón:

I still have meditation to do, so I will get to it before it's bedtime because I don't want it to turn into a nap-ation situation.
Tomorrow there's more yoga. Yes. MORE. At least it's Mountain Pose series, yes? Also tomorrow some of you will be embarking into the raw food cleanse. I wish you the best of luck with your experience; but I will not be doing it since I honestly don't see the point of eating that way for three days, four, five or more. Just no point. I will do a vegetarian -not vegan- lifestyle for those three days as a "meet you halfway" deal.
Well yogis and yoginis: here's to hoping that tomorrow will be a better day and I'll get all motivated again, because today I was very close to turning my tv off and sending it all to hell. When you meditate today, please send me all of your good vibes so that I can get my mojo back. I know that I can always count on you guys ;)
Get a good night's rest and we'll see each other on the mat!

Day 67

Hello Flexibility and adiós foreva! No mo' of this weird class ever! This is one DVD I'm glad  to see go away. We won't have to do it again for this cycle and I am not gonna incorporate it in my rotation after we finish. I plan to keep the momentum going and I will keep doing all of the other 11 DVDs -yes, even Strength- after the 108 cycle is done; but Flexibility is one DVD I will not be doing, as well as yoga on the weekends. Weekends are made to rest and take it easy and Flexibility is made for other kinds of people that just happen to NOT be me. The flow is meh okay and the stretches, which Travis calls "rewards", are so not my cup of tea. As much as I love Yin, the stretches in Flexibility are weird, uncomfortable and I have seen no benefits come out of them. So, after all I have said above and because I just don't like it, I am happy to see it go. Adiós bitchacho! Back into the cardboard box you go.
Today I did the class close to noon, but I worry no more because of my lovely fan. I gave the class the send off it deserved and again, didn't connect with it. Something I haven't said before is that when we are finally on the floor to stretch, that pose where we have one leg straight and the other ungodly bent and tucked to the side is AWFUL. So freakin' uncomfy for my knee, my foot, my hip... all of it! What the hell is that? How are we supposed to stretch that way? Bonkers, is what that is. My hat's off to all of you that enjoy it and who plan to keep at it; but this yogini is just not feeling it.
I also feel that the transition from double seated pigeon stretch to Shavasana is very abrupt; feels like Travis suddenly noticed he had been going on for too long with the class and had to suddenly end it one way or another.
Anyway dudes, no point in rambling on about something that's gone. Far away. *shimmy dance*
After the class I went ahead and did Hardcore just to get it out of the way. 300 crunches? Done!

So, as a celebration of no more Flexishiznit, hubby and I went out to lunch tapas style. Eating tapas gives you the advantage of eating lots of different things but in small portions. They are usually presented on top of a slice of bread. Here's a pic of some I had:

The first one is a fresh crab spread with shaved white thing on top (no clue what it is but tastes good). Second one is a seafood stuffed piquillo pepper with caviar and shaved zucchini on top. The third one is smoked salmon with shaved onions and capers on top.
We also had fresh oysters on the shell. They were D.I.V.I.N.E.

After our lovely lunch we headed back home where I kept at my decluttering mission and this time I tackled my handbag trunk. Before, when I've "tackled" my precious trunk, I just rearranged them but never got rid of any -I have a serious compulsive problem with handbags. Handbags and books-. Well, today I took out two. TWO! Holy crap I can't believe I did that. I'm about to go get them back from the church lady I gave them to. What the frock was I thinking? Pfft. I've lost my mojo for the day. Damn it.
Moving on -as if it were so easy: I have TWO handbags gone!- for dinner I had fresh fruit and a Greek yogurt. Light, nice and easy.
Another mojo killer? No Gentle tomorrow. Nope. We face Detox because we're about to reach our 72 Sun Salutations! So de-gunk all you can because we gotta be ready.
Sending good vibes your way!
Namaste.

Day 66

Day 66. The devil's number. Of course it had to be Strength: the devil's work right on this day.
Oh man. Will I ever like this class? I seriously doubt it and when I read on FB that some people actually look forward to it, I am all O_O
Today, after doing some errands, I rolled out that mat close to noon. But guess who wasn't feeling the heat? Ale, that's who. Husband went and got me a nice old fashioned fan and I set it right in front of my mat: the whole time I had this wonderful breeze blowing and it made working out in this heat and humidity much better. I don't like to work out in an AC room because I immediately get a cold: sweaty plus ice cold air is a bad combo for me. So even though it was cursed Strength, I wasn't so antsy for it to be over.
I think I am progressing in this class because I am not so dog tired doing it as before. I find myself struggling -and grunting- less. Arms hold out better for the duration of the class and I am not tired at all for the rest of the day. But there is one part that will be the death of me and it's that itty bit of bow pose ordeal right after side arm balance flow. Just when you think you HAVE to be done because you just can give anything more...bam suckers! let's do this weird painful floating arms and legs deal. Why? Because Travis says so, that's why. Me doing it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. Only thing I like about this part is Travis' falsetto when he says "release the feeeeeet". I love that part because that's exactly what it feels like. *I hate you Strength*
Anyway, for lunch today we had a super lovely seared ahi tuna salad. There were cucumbers, onions, avocados and lamb's lettuce in a balsamic vinaigrette. There was also a spicy olive oli chile dipping sauce for the ahi tuna. Wonderfully fresh!

In the afternoon I kept decluttering away; but do you have any idea how hard it is to declutter when you have someone *husband, ahem* questioning every thing you decide has to go? I mean c'mon dude! if it hasn't been touched or looked at in SIX YEARS it's time for that thing to go. And I thought I was a hoarder...
For dinner I had a couple of the spicy prawns that were lefotver from Sunday's lunch. For dessert I had a humongous peach. Have I mentioned before how I love summer time fruit? *I know I have, but that doesn't mean I'll stop saying it* heehee.
Well yogis and yoginis, hope you had a lovely time with your Strength and I wish you all a very good night sleep.
Namaste.

Day 65

Son shipped off to soccer camp and mat rolled out by 9:00 am. With Balance I am counting the minutes to start because I love it so: class is so much fun and it seems to fly by.
Today was different because I was much more centered on my left side than on my right; but it was good nonetheless. I am still finding it hard to transition from Dancer's pose to that Half Moon hip stretch deal. I can do the hip stretch better than before, but the transition isn't smooth at all. Meh. Something to improve on, right? Also crow wasn't happening with both feet off the ground today because my right side wasn't cooperating. So basically I sweated an extra liter in vain -wore capris instead of shorts and man! it was hot-, but I'll keep at it through the week to get it nailed down.
Did Hardcore right after and gulped down two ice cold coconut water bottles.
All through the morning I continued decluttering my son's room and by lunchtime I was pretty hungry. Today we had pasta salad. It was made with that organic rice pasta I love so much, remember? It had shredded crab meat, tomato, red bell peppers and onions in a homemade mayonaisse dressing.

In the afternoon I kept cleaning out my son's room and when it was time, I went to pick him up at soccer camp. On our way back home, the afternoon was lovely so we sat down on a cute Italian cafe terrace to have a lil' somethin' somethin'. My lil' somethin' somethin' was a dulce de leche crepe.

I just couldn't help myself! I barely eat sweets and when I do it's either dulce de leche crepes or -yes, you got it- white chocolate covered Oreos. It was very, very good. Yummo.
For dinner I just had a Greek yogurt and a peach. *making up for crepe* heehee
Holy crap we have Strength tomorrow. Holy crap indeed. And I just checked and we will be having Strength every Wednesday till we finish the 108 cycle. Every Wednesday. Pfft.
Namaste y'all!