Unraveling the Muscle

For the past couple of months I've had a difficult time being inspired to do yoga. Yes, I go to my favorite Saturday morning class at Alameda Yoga Station with Nancy but my heart hasn't been 100% into it like before. Then today I had a realization during class - yoga is about unraveling the muscles that we tense all day long.

Because I've been practicing yoga less frequently I could tell that my posture has been getting a little less vertical and a little more scrunched. Today I focused on extending and expanding muscles from their center points to the tips of my fingers, toes and head. Suddenly I was longer, taller and stronger. Perhaps some of this scrunching has to do with the bike injuries I sustained this summer. I've been avoiding my knees and today I gently regained confidence in them.

Further into today's practice I recognized that your mind is also holding on to tension and gets all scrunched up as well. So I allowed my brain to let go - release. Nancy said, "in each pose, pay attention to what needs to be working and what should be relaxing or off-duty." I'm carrying that premise into my day.

Commuting Buddy

On my Bike-BART-Bike commute today I had a wonderful surprise - my co-worker Theron and I were in commuting-sync. It is funny enough that Theron lives just 10 houses away from me here in Alameda. Even stranger that he has the same folding bike - the US version (hum, does it have a cool name like Ike? I'll need to find out.)

Riding back home in the dark with our flashing safety lights we took an adventurous route along quiet back streets in Alameda. It was like being a twelve-year-old again. We did all kinds of silly riding, speeding up, slowing down and making crazy eights. Really a fantastic way to cap a commute.

20 Acts of Free-Spirit

I'm working with Rebecca, my career/life coach to define my core values. In our conversations the one that kept coming up is being a free spirit. So, to start me working on expressing that free spirit (do I need more expression?) she has asked me to commit 20 acts of Free Spirit between now and Sunday.

At first this seemed like an easy assignment since I label myself a free spirit. But now I'm finding that I don't know what that means anymore. Is it being a rebel? Eating bad food? Indulging? No, that doesn't seem like it.

Well, I've started by riding my bike to work. Only 19 to go...

Crack of Dawn

I've started a new weekend morning adventure - bike riding at sunrise in Hyde Park. This morning I encountered the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run and kicking off at Hyde Park Corner. Here are some of the contenders.