PERSONAL – Page 3 – Whole Heartily

30 Day Yoga Challenge Results

The 30 days in my 30 Day Yoga Challenge are up and as you can see, I did not complete the challenge completely. Bummer!

I was able to practice Yoga 26 of the 30 days and I am satisfied with that. I feel more relaxed and more limber than before, but less so than when I’ve practiced yoga in the past. I believe this may be due to cutting down on my sugar intake during these past 30 days too, and the effect that has had on my body as I detox has not been enjoyable. In fact, some of the days I didn’t practice I was feeling extreme fatigue and/or suffering from headaches.

Moving forward, I do feel confident that I’ve broken in a new habit. I fully intend to keep practicing yoga at least 3 to 4 days a week! Who’s with me!?

Yoga Challenge Update

Alright, I am about halfway through my 30 Day Yoga Challenge and I decided to check in and let y’all know how I’m doing…

I missed a day…blargh! It was a Saturday. The day went by and before I knew it I was crawling into bed, dozing off and jolting awake when I realized I’d neglected my yoga! Part of me feels terrible, but I do realize I want to create a lasting habit out of this challenge and some days will be missed. I didn’t use it as an excuse to give up and I won’t give up!

Giving up energy drinks and sodas

Growing up, I remember when fast food was a treat we were bought every other week or so and I remember when I wasn’t allowed to drink any soda with caffeine in it, not to mention energy drinks. If I was allowed soda at all, it had to be something caffeine free.

As I grew up I was given more allowances and I was allowed to start making my own decisions. I was introduced to caffeinated soda and still maintained a healthy distance.

As an adult I’ve started an office job that is relatively stressful, but not painfully so. I started buying caffeinated sodas and eventually graduated to energy drinks to “treat” or “reward” myself during the work day, but it’s become too frequent. I can feel the negative effects of the sugar and caffeine in these drinks on my mind and body, but I still crave them anyway! As we plan on starting a family I think it’s time to find some healthier “treat” or “reward” options and get back to my healthier habits. As of last Friday, I’ve stopped drinking sodas and energy drinks. It’s definitely rough while my body is figuring out how to cope without all the sugar and caffeine, but it’ll pass!

30 Days of Meditation

Yesterday I posted a challenge to myself to complete 30 Days of Yoga; no excuses, no exceptions. Today i’d also like to throw some more fuel on that fire and give myself another challenge to complete 30 days of meditation.

Sometimes I think about things a little too intently and I build up a lot of pent up anxiety about a wide variety of mostly meaningless topics. I think taking the time to clear my head and focusing myself each day will do a lot of good in my life.

To get myself started, I downloaded the Stop, Breathe, and Think app on my iPhone/iPad which provides different focuses of meditation based on how you’re feeling. You can either complete their self assessment exercise and they will recommend meditations for you or you can select your own without the assessment.

30 Day Yoga Challenge

Once, long ago, I was in the habit of practicing yoga every day. During that time, I felt better physically and mentally than I had in a long time prior. I miss that feeling and I want it back. The problem is, I’m lazy. I start again for a few days, then get bored or make excuses and fall off track.

So here it is, I’m going to do 30 days of yoga; no breaks, no excuses.

I use an application on my iPad called Yoga Studio.

Yoga Studio provides several “classes” per competency level, lasting different lengths and focusing on different goals. Just as an example, I can take a class for beginner strength lasting 30 minutes or mix 15 minutes of beginner combination with 15 minutes of beginner flexibility, depending on my attention span and how I feel.

Individually each of these practices are powerful in their own right and each serves a particular purpose. When practiced with intention and consistency, they develop stamina, strength, energy, flexibility and inner peace. Yoga has numerous health benefits including improvements in cardiovascular, musculo–skeletal and mental health.

At the end of my 30 day challenge, I will have (hopefully) created a good habit and continue practicing yoga without the need to create a challenge like this.

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We went camping!?

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Cameron and I went camping with his family at Lopez Lake this weekend! It was the first time we’ve been camping together and the first time I’ve been camping since my Girl Scout days in high school and before, and boy, was I out of practice!

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As much as I’ve always loved nature, I’ve grown close to technology and haven’t really thought about how much I’ve come to rely on it. Cameron’s parents and his brother’s family own campers, so it was an easier transition after all these years to have them nearby with electricity and running water (including toilets and showers)! Cameron and I opted to sleep in a tent and while the padding underneath us was comfortable and the sleeping bags were warm, I did not sleep as well as I hoped.

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I dragged my sleepy self out of bag on Saturday morning and after a hearty breakfast, we all went for a walk with the dogs. The scenery was just as beautiful as I remembered, but it really broke my heart, and put the drought into perspective, when I saw just how low the water has sunk. We were walking on a dried out bed of sand and brush that used to be completely under water with the banks high above us and it was incredibly humbling.

When we returned to camp there was some free time and even though I brought my iPhone, iPad and Nintendo 3DS along with me, I ultimately found myself wanting to read whenever we weren’t socializing. We talked, we laughed, we ate a lot of tasty food and celebrated our Nephew’s birthday, it was a good weekend!

2016 Game Progress

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One of the new year’s resolutions I gave myself this year is to play and complete 16 video games within this year of 2016. So far I’ve played and completed 7 games and I’m currently playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which is a mammoth of a game, believe me!

Other games I’ve completed are:

Lara Croft Go
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power
Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End