Day 48 - Twist those organs

I mean purify those orga...blergh gotta use the restroom again.

Twist after twist after twist.  Challenging as always, but loads of fun.

Believe it or not I deliberately said "no beef" to my bibimbap today and would have had a fully vegan meal but for the two small fishcakes I had on the side.  I just feel better when eating healthier and that is worth everything.

I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the supplements.  This is the first time I've been feeling "normal" off supplements.  But normal is still negative, pessimistic, gripey and generally tired.  Which beats the "feel like death" every day that usually happens when I come off supplements.   I keep wondering why not get the best of all worlds and have the yoga with the positive effects of the supplements?

Still struggling to focus, but that is improving too.  If I was certain to have focus and a full light at the end of the happiness tunnel I would stay off....more to think about

Day 41 - Want to sweat

Today's workout was tough as usual, but I noticed I'm really not sweating that much anymore.  I think it is a combination of (a) the cold; (b) holding back because of my back; and (c) getting used to the routines.  I'm thinking I may need to find ways to warm up and sweat more.

I'm wondering what to do re: supplements.  Each day is a challenge.  The yoga is really helping me through it, but just barely.  I'm still mostly unmotivated and generally feel like crap.  The first time I realized the supplements were dramatically artificially improving my mood, my response was - I'd rather be on these supplements than on prozac since I get an athletic benefit too and none of the side effects.

In 10 years of supplement usage I never had any prolonged negative side effects, though query whether the one way ratchet of mood elevation and my difficulty of finding joy/motivation once off them is the worst side effect of all.

A lot to think about.

Day 32 - Detoxify

Perfect idea to put the detox workout right before the vegan cleanse.  Good workout.  I finally got to a chiropractor.  His assessment - rib out of joint.  He popped it back in, but warned that it wouldn't stay.  He prescribed no pushups or other exercises that activate the back, which is no easy challenge with doing the Ultimate Yogi.

Had a nice meditation last night and pretty much passed out right after.

Really need more sleep though.  Cheated myself out of a good night's rest by getting up this morning only to realize that all I needed to do was Mountain pose.  Nothing eventful there except that doing all this without supplements or sleep is really hard.

Will give a better update about my first day of veganism tomorrow!

Days 18 & 19 - Double Your Money

2 posts for the price of one.  Doesn't get better than that?  Reason being - not much exciting to report.  After a day where I was too sick to get out of bed I did manage to bring myself to the mat for Yin Yoga yesterday.  It was just what the Dr. ordered and I honestly started feeling better afterwards.  But just being able to walk around again and get out of bed seemed like a miracle.  Also the mystery neck crook had returned and didn't seem to want to go away anytime soon.

Well the decision point came - do we give up our beloved dog of 4 years or do we try somehow to keep her despite our overly hectic schedules? Our mother-in-law had been taking care of her for the few months leading up to this, but suffered a broken elbow after slipping on the ice when our dog tugged on her.  The irony is I had just been saying to my mother-in-law the day before that we should consider finding the dog another home because it would be a better life for the dog.  Better than receiving two short walks each day and being left alone all day.  Better than being seen as a burden and a chore.  She should be somewhere she can run off lead and be with a family that loves her.  That is in the dog's best interest.  It is also in our best interest because we can relieve ourselves of the commitment.

But after spending a weekend with her a few things happened:

• I saw how loving an animal she is.  She came to curl up with me just like old times, keeping me warm when I was shivering from my illness, laying down outside of my son's room while he slept, and otherwise just being by our side.
• I realized how much my son loves her already.  He chases her around saying "Goo Gir" (good girl) and patting her.  He would feed her kibble by kibble.  The smile on his face is just priceless. What an amazing opportunity it is for him to grow up with the love of animals - something my parents never gave to me or my siblings and something we had to develop (and only some of us did).
• I came to understand that all her "bad behaviors" were really not hers at all, but rather the byproduct of bad ownership on our part.  I was saddened to see everyone else willing to discard her just because she was inconvenient, but all the memories of all the times she had been there for us in the last four years came flooding to me.  

So I decided I could not give up on her.  If she truly was a member of the family, something I always maintained, then I needed to fight for her like I would every other member of this ragtag group I call a family.  The dog stays.

As I wrote this she came into the living room and just jumped into my lap and laid down.  She's a great dog and indeed a "Goo Gir".

So with a clear conscience I awoke this morning and commenced the detox workout.  Partially due to the illness, this was easily the hardest workout I've faced yet and I was sweating buckets, but I made it through and at the time of writing this, I realize I haven't had medicine in nearly 8 hours and I feel great - except for that neck crank.

Day 17 - Strength through Sickness

Definitely caught my bros cold.  But it was great to see him nonetheless.  Still.  I'm feeling pretty exhausted and run down.  Last thing you need is a 5 hour flight (with the delays) when you are under the weather and DayQuil really doesn't do what it used to.  That's what I get for trusting in the "no more vitamins or supplements" philosophy that is all the rave now.  I have been sleeping just fine and otherwise keeping very healthy. :-/

Feeling way too tired to complete this post right now so let me leave the usual sarcastic jibes for another day.

Good to see my boy again.  Have an important decision to make this weekend...more on that later.

Day 12 - Get those toxins out

Wowza - today's detox workout was probably the hardest one I've faced so far, but also one of the most satisfying.  I had some of the best focus I've had yet.  I think the following contributed:

• Sleeping in and working out when the boy took his nap in the afternoon;
• A warmer living room; and
• Finding my breath.

This was perfect - especially b/c I did something very unnatural yesterday and zapped all my back hair. Yes, actually my 5th session of laser hair removal.  So painful and all for vanity, but yoga breathing helped sooooo much to avoid the pain.  Ironically the place I go to for hair removal also operates a yoga studio and I met the Yin Yoga teacher.  Go figure - maybe I will try it after I am done with the 108, but I still wonder if there is a contradiction in places that have that kind of focus on aesthetics also being a yoga studio.  Then again, I noticed while doing hardcore today that Travis Eliot's body is virtually hairless, yet he definitely has a healthy amount of stubble on his face.  Guessing that body is not naturally that (antonym of hirsute?)

Anyway - my few distraction thoughts today: Brazilian looking lady is named Patti (Patty?).  She is also hot.  One dude has a shitty blue tiger tattoo on his shoulder that reminds me of my best friend Bibo's shitty tiger tattoo.  That Lauren Eckstrom really is pretty hot.

Same thoughts as usual I guess, the key is that the frequency was much less.  I focused for most of the workout.  Still suffering on meditation though.

I also have a dilemma.  I'm traveling next week and thought was to do yoga in my hotel room by just bringing my DVDs, but after reaching out to a colleague to see if there was a good space she suggested a yoga class on the company campus.  I really want to check it out, but it is the same day as my cardio day so I don't think I could handle both workouts!