Archive for January, 2012
I had a major epiphany the other day over mimosas and heuvos rancheros. (An excellent recipe for eureka! moments, by the way.) I’m sitting with my soul sister Kristan talking about all the ideas I have for the next year, all the ideas I’ve had in the past, and how things always seem to turn out differently than originally planned.
In the past three years, I’ve planned I-don’t-know-how-many businesses. And I have the domain list to prove it. I’ll be the first to admit my domain-buying addiction. It’s like revisiting photos of past lovers when I look at that list of .coms, each with its own story and happy memories.
There was the national chain of wellness centers based off the Massage Envy empire. I was even prepared to take a part-time admin job there in order to learn the ins and outs of their corporate structure. (I still think this has major legs…someone please make it happen!)
Or the health and wellness website that was going to revolutionize the industry where users could personalize their own eating preferences, recipes and goals, plus setup sessions with virtual health coaches across the world. Here’s the highlight of that idea process: One night, my then-boyfriend dragged me to see Star Wars (or was it Star Trek? Clearly I was dying to see it.) I was so excited about this website that I was having trouble concentrating on the movie and actually walked out of the theater, went five blocks back to our apartment, sat on the couch with my laptop and began brainstorming like a maniac. But not before I sent my man a texting saying “Sorry babe, was too inspired, had to come home and brainstorm.”
Last year, while in India, I went as far as setting up a website and had ongoing dialogue with a list of manufacturers before deciding I didn’t want to pursue selling Indian lamps and lanterns, after all. To this day I still have a massive obsession with Indian lamps. They’re gorgeous!
Fair trade yoga pants. Couples yoga retreats. Daily Asana iPhone app.
I could look back on these plans and feel discouraged for not following through. I could feel embarrassed because I’ve spent a lot of time, money and energy on them and actively voiced these plans to friends and family more times than I can count. But I don’t, not for a second.
Instead, I look at it like this: none of these have been “the one”. And I know this because at some point in the process, I lost interest for one reason or another. But each has taken me closer to my own truth and current successes that are unfolding as we speak.
Yoga workshops, virtual lifestyle lectures, a super exciting dating series and more. There is a lot of amazingness in the works here and as all of the best things do, they each came about quite organically.
Back to mimosas and brunch. I realized then and there that ideas are not just thoughts; they go much deeper than that. They are relationships with our thoughts, a relationship that you develop, nurture, have conversations with, try on for a while. And maybe, just maybe…
if you like their style…
if they excite you…
if they are aligned with your passions and values…
if you think you’ll be really happy with them for years to come…
if you have major respect for them and they challenge you to be better every day…
…then you know you’ve got the right idea.
From there, it’s up to you to nurture a deep, lasting relationship and start taking some serious action.
By the way. These ideas I mentioned above? That’s only about half the list. The other half are still too cool to let go of quite yet, so I’ve got them in my little black book for those lonely nights.
**
For all you New Year’s Resolution people, here’s one to add to your list:
Buy a foam roller. Now.
Don’t like resolutions? Fine.
Backache? Stiff neck? Sore shoulders? Tight hamstrings? Tight…ass?
I repeat. Buy a foam roller. Now.
I swear, this thing has done more for me in the past week than anything else. As you might remember, my body has been testing me in all sorts of ways in the past few months. First a back injury, then a broken foot, then major muscle and joint pain. The back was by far the most debilitating though. A few days before Christmas I was at a theater and actually had to leave because it hurt so badly to sit in the seat. The back doctor I saw basically told me to “avoid forward bending for 8 weeks.” Um…ok. YOU TRY THAT.
I know that things are getting tighter these days since I’ve had to pretty much avoid all traditional yoga poses (broken foot = big clunky boot). So about a week ago I decided I was going to try anything and everything I knew I could do on my mat. Starting with kneeling sun salutations. I’m going to post a video of this little ditty soon, but it goes like this:
- Child’s pose
- Inhale to knees, arms to sky
- Exhale hands down in front to you, slide forward as you bring chest and chin to the floor (hips up, back arched)
- Finish exhale with entire body on mat, hands underneath shoulders
- Inhale into cobra, draw shoulders back, collarbone wide
- Exhale push back into child’s pose
- Repeat 8-10x
My teacher Marco taught this in his Slow Flow and I just fell in love with the practice. Opens hips, chest, shoulders, side body and gets spinal fluids going. Score!
But wait, this is about foam rolling. Yes. Meet your new best friend:
Foam rollers feel really hard and I’m not gonna lie, they hurt. But it’s that GOOD HURT – the one that makes you beg for the male massage therapist with the big hands. That’s how you know you’re hitting the good spots!
So what should you use it for, you ask? Everything.
I intuitively knew the tightness in my back was stemming from a lot of places: glutes, hamstrings, IT band, quads and the muscles from the neck down to the sacrum. Yes – that’s a lot. Yet it’s all the same. Remember the conversation about fascia? Everything is connected, so are you really surprised?
My favorite is workin’ the piriformis and the glutes (ie. your booty!):
Click through for some other tips from Runner’s World.
For those of you with pain and tightness in the shoulders, try rolling along your mid- to upper-back with your hands laced behind the nape of your neck. Every time I do this, I literally hear cracking along my spine and it feels like an instant chiropractic adjustment. It got rid of this nagging pain in my right shoulder literally in one day.
The coolest thing about foam rolling is that you are basically getting free myofascial release therapy and you control everything: the pressure, how long you spend on one area, what gets more attention. So here’s what you can do.
- Use the foam roller every day after you stretch. (You are stretching, right?)
- Roll slowly and evenly. Imagine a massage: how slow do you like it?
- If you’ve got serious IT band tightness from running, cycling, etc. be sure to give the outside of your thighs extra attention
- When you hit a spot that is really talking to you – and believe me, you will – stay there for at least 30 seconds
- It’s going to hurt at times. If an area is too tender, adjust your body weight accordingly
- Breathe through the pain and mentally soften the spots you’re working
- Remember: You can’t release muscles when you’re tightening them!
You can buy these for very little money and in different sizes. I opt for the shorter one because it’s easier to maneuver and I can travel with it. In fact, I took this home for Christmas and after all the gifts were opened, guess what my 4 nieces and nephews were fighting over to play with??
Cheers to rolling into 2012 tension-free!
Amy Carole
