Author name: Kyra

Personal Growth, Yoga

DON’T RUN OVER THE BABY GEESE!!!!!

By /

Driving to work today I saw 2 parent geese trying to shepherd 2 baby geese across 21st street. There were a variety of styles of vehicles slowing down. Not not slowing down. For a moment, I thought one of the cars was going to hit them all. My heart spasm’d. Like STOPPED. “Oh no…PLEASE DON’T RUN OVER THE BABY GEESE!” My heart screamed out to this person a couple of cars in front of me. Someone honked at them, everyone stopped, and these poor frightened baby geese scurried across the street to safety.

What a parallel to how we live our lives. 

Some of us are LOST. In a big way. We don’t see the geese. We don’t acknowledge their place in the world. We don’t acknowledge our RESPONSIBILITY to live cohesively in the world with others EQUALLY. The Disconnected

Some of us sort of get it. We slow down, we might be a bit impatient, and perhaps guilt is what is mainly stopping us. How would you feel if you killed a baby goose. The Fearful

Some of us smile when we see the geese crossing. We stopped in plenty of time, we enjoy the sight. The Peaceful

And perhaps some of us are even more AWARE, watchful and protective. We stop AND we scan around to see that others are aware and stop too. The Warriors

How do you LIVE your life?

For me, honestly, a combination of them all, shifting a lot. My mind next traveled to how I parent my children. Some days I’m totally in a rush. Disconnected. Other times, HONESTLY, some times I got to dig deep and act a certain way with my kids, for fear of…what others will think, how my 14 year old with respond and will he next do what I need because of the “rush” that causes the disconnected and  blah blah blah. Some days I’m in the groove and feel like super parent. And anyone that knows me knows I’ve got plenty of The Warrior, for my kids and everyone else as well.

I think the magic happens when we can sculpt our lives in such a way…to give ourselves the chance at being at the higher levels of living. Knowing that you’re DISCONNECTED is a great step. Look around and see what’s not working. How things could be different. CHANGE IT! Try something different. Reassess.

JUST KEEP LIVING. 

And please stop for the baby geese.

Yoga

I ran into God today.

By /

I really loved my father-in-law. When I met my husband, I knew right away he was a keeper. He is a wonderful man. His dad taught him well.

His dad was awesome. He was a Shriner, a clown. A really good man. And I loved him dearly. My children loved him dearly. So when his illness wore on and on, witnessing him deteriorate and die a slow and painful death was very difficult.

When he was finally released from his suffering, it was bittersweet. A bright spot was gone. The suffering was gone.

At the funeral, a wondrous thing happened. I was the photographer, capturing the moments; grief, well wishes, love, compassion. And a TON of beauty. It was EVERYWHERE. It was almost intoxicating. The smiles of the family. The children that he loved so much, rejoicing in the day because death to them is different than to us. The cemetery was so secluded, we were the only people on the planet at that time, like time had almost stopped.

At the end, I was full of grief, I didn’t want to say the final goodbye. I didn’t want to walk away; to never see him, hear his laugh, see him hug my children. I was hanging back, feeling as if I was about to slowing melt into a puddle of sadness.

Then in the next instant all I could hear was the breeze through the trees. It was so intense, it was as if I could hear the sunrays travel between the trees to my face. I looked to my left as if someone had called my name and I saw these three deer that had wondered up to our ceremony.

In an instant all my pain was gone. My heart was filled with joy. I knew that my father-in-law as comforting me. Telling me “It’s not goodbye. I am right here.” So many years ago, and I can still hear the breath of God through the trees.

Today, as I was running, I was wrestling with something. My heart and mind going at it. I’ve been wrestling with this thing for quite a while now.

At just the moment when I was going to AGAIN but this thing on the back burner, I run into my three friends.

I smiled.

“OK.  I HEAR YOU!!!!!”

Action to follow.

Eating, Prevention

Love for your eczema

By /

A skin disorder that flies below the wire. Can be irritating. So whats to do?

Understanding why you get it. Good start. Can be triggered by this and that and blahdie blahdie BLAH!

WHY. Because your skin is a reflection of your internal health status. Your gut is upset, you might have acne on your face. Your hormones are out of balance, you might have breakouts under the chin. You don’t drink enough water, your skin might be scaly. Even the wrinkles on your face tell a story!

My middle son Kai has a list of issues that we have been working with. Since birth. So when a new one came around, a patch of skin that turns out to be ECZEMA, I was like…REALLY? Another thing.

We work REAL hard to keep the allergies and asthma/heart stuff in check, so I was thinking, “OK. His nutritional status is exceptional. So the eczema solution might not be in the nutrition department.”

Then I looked in my bathroom cupboard filled with wonderful things. And spied on what I used on my face for acne that helps me a TON.

tea-tree-and-lavender

Tea tree and lavender mixed one to one. These are Young Living Essential Oils, as I value the quality. You might ask why they work?

Food is medicine. Plants are medicine.

Tea Tree (Melaleuca):  antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti fungal, antiviral = GOOOOOD Stuff.

Lavender: antiseptic, pain reliever = GOOOOOD Stuff too. And smells wonderful. Very calming.

So for Kai’s spot of eczema. Worked like a charm. Week or so of 2 applications a day. Presto. And STRONG encouragement not to itch. 🙂

If you want to try it. Give me a shout. You can purchase the oils through me or I can make up some to try.

These two together = FIRST AIDE.

Personal Growth

Toss another LOG on the fire

By /

Struggle is just another word for growth.

I like to think each is another log on the fire. Burn it for fuel.

We usually try and avoid struggling.  Or find the quickest route out of it.  And with this we have tiny little fires that don’t keep shit warm.

Yoga — escape valves

In alignment based yoga, when we encourage (strongly sometimes) the body to stay in alignment, it’s harder, but we find rewards if we stick. Example: Seat forward fold. And you let your feet rotate like a monkey. This results in missing one of the hamstring muscles. If this is habitual, then you got part of the hamstring that’s tighter than the rest. OUCH. Takes a bit of nagging, but learning to keep the four corners of the feet equally pushing out results in happiness.

Sometimes it’s ok to turn and avoid the lesson, but not because we don’t have the skill to stick.

If you have what it takes, you KNOW what the heck your doing, and you decide, to turn back. OK. That’s educated. Not blind without courage. Some days you just don’t have the energy to stick. You might need to pull back, collect yourself, go at it again later.

BUT…you might need to stick. Or learn how to stick. Learn to keep the fire burning hot.

Check out this experience. It hammered me so much, I laid on the couch for most of the day.

My first open water swim was good. Went smooth, no big deal. So I thought to myself…”CHECK. Another struggle concurred. Fire’s burning HOT!”. hahahaha. Either I was foolish or I didn’t remember to knock on wood.

My second open water swim was a much different experience. It was windy. Strange things were going on in my lungs. OMG. Either I drank too much lake water or I had an asthma attack. Either way. It was REALLY hard. And I was pissed. It wasn’t like the first swim AT ALL. That pissed me off. I couldn’t really get things in check, that pissed me off. Having my “struggle” unchecked, that…you know, pissed me off.

first-open-water-swim1I wanted to cry like a baby and quit. THAT pissed me off.

It was a REALLY BIG CHALLENGE…to try and go back to it. Face in the water, relax, roll, breathe, stroke, relax, roll…come up sputtering, cough up a lung, sputter sputter…relax, roll, breathe, stroke…

I had to shorten the swim, everyone else did 3 laps. I did 2. That…you know, didn’t exactly piss me off, I was starting to feel defeated at this point. Made me want to cry, throw a tantrum, throw in the towel, get out of the water. Yank off my stupid shark fin swim cap and go home saying, “fork it”, “what the heck do I need to do this crazy stuff for anyway…”

My coach kept telling me I did awesome. Part of me was thankful he was there, giving me comfort and warmth, another part of me was saying “whatever, that SUCKED, liar liar liar”. Who was louder…I have no idea. I was feeling really bad, like I was folding in on myself. crazy.

All I knew was that I was going to get on my bike despite how HORRIBLE I felt. I was going to stick. Push through. Wasn’t like I hadn’t done this before. Got it done.

Got home. Thank goodness. Laid on the couch for HOURS. Resting. Recovering. Licking my wounds?

Today I was talking to myself. “You know, Rockstar, that was hard stuff. Probably not the hardest (OMG), but…you made it through it. You STUCK. You learned. You’re stronger for it. Fire’s burning nice and hot today.”

So I guess I should apologize to my coach for calling him a liar in my head.  🙂

Because I AM A ROCKSTAR. Burning nice and hot. And isn’t that a lovely picture he took of another team member. Just beautiful. That’s what I’ll focus on for next time.

Personal Growth, Yoga

Not Just doing …. BECOMING

By /

We DO diets. We DO New Year’s Resolutions. We DO training. We DO the things that get us to the goal. We DO “be nice and say our prayers”. We try this and we try that. We DO a lot of things.

But what ARE we? What are we BEING when we are DOING all of this DO?

Is there some spot on the map, “DESTINATION”, that we are trying to get to by all this doing?

Am I a crazy stressed out person playing “calm” when I swim or when I attempt to parent my children.

Or am I moving towards BECOMING CALM.

Am I shedding the layers that manifest the crazy stressed out. Am I CALM already, deep inside? Is CALM something I have to learn, or relearn, then BECOME?

The getting to this place called DESTINATION?

Do we throw the map away? Is the spot not the point? Is it about the ability to morph? Go through constant metamorphosis. Always changing. Always becoming. Always ALREADY being at the DESTINATION?

Changing. Really changing. Not just faking it, not sort of lying to ourselves, or playing a part. Really changing. Letting go of ourselves, having faith that the next stage will be more beautiful.

Must be scary for the caterpillar to go into his sack for a bit, sightless. And what an awe; wouldn’t it be cool to experience what the butterfly must experience emerging new. Transformed. ABLE TO FLY. The world to look so different.

Having BECOME something different. To grace the world with beauty.

For real world application. Do you practice yoga and when the series is done, step up to the top of the mat and let everything hang out waiting for the next instruction? Do you slouch in the grocery store aisle? Are you calm with those you want to impress and yell at your children or spouse? Do you give grace to others when they make a mistake, but not to yourself when you do?

Are you DOING? Are you BECOMING?

Eating

I love Burritos

By /

I love love love burritos. Especially breakfast burritos. Very satisfying to me. And perhaps they are the key to the plateau I’ve found myself on.

I eat pretty good. I’m healthy. I very rarely get sick. I heal pretty fast. I haven’t been to the doctor in awhile.

However, I ask A LOT of my body. A lot. I have a lot on my plate. I’m not all that great at handling stress. I’m way too busy. I have my vices. So, this plateau thing. I’ve been keeping things in check, but with the training, well, my body is sending me signals it’s time to up my skills. I’m not able to get by anymore, so time to up my game.

Enter the burrito. FAST. EASY. FAST and EASY. Easy Peasey Lemon Squeezey. You can dump a ton of stuff in there; the tortilla is a beautiful thing.

I’ve got to throw this in there: I eat a lot of Juice Plus too. A LOT. It’s the foundation support my body needs. Helps it to utilize anything else I feed it. Raises the ORAC value for the smarties.

exps43084_TH1789929D33CBack to the burrito: What am I stuffing in there?

Flaxseed: anticancer, fiber, really good for you. But check this out. ANTI-INFLAMMATORY. AKA love for the knees and hips. Grind in up and dump some in. I eat a lot a day, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 a cup a day.

Eggs: good for the eyes, 6 grams of protein (just about a complete protein), 9 essential amino acids. Choline. Nice fat. (your brain is mostly fat people. You need fat. You need fat in the bloodstream for energy. Nice source of B12 for those not a big fan of animal meat.

Baby spinach: good source of iron. So good for the blood. Calcium. Has a ton of other valuable nutrients in it. Amazing. It also helps connective tissue heal. So, for those of us doing crazy things, it’s the internal bandage. So I just put this in with the breakfast burrito. Yum.

Beets: big supporter of the cardiovascular system. Tons of folate, copious amounts of Vit C, Bs and other stuff. It’s your BM friend too! I boil them and eat them in chucks like potatoes. And recently I’ve tried them shredded, cooked like hash browns and mixed in the breakfast burrito bowl full of goodness. Kind of crazy color though.  🙂

Avocado: Vit K, b6, c. Fiber. Good fat. Potassium (helps to regulate blood pressure). So I spoon it out and put it with the beans, tomatoes and garlic.

Tomatoes: anticancer, good for cardiovascular (which means good for everything else!) Dice ’em up and dump them with the beans or eggs.

Garlic: Antibacterial. Rich in antioxidants. Great for the blood. Tastes great and keeps the vampires away, for the runs after dark.

Beans: Out of a can, refried, mash your self. Whatever. Protein. Fiber. Easy to digest. Tons of nutrients like calcium, iron, mg, potassium, mn, etc etc etc. Heart health people.

So bring on the burritos. For those of us that are busy. You can make up a batch of burritos in no time flat. Wrap them up, have a stash of them in the refrig for “grab and go”. Great recovery food for right after hard workouts. Good hot or cold. Awesomeness.

Personal Growth, Swimming, Triathlon

“Just Relax” – yeah yeah, tell me how…

By /

Sometimes we know what to do.  Just not how to get it done.

Couple of big sections of my life have intersected in this lesson mastered.

Learning how to not freak out in the pool. It’s a legitimate freak out. I almost drowned when I was little. I have always suffered from speech anxiety. Blah blah blah

The intersection.

During my adventures of “3 boy homeschooling” I’ve learned about the different learning types, how people experience life in vastly different ways. Number 1 is very visual, learns well from reading. Number two is insanely kinetic, learns by feel then by auditory input. And number 3 is a a sponge, learning equally well in all areas.

As a yogi, a big lesson is to learn how to connect with the body, how to control the breath. How to know whats going on, and things to do about it.

As a Gemini, Chinese Tiger. Female. Engineer. I might be more tightly wound than others. So…”just relax” is like a foreign language to me. Just hearing those words makes me more tense. This “just relax” command doesn’t come naturally to me. And I think it’s a bit challenging to work hard but remain relaxed.

So when my awesome swim coach on day one gave me just one homework assignment, to sing “I’m a little teapot” when I’m swimming. To try and relax. I thought “yeah yeah…”. I gave it a big try. Didn’t work.

Surprising because I’m into music in a big way. I even tried Little Bunny Foo Foo, more my style. Nope.

Then an awesome friend of mine, another fishy swimming person, reminded me of a yoga practice…”you love the water, FEEL the water, FEEL your body in the water. Focus on that. Not on relaxing so much, just being one with the water.”

PRESTO! Yoga in the water.  Me, my body and the water were one for 12 minutes.

Strength at Ease

Knowing how one experiences the world, communicating to them as they communicate…things really start to jell.

Gets pretty juicy. Super Fun.

Personal Growth, Triathlon, Yoga

Ironman >>> Power = Engery * Potential

By /

I’m a mechanical engineer. Crazy good in math and science. So my view of things is a bit different. I don’t think things are necessarily good or bad like we tend to label them. Just energy in one expression or another. I think everything, EVERYTHING, gets recycled. Mountains and volcanoes. Rain, clouds, lakes, ice and oceans. Laughs and tears, smiles and frowns. Words and actions. Thoughts and dreams.

In college I studied the bigger thoughts about science. And it’s totally CRAZY interesting how…10 years later, here I am, an employed yoga teacher using my engineering degree more than I ever have. WOOT!!!! And revisiting all the thoughts presented to me in those crazy classes. Just crazy awesome. Anyway. (I might type “crazy” just a couple more times before I’m done.)

This has been on my mind for awhile. When I rested on “YES, I’m training for a 1/2 Ironman“, I asked myself MANY MANY MANY times…WHY WHY WHY? So the rest of this is why. If you get it… I hope so.

I want to be powerful. I want softness. I want wisdom. I want to find the balance that I CAN ACHIEVE. I believe all of these things fit into the equation of personal power.

So for me…those limits are different than others, I push myself in different ways. Learning the same things. I want to move through this challenge from the heart. To travel through consciously and always having fun. Finding lessons along the way. Learning to honor myself, love myself, take care of myself, learning to keep the  ego at bay. It’s yogic.

I can’t help but get back to this “power” idea. This poor word… power. It’s inherited some bad flack. (EGO + POWER = ???)

Power: without it, NOTHING HAPPENS. It’s just want it is. The ability to do something, with a couple of systems to define it. Electrical, mechanical…It’s what gets you off the couch. Gets that car moving when you push the gas pedal down. Gets you into that situation that that isn’t all that great. Takes power to have courage. Power to get to you to the next crossroad. Overcome the obstacle. Takes power to push through to the next cycle.

Definition of power

1. Capacity to do something: the ability, strength, and capacity to do something
2. In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed.
3. equation

So what are we learning?????

The ability to turn on the power, keep it on as needed, then to shut it down. To be fully charged…full of power. A FULLY charged battery without much crust. Able to use what you got to do…X, Y or Z.

We learn this on the yoga mat, on the track, etc. The difficulty lies when we let the EGO add too much pooh and mess things up. We push too hard. Forget what in the world we are doing. Start competing with the…instructor, teacher, neighbor, magazine cover. We lose ourselves. That’s not uncommon. We do it all the time. It’s a habit. To lose ourselves. (fyi, it’s the power that gets us back to center.)

headstand-balance-1We center ourselves. Turn on the power. Start driving down the road we feel drawn to.

Sometimes you just got to throw it down! Bad ass style. Sometimes with more finesse. Sometimes you let it go by you with just a bit of a nod. Learning to deal with the power, it’s important. Like learning to race a super fast race horse. Where do we practice that? On the mat, the track, in the pool, in the meeting room, at the kitchen table. It’s everywhere. It’s just the words you put to it.

It’s like breathing. If things move, there is power. You want more more of it, learn to use it. If you want to be more efficient, learn to use it well.

Live It OUT LOUD. Anything else is…not human.  🙂

FYI, starting a power yoga class. This is what we will be learning.

Yoga

The Dance We Learn on Our Yoga Mat

By /

There as been a lot of conversation about yoga. In the papers, in books, everywhere. Admittedly, my thoughts have been roaming all over the place. As with the conversations, some positive, some negative. Inspiration and thought provoking.   Unknowing and stagnant.

And of course, with so many different people and so many different expressions of yoga. Like the cereal aisle. Toothpaste aisle. Shoe aisle. Parenting styles. Like the vast array of religious and spiritual flavors you have to chose from. Of course you’ll have this opinion and that.

I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned on the yoga mat. Where my thoughts have landed today.

There is this dance we learn on the yoga mat. The dance between Strength and Flexibility. The internal DISCOVERY of your strengths. Your weaknesses. Yoga would have you work with your strengths. Develop more strength an in area, more flexibility in another, balancing things out. And in this way, we learn BALANCE. Right here, right now.

It’s not about trying to get to some ideal. A picture of some super attractive person doing something that we all wish we could do. It’s about contentment right here, right now. With a healthy desire to right forward. We learn how to develop more balance. Right here, right now.

From this comes HEALING.

So the dance goes on. Through the steps of strength and flexibility, we dance through the cycle of Discovery – Balance – Healing. Things always changing. Changing partners, changing music. Always dancing.

Strength and flexibility dance
Together
Living Vibrantly
Finding Stilling in
the Moment

Live it out loud!

Personal Growth

The Train Station called Change

By /

It’s interesting how life is mainly change, yet we have get a pretty good habit of avoiding change, being very resistant to change. Change can be scary. The unknown can be scary. It seems that we are being programmed to “plan ahead”, “think ahead”, “have all your ducks in a row”, etc. I think planning is important, but not to the point were we aren’t flexible enough to duck and weave.

The other day I was meditating and a picture of a train station come into my mind. A big train station, like one you could experience in New York City. LOADS of people, and sounds. Things going really fast. The trains, the suitcases on wheels, the billion conversations that breeze by the ears. The peeping and bells, the dings and doors opening and closing. The hustle and bustle. The URGENCY.

I was thinking that I’m feeling like I’m standing in the middle of all that, with my life. With all the change going on. Things coming pretty fast. LOUDLY, from all different directions. It can get a bit overwhelming. Couple thoughts seemed to tone it all down.

Remember, you’re standing in the train station.

Not everything I see and hear needs my attention. My time. My effort. I can tune some of it out. Just look around, stay focused, use your plan/guide to help you know which you can tune out. If you’re not going out of the country, don’t look at that sign or sheet.

You can still go slow, even if everyone else is sprinting. Sometimes you might need to hurry your backside along, I think more often we can easily not hurry.

No location is bad. Just different. You’ll learn something along the way.

If you can’t choose with train, make the best guess. Knowing the last mentioned thought. And putting this one with it. You can ALWAYS get back on when you get there and return. You might see something you never expected, maybe even something you needed before you get to the train you “were suppose to be on”.

Change can be unpleasant. Difficult to remain relaxed and in harmony.

Change can also be liberating. Insightful. Fun.

Keep your sense of humor about you. Your plan/guide. And smile.

Scroll to Top