13 in 2013

Well Hello February. My first realization of 2013 is that I am becoming the queen of the unfinished projects. Sticky notes with never ending to-do lists are strewn around my apartment and unfinished blog posts seem to be filling my computer files. When I left my old job to take time to travel I realized that everyday life’s schedule, repeating over and over, surprisingly leaves little time to do new things. There is so much comfort in what we know, but, I’ve found when you break away from that daily routine to learn and feel so much more. Not always positive, but it brings awareness to who you are. My New Year’s resolutions are a combination of activities and conscious moments. Being home I’ve realized that my comforts have limited my conscious perspective. Therefore I’m adding them to my Resolution list so I am ever so aware and with hopes of gaining new perspective, which was easier to obtain while traveling abroad.

I was so excited to ring in 2013 with hopes that it was going to be a wonderful year. I don’t even really know what gave me that hope. The big 30 celebration this year which is looming over my shoulder seems to be more powerful than I thought. I know I wrote “Age is just a number” but there is something about this year that has a power over me… makes me a little crazy, sometimes irrational, but excited as well. I have come up with a 13 to do in 2013 (in no particular order) and I am going to use Prue.Simple.Bliss and you all to be my witness so that I can follow through:

1. Run Hood to Coast Relay: This just happens to fall on my big 30 weekend, but my sister and brother-in-law talked me into it so watch out Oregon here we come!

2. Complete my first Marathon: I have wanted to do this for a while and with training to run a relay two months earlier I figured why not, Chicago Marathon 2013.

3. Make every recipe in the cook book Forks Over Knives: I’ll get into more detail about this soon, but so far I’ve learned some amazing cooking tricks and my belly has been very satisfied.

4. Add into my yoga practice Head Stand: This is a combination of fear and strength, two things I am happy to work on.

5. Add into my yoga practice Hand Stand: See above

6. Complete my yoga teacher training certification: I am well on my way and will have updates soon. Currently I am in the middle of our anatomy section, after getting over the “gross-ness” of the descriptions I can’t believe how intricate, strong and yet fragile the human body is. Maybe if we were all a little more educated we would realize why we need to take better care of ourselves.

7. Try to learn to appreciate meditation: For a mind that is always on go I cherish the moment I can sit and focus and clear my mind.

8. Start up and cultivate my Yoga Gives Back project: Again a realization I had a while back, one of those unfinished blogs, but I will post more soon.

9. Set a new half marathon PR: Number 5 will hopefully give me a new PR.

 

10. Finish my travel writing about Vietnam: These pictures should say enough.

 

 

11. Challenge myself outside of my comfort zone: While traveling I was constantly challenging myself, and in the end I really liked the person who came out of every challenge. I want to find a way to keep cultivating this growth without having to leave the country.

 

(Trying some type of herb wrap to bring good fortune in Vietnam)

12. Learn what it means to be content: An idea that is both scary and foreign. As American’s we are taught to go for the goal, be number one, constantly competing. While I value our ambition I don’t know if it leads to happiness. It’s a theory that needs some work, but I want to know if it is possible to be content and yet still motivated in life.

13. Have fun dating: uh… er… ah, dating blows, I love when people who are off the market say, “oh I loved dating I’m so jealous that you can still do that”. I pretty much want to give that person the finger. But you know I need to change my perspective and get out there. One of my friends jokingly said “you could blog about it.” Well maybe I will! Yesterday I was looking at a profile the guy said “Loves: Meat, vegetarians and vegans need not apply.” If only they could all be that honest!

 

Self Imposed Restrictions

I’ve tried to set some rules and limits for myself to help me better immerse my mind, body and spirit into this experience while at the Ashram:

1. No iPad for videos or iPod for music

2. During Monday through Friday eat only the meals provided by the Ashram

3. No snacking on stash of Lara Bars and Mojo Bars in suitcase

4. Limit internet time and don’t use Facebook

5. No missing any class, especially the 6 am class unless severely ill

By day five my energetic high that I blogged about had faded into the night and my alarm woke my grouchy self. Even the early morning chanting and yoga couldn’t relieve the grouch inside of me. Breakfast was the same old pile of yellow curried grain, and while the flavor isn’t bad, its definitely not a recipe I’ll be asking the chefs for. So after my philosophy class, I came back to room with one thing on my mind, Mojo. Taking out a Mojo bar, I slowly unwrapped the wrapper as if I were Charlie from Willy Wonka and this was my chocolate bar with the golden ticket. The first bite was so wonderful, I felt as if I was at a weight loss camp and I had snuck a Snickers past the counselors, devilish success. Of course all of these restrictions are of my own doing and everyone else is doing what works for them. But as I enjoyed every delicious bite of salty, sweet, crunchy goodness, I looked over my list to see what other self imposed restrictions I could break. Nothing looked as inviting as maybe a second Mojo bar, although I resisted.

After our 4:30 yoga secession I went back to the stash and enjoyed a cherry pie Lara bar and smiled with every bite.

Saturday morning I woke with ease having earned a extra thirty minutes of sleep. Our class flew by and then we were free. I was so ready for a break from the Ashram, and I would start with a breakfast that didn’t contain dinner from the night before. We headed through the alleyway of Rishikesh to a restaurant called The Office, I’m still not quite sure why, as the interior doesn’t resemble an office, but I couldn’t focus on anything but the most amazing Chia I had ever had. The seasoning of ginger, cardamom and cinnamon fused together so well, nothing like the Chia in the states, it was a truly heavenly experience. And then I was delivered this:

I know what your thinking, “No! Why would you eat fresh fruit” because look at it, how can you say no. That combined with the fact that fellow yoga students have been eating this for a week made me know I was safe. Fresh fruit toped with yogurt (curd), honey and musili. Heaven, and the grand total for this amazing meal 100 rupees, about $1.75.

We spent the day walking the crowded streets of Rishikesh trying to avoid the guys in orange. They are young men, who make a yearly pilgrim through Rishikesh collecting water at the Ganga river which they carry back to their home where they will pour it into a fountain for the God Shiva. The streets are crowded with them shouting, chanting and blowing whistles. That mixed with the other shoppers, cows and motorbikes makes it hard to contain the inner calm I had worked so hard on at the Ashram. We walked up to Laxman Jhula which is the town north of Rishikesh known as the backpackers area. We stopped to enjoy a refreshing coffee frappe and air conditioning, taking a break from the heat and honking that seems to have followed me from Delhi with vigor. By the time we started to walk back to the Ashram, a man who had been hassling us to buy his postcards got the harshest no that has come from my lips yet. I immediately felt bad, knowing that he was just trying to make money and persistence probably works occasionally, but my calm had officially cracked and I was ready to seek refuge away from the India I know so well.

We ventured out one more time that night for dinner and I enjoyed a Paneer Butter Masala and Garlic Naan. While I was craving Paneer (Indian cheese which I actually first thought was tofu) I was unfortunately rushed through my meal because we had to get back to the Ashram before the gates closed at 9:30 and I knew being locked out would seriously break my sanity. But through this day away from my routine I realized I still have much to work on, but now I know testing my inner peace in India is the best test I think I can do.