A challenge about nothing

I love a good fitness goal. Nary a month goes by that a sticker sheet doesn't grace my refrigerator, because Lord knows nothing motivates movement like the promise of a gold star. My past sticker sheets have helped me train for a 5K, spurred me to ride my bike to work as often as possible, and motivated me to get on my mat every day for months at a time. So, as I approach a little down time in my life as some obligations have fallen away, I began thinking about my next challenge. I'm all set to recreate one of last year's fitness challenges, Baron Baptiste's 40 Days to Personal Revolution, in which I follow his assigned yoga sequences, building week to week until I'm practicing for an hour and a half each day. Commence the Revolution, right?

Not quite. I began my 40 days today by heading over to my favorite studio, Main Street Yoga, for a refreshing hatha flow class taught by my favorite instructor, Jim. The class was going well, until Jim talked me into Tree pose. Now, I rock at Tree. No, really, I usually can hop up and down and do flag  semaphore without falling out of Tree. But today, I was all over the place. Jim said, "A quiet mind is all that is needed for a strong, silent tree." And it struck me. My brain's a wreck. Here I am, teaching yoga and meditation and leading others into stillness, and I can't even balance on one leg because my mind is sprouting out all over the place.

This year, my 40 Days will actually include Baron's meditation portion, which builds from just five minutes a day (which I do most days anyway), to 30 minutes a day, on top of the asana sequences. Because I have no trouble getting motivated to move, but moving toward stillness is another matter altogether.

So here goes ... nothing.

Punk Rope strikes back

I'm not usually one to seek a workout that leaves me bruised, but I must admit that last night's free Punk Rope class from MSCR was an absolute blast! Jess awakened the 8-year-old within me as we practiced heart-pounding tricks that I hadn't tried since my playground days. I'm all about getting a workout that doesn't feel at all like work (see also: Hip Hop Hustle), so I think I found my new favorite class. It was so much fun, I signed up to take the teacher training workshop so I can bring this class to my participants, too.

Want in on the fun? Check out Jess's site, Inner Strength Fitness, to find her calorie-burning classes. Trust me, the welts on my arm didn't hurt beyond that initial sting. And they're an awesome reminder that I can still feel like a fearless, bouncy kid again.

Practicing happiness

There are times when I am astounded at the different ways that we humans respond in times of stress. It's so very easy to throw a pity party when life doesn't behave exactly the way that we want. So often we let ourselves surrender to sadness and frustration when we could make the choice to frame any bumps in our road as an opportunity to practice steering toward health. That's why I found so much to love about Richard Davidson's new book, "The Emotional Life of Your Brain." In it, the acclaimed doctor of affective neuroscience uncovers insights from his decades of scientific research on the brain. He's studied countless brains, from those of lifelong meditators to those of veterans suffering from PTSD, and he concludes in his book that personality is composed of six basic emotional dimensions that reflect the discoveries of modern research.

Where would you fall on the spectrum of Resilience or Outlook or Self-Awareness? You can find out by completing the survey in Davidson's book, and then read about the ways we can train our brains to start living joyfully. As Davidson said when I interviewed him for the Wisconsin State Journal, "We often think that happiness and well-being are just fixed traits. But all the evidence now suggests that’s simply a misconception. You can think of happiness in the same way that you think of playing the violin. If you practice, you’ll get better at it."

Read the story at madison.com, and then resolve to practice joy.

My inspiration!

Some days I wonder what a mild-mannered yoga teacher like me is doing teaching a hip-hop dance class. And then I show up for Hip Hop Hustle at MSCR, and my ladies blow me away. We dance, we sweat, we laugh and we pose like the bad@sses that we are. This photo was taken right after my gorgeous group of gals performed a minute-and-a-half dance routine to Pitbull/Fergie/Busta Rhymes. That gym floor was on fire! Check it out, there's even a grandma in this class, and when she shared with me that her granddaughter thought it was SO COOL that Grandma danced hip hop, any doubts I had walking into class were demolished. I'm so lucky to be able to dance wildly and to share it with such a spirited, special group!

Welcome to Deep Breath In!

Those who know me best know that I love to talk about yoga. A blog seemed the next natural step for me, to encourage a dialogue about health, wellness, books, crafts, cats – anything that gets my chakras whirling. For my inaugural post, I'd like to share a story that I wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal about the controversial topic of yoga injuries.

Bill Broad wrote a fascinating book called "The Science of Yoga," which has yoga teachers all twisted into knots. He discusses cases of yoga practitioners who have suffered injuries that range from broken bones to paralyzing strokes. I spoke with Madison's yoga guru Scott Anderson, who agreed with Broad's message of "Buyer Beware" when it comes to safety in yoga.  All the experts I consulted agree – the key to a safe yoga practice is knowledge of one's own body. As my friend Jess said, "Everyone owns their own body. If something feels wrong, don't do it."

Read the story at madison.com.