Wednesday, August 17, 2011

the whistle-blower

While most everyone (including me) has been watching this clip from Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, I thought I'd pass it along for my not so Facebook savvy readers.

I realize that may only be a few of you, but it shouldn't be missed. Chuckles all around.

Stewart hits home with spot-on analysis - cheers to Crazy Uncle Ron!
He's not unelectable if people vote for him.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Ron Paul & the Top Tier
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook

Also, while we're loving on technology (because I got fancy and inserted a video):
check out spotify.com . I do believe it's a game changer.

B

Thursday, August 4, 2011

afternoon escape

Let's talk exercise.

I've been trying to force myself to run for 10+ years and have never (ever) gotten the hang of it.  That natural 'high' and sense of accomplishment people claim they get after pounding the pavement? Garbage. I refuse to believe that anyone actually enjoys running. No matter how long, how paced, how well-practiced my run is, I hate every single, stupid second.

So what's a girl (who loves cooking with heavy cream and butter WAY too much) to do? Force herself to try any and every other form of exercise that comes her way. It was an exhausting and depressing endeavor until things drastically changed five months ago.

I've now permanently hung up (burned) my gym shoes, shorts and t-shirts. Now all I need is a towel, bottle of water, and just enough clothing to stay decent. What happened? I joined a Bikram yoga studio.

(Quick overview of Bikram--it's always the same 26 poses done in 90 minutes in a 105F heated room.  Humidity is usually somewhere between 35-50%. There are also periods of total stillness while your body re-energizes for the next posture. You've heard that variety is the spice of the exercising life, that you should always keep your body guessing by changing your workouts. Bikram takes the opposite approach - your body will constantly change so the practice needs to stay the same.)

I love it, so SO much!

Well, actually I hated it the first time so much I felt like crying. And I hated it the second time...and third time. And then - overnight - everything changed. My attitude, my energy level and my body completely rewired itself. A switch was flipped somewhere.

My instructors call Bikram a 'moving meditation', but that doesn't mean levitating or 'ohm-ing' the mind into oblivion. What it does mean is using every last drop of concentration in holding postures, keeping your balance and (above all) maintaining a steady breath. The benefits: cardio, strength training, core building, balance, flexibility, improvement of breath, metabolism booster, cold-killer, depression buster, etc etc.

(plus you get a hot bod just like this. tattoos not included)

Give it a good 3-4 tries before you decide whether or not you like it. Is it necessarily for everyone? Probably not; but I do know that my body responds very well (and very quickly) to yoga.

What I really want to try next is this:

Crazy, huh? But I'd give it a spin.

B