I’m not really a newbie, not anymore. But yoga is making me a NEW me, so that’s what I’m thinking about today. Being a newme.

Wanted to just share some things I’ve been spending my time lately thinking about.

“The thought manifests as the word, the word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit and the habit hardens into character. So watch the though and its ways with care…let it spring from love.”

Stepping back and simply observing the world without passing judgement makes it easier to tolerate change and allows you to let go of old ways of thinking and accept new ones.

We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our past action, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in the future can be produced by our present actions, so we have to know how to act.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

Now, let’s be honest. I’m pretty awesome :). So I’m not all trying to recreate me, me has a lot of good baggage I can be proud of. But starting a new thing, whether it is a commitment to work out or eat more chocolate, whatever it is, most people I see fail. Or at least to not be harsh, have many hurdles to overcome to be successful. Remembering strong suggestive thoughts like these can remind you it can be easy to do that thing, make that change, grow and bloom into someone who isn’t talking about what they should be doing. It’s also helped me not want for anything, by starting to realize I have so much more than I need.

During our trip out to the Grand Canyon, we hired a local guide to drive us and take us around and tell us all the information he could. It was a great thing to do that I’d suggest to anyone – it went way beyond just checking out the view and made us feel connected to the environment we were experiencing.

I love the aspens all over Park City, and loved hiking through them this summer and skiing through them covered in snow in the winter. But I *really* loved seeing the aspens at the Grand Canyon. They changed earlier than the ones in Park City, and were the brightest yellow I’d ever seen. We were told by our guide a fun fact I didn’t know. The root systems of aspens are specially interconnected. It was a neat concept I pondered as we drove through the forests. A single seedling could give root to a whole large colony of the trees.

The interconnectedness of the trees goes a lot with the theories I’m exploring in my yoga journey right now. The concept of rooting is important, when you firmly place your feet in to the ground. I can stand taller, straighter, and balance better when I concentrate on my rooting. It also made me think of how important you connect to you particular role in life, as you are interconnected with all aspects of your life and those of others.

You can’t really tell me this is only the fourth time that I’ve done yoga. It feels like ages ago I started. Well, I still fall over and do every modified version (which is not a good thing, it’s the weaker style). It’s just so amazing. I breathe better. I stretch better. I’m getting limber. I can sleep better!

I can’t believe how tough my workout was today.

Yesterday I did weights, so I was already a little sore, but this was intense. I really, really like super-slow-make-your- muscles-shake-stuff. And you can do it too! As long as if you do, you lie and tell me it was tough, even if it wasn’t.

If you have netflix, and can watch instantly, this is the video I did (click the pic for a detailed Amazon link):

Doing these videos at home has given me a little confidence and a little apprehension. I’ll go back the the gym/yoga studio eventually, and won’t be too nervous to try new things and know I might suck, but at least I get that everyone will be at a different level anyway (I hope) and not judgemental at all. I’d like to learn how to not slip all over the place and get a little more strength before I try another challenging class. I’ll admit here, I had to take two pauses to get through this hour, and the suggestion to do it on an empty stomach just made me growly half way through. Yoga and learn.

My third hour of yoga was a core workout. Apparently that means a reminder you don’t have one, as you try to keep up with crazy side to side and front to back flow and hold moves that make you find parts of your core that go waaay beyond your abs.

Pilates is Greek for twisty torture. The core is so much more that the one little ab muscle you feel during a sit up. It has sides and fronts and backs and in between bits. Woah.

Sitting even a little sideways feels funny. I can’t not be stretching it out since it all got so worked out. It feels really rad.

My energy has been way up, and I did a weight workout yesterday and another one today after yoga and felt pretty great. We’ll see if I can feel anything in a couple days.

It’s true what a trainer friend of mine said, “The hardest thing about exercise is to start doing it. Once you are doing exercise regularly, the hardest thing is to stop it.”

I might not be a regular yet, but the endorphins are flowing me and reminding me I’ve never felt better than when I’m working out, and once you get back in to it, the rewards exponentially increase.