I'm tightening up to get back upside down and right side up.
I'm banishing my kangaroo pouch and the little black line that goes with it.
Well, the little black line is more stubborn (scrubbing it down, crazily, has not gotten me anywhere), that lower abdominal pooch--while accepted, loved, and respected for a while now because of that bright, white, big-eyed, beautiful, bald boy that came via the biological fanny pack--has become my most petulant nemesis overnight, seeming to threaten my youth and vitality and strength and everything that goes with it.
Not only that, I am back teaching now at the recreation center and the spa.
I could use some core strength for real.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is not what yoga is all about.
But right now, it is a huge motivation for me to put my stomach where my mouth is. That didn't sound right but you get the point.
My first big class back was 8 weeks out from the big epoch episode of the birth of my son, which I won't tell in case some of you out there might want to get pregnant and have a baby some day. Everything is going to be completely wonderful for you, I promise. I am not in any way being sarcastic because I do understand sometimes my tone takes a smart-ass turn. I really mean that. Let's just say that God taught me a lesson I needed to learn about trust and control. My attempts to have a natural childbirth taught me I have to trust people and that I can't control things to turn out the way I want them to. Everything was great and safe and now I have a little angel man.
Back to the point: abs. My mother was the first person in my life that make me think about abs. Because she had them. She probably still does. I bet she was born with them actually.
She was chiseled like Athena.
Although vain, I wanted abs too! Then I lost them and didn't care about them. Then I start doing yoga and they came back, and I said hey, that's great.
Then I got pregnant, and they were gone within 2 months.
But they are making a comeback. Like I was about to say, my first yoga class was in Nashville at Shatki Yoga--started by Kelly and Lauren Farina. Learn about the studio here: www.shatkiyoganashville.com. It's a beautiful space on Music Row with a hot room and a regular room. I did a class in the hot one. In a sunny spot. Forgot water too. The only thing to cool me was a lot of sweat and little breast milk (this blog is just so appetizing, isn't it?)
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| Later I was high on a post-yoga workout and walked under this tree and thought I'd take a picture because it was so pretty. |
It was awesome. I felt so good. Probably finally sweat out all those hospital drugs. Hell, I felt like a girl again. A girl working on her core. I definitely didn't get up into a tripod headstand,
but I surprised myself.
Suddenly, I was back on the mat every day, working hard or at least kind of working hard. I wanted to go back to work, both at the places where I teach yoga and Turnrow, the bookstore. I wanted to wear a bikini at the lake, on the beach, or maybe just in my house with a big T-shirt over me.
What could I drink or eat? Of course, any time I get serious about accomplishing something in terms of my body, I drink green tea. Green tea is the go-getter of the antioxidant-rich, herbally-minded nutrients. It works every time.
Why? It's thermogenic. It burns fat. It contains ECGC which a fantastic antioxidant, ridding the body of free radicals and toxins. And toxicity is a problem with fat. And fat is a problem with toxicity.
What yoga poses could I do though? Dolphin plank was the main one. Still is. I hate that pose so much that I love it. Like I hate green tea so much I love it.
And of course, leg raises and yogic bicycles, but also... headstand. Those will work your core like no other. It will actually work your whole freaking body. The trick is to tighten up to lighten up. So you don't collapse on your neck and head and break something or everything.
I told myself to pull it together, woman. Then as an effect of trying to pull my life and stomach back together, I became a yogi again. Realizing in a lightbulb second that I had also lightened up emotionally as well as physically in my attempt to tighten.
Tightening yourself up will lighten yourself up.
Fast forward to my first class back at teaching yoga, it was all right. I felt no anxiety about it.
Why? I was light because I was tight. Everything was all right.
Power is a soft thing that comes from the core.
Tightly,
Liza Jane
