running and yoga are complementary...right?

I'm on the struggle bus.

Running and yoga are supposed to be perfect complements. Yoga keeps you strong and supple while running keeps your heart happy (physiologically, anyway). Running, Yoga...I love you both equally...so, why can't you two get along???

Since the beginning of time, I have had a very tough time finding a good balance of my two loves (especially since I still have to work for a living and want to spend time with my fiancé). For some reason, when I'm knee deep in marathon - or half marathon training -  yoga falls by the wayside. The same is true right now, when my mind, body and soul are walking down the path of yoga teacher training, I've only been running about 3 miles every two weeks.

Is there ever going to be a balance? I guess I don't know.

When I recapped my 2011 races, I talked about all the races that I want to do in 2012...one of those was the Cleveland Half Marathon in May. If I don't get my act together right now, I won't be able to run a half marathon in May.

Last year at this time, I was running running running. This year, life's all about yoga (well, there's wedding stuff, and lacrosse...but as far as personal fitness and mental well-being go - yoga). Again, I'm just not able to find a balance.

So, my question to you...is it possible?

Right now, all I want to do is find a warm yoga studio or the comfort of my own home to downward dog my life away. Going outside is the last thing I want to be doing. Since the Cleveland Marathon last year, I've wanted to stay in half marathon shape year round, but I just haven't been able to find the motivation to get there.

Right now I don't feel like I'm a runner OR a yogi. Can I run the half marathon in May AND get certified to be a yoga teacher? I don't know.

How do I find my balance?

The First Chakra

**this is very strange. I posted this last Thursday and somehow, it was nowhere to be found on my blog. In my google reader, however, the post was there! Magical, right?! I wanted to re-post just in case anyone missed it...and I apologize if this is your second time reading it.!**

{photocred: http://leonardodavinci.stanford.edu}

I consider myself lucky that I had an anatomy background before deciding to embark on the YTT journey. In December, we spent an entire weekend learning anatomy, and honestly, we barely scratched the surface. The human body is such an amazing piece of machinery. Something we briefly touched on in our anatomy lessons was the chakra system. If you're unfamiliar, it's a system of energy centers in your body that are associated with your beliefs, emotions, and physical health. The chakras are very closely linked with your endocrine system (the glands that secrete every hormone in your body). 

Today, I want to talk about the first of the seven major chakras; what physical and emotions channels that it governs, how to tell if there is an imbalance, and what you can do to get it back into balance. The first chakra is the Muladhara Chakra (mula = root, adhara = support) and it resides at the base of your spine. It is your root chakra, associated with the earth element and and your adrenal gland and your bones and blood. This chakra governs your sense of stability and connection and the foundation of your emotional and mention function. An imbalance in this chakra might manifest when things that have to do with your home, money or job or feeling that you are unsafe or insecure in the world, basic survival needs, groundedness, etc. This will causes lots of stress which comes about because of increased levels of the cortisol secreted by the adrenal gland - cortisol is your stress hormone and the adrenal gland governs your fight or flight response.

Muladhara chakra color: red

So you're probably like, "great Becca, how is all this information helpful to me?" 

Here's how - a muladhara chakra imbalance can manifest in your body in many ways, some of which are: 

• back pain
• sciatica
• loss of balance
• loss of memory
• anxiety/stress, even depression
• arthritis
• skin problems

If you are suffering from any of these things, you might want to try some exercises or meditations to bring your first chakra back into balance. Poses that help bring the first chakra back into balance are standing poses to open and strength the lower body (your support!) and poses that stretch the hamstrings, because when the hamstrings are tight, contraction creates a sense that we're constantly prepared to run away. Supported restorative poses are also helpful to settle your mind and allow you to surrender to what is. You might try:

Uttanasana (Standing Forward Fold)

Janu Sirsasana (Head-To-Knee Pose)

Salamba Supta Baddha Konasana (Supported Reclining Bound Angle)

If asana isn't your style, then a first chakra meditation might help:

1. In a comfortable seated position, let the thumb and the index finger come to touch. Close your eyes and concentrate on your root chakra, the place at the very tip of your tailbone. Repeat the mantra, LAM (lah-mm) silently to yourself, until you are ready to open your eyes.
2. List five things you would like to do, things that you enjoy. Try including an activity that involves contact with the earth. After you've listed them, one at a time, visualize yourself doing those activities and how it feels to do them.
3. Imagine your Root Chakra. The color of this chakra should be a beautiful, clear red. If you see any other color, remove it and imagine the chakra being filled with red energy. Once you are able to imagine the proper color filling this chakra, imagine it spinning in a clockwise direction. Spin it faster and faster as you fill it with red energy.

If you want to use stones or gems, Ruby, Bloodstone, Smoky Quartz, Hematite, Black Tourmaline, Obsidian, and Garnet are great for balancing the root chakra. You can carry them in your pocket or place them at your feet. Also, going for a walk is a great way to open and balance your first chakra. It enables you to feel connected to and supported by the ground beneath you, which is inherent to the first chakra.

Has anyone ever felt a root chakra imbalance? What did you do to help yourself feel more grounded and secure??

Good Karma Friday

I wrote a whole post on the airplane (using my blogger app) about "good karma fridays" and somewhere between airplane mode and a real internet connection, it got lost. So I'm going to do my best to try again.

I was reading about karma in my Jivamukti Yoga book and came across a suggestion for a practical way to invite good, positive karma into your life. The Buddhist teacher, Geshe Michael Roach, suggests that in order to increase our own good karma, you should reflect on the good karma of others.

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of karma, it's more or less a law of cause and effect. Every single one of your thoughts and actions have a karmic effect that stays with you forever and beyond. It's the law of "what goes around comes around" and it comes with the idea that a person's lot in life has nothing to do with luck, but is a direct effect of their past karmas, whether good or bad. It obviously behooves us to effect good karma in our lives.

Increasing your good karma works like the law of attraction...the more you increase your good karma, the good karma will be attracted to you (this also works for the bad). It's like a karmic magnetic field, of sorts. Geshe Michael Roach's suggestion to increase your good karma seemed like an easy, and logical way to incorporate more good karma into my life, but I wanted to take it one step further. Instead of just reflecting on the good karma of others to myself, why not share it with the world? Then this bubble, this magnetic field of wonderful, yummy karma could permeate the blogosphere too!

Thus, my idea for good karma Fridays was born. A forum for me and my readers to reflect on others' good karma and increase that magnetic field of karma around all of us. Here are my thoughts for the week.

(1) The dad's who coach youth/middle school lacrosse in Strongsville! They are doing their part to instill healthy values in our youth (and create excitement for the best sport!)

(2) Last weekend, Ashley and Nate (or the Cheeses as we like to call them) got married! Mr. and Mrs. Cheese are the people who we get cheese from at the farmer's market and have become good friends of ours. Committing to love each other for the rest of their lives is such a great thing to celebrate!

(3) The policeman who pulled me over for an "improper" left turn after yoga last Friday night...he was doing his job to keep me and other drivers safe on a dark, snowy night.

(4) Friends who let me practice teaching yoga to them. I don't know what else I can even say about this. I'm so incredibly thankful to have such wonderful people in my life.

Okay, your turn! What are some great and selfless things that you've observed other people doing? Take a little time to appreciate and rejoice in them today!

Giveaway Winner!!

I had a great post that was going to go up yesterday, but I have no idea what happened after I hit publish! It's a case of the disappearing post!!! Oh well, I'll try again later.

Now is the time to announce the winner of two tickets to the Great Home and Garden Expo!!

I didn't want to use the run-of-the-mill random.org to pick the winner, so I cut up on of my business cards, wrote everyone's name down (don't worry, the extra entries got entered more than once). Then I put the names in a box, closed my eyes, and picked!

Congratulations Heather!

I'll follow up with an email shortly and tell you how you can get your tickets. Enjoy the expo!!

If you didn't win, but still want to go to the expo, you can get $3 off your ticket by buying online and as a special treat to the PL&B readers, if you enter the promo code PEACE when you check out, you will get another $1 off the ticket price! To get a total of $4 off your expo tickets, click here.

MYO Laundry Detergent

**CLE-ers: have you entered my giveaway for 2 tickets to the Great Big Home and Garden Expo at the IX Center, Feb 4-12??? Leave a comment on this post to enter!**

I have a hard time with laundry detergent sometimes. I could stand in front of the laundry detergent aisle at the store for hours trying to decide what scent, how strong, whether I want to be environmentally friendly or not, how much do I want to pay, etc, etc, etc.

I'm pulling the Libra card on this one. Decision making is not my strong suit.

I do know how to make my own laundry detergent though. It involves a grand total of three ingredients:

That's right folks, 1 cup of borax, 1 cup of washing soda, and a grated bar of Fels Naptha. All of which you can probably get at your local grocery store for less than $2 each. Becca 1. Tide 0. Score one for the little guys!

You use about 1 tbsp of this stuff per load of laundry. I personally think it works great! But if you're a laundry snob and like your laundry to smell like Autumn Rain or Clean Cotton or whatever...this probably won't do it for you. I'd be curious to see what you guys think!

Do you have a common household item that you make instead of buy??