Loving yourself

First off, I have been loving my new Gymboss timer! My fiancé got it for me for christmas and it makes working out SO much easier (and more fun, I'm a dork that way!). The gymboss timer (www.gymboss.com) allows you to easily time interval workouts (and build workouts around interval training) and also has a stopwatch function. One of my favorite parts of the timer is how its really small and you can clip it onto your workout gear (or use the provided armband to clip it onto) making it convenient to take just about anywhere.

My workouts are much more fun and challenging with that little device clipped onto my sports bra. :)

IN OTHER NEWS...

I've been doing a lot of yoga and health reading - specifically focusing on women and stages of their lives. Yoga has always been an interest of mine - my mom used to teach me poses when I was a small child and I just ate it up! It just goes to prove that yoga is good for all ages, and its definitely good for all people - male, female, old, or young, no matter the stage in life or physical issues. With a good teacher you can not only deal with weird body issues (like the plate in my arm or old injuries, pregnancy, bad backs, etc) but gain strength, flexibility, and lots and lots of self esteem. Every time you finish a yoga session you gain something, and I've never left a class feeling worse emotionally, physically, or spiritually than I did before I went in. The best way to experience yoga (as a beginner) is to go to classes. From there the possibilities are endless. I love to do my own practice at home, sometimes guided by my body's needs, sometimes by a prescribed 'routine' I find in a book. one of my favorite books for home 'routines' is "moving towards balance: 8 weeks of yoga with Rodney Yee" which covers 8 weeks, explains each pose in detail and provides 8 weeks of daily yoga routines that will help you grow in your yoga program - all while providing helpful modifications for those of us who are less able to do the poses for various reasons (like lacking flexibility, having hurt joints, or other pain). The book I've just been reading avidly is "The Woman's Book of Yoga & Health" by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden. This book is SO great for talking about needs specific to women that yoga (the practice and the lifestyle) can help. One of the most important subjects that they talk about is loving your body how it is.

How many of you don't love your body as a whole? I'd guess most of you dislike some aspect of your body or the other. I always let myself dislike my thighs and rear, which is counter productive in SO many ways. One of the things we should always remember to do is love our body for the good things and refuse to think about the bad. Instead of thinking about how huge I envision my thighs to be, I should think about what they allow me to do and that I'm blessed to have them.

I challenge you to love your body. Love the way your feet allow you to walk, the way your thighs allow you to do squats, the way your upper arms balance you out, and the way that your stomach allows you to digest foods. And remember. your body is yours, it serves you and protects you. Its yours for better or for worse, so take care of it too!

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