Writing like yoga

It’s very hard to restart, when it’s been so long since the last practice.

It’s not a perfection, it’s a practice.

If there was a perfection, there would be a mold, and it would all look the same. And everyone would be doing the same thing.

It will be messy, and learning from mistakes, and there is always that point of doubt…

is any of this any good? Or should it be thrown out? why should I try again?

Because, you remember how much fun it was, and even on the worst day writing…

it was a still a day that you practiced.

Live Your Life? Live Your Legend

So there is this event that happens locally in your neighbourhood called Live Your Legend. And basically for a creative type as myself, it’s a good focusing strategy and allows to ask a community for resources that I normally would not be able to.

Also looking at this immediate list of things to do, I might have too much on my plate. I know I can’t do everything, but it’s better to do and create things, than to sit back and watch other art going on and get frustrated creatively.

It breaks down in to 3 things. What are you building? What do you need help with? and What is that Next Step?

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September Goals – Live Art

1 – Building – Sept.17 and 18th Burlesque show! – Tickets @ http://www.ontheboards.ca/ Done! Performers confirmed! Volunteers about to be wrangled! Handbills being handed out wherever I go. Merch acquired!

2 Need Help with – Costumes for personal performance(s) – Asked for help, getting help, sourcing materials. Merch Table presentation – delegating to volunteers.

3 Next Step is To – Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse, make list of everything, double check it, apply magic wizard beard powers.

1- Building – Nov.27 and 28th AND February Burlesque Show!

2 Need Help with – Look into this after September show. But keep on LYL list to do.

3 Next Step is To – Confirm performer availability, TIP, Calgary/Edmonton/Vancouver/Victoria and other Poet/Burlesque

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September Goals – Words / Manuscripts / Novels

1 – Building – Query Letters for Manuscripts : 1 down, 1 to go #AmWriting #MSWL

2A – Need Help with – Beta Readers need to get their reading done by end of September.

2B – Sourcing potential agents through #mswl on twitter https://querytracker.net/ AND from other people who are looking for the same resources.

3 – Next Step is To – Finish other Query Letter/Pitch, finalize hand edits on paper, plan redraft options and schedule, schedule, schedule. Keep writing in all those little 5 minute open time, like when you’re on a webpage making lists… that’s writing, right?

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September Goals – Health

1 Building – Simple Yoga stretching Routine, include Yin, meditation, breathing, more walking.

2 Need Help with – Schedule routine, and developing own series of stretches,

3 Next Step is To – Check Yoga membership price, see if volunteer for karma classes/Voiceover

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September Goals – Mental

1 Building – Journaling, need to do a daily pages/journal. Meditation

2 Need Help with – Keeping up a daily habit of Journaling just all the random thoughts to clear head, so current mood is not affecting projects/characters in story. Taking time to set aside all the other things, stretch, and write.

3 Next Step is to – Pick a random empty journal, and start using it. Get really good pen.

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Continually Living a Legend of Myself (that sounded really pretentious, didn’t it?)

1 Building – Writing : awesome fiction! Voiceovers for potential income stream. Video/Audio of performances for demo tape. Internet platform with fun merchandise/content. Develop a type of workshop that I can teach in person/online. Have more Tacos.

2 Need Help with – Finishing all the projects. Prioritizing and delegating things I don’t know how to do, so they can get done AND learning how to do it on the way.

3 Next Step is To – Do it, just start doing it. Something/Anything. Better to have it done, and start doing it better. Cannot start doing anything better, without finishing at least one thing.

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So.

What are you building? What do you need help with? and What is that Next Step?

Day 30 – Crossing the Finish Line

It is not a matter of taking that last step across the finish line. It is not a matter of pushing yourself.

Every step is the last step. Every push is the last push. Every smile you take is the last one.

And the first.

What makes the largest difference is making yourself aware of the now. The present, and being in it.

And in times of stillness, reflecting on the mistakes, the strains, the sweaty parts (a lot of that) the realizations and new discoveries in exercising not only the body, but the places where the body holds onto stress. Reflection of this, is exercise for the spirit.

Opening of the body to new directions. Allowing myself to become so still that only my breath is being concentrated on. Committing myself to stay in position and flexing, pulling myself into new places while making my mind calm and still. Facing only myself in the reflection of the studio mirror, and facing my reflections of who I am. Finding out tolerances and limitations, places in body and spirit that need more attention.

Finding some way to manage all that laundry, cook up meals ahead of time, maintain a home business, full time job, writing articles, writing blog posts, writing fiction, sleeping and still commit to doing 1 class of hot yoga per day.

It’s been amazing.

30 Day challenge of Hot Yoga complete.

All thanks to this place.

For All Your Saskatoon Hot Yoga Needs

I’d like to thank Dallas, Steph and all the great instructors as well as the regular yogis who go to Hot Yoga on 20th. It’s a great community that has been built up in Saskatoon. If you are even travelling through and would like to get in on a class, don’t hesitate to check their schedule, give them a call, bring a friend. Try it out.

It’s just one step. And it might be the best one you ever take.

Om still here,
Pearce

P.S. You may have noticed there is a gap in the posts. Another post is coming up later on, which maybe more important than the last ‘recorded’ step for this challenge.

Day 18 – 21 – Oh yes, don’t forget to breathe!

3 hours of yoga yesterday.

Today, I should be a wreck. A tightened bundle of sore muscles with daggers of sharp pain in my joints.

I’m not though. I kept going.

Hydrated like never before.

For the past 21 days I’ve been checking myself. And now that I’ve gained more flexibility, I can concentrate more on adjusting the poses to where I should be. I’m not striving as hard now, but it is another plateau. The pain and tightness shifts from place to place, even inbetween poses. The only thing I can prepare for is the possibility of change, and not hesitate in exploring. I’m just a beginner at this. It might take decades until I can get to textbook positions.

The real experts, what do they concentrate on? Their breath. Just breathing.

Not the fact that they have contorted their bodies into a crazy pretzel shape which compresses their organs, glands, muscles, skin, sweat… They concentrate on breathing. “Yeah, so I have my right foot in my left ear, balancing on my big toe on my left leg, while I’m looking at the ceiling and the right corner of the studio. Hands are on hips and chest. Not a problem. Work on breath.”

We don’t do enough of that. Proper breathing that is. When we are under stress, we only use the top portion of our lungs, not getting down into deeper breaths. Shoulders hunch up, shallow breathing stresses our hearts to pump faster, until we can actually get ourselves into a panic state. It’s a type of negative biofeedback that we do to ourselves. But why? Because we focus on the negative.

So stretch back and away from the computer, take a few deep breaths, lean over the back of the office chair. Smile, and breathe.

Here’s what I’ve observed in myself so far…

For releasing tension and negativity and embrace relaxation, I do more diaphragm breathing. Keep your ribs still (hand on chest), push your belly out with inhaling, then pull it back in. SLOWLY! This will also help massage the abdomen and dump carbon dioxide that may not be moving out of the lungs.

Better oxygenation means you can also think clearer. Clarity.

But your mind tends to wander when you are concentrating on your breath. Groceries, the household chores, bills, that argument you had, past regrets, that song that won’t get out of your head. Stop. Change your focus. Go back to the feeling of the air rushing through your nose, deep down into your belly, then concentrate on flexing those abs to push it out. Slowly.

When you breath in a panicked or stressful state, you become that state.

Give yourself a break, and breathe easier.
Om still here,
Pearce

P.S. For more breathing techniques, go to the Library, your local YOGA studio, and your doctor. Or the Internet, if you have to. Look up Pranayama breathing, stress removal and breathing techniques. Then look up cute pictures of baby animals, you are going to do it anyways.

Day 9 – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Inner Enlightenment

Your current mindset is a groove in a record. Your thoughts, if repeated make the groove deeper, and it becomes harder to change your mindset.

What is your song? Is it sad? Angry? Frustrated? You are the singer. Your words and actions are broadcast. Those closest to you will hear and feel them first. Every step has an emotion within it.

Is your song true to you? Do you mean the words you speak? Is your dance joyful, but you have sadness within?

How fast are you singing? Can others join you? Or are you trying to make your song harmonize with others, pulling you to places you are not ready to go to? Don’t you want to sing at your own pace?

Are you still trying to write your own song? Or are you just trying to find your breath?

So what can you do about all these questions?

Be happy, even if you are sad. Even science proves you can get in a better mood and handle situations better, if you put on a fake smile. Then Wait. Eventually your body will respond in kind, and you can realize some situations are not based in emotion, but actions from your own reaction.

Your body also knows the difference between holding truth and lies. Be honest with yourself first, then you can be honest with others.

Don’t rush, go at your own pace. You don’t need to push yourself into a sprint, when you are not healthy enough to do it. Finding that spot beyond the comfortable pace and the stretch is where the magic happens.

And start your own thing. There is no perfect time to do something. There is only now. Don’t wait, it is better to try and fail and try again, then be stuck in perpetual procrastination. Waiting for perfect circumstances to occur first before you take action will only keep you in a state of Waiting. And unless you are observing and learning all that is around you, you are doing nothing.

This is what popped into my mind as I was in the stretching portion of Yoga. The little lessons from a road trip. The universe unfolding as events occurred. I asked myself, why are these things happening, and with a DURH PEARCE! The universe needs you to learn. And when an old barrier comes up again, don’t concentrate on how hard it was to overcome it. Concentrate on what you did to get beyond it. Celebrate that success.

Every action changes your vibration. What you broadcast soulcast to the world, will be brought back to you.

Be happy, be truthful, don’t rush, do something.

It’s a start. I don’t say you have to do it right, just start. You’ll make a new groove. And soon, others around you will pick up on your song.
I’m still here,
Pearce

P.S. The Funny Thing that happened ? Better health.

Day 8 – Barriers

Things do not hurt the way they used to.

The pain has moved to another place. This pain which I once held is not as strong. I don’t miss it, it wasn’t good for me. I now can see where a shift has occurred, and as much as it did hurt me, it cannot any longer.

When you make room within yourself, you can allow greater things to happen to you. Once you remove the negative that holds you in place, you allow that positive to come in.

I’ve broken through a barrier, found new movement, and I can do things that I could not before.

Pain is temporary and inevitable, suffering is optional.

So, that was a little poetic and twee at the same time. But yes, I have broken through a barrier in my yoga practice. I could go a lot further today than I could yesterday. That magic moment where they tell you, you will become more flexible. BAM! Happened. I need a t-shirt.

I’ve got through the Yin class, which is mainly deep deep deep stretching, and feeling pretty good. The class seemed shorter than it actually was. It felt amazingly good to just get into stretches and hold the position. Guess I was in the zone, and found good concentration. The lower lights helped a little, as staring at a monitor all day long will screw up your eyes. The Foundation class that I finished off going to, was a lot easier. Will definitely get back into the Yin class again, as I ripped through the regular Foundation class. Camel pose, floor bow, done like dinner, got that backward bend in the spine rocking. Felt amazingly good too. Balancing poses, still working on.  Standing bow was a little easier on the right hand side than the left. But the right hip and inner thigh is extremely tight. Even when sitting down on the floor, with both feet soles touching each other, my left leg flops down quite easily. But the right? It’s a bouncy castle. That and the shoulders. I don’t think I’ll ever get into a decent eagle pose, not without surgery on my shoulders and tendons.

Where was I?

Oh yeah.

Pain is temporary and inevitable, suffering is optional.  Mangled up buddhism right there.

I don’t remember all of the painful parts of the practice. (Sort of like, do you remember what you had for lunch a month ago? Seemed important at the time, but now, I don’t even remember the details.) I do know that I can choose to focus on the physical sensation of the muscles relaxing, stretching and strengthening. Or I could choose to focus on the burning, sharp painful, stiffness that pulls, the dull deep throbbing, bright piercing, uncomfortableness. I will acknowledge it, and then let it go.

I can breathe.

Which is something, surprising, that I have to remind myself to do. Even in practice or in the middle of the day. I’m not breathing right. Pranayama exercise to oxygenate, will replace out that afternoon coffee which will dehydrate.

So my advice today is, when you break through a personal barrier, celebrate that past, and look forward to exploring the new.

Just think of the places you’ll go.

Om still here,

Pearce

Day 6 – Convenience

In order to master something and become graceful, one needs to do it for 10’000 hours.

In order to master to anything, you need passion, and stick with it. Through bad and good, every step forward is success, BUT!

BUT!

Success is not necessarily Easy.

It is however, doing one thing at a time.

In an age of convenience, marketing has merely seconds to catch your attention. Every moment they want your dollars, split second decisions can make or break corporations. The modern advertising campaign has to convince you in seconds to go along with their plans. When our heads are full with intentions to keep up with the masses, we cannot think for ourselves. (This might not fit for this blog, but I may do another ramble on it later, someone remind me. Okay? Thanks!)

So. Do you still have your New Years Resolutions? Or are you done with them? Look up the statistics on failure rates. It is astounding how much people give up… when they are trying to do the impossible.  “I’m going to lose seven hundred pounds this year.” “I’m going to give up that dirty habit and never return to it. Next week.” “Tomorrow I’m going to stop procrastinating.” 

Let your own plan convince you. Make it reasonable. Make it a small change. Don’t try and eat the elephant in one shot, take one bite at a time. My quit smoking mantra at one point was, “I don’t have to get through the week without a cigarette. I don’t have to get through the day without a cigarette. I just have to get through the next five minutes without a cigarette.”

Of a 30 day yoga challenge, the first week is the worst apparently. But what I am taking out of this?

I am doing yoga today, so I can do it tomorrow.

That’s it. Just do yoga today. Every day that I go in, and do yoga, I fall out of position, I sweat and strain, I am dealing with emotions that are being provoked from tension being released. Is it easy? No. Is it hard? It’s harder to start up once you haven’t done it in a while.

But is yoga hard? I’d say it is one of the most demanding activities you can put yourself through. Once you get past the physical barriers, which could take years, there are still mental barriers to get through.

And that is one of the hardest things you can ever do in your lifetime. Getting past yourself to get towards your goals. But I’m doing it. With one small change per day.

And with each little change, with each little step I take, I make impossible things convenient and easy for myself.

There. Now if that isn’t a plan for myself, I don’t know what is.

I’m still here,

Pearce

P.S. My advertising budget for these thoughts didn’t have room for the Playboy bunnies or the Magnum P.I. Ferrari, so I stuck with this blog. And this really nice cup of green tea. Cheers!

Day 5 – Mindfulness

Becoming aware of what your body is currently feeling is a little disconcerting, and can lead to other thoughts.

What is that pain? Why is that happening? Why didn’t I start this earlier? Am I going to die much younger? Why is that pain happening? Did I that hurt earlier? Why is this-

Stop.

Don’t let your anxieties grow more anxious thoughts.

Easier said than done, right? So you start small and work your way up. Start by shutting off all electronic devices. Computers, tv’s, smartphones, radios, home phones. Stop updating the internet with pictures of what you are eating. Stop checking or playing through possible permutations of information over the internet. Also known as video games. Stop being nosy of what others are doing.

We are inundated with so much information, we cannot stop for ourselves. 

And simply do nothing. 

You can do nothing for 10 minutes, allow your mind to rest, and become more mindful. Andy Puddicombe in this great TED talk describes this.

This takes practice. And it’s not going to be easy. When you can step back away from anxious thoughts in your brain, you can control them. And once fear is gone, there is space for better things.

And I thought quitting cigarettes was hard.

I’m still here,

Pearce

Day 4 – It’s all about the Liquids Baby

Day Four – Liquid will flow

Fact : Beer tastes better when you’ve done yoga.
Fact : Most lists sound better when there are at least four items.
Fact : Adult elephants cannot jump. Baby elephants can, but only when provoked.
Fact : The internet is filled with information that may or may not be useful for my blog.

Hydration. Wow. I’ve never really appreciated the amount of liquid that I could consume in one sitting. After yesterdays session, I had 1.5 liters of coconut water, 1 L of filtered water, and one pint of beer. They all tasted amazing. There is something about dehydration that engages the sense of taste so you will drink more of something. I’ve looked into it, and it does exist. It’s a natural survival trait in humans.

But there is very good reason for drinking that much and not having to urinate. The amount of sweat is phenomenol. I don’t think I’ve ever sweat as much as I have in my entire life. But now, I’m beginning to get used to it. I am not enjoying the dried sweat, but being sweaty and slippery, and hot? Oh yeah, I’m getting into it.

But the single beer I had yesterday afternoon? It was as if the angels had decided to applaud every hop and malt in the Paddock Wood 606. I savoured all of it, sip by sip, and as the malty tones came out when it warmed up, my thirst was not quenched.

Now, I don’t recommend you drinking a dehydrant after hot yoga. But for those who have enjoyed craft beer, for those who have cracked open that wobbly pop after the playing sports with the team, for those who have spent that extra mile in the car with no air conditioning on the hot day. Do have that one drink. Just remember, you are already dehydrated as it is, the hangover will come doubly fast as you are dehydrated.

As for the practice, yesterday and today. Not stiff, sore, but not stiff! Which is a good sign, apparently. Things are loosening up. Which is really good. I’ve identified and located a couple more spots that need working on.

Blame it on too many years driving a desk.

Previous injury list? Left ankle and what little part of arch I have on my left foot, cramps up, when sitting down on that area. Can’t handle the pressure on that. Shoulders are still waaay too tight for Locust pose. Put my hands under my thighs, and a dagger of bright pain shot across my right shoulder. Maybe at the end of 30 days that will come in. Lower back and abs aching, previous injury? No, just lack of exercise, and bad genetics. I’m not hoping to get a six pack when I’m done, just hoping closer to a tall boy. Loose some of that love handle. Maybe a little more core strength.

Big one today. Nailed standing bow pose, and didn’t fall over. Which was weird as I fell out during Tree.

Day Five tomorrow. I’m hoping to get a couple of ‘softer classes’, grab a flow when I get my stamina up some more. A Yin class to really stretch out, and plan to have that epsom salt soak.

No writing beyond this blog done. Had a couple of ideas though, as always that creative writing wheel in my head still keeps spinning.

And when you see ‘those’ people with their yoga mats, in their tights, going from place to place. They aren’t following a fad. Look at it this way.

They aren’t succeeding no matter how badly they practice yoga. They are succeeding because they are doing it.

The worst thing you can do, is stop in hesitation, in fear, and let that rule over you. So if you failed, you were doing 100 percent more than the person who didn’t even attempt it.

I’m still here,
Pearce

Day 2 and 3 of Yoga Challenge

Day 2 and 3 of Yoga – Lessons Learned

Apologies to those who are new to my blog. I write for the ear. I will be recording them at a future date. More for my own practice, and I will be posting them up on Soundcloud. (You’ll be able to find it here, once I get it recorded.)

So I didn’t eat enough or late enough on Friday afternoon, so the Friday night Yoga class was interesting. The foundation series (not Asimov) was challenging, and I was getting a dull throbbing headache. I wondered what it was, then I recognized it from days when I haven’t eaten enough. Low blood sugar. It’s not one of the marketing strategies for yoga to eat healthy. It’s for your own safety! The last thing you want to be doing is passing out or stressing out from hypoglycemic shock. It’s not healthy! So yes, I will have to plan a healthy snack on those days when I will eat after the class in the evening, or in the afternoon and catch a late supper afterwards. Granola comes to mind, I may double up on my time saving egg/bacon breakfast burrito. No reason why I can’t eat that at any point of the day. I missed out on Tree pose, as my heart rate was up and was really dizzy by that point. I’m glad the second half of the class was on the floor.

Also, hydration, hydration, hydration. Tips that I’ve found that work for me so far, try them out for you, and let me know your own.
– Drops of lemon juice in your water, not only will this dechlorinate the water, but will give a little more flavor. So you aren’t just forcing water into your system.
– Coconut water is amazing for hydration after a yoga session, or after a workout. Try and avoid the stuff with sugar and other preservatives.
– Drinking throughout the day helps with energy level. And not just water… Green Tea has been a great refresher and concentrator for me lately.
– Get a huge drinking vessel, make it your own. Right now I have a 64oz coffee to go mug, I fill this with filtered water, and a couple of splashes of Ginger/Lemon juice.

Saturday class at Hot Yoga on 20th was welcome, minus 20 degrees celcius outside, add on a windchill and it feels like minus 37 degrees. But it was plus forty degrees in the studio. Hooray! Stepping in, finding a spot, I found my muscles loosening immediately. Didn’t have enough time to do a good lying still warm up. Still felt a little sore in few spots. Lower back, abs, inner thighs and the perpetual knot in my right shoulder. Got a little bit better rests in between poses, did more diaphragm breathing. That was working a lot better bringing heart rate down too. I’m still finding places of tension in my body, I did have a longer warmup time the other day, that may have also been a factor from the lower blood sugar and dehydration.

Finding my balance is still a bit off, I’m falling out, but it’s getting a little better each day. Surprised myself today as I got into bow pose correctly and didn’t faceplant. Tightness in my calves and feet, I have to shake out the stiffness afterwards.

Today I remembered to eat at the right time and brought my usual bag of stuff. Water bottle for those precious little sips in class, towel for shower afterwards, plastic bag to hold sweaty clothing/yoga towel/shower towel afterwards. I come to class in sweats, then change afterwards, regular clothing. Helps out a little. So when I reached into my bag looking for the coconut water that should be wrapped up in the jeans that I had currently on … I left in the fridge at home. No big loss. But it is another lesson.

And it comes up from something in my RSS subscriptions off of Cool Tools, it’s a survival guide, which I am thinking about purchasing just for research for Seekrit Project writing project.

No matter how much you prepare for a disaster, there might be something else that will be there to mess you up. Survival handbooks will get lost in the case of a disaster. The person with the most survival knowledge skill will get injured or disabled first in case of a disaster.

No how matter how much planning I do, there will problems ahead. And I am the cause and owner of these problems. But I won’t have to dwell on them, or flog myself onto the Guilt Train to Tokyo. (possible spoken word piece there) I’ll just learn, and do better, don’t plan, rehearse and visualize what I need to do. Then Do It. No hesitation, no fear, set aside ego and just flow. There, zen moment for the day. Got a little deep there.

Day 3 Yoga done, Ends on February 10th. 27 more to go. Hooray!

Now I must go back to my writers group, get more of Boom finished, and the NaNoWrimo. But with this blog, I have my 750 words per day done!

I’m still here,
Pearce