yoga pants
                            Travel comfortably in yoga pants

I only saw the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants once. It’s not that I didn’t like it; I just haven’t seen it multiple times, as is my routine when I find a movie I love. It’s memorable to me as a bigger, surreal connection with all women everywhere and especially travelers everywhere as we seek to move our bodies from place-to-place as easily and comfortably as possible.

We do, after all, connect on an earthly level.

We all have bodies going through this human experience. Wearing pants is something MOST of us have in common. I suppose there are still people in the Outback of Australia, in the deep rain forest, and in Scotland, of course, that don’t wear pants. Then there is the cast of Naked and Afraid and Survivor that don’t wear pants. But please humor me; the majority of us do.

Hence the expression: we all put our pants on one leg at a time.

Translation: we are all the same.

That was one theme of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Each lady put the pants on, one leg at a time, but their experience in the pants was uniquely their own. As is everyone’s—a unique journey where we can only imagine walking a mile in someone else’s pants and shoes.

It reminds me of the world of yoga where each of us, as we step one leg at a time into our yoga pants, and one foot at a time onto our mats, has a unique heart/mind/body experience. My yogi teacher is fond of saying, “We meet ourselves on our mat daily.” Each day brings a new journey, whether our travels take us around town or around the world.

As my own travels continue to take me coast-to-coast, I hope I’m considerate and kind, honoring the human being in front of me and the journey we all take. I hope I smile and nod and engage and play along. I hope I see and honor all people.

I hope I let the small, uncomfortable human failing fall to the side. I hope I often support and bring courage to those that have misplaced theirs. I vow to honor every person, in every pair of pants in front of me.

I vow to see the commonality in all of us. I vow to honor both brotherhood and sisterhood of the traveling pants. I vow each time I don my traveling yoga pants that I reflect the light that is in each of us. Wearing comfortable pants helps!! I suggest yoga pants to everyone.

Namaste

#loquaciouslindee

 

The best way to do yoga—3x a week.

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   It’s a commitment thing really.

   If you’ve done yoga, you’re probably nodding your head, but if you never have, you just don’t know…

   There is real growth in all that stretching; not just your body, but your mind. It’s like the brain cells elongate with the stretching of the body cells. I reach over my head in Vrksasana (Tree Pose) and I feel every part of my brain expand. I’m able to think farther.

 

   Goodbye stinkin’ thinkin’ and hello brighter tomorrow. A better tomorrow. And that’s just from one class!

 

   Imagine what good I could do with that kind of positive vibe 3 times a week! Why wouldn’t I want to do it 7 times a week?!!

 

   (Yes, I know, a body needs rest. And so does a brain.)

 

   3 times a week…it’s like compound interest on good vibes, where the principle keeps increasing and so does your well-being.

 

   The best way to do yoga? 3 times a week, this week, next week, and every week after.

 

   Who knows where a good stretch could lead me?  😉

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New Year’s Resolutions, 2013: 

 

No. 1           Just Add Water

 

A woman’s body is 50% water; a man’s body 60%.

Your brain can be up to 75% water—a literal sponge!

 

Water is vital to all of our bodily functions. It plumps up our cells, lubes our joints, regulates our body temp, carries oxygen and nutrients to every cell of our body, assists with vital chemical processes, and flushes out waste and toxins.

 

Water helps us lose weight, restore balance, and feel satisfied.

 

Water nourishes from the inside out and replenishes from the outside in. There’s nothing like a swim to energize body and spirit, or a soak in a warm bath to soothe and relax a bruised psyche. Its cleansing affect can be felt by both skin and brain.

 

My son, Kyle, a Cross Fit advocate, uses this equation to determine his daily intake of water:

 

½ your body weight in ounces + 10 ounces for every ½ hour of exercise = daily water intake

 

Me? Just a glass or two more will make all the difference. It’s time to add water—and grow!

 

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If you stumble make it part of the dance.If You Stumble Make it Part of the Dance

   If you stumble? When you stumble, because we all do, just make it part of the dance; just keep your feet moving. Chances are no one saw any way, or if they did, they didn’t realize you missed a step. Very few of us walk around in synchronized groups being judged—unless you’re part of a cheer squad or Olympic swim team.

   People are usually so busy watching their own steps they barely notice others’. Unless it’s a big stumble, or a true fall, then hopefully someone will notice and extend a helping hand up.

   But if not, and you fall on your face, just pretend you were doing the worm.

Two days ago I woke up and looked different. I seemed to have morphed into my Mother overnight.

I actually noticed it as I passed the bathroom mirror at 4 a.m. I dismissed it as sleepy eyes playing tricks on me in the dark, but when Steve remarked the next morning that I looked like my Mom–well there it was, not just staring me straight in the face, but staring others in the face, too. So, what happened over night? What can cause a person to look like his or her self one day and someone else the next day? And why didn’t I wake up looking like Terry Hatcher or Linda Gray (two actresses that others have said I resemble.) Why my Mother?!

I guess it’s no secret why I woke up looking like my Mother–as the commercial goes, “You can’t fool Mother Nature,” the biggest Mother of them all. My question, however, is: why today? Physically, I’m not that much different then yesterday. I didn’t cut my hair into an “old lady” style or gain 20 lbs over night. So I have to wonder what would have my Mom’s face staring out the mirror at me today? Was it the expression? Had I seen that expression on her face before? Am I at a place in my life that matches a stage my Mother went through?

I’m in a relatively new–just coming up to a year–relationship with a man I can see myself growing old with. Whoa–hold the presses. Did I somehow hook up “togetherness” and growing old together in my psyche and alter my physical appearance in doing so? Or is it because my Mom, still married to my wonderful, devoted father wears a certain expression and I’m wearing that expression myself? My facial features couldn’t have changed that much over night, but wasn’t that my Mom’s nose staring back at me in the mirror? And could my expression have changed based on the experiences I’m having with the man in my life?

I do know this different look has caused me to look differently at my life. Why? What caused the shift? And, if I’d stop right now and look in the mirror, who’s face would I see? Is it experience, is it wisdom? Is it knowledge, belief, understanding, acceptance? Is it a cosmic message from my angels to tell me to call my Mom? Is it a reminder of the similarities my Mom and I have, and are they coming to the surface now because of the similarities I have with my 16 year old daughter. (A raving beauty on her own.)

Steve did tell me I’ve been hard on myself this past week. A little more critical of my appearance–of which I don’t give too much thought. I look like I look. And I like how I look. But this whole “different face in the mirror” is causing me to look at my life. I even picked up Marianne Williamson’s new book, The Age of Miracles, about mid-life transition. Just a quick skim of the table of contents tells me we will be lovingly accepting ourselves and morphing our thoughts to living our best life with this new found knowledge. Maybe this is just time’s way of telling me to take a closer look. My Mom has pretty much gotten everything she’s even wanted in life, and at 74, she projects Sophia Loren style beauty.

Have I too–gotten what I want? Or is it time to move toward it? Maybe that’s what I’m looking at. Or what’s looking back at me: the question–what are you waiting for? Are you ready to move forward?

Hmmm, I think I’ll start with a trip to the salon.