open your heart!

hey loves!

happy V-Day! or U-Day!  i heard it called U-day and loved it because its so important to show yourself a little love.  and if we can't love ourselves, its hard to love others.  so happy V (or U) day to all!

my weekend has been wonderful.  saturday i taught a spin class and loved every single minute of it.  i actually got so into it at one point that i almost rocked myself right off my bike!  yeah... i fully commit to the idea that if it's not fun you won't do it, so make it worth it!  i'm that chick at the gym or in the yoga studio totally in my own world, eyes closed, huge smile and lost in whatever i'm doing.  i love the present moment and try to exist in it as much as possible. 

afterwards i ran to a power pilates class that kicked my booty and left me feeling refreshed and energized.  since hubby and i usually work on sundays, we kept saturday 'our' day and once i got home and showered my sweaty self we headed out to see avatar.  i made it all the way through with no anxious feelings or anything. YAY!  for me, the movie wasn't as wonderful as everyone has been saying, but hubby thoroughly enjoyed it... for the 3rd time!... so well worth it.  we then got adventurous and grabbed some indian food to take home and enjoy with a big bottle of red. 
this morning, still in my wine haze, i hit the gym and did an elliptical workout that helped me sweat out my toxins and hit up the weights.  felt good.  it feels good for me to move and i realize how much i've missed it since being under the weather.  my schedule is packed this week so i'm looking forward to enjoying some quality couch time in my PJs.  with another glass of vino.  woot woot!

in honor of this holiday of love, i wanted to share a heart opening practice with you today.  ENJOY!

               UP DOG

STANDING BACK BEND

CAMEL

BRIDGE

FISH

make sure your body is open and ready, take your time in your practice today and try out one (or all!) of these fabulous heart openers.  and they are great stress relievers to boot!

other ways to celebrate love today:
*enjoy a glass of red wine
*cook a beautiful meal
*bake red velvet cupcakes
*light candles
*read an empowering and uplifting book
*write a poem
*call a friend...just because
*treat yourself to a mani/pedi after your yoga class
*take time to think of 5 things you love about yourself and your life
*say I Love You to someone special

i hope you all have an awesome rest of your weekend!

images: iyogalife

happy, happy friday

good morning to everyone out there in the blogosphere! 

i woke up this morning with so much delicious energy that i feel like i could run a marathon.  the past couple of nights have been rough for me... still don't really know why... and i've been getting only like 3-4 hrs of sleep a night.  not good.  doesn't make for a happy girl come the morning.  so after dinner last night, hubby suggested i take a quick nap so i could recharge for survivor.  while, in theory, that sounded wonderful, it didn't quite work out that way.  i totally slept right through survivor and could barely open my eyes when hubby tried to wake me.  he just left me to rest and i wound up sleeping straight through until this morning!  a total of 11 blissful hours of sleep.  ahhhh.  i can't even begin to describe how good that felt. 

so today i only have one yoga class to teach because my other one has been cancelled for the next two weeks.  and while i always love to have classes to teach, its a nice break.  so i'm spending my day with my sis-in-law and beautiful baby nephew and fitting in some work in between.  so far i managed to clean the house, make breakfast for the hubby and i, walk the puggle, watch an epi of Sex and The City and sort through all of my class CDs.  I also am super excited because i'm teaching a SPIN class tomorrow AM.  i'm pumped for that!  can't wait to make a rockin' playlist and get my sweat on!  i'm gonna rock 'em!  i also am sending out my kickboxing exam and certification so i'll be able to add that to my class schedule soon as well.  yoga, spin and kickboxing?  color me the happiest girl in the world!  i'm also actively creating an outdoor group workout class that i'm recruiting friends to join.  i'm going to be running this on Sunday mornings and can't think of a bettter way to spend a weekend morning.... working out and kicking butt with friends.  love it.

tonight after class the hubby and i are getting take out and watching the DVR'd survivor epi from last night.  perfect night. and tomorrow we're doing the whole v-day celebration.  we're going to see Avatar and getting indian food for dinner.  the movies are a really cool thing  for me because back in the day, with my anxiety, i refused to see a movie.  i hated the idea  of being trapped in a movie theatre and not being able to just get up and go.  i notice that "trapped" feeling is very common for those of us with anxiety.  i'll never forget that after a year of not seeing movies, the first one i felt confident enough to see was wall-e and hubby bought me a little plastic wall-e in honor of the event!  i still have it!  and i still continue to acknowledge the movies as a stepping stone in my recovery from anxiety... so it's a real special treat for me to do this with him.  talk about appreciating the little things, huh? haha! 

hope your friday is wonderful and you have some fun plans for this weekend - v-day related or not!