Best Ottoman Award (a Story of Relaxation and CSN Stores)

On these winter days, I often get home from work feeling tired and ready to kick back. After trudging through the snow, I'm ready to get inside. It's so nice to finally warm up, get dinner started, and relax a bit. 

After figuring out what to cook and starting it up on the stove or in the oven, I'll generally make my way to the living room, and plop down on one of our comfy couches. The perfect moment just to be. Not figuring anything out or working on any projects, but just letting go and meditating for a minute.

For a while now, the Hubs and I have been longing for a way not only to sit back but also to put our feet up after a long day. And we got lucky: we scored a sweet ottoman from CSN Stores that goes perfectly in the living room! 

I cozy up and immediately feel like this:

Full relaxation achieved! Slippered feet on an ottoman. And one that's attractive and has great storage, too!

See, one of the best parts is that we can stuff our living room cuddle blankets in there, so it keeps the whole room tidier, too. Win-win.

I'd highly recommend checking out CSN Stores if you're in need of a new piece of furniture or decor. They've got a huge selection -- over 200 online stores where you can find everything from wall art to these Herman Miller chairs to cookware. In all my shopping there, I've had great turnaround times on shipping time, too.

CSN Stores, I award you the Best Ottoman Award -- a little footrest that's the perfect size for my living room, that was right in my price range (only about $40!), and that makes relaxation and a tidy apartment that much easier. (FYI it's this one, but in black.)

Now I don't even mind looking out the window to find the snow falling... because I know I can just curl up on the couch and know I am home for the night. :)

Monday Morning Ballet

All photos by the talented Rachel Papo.

On Monday mornings, it's best to stretch out before you start work. Aren't these little dancers stunning?

Hopes, Wants, Wishes: A Holiday Gift Guide

Deck the halls!

Christmas season is just around the corner, although it's hard to believe it while I'm enjoying 80-degree weather in Puerto Rico. Are you ready for your gift shopping?

Here are a few item's I've been drooling over lately.

Super sexy!

 Incredibly gorgeous swimwear from Mikoh.

Perfect for Bikram class.

 StayHuman ruched shorts.

A new take on the turtleneck.

A lovely Lole sheer top from Uncle Dan's in Evanston.

Warm and fuzzy and comfy.

Grey wool fleck botas from TOMS shoes. Adorable!

Have to love a long zip up.

Beautiful Wear With All Jacket from Lululemon.

Fancy yoga wear.

A wrap-around bolero style top from KayaYogaWear on Etsy.

Chunky scarf in the best color.

A scarf from Secret Pocket, who has my favorite store name ever.

This yoga bag is sick, and it comes in the color key lime.

A yoga mat carrier from Yogiwear that's to die for!

I'm also considering some rad non-traditional Christmas ideas like...

• Buying a potted tree.
• Donating a yoga mat.
• Doing an art swap or services exchange with friends instead of buying gifts.
• Baking all gluten-free goodies.
• Taking a silly family portrait.

What are you up to for the holidays? Would love to hear about your weird and wacky traditions in the comment section below.

A 12-Step Program for the Beginning Bikram Yogi: How and Why to Quit the Fidget

Um, how exactly do you expect to hold this if you're twitching all over the place?

I hate to admit it, but the other day another girl really got to me during Bikram class.

We’ve never met, I don’t know her, and it’s probably wrong to form an opinion about this chick without even having spoken to her…but man, you should have been there. It was ugly:

She couldn’t get through three seconds of class – during postures and in between them – without fidgeting. She was wiping sweat. She was checking herself out in the reflection of the side-wall window. She was adjusting her hair. She was squeezing her belly paunch and making dissatisfied faces at her own reflection. She was making eye contact with her friend across the room.

In short, she was doing everything but the postures themselves.

And dudes, it was pissing me off. When it comes to dealing with difficult emotions, anger’s not my forte. I don’t enjoy building up a large dose of fury within myself. And when I do, I’m generally not sure how to handle it.

And goodness knows: the heat in the Bikram studio is enough to make my blood boil and turn my face red – I don’t know about you, but I don’t need another reason to swelter. Not to mention, the 90-minute meditation is supposed to be a soothing sort of practice.

Short and sweet: you should be still – frozen, motionless, absolutely static and silent – for a pretty big chunk of class. Whether you’re technically in savasana or simply resting in between sets of the standing series postures, you should be a living statue!

By literal definition, finding stillness is as important as utilizing integrity and depth in the postures themselves. Heck, it’s inherent to their very name – asana refers not just to the physical fulfillment of the position, but also finding calm within that configuration. You arrange the different components of the body in a specific way, but what’s more: you do so for the purpose of achieving balance, promoting physical health, and attaining mental relaxation. It’s like the name of “standing separate leg head to knee pose” – the phrase “head to knee” implies that you must make contact between the exactly forehead and the exactly knee in order to receive the medical benefit of the posture. Not the nose. Not the chin. The forehead. In this same way, every asana requires the reaching of stillness. It’s not an option!

Reasons to Quit the Fidget:

1. Find peace. Bottom line. Isn’t this a big reason you’re stepping foot into the Torture Chamber, anyway?

2. Stop annoying the hell out of the yogis around you.

3. Balance. What a concept, right? And you were wondering why you couldn’t hold standing bow…

4. Energy. You’ll actually have more to put toward the real Bikram, rather than your frenzied fiddles.

5. You won’t feel so sorry for yourself! One of my favorite moments in yoga is when, right in the middle of class, an instructor randomly blurts, “Great, now stop looking so sad! Next set…” They slide that quick little sentence in with the other instructions like it’s part of the dialogue, when in reality it should be. How many times have you looked around the hot room to see some pretty miserably contorted facial expressions? Or made them yourself?

6. When you feel sorry for yourself, you quit sooner. So when you stop feeling sorry for yourself because you’re so tired from wasting energy fidgeting and because you couldn’t balance if you life depended on it (see #3, #4 and #5) – then you’ll actually be able to stay in the pose until “change” rather than pooping out early.

7. Your body actually needs that sweat you keep wiping away. One of my favorite instructors brings this up often, calling people out when they stop to reach for their brows, or worse, down for their towels.

8. You’ll be able to breathe better.

9. You leave the drama at the door. You get a chance to get away from our insane, insanely fast-paced world instead of allowing the madness in the door.

10. You learn discipline. You learn. Discipline. You. Learn. Discipline!

11. You stick together as a class, and you benefit from the energy of those around you. Holy crap, I can’t stand when people move at their own pace. And granted, at first I found it difficult to stick with the instructor and the rest of the yogis around me, but once you learn what a blessing this can be, people who throw it off become extremely pesky!

12. Uh, it’s part of the DIALOGUE. And what’s rule #1 in Bikram? Obey the freaking DIALOGUE!

So what happened with Miss Drama, with her jitters and spasms, her ridiculous song and dance, her sad faces when she couldn’t hit any of the postures with Bengal tiger strength? As a matter of fact, turns out none of my fierce, defiant glaring in her direction helped a damn thing. She just kept on squirming around like a restless worm. And she reminded me of another reason it does you no good to get distracted from those around you in the yoga room:

It just takes away from your own practice.

But hey, there was one redeeming factor. Crazy girl inspired me to stay for a second class.

It just so happened that my first one sucked so bad and I was so all over the place that I just couldn’t resist sticking around for the 7:30pm. And that, my friends, was an adventure in and of itself. Stay tuned for the next post!

Bringing Out Your "Best" In the Heat: How to Battle Anger and Disappointment While Trying to Hold a Solid Standing Balancing Series

Photo Via Jana Cruder Photography.

Sometimes I walk into the hot room and experience immediate bliss: a warm blend of relief by the slackening of tight muscles, joy in the softness of the sultry air as it surrounds me, and comfort within the stillness, silence and tranquil dimness of the space.

And then sometimes I walk into the hot room and just think, “FML… it’s hot in here!” and start to wonder how I’m going to survive the next 90 minutes.

Sometimes I hear people walk in that door and directly announce their surprise at the boiling temperature, too: “Whoa, it’s hot!” They then proceed to glance around with a look of surprise, both at the heat and the fact that they’ve audibly disrupted the peaceful hush of the room. My favorite part of this routine is the “No sh**, dummy!” looks all of the regular Bikram yogis give the loud person as they scowl and send disapproving vibes in their general direction. 

This is Bikram. Simon says IN HELL, the room seems to be saying in one silent, furious whisper. Did you not get that you were signing up for yoga in a 105-degree room? Hellooooo?

Hey, at least I don’t verbally proclaim my dismay at the heat I willingly enter a few minutes before class begins.

On the other hand, it never ceases to astound me how often the heat can bring out the worst in me – those emotions I generally tend to hide from or simply pretend just aren’t even real.

Anger. Resentment. Frustration. Self-loathing. Insecurity. Regret. Discontent.

Anywhere from mild annoyance to downright rage and full-fledged letdown, sometimes the heat puts me face-to-face with the frenzied side of me I wish wasn’t seething beneath the surface.

I’m not generally an angry or confrontational person in everyday life, so having these sensations and excesses all up in my face all of a sudden can be a bit devastating. Especially when I generally intend to use yoga as a time to detox, let go, and get out of my own head.

Sometimes, too, it’s a matter of seeing reflected back at me all of the drama and madness of real-life that needs to get left outside the glass doors but somehow managed to sneak in with me and my mat… like the feeling of my heart dropping out of my chest as I read an email from a long-time friend who says she won’t be joining me at my upcoming wedding in August. Talk about a sucker punch to the stomach: now that makes me feel loved and special.

Or how about my livid reaction to every poke and prod from parents or friends about what tiny retarded details need to get done today today today for said wedding. What color napkins? Did you call the florist? Are you sure your friends will show up to help set up chairs?! Garrrr, people. I know all the party planning is supposed to be gosh-darn hootin-hollerin’ fun, but sometimes a girl just wants to work, do the yoga, and get home for some dinner and snuggles and a couple episodes of Prison Break, not another 8-foot-long To Do List.

Or take these timely favorites: my ultimate dissatisfaction with waking up in the morning feeling like I’ve been hit by a two-ton truck. And not because I’m hung over or under-slept, but because I’ve been having these freaky, depressing, and downright terrifying dreams from the moment my head hits the pillow to the second the alarm sounds. Exhaustion sucks, man.

And of course, there’s the lovely sense of entrapment and longing for the outside summer world just beyond my reach that surrounds me from 9am to 5pm every day, just taunting me out the crystal-clear windows in the office. I can SEE you, Lake Michigan, sparkling your sparkly blue just right along the horizon there! I can see you, scantily clad Evanston residents, out there sauntering around enjoying the sunshine in your tank tops and flip flops! Gaawwwsh. Go ahead, be more taunting, won’t you?

Alright this is the point in the blog post when I admit to myself and to my readers how I really shouldn’t be whining so. You’ve probably stopped reading anyway, what with all this self-indulgent wallowing mucking up the page, but just in case you’re still with me, I’ll try and bring back a relevant point that relates to the yoga.

I was recently reminded over at Bikram Yoga NYC’s blog how “Bikram yoga can teach you that anger is as pointless as fatigue – natural, maybe, but only an inconvenience somewhat like rain: an obstacle to surmount. Doing Bikram teaches you that agitation of any type fades, and after it does, seeing the next right move is not so hard. All that heat lets cool reason prevail.”

Now this is a pretty slick idea, when you stop and think about it. The concept that by doing Bikram you can actually overcome your anger and fear – and flush it out your system just like all the other junk the postures help get rid of – is such a relief! What freedom there is in that.

It’s like any challenge, really: the longer you wait to face it head on, the harder it becomes and the more of a mountain you’ll have to climb over in the end. But if you make straight up facing it your priority, and incorporate it into your daily routine and your weekly yoga practice, the fury fades faster.

Letting go of exasperation and other inhibiting emotions during your 90-minute meditations at Bikram can also help you deepen your practice. How else do you expect to find the intense focus and balance needed for the standing balancing series? I speak from personal experience when I say that it’s pretty darn hard to hit your personal edge for Standing Head to Knee and not wobble all over the place if all you can think about is something offensive you heard at work, or a past hurt you can’t get over.

Practice being in your practice only in the room – a blank slate with no emotions, no distractions, no irritations. And hey, after a while, even the heat will start to feel good.

Photo Via CortexForce's Flickr Photostream.

Notes on Feeling a Little LOST in My Practice

This week it's back to the grind, and I find I'm having a little trouble getting back into my Bikram groove. It's weird: all weekend I was aching to get my butt to the studio, and now that I'm free of evening obligations, all I feel like doing is curling up on the couch for a nap or an episode of LOST.

What's up? Has the yoga truck finally smacked me down? Or, to stick with the silly analogy, maybe I've been run over by a shockingly blue Dharma Initiative bus?

Alright, so it's a stretch...but seriously: how cool are these posters? Pretty sweet.

Anyway, the Bikram, well. See, there goes my scatter brain skittering around, just like it's been doing at work. Skipping beats, veering off course, trying to stay out of the nap zone. Sigh.

But again: the Bikram! Have you ever had the experience of falling off the wagon? Truly discovering that each day of this yoga varies, and even though you think you've got it down, you may end up sliding backward before you break through a fear, obstacle, or just wave of exhaustion? Me. Too. How did you get back on track?

What Graduation Really Teaches You: You Need the Bikram

Photo Via A. Yakovlev's Flickr Photostream,

What a weekend! Caps and gowns, dinner reservations, visiting family, traffic, crowds, diplomas, convocation speakers, thunderstorms, tours of the town, late nights, early mornings and more. Who knew hosting graduation could be so hectic!


Pretty quickly I realized: I’ve fallen into a valuable routine with my Bikram yoga and when I go more than a day without it, man,

I’m cranky,


I’m tight,


and sometimes it hurts, but I need this yoga!

Word to the wise: if you’re balancing a busy weekend of juggling time with family, celebrating, hosting and entertaining your guests, and making convocation on time, find a way to fit the Bikram in, too…or you will go crazy.

Photo Via Captain Skyhawk's Flickr Photostream.