Getting Back

In the last week, I've done a few things to break out of the downward cycle I was in.  Am still kind of in, if we're being honest here.  One of the key factors in my personal well-being improvement was definitely driving to the Dayton area to spend a few days with Cathlinka and her three darling boys.

Here we are clowning for the camera right before I left, and right after Cathlinka discovered her basement had flooded in all the rain we had over those three days.  And the discovery was made as I was packing the car.  Right at nap time.  And with a big move coming up in the next month.  Perfect storm?  Yeah.  So This is what two makeup-less and just barely showered mamas look like when they're making the best of their respective overwhelming lives.  I'd say we've still got it goin' on.

In other self-care news, I finally went back to my yoga studio yesterday.  I haven't gone to a class in-studio since the end of February!  Ca-ray-zy.  And stupid, really, because it's so good for me in every way, but more and more the benefit is as much in my mind and heart as it is in my body.  I was reluctant to return because I'm 27 weeks pregnant and they don't offer specifically prenatal classes.  I knew all of the heated yoga classes would be too much for me since I've been dealing with dizzy spells all the way back to January.  But the Foundations class was great, even though the focus was on twists.  My strength hadn't regressed as much as I expected it to and  I almost did an inverted child pose on the ropes, but thought maybe that'd be pushing it, so I finagled a slightly inverted child's pose with some bolsters.  Not the same, so I might actually try goin' jungle style next week.  I did, however, get into a supported shoulder stand and Moe went nutso in the anti-gravity.  And I feel less tense and more mellow.  My body is more comfortable.  I can feel the channels of energy, fluid, emotion, and life flow through me more easily.

Home sweet home

Finally, I'm more than half finished with Come As You Are and am planning to email Emily Nagoski to get more resources on resolve stress cycles as well as digging into some of the other topics (like her "Perel vs. Gottman" bit, because I think I know what she means but I'm not positive) and to compliment her brief, clear, and understandable explanations of concepts like non-concordance and attachment styles.  In fact, I signed on to the computer this morning to word process some of my notes so  I could pull out my post it notes and reuse them (Hi.  I secretly grew up in the Great Depression).  I'll get to that right after I brew some more coffee using the grounds from earlier this morning.  Ha. 

So far this summer, I've read Adverbs, The Pursuit of Happiness, Sex at Dawn, most of Mating in Captivity, and I've started four other books but keep switching between them.  That's not bad for being on break less than three weeks.  =)