HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Lip Balm

Fred Flare has turned 1 years old today and they are offering a free piece of cake with every purchase...not a real cake, its a Cake Pouch. So if you're gonna purchase something, let it be this: Petit Four Lip Balm Set! Can you say C-U-T-E?????

Ok, so a quick yoga mention, while my right hip has not flared up in quite a while, standing forward bends with my right leg extended forward has been feeling funky. Is this gonna be a regular thing for me now? Hmmm...

spring bouquet in the fall?

spring bouquet in the fall?
Originally uploaded by Cupcake Laine

No water required. Sunlight not needed. This has to be one of my favorite cupcake images ever!

Time for sweets!

It is a lazy Sunday and it has been almost a month since my last cupcake entry and you deserve one since you have been soooo sweet to me in my occasional emotional breakdowns I have on here.

First, I discovered a new cupcake blog!



Sweet Avenue Bake Shop in New Jersey.

Also on the blog front, one of my new FAVORITE blogs has posted a Carrot Cupcake recipe. I love Girl Wanders, she inspires me to cook more if only I can kick my boyfriend out of the kitchen. He doesn't trust me near a stove or with knives.

Pandora's Box

Yup, Pandora's Box was opened last night during yoga class and a whole bunch of bad stuff came out. Long story short, we paired up (which I have expressed on here that I haaaaaaaaaaaaate) and did a drop back into full wheel and then come right back up. After doing this twice, the third time my partner dropped me right on the top of my head. I'm friends with the person I was paired up with which is why I even bothered, if it would have been anyone else I would have opted out.

Before doing it a third time I told her that I was tired and I didn't want to do anymore but she insisted I try one more.....she was trying to be supportive and encouraging. I don't know how it happened, but I was in wheel and she went to pull me up and I went right back down.

It wasn't a big spectacle, I was fine, it didn't even hurt actually but I was embarrassed, really embarrassed, although I don't think anyone else saw this except my partner and my teacher. She ran over to make sure I was ok and I said I was in as few words as possible because I didn't want to make a scene. That's when I felt my eyes water and my throat get tight. I had to leave the room to compose myself.

I went to the bathroom and BURST into tears. I have told my friend/partner once before that I don't like pairing up because I'm usually the biggest girl in the room and I'm afraid I will hurt someone. She hates when I talk like that because she doesn't think there's anything wrong with me. Whatever. So by this happening just stirred up every negative thought and emotion I have about myself that I have been trying to erase. I hate it. I splashed some water on my face and went back but the rest of class was kind of ruined for me.

My friend tried to catch me afterward but I jetted out of the studio because I didn't want to talk to anyone as I started crying again and didn't want anyone to see me. I'm ok I guess, still upset and wondering what can I do to make myself happy with my body. It's gonna take more than just yoga.

*Yoga Hands & Feet*

I don't mind using straps in class when needed, if we're doing leg stretches of the sort but man does the gripping hurt my hands. I'm wondering what can I do about that? I doubt it's arthritis (eep!) and my hands don't usually bother me in any other instance, just when I'm gripping and pulling on a strap. The only thing I can really think of to strengthen your hands is to squeeze one of those stress balls but is there anything else?

A new thing my teacher is making us do is Ardha Matsyendrasana a different way:



What you see this lady doing is how I usually do this pose and how most people do this pose. Notice where her left foot is. Now check this guy out:



Where is his foot (in this case the right)? Oh yeah, he's SITTING on it! The foot is suppose to stay flexed while one cheek sits on your heel and the other sits on the ball of your foot. Good luck with that! It's murder on my feet and my poor, poor pinky toes. They have not forgiven me for doing this to them. This, along with Supta Virasana, may be something that'll take years if ever to master.

I wanna fall again!!

Hi everyone! I haven't had much to say lately on the yoga front until today so I've been laying low. I did a pretty cool thing in class last night. I fell....over and over again. For a lot of us, inversions are scary because we're afraid of falling and hurting ourselves.

My teacher wanted us to do forearm stand but no walls were allowed. She knew everyone in the room so she wanted to push us a little. She wanted us to experience falling out of Pincha Mayurasana so we wouldn't be afraid to do it again without the wall. It was like a tumbling class for toddlers.

We did it first in partners; one person spotted you as you came up, bend your knees, started drawing your feet to the ground. So yes, there is a point where you do find yourself doing Scorpion before your feet hit the floor.

Once it came time to do it on our own, I have to say it was kind of fun! Those couple of seconds of me perched up and doing the pose with no support before bending my knees and falling back (or is it forward?) was so exhilarating. It was the same feeling I had the first time I did a handstand.

After I learned how to do a headstand away from the wall, forearm stand was my next mission. I've been practicing this pose for a while now trying to engage my chest and shoulder blades more to not crunch my lower back so much. That was my issue, I wasn't drawing my chest forward enough. I can't wait to try again!

UPDATE: It is important that I add to TUCK YOUR CHIN! Since your head shouldn't be touching the ground in this pose, this will be easy, instinctive even! :)

karate kids

karate kids 2
Originally uploaded by pipingrock76

A big THANK YOU to everyone who responded to my last entry. It is an interesting that topic that will always surface no matter how secular and commercial Yoga may get.

So with that, here is a treat. Karate Kid cupcakes! Hiiieeee-ya!!!

Yoga Minus Hinduism

In the latest issue of Newsweek, the "BeliefWatch" section has a piece about Christian Yoga.

Yoga minus Hinduism

Did I miss something? I'm suppose to be Hindu? The article is about a group of Christians tweaking the practice around to cater to their beliefs, renaming poses because Sanskrit is sacrilege or something.

Yeah, at first I did get a little offended as it's safe to criticize Christianity. But then I started thinking, is Christian Yoga any different from Punk Rock Yoga, or Disco Yoga (I'm not making that up)? There's always going to be someone trying a new kind of Yoga to attract a certain audience. I guess I can't fault them as long as they DO it.

What bothers me is the division, Ashtanga is better than Iyengar, Christian better than Hindu...who cares!!!! Just enjoy it and gain something positive out it. No judgments.

I'm going to bed, good night!

**Waves**

I went to yoga last night, the first time in two weeks! My teacher, Lippy, gave me a few tips on what to do to take care of my hip in forward bends (ie: roll up a blanket and folder over that). I didn't go crazy with the forward bending. I have an excellent forward bend where my palms can lay flat on the ground and my forehead touches my knee but last night I checked my ego at the door and used blocks, blocks, and more blocks. Even in Trikonasana I used blocks.

My teacher has now forbidden me from using my right leg to kick up into Handstand. =*( It's my "A side", my left leg gets neglected a lot. So I tried to kick up with my left leg and it truly is like learning how to do a handstand all over again. Kinda sucks but I understand why I must do it, balance baby! It's crazy how you can get your body to move a certain way on one side but when you try the other side you are completely lost and your legs are just flaring out like crazy.

It was nice to be back in class. The anti-inflammatories I was taking for my hip did the trick and I haven't felt any pain in about a week. I may refill the prescription and just keep it in the cabinet in case it flares up again. The doctor thinks that's enough to do the trick. I'll stick with that.