First let me apologize for disappearing without even taking the time to explain my absence. That being said, it was for happy reasons. Stressful, yes, but also happy. Here is a very brief recap of what I’ve been up to. I promise more detailed posts later. I’m also hoping to gradually restart this blog.

In late Spring, my husband and I starting looking to buy our first house. It was a more intense, stress-filled experience than I expected. In July, we found our house. We looked at it twice in one day, put in an offer that afternoon, and had our counter-offer accepted that night. While incredibly excited for the next big stage in our life, this meant packing and cleaning. I hate packing and cleaning.

As luck would have it, our late honeymoon/family vacation was already booked for the week prior to closing on the house. On one hand, it was crazy to try to have everything ready before we left the country. On the other hand, it was the perfect break from everything. Mexico was AMAZING! We had a blast with my parents and loved getting away from work.

Looking back, moving wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We got the main living areas painted and moved in all in one weekend. I spent the next week refinishing the kitchen (which I LOVE) and felt like I was painting every other day for weeks.

Then just as things were settling down, I got a job. Not just a job, but a step in the right direction for my career. Is it my dream job? No. But I’m loving it. I like the people I work with. I’m good at this. And I finally am back to a 8-4:30 Monday – Friday schedule. While that’s great for me, the hubs got moved to second shift. Which means we see each other for 2-3 hours on Saturday and Sunday. Yes, you read that correctly. We do not seeing other at all during the week. Since he is working weekends, we also doing see each other much then. I hate it.

I backed away from the internet at first because I was too busy, and then because I was too tired, and then because I had been gone for so long I didn’t know how to come back. This is the first step. Hope you guys know how much I’ve missed you and that even though I was quiet, I wasn’t gone. I still read a lot of your blog posts from my phone and cannot wait to reconnect with you.

How those of you with full-time jobs and kids fit in yoga, is really beyond my grasp (and something I’ll hopefully learn when the time comes). If someone like me – who is home three days a week and has a hubs who doesn’t take up a lot of time due his work schedule – has a hard time getting in a practice every day, then how does anyone else do it?! I’ve started to yoga multi-task recently and it is amazing to me how much asana or meditation can be worked in at the same time as other things.

Most of these (tips? I’m not sure what call them) may be no-brainers that you figured out years ago. In which case, you’re welcome for the reminder But seeing as I just started discovering them, then maybe a few of your haven’t yet either.

I’m starting with my favorite. Something I like to call “teasana”.

Most nights I like to get in bed or curl up on the couch with a hot cup of Yogi Bedtime tea to help get ready to sleep. This used to mean: fill the tea kettle and start the water, wash my face, pour the water and start brewing, check Twitter/feed the cat/turn on the TV, then I’d relax with my chamomile.

Lately, however, I’ve found an even more relaxing way to end (and most of the time start) my day. I start the water and then find a place to sit (or take mountain pose) and meditate while listening to the sound of the water boiling. The sense of peace I find in the moments when it gets really quiet – right before it’s about to whistle – is beautiful. Then while my tea is brewing, I pull out my kitchen/outside yoga mat (yes, I have three mats placed around my house – that’s an issue for another post lol). Since my Bedtime tea brews for 10 minutes, it’s perfect for some slow, relaxing poses to ready my body for sleep. Washing my face prior to starting the tea and feeding the cat afterwards does not take up so much more of my time that I even notice a difference.

Do you practice teasana?

(me in my favorite outfit)

I didn’t cry a lot as a baby. Which was odd considering that I multiple surgeries. Nope, I just made this “eh” sound. Even as a toddler I was kick ass. I mean look at that outfit. You wouldn’t accuse that kid of being a cry baby. But guess what, yoga has made me into a crier. I’m not sure if I like this or not.

I’ve always been really empathetic. I’ve always cried during movies and books. Now I cry watching commercials. Biggest Loser. Intervention. The newest Harry Potter trailer (this one is totally understandable though). Hell I even break into tears during pigeon pose from time to time!

So why am I blaming this on yoga? Because it’s gotten me to become more aware of myself and the present moment. I’m allowing myself to be more open to my deeper feelings and to be more free to express my emotions. This is AMAZING and I love it! Well I love the extreme feelings of joy parts of it.

I love seeing someone playing in the park and it brings me a smile (that I now actually pay attention to). I love hearing a woman singing out loud as she’s running and then getting in my car and cranking the sound up and singing along. I love letting go of fights quicker and being more understand of the hubs. I do not love crying more. Or do I? At this point the jury is still out. But lately I can really relate to this song:

I had a ton of compliments on this outfit yesterday. Cute tights. Cute shirt. And a skirt that hits my waist in the perfect spot. So why did I feel uncomfortable with people telling me I looked cute?! I’m not sure that I would have noticed it if @CurvyYoga hadn’t tweeted about this amazing post on “Learning How to Take a Compliment” by @ChallyWrites.

How terrible is that we’re taught to decline compliments on how we look? How am I supposed to learn to love my body if I’m not allowed to believe or acknowledge praise from others?!

I’m constantly saying things like “oh the dress just hits my waist in a good spot, I’m not really that small” or “meh I got it on sale” or “I’m just having a good hair day. It doesn’t normally look like this.”. I think it makes me look arrogant if I say “Thanks! I feel really pretty today.”. Am I not supposed to tell people when I think I look good?

I’m making a vow to myself. From now on I’m going to say “Thank you!”. No excuses. No downplaying myself. No need to give a compliment right back to balance things out.

Just say “Thanks!”.

This clock hangs in my living room and hasn’t worked in close to a year. And yet I still look at it and think “oh I have plenty of time!” before I realize that unless it’s that magical twice a day time, I do not have plenty of time. Today was one of those days. I was planning on fitting in some asana before hitting the gym with the hubs (he will only go if I go with even though I prefer to workout at home or outside – note how good of a wife I am). Unsurprisingly I did not fit in my practice pre-gym.

So I made time to flow for 10 minutes in the midst of getting ready for work. Was it what I originally wanted? No. Was it enough? Yes.

This made me think about the difference between finding time and making time. Finding time implies that it is just sitting there lost in the midst of laying around (which is sometimes the case). On most of my busy days, however, there isn’t minutes or hours hiding under the blankets just waiting for me to uncover them. On those days I have to make time. I have to sacrifice other activities that also seemed necessary.

Making time means eating my breakfast on the way to work, letting my hair air dry, or making my tea at work. None of these situations are ideal. The smartest way for me to make this time would be in advance by going to bed earlier and setting my alarm an hour ahead. I’ll get there eventually. One step at a time…

Did you make time for yoga today?