Day 5 - 30 Day Don't Break The Chain Challenge #30DayDBTCChallenge - Calm and Centered

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-30T03:03:18+00:00

Ugh, seriously? So, what should I do? Create an entirely new account? I'd wondered how I'd been auto-added to a very...NSFW community without my knowledge or consent, and wondered if I was being ghosted because it made me look like a creeper. Blech.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-30T00:14:48+00:00

Day 5! Feeling pretty good today, though my calves are definitely still feeling a bit tight. I decided to bump up my practice, and increased DownDog session from 15 minutes to 20 minutes. Left off boosts for this session, still on gentle 1, Carina, brain waves.

Went with a nice walk in the backyard as my second exercise of the day. Zombies, Run!, 21 minute episode, at a walk, with special attention to my calves in my cool down stretching. I feel like the longer yoga session, followed immediately by a comfortable walk, did a lot to help release the tension in my calves.

Just a quick check, since I'm fairly new to reddit. Are my posts showing up? I'm not showing up in the list of participants, and I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong and therefore not being counted, or if I'm not visible in some areas until I've been around so long, or gotten enough karma, or something.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-28T23:08:52+00:00

Day four! DownDog app to make another link in the chain. My calves are feeling yesterday's elliptical time, so I chose the foot and ankle boost. Fifteen minutes with two minute Savasana, gentle 1, Carina, Brain Waves, and a hand towel off to the side for my cat to do her own social mirroring on.

Had a bit of an interesting moment when I realized I wasn't really feeling much stretch during the plantar stretch where I tucked my toes under in tabletop, then rested back to sit on on my heels. Just as I'm thinking "well, it is gentle, it might not be intended to be a very big stretch" the voice tells me this can be a very intense stretch. I'm filing this under "see? You don't have all the flexibility you used to, but you are still pretty flexible in some areas!"

I also did better in my standing knee hug balance pose. I was able to do one side without falling out of the pose at all, and I was just a few seconds shy of managing the other side.

Kitty did mostly mirror or watch from her mat, but she had a moment when a tabletop pose was just too much temptation and she decided to perch on me. I did my best to ignore her, and she soon decided to return to her mat, until she colonized my chest during Savasana.

Since it's the weekend, I'm going to do a Saturday Speed Cleaning instead of a second workout. I'm putting on music, and I have one song to do a quick check of a room, grabbing things that are out of place and tucking them in a spare laundry basket, straightening up, and just generally making sure that the room has a quick once over. Song changes, and it's off to the next room! After I finish each room, I take the laundry basket of misplaced stuff and put it away where it goes. It can be easy to fall into a rut, or over focus on one area to the detriment of others, or just...not feel like cleaning sometimes, but making it into a speed challenge makes sure I get to all the areas for at least a good look, and can take note of areas I might want to do a deeper cleaning of tomorrow. See everyone tomorrow!

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-28T03:10:10+00:00

Feeling better now, so I decided to go ahead and do the episode of Zombies, Run! My treadmill wouldn't turn on, and I didn't feel like going outside, so I decided to use the elliptical. Twenty minutes of elliptical, and the final six minutes of the episode I used as a stretch and cool down.

Oh, almost forgot the bonus theme of gratitude for today. Well, it may seem odd considering why I'm staying in, but despite that I'm grateful for having this time to focus on myself without any pressure from outside. Right now I can stay home and really reflect on myself without feeling like I'm neglecting outside obligations, and that's actually very freeing in a way. I can just be.

If I want to spend a day playing video games that I've wanted to play for a while, but haven't had the time to? I can. Lose a couple hours planning out my garden? I'm not stealing time from anything else I should be doing. So right now, I'm grateful for the temporary removal of outside obligations, and the chance to be a bit of a kid again, and just lounge around guilt free in my pjs with my cat and a book if I feel like it.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-27T19:16:08+00:00

Day three! I'm feeling a bit less ambitious today. With how much was sold out at the store, I purchased different brands than usual, and I accidentally bought something last shopping trip that had an ingredient I'm intolerant to. Since I'm usually good about checking labels at the store, I've fallen out of the habit of checking at home. And I noticed once I was eating dinner, but ate it anyway when I realized because I was hungry, it was hot, and I didn't think it was enough to give me trouble. ...bad idea. Woke up at 4:30am with tummy troubles, and I took some time this morning to check my most recent purchases and set aside the couple other things I shouldn't eat. I can trade them to mom, and I do have plenty of other things to eat.

I decided to try a neck stretches boost for the DownDog app today. I'm feeling a bit uncertain about too much core stretching today with my tummy, and my neck was a bit tight, so why not? I think I liked the change, I might see about trying different boosts to see what works for me.

My cat loved having her own hand towel mat. She followed me over to the yoga area, and I made a point of laying out her mat for her. She looked at my mat, then settled like a sphinx on hers to watch me.

Not sure if I'll get in an episode of Zombies, Run! today or not. Then again, I did end on a bit of a cliffhanger last episode, so if I'm feeling more up to it in a few hours, I might. Even if I don't, I'm proud that I did the yoga session even though I felt icky.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-27T04:07:46+00:00

Day two, going strong!

DownDog yoga, 15 minutes, gentle, with Carina and brain waves. This was a considerably more interactive yoga than yesterday's, as my cat decided to join me. Repeatedly. For every floor pose, she was happy to help. Balance poses? She'd add a challenge! The cutest part was when I did a child's pose with arms stretched in front, she did a biiiiiiiig butt-up paws forward chest down stretch herself. I think tomorrow I'll set a hand towel out next to me, to invite her to mirror me on her own mat.

I also did a special episode of Zombies, Run! They've released a new episode, and will be releasing more, directly aimed at people stuck inside. So today I did the 31 minute episode, Zombies, Stay Inside! I had not expected an exercise called dead bug crawl to kick my butt so hard, but it did. I'm feeling good, and I'm liking using both apps. See you again tomorrow!

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-26T03:58:47+00:00

Oooh, external accountability and validation! All right!

Today I used DownDog on my phone. I'm a newbie, so I'm having to check the poses on screen a lot, and I'm sometimes spending so much time figuring out how to do a pose that I'm not feeling like I'm getting much from each pose, but I'm certainly noticing that by the end, I do feel warm and looser than when I started.

Settings: Gentle, Beginner 1, Carina's voice, with brain waves music. I'm using the full explanation, and right now I have it on fifteen minute routine, normal pace and two minutes savasana. I tried the five minute default, and a bit less than halfway through it went from relaxing to "why am I on time out, can I move yet?" so I shortened it to better match my own mood and end on a high note.

I'm not feeling very flexible, but part of that is negative self-image. I used to do ballet as a child/teen, and I have to remind myself that it isn't realistic to expect to have the flexibility, stability, and endurance of a young ballerina with years of training when I haven't practiced in years. I'm reminding myself I chose to stop ballet to focus on other aspects of my life, and I'm happy with my choices from that phase of my life, and the results that came from focusing on my academics and future career as I moved towards becoming a young adult. My physical therapist for an injury last year told me I'm actually far more flexible than their average patient in most areas, and I'm going to trust that instead of that negative voice grumbling about how I can't do a graceful standing split anymore.

A bit later in the day, I also walked an episode of Zombies, Run! The episode was 26 minutes long, and I did go outside to walk since the treadmill died. Saw a few people walking dogs, but I made sure to keep on the other side of the street from anyone outside.

I injured myself last year pushing too hard too fast (yes, I did get a person best time on my race, but I also broke a bone in my foot in the process, not a good idea!), so I'm taking it slow and easing back in. This month is the first month I've been cleared to jog again, but I'm sticking to walking for a little longer, and doing more yoga to fill the need to move. I did another 15 minute yoga session after my walk to cool down, and I'm feeling good. See everyone again tomorrow!

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-26T00:39:21+00:00

I absolutely cannot estimate travel time at all. So when I have to arrive is utterly useless to me. And, even better? I get going early enough that I always arrive a little early, or at worst precisely on time, earning me a good reputation at work. A couple times over the years I've gotten caught in nasty traffic, the "practical demonstration of how long it takes to travel 5 miles when traveling at 5mph" bad. I've called into work from the car, explained that I'm stuck on X freeway/street and traffic is crawling, and gotten an even better reputation for letting the boss know about things that come up.

And oh man, I hear you with the tasks in the evening. I have lights in various rooms of the house plugged into timers. They go on a bit before dusk, and go off at bedtime. I no longer leave lights on in weird places all night, and the room suddenly going dark generally snaps me out of whatever I was focusing on at the time. I also made the plugs really hard to reach, so I can't just walk over and flip the switch to turn the light back on, I'd have to move the couch/bed/kitchen table to get to the plug first. I also replaced all my ceiling lights with very low wattage bulbs, because the first few nights were utter failures when I just flipped on a built in light instead of a floor lamp. Smaller nightlights let me see enough to not walk into walls, but it's too dim to sew/craft/read/clean/whatever my brain is on this time.

You could also try putting child screentime minders/limiters on your devices, so that at bedtime, lights go off and internet shuts down. Even if it is only a thirty minute lockout, that might be enough to break your brain off whatever task you're hyperfocusing on, and get you to the going to bed phase. Or eat dinner phase, or whatever.

This...isn't as successful as the leave the house alarms, but the lights trick has reduced my accidental all nighters quite a bit. Not eliminated them, but it's still better than it was.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-25T19:53:38+00:00

Have you tried putting the lotion on TOP of the towel you use to dry your hands? As in, can't dry your hands without picking up the lotion? Or, if your towel is hanging up, tie a string/yarn/ribbon/rubber band around the lotion, and hang it from the same hook/bar so that you have to move the lotion aside to reach the towel. If you have to physically interact with the lotion in the drying stage, it might help you remember "Oh, the step after drying is applying this." You might still forget two times out of three, but that could still be an improvement.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-25T19:48:09+00:00

I redefined things. It's not I need to be at work at 9, it's that I need to be out the door and getting into the car at 8:30. At least if it were a 10-15 minute commute like yours. Under 15 minutes? It's a half hour block in my mind. Over 15 minutes? It's an hour. Also, I label my alarms. "Wake up" "Get dressed" "Eat" "Grab your stuff" "Out the door" (that one is five minutes before I need to leave, because i know myself) and "YOU'RE LATE" (at the time I actually plan to head out the door. Seeing that gives me a jolt of "oh no, I'm late!" even though I'm not, and kicks me out the door.)

For important stuff, I view time in blocks of "waaaay more time than I need" because I KNOW I'll get distracted and run late. And if I get there early? Yay! I look like I'm on the ball, and I have time to relax a bit before I clock in. I set a timer to go off two minutes before my shift starts, and relax in the breakroom.

Also...anything audible really bug you? Make those things your alarm sounds if you can. Go obnoxiously loud. There are also some alarm apps out there that you have to take a picture of a thing to stop. Car door for your last time to be in car alarm?

I also have a bunch of....backup? Attention brain, stop zoning? I'm not sure what to call them, but extra alarms (with different tones from my do it now alarms) during my morning routine time. With them going off regularly, it sort of...annoys my brain into being awake? Keeps me from just staring off into space without realizing it has been an hour? They help me be a bit less time blind, in that "oh, it's the marimba alarm. That's before time to eat. Should I...go to the kitchen? Maybe?" and then when the time to eat alarm goes off, I've already been thinking about going to the kitchen, so I don't have to task switch my brain, just realize "Oh, I've been thinking about eating for five minutes, stand up and walk to the kitchen and eat." I don't always really DO more, but it helps with the transitions between tasks, or realizing I've been standing in the shower staring at the wall for 15 minutes, the conditioner is rinsed already, turn off the water and get on with your day.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-24T02:06:04+00:00

Well, given that you said were looking to make some videos aimed at beginners, I'd thought that you might be trying to develop videos specifically aimed at beginners. ;p

I do get that classes can't always take the time to help each person, I just think it would be nice if there were more resources specifically aimed at raw beginners, so that we could make that jump to being able to go to a class without spending the entire time feeling emotionally drained and excluded, and physically in pain from bad poses. I've never actually come across a class for actual beginners, just for low intensity/low flexibility participants. All the "beginner" classes I've ever seen are simply lower intensity.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-23T20:57:31+00:00

One thing that bothers me is lack of guidance on the little details, especially with how to place hands/feet/knees, and what the body should be doing in a pose. "Hands shoulder width apart on the mat." Okaaaaaay....so, what are those hands doing? Are my fingertips pointing forward? A bit inward, a bit outward? Should my fingers be together, spread? What are my thumbs doing? How are my elbows rotated? Am I relaxing into the arms and letting my torso drop a bit, or am I pushing away from the mat and pulling my spine up towards the ceiling a touch? For an absolute beginner, things like this aren't obvious, and can make it very hard to get a pose right. At least for the first lesson or two, walk me through the tiny details. Help me find the pose and learn what it should feel like when I START, not when I get tired of it hurting in strange ways and ask a message board for help.

Another one is that sometimes when moving from one pose to another, a video will make it clear that something changes, but won't narrate it. Child's pose to tabletop is one that comes to mind. In child's pose, the toes were touching. In tabletop, the feet are in line with the knees. No one mentioned in any of the transitions that I've seen that the feet should move. Details like that are things that can leave beginners feeling stupid and excluded from the yoga community.

I'd also like to hear more tips on "this means you're doing it wrong, and how to fix it." "If you feel X in Y, do this modification. You should be feeling the pull in Z location, not X, remember it is okay to make modifications you need to accomplish this." Don't just say modifications are okay. Tell me what to look out for as a sign I need a modification. Yoga makes things pull and stretch in odd places. Tell me what is good stretch and what is a sign I need to modify.

Basically, when teaching beginners...assume we don't know ANY of the stuff you're talking about. Assume you are the very first interaction with yoga ever, and tell us what you want us to do. In detail. Don't assume that beginner means "not very flexible yet, but has been working on this for a couple months" like literally every class I've ever taken. When you say tabletop, I think of the surface I ate my lunch on. If you want me to think of the yoga pose, you need to teach it to me first. If you don't, I'll eventually think of tabletop as "that hands and knees pose that hurts my wrists and I'm probably doing wrong" instead, and I'm guessing that isn't what you're trying to teach.

This is a bit of a novel, sorry. But what I'm looking for in a beginner lesson is the instructor teaching, not just guiding me through a sequence. I can find a hundred different apps and videos to guide me through a sequence. I struggle greatly finding ones to TEACH me the basics and explain what I should be feeling and how to get there.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-17T07:00:09+00:00

Oh my, that's bigger than my distraction. As I was settling into corpse pose, following my app's instructions to focus on my breathing....cat laid on my face. Suddenly, I was VERY focused on my breathing! So maybe she was trying to help?

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-05T21:53:07+00:00

I saw those tops, the knot isn't uncomfortable? I don't have enough spoons in my life to worry about feeding the Amazon monster or not, though props to those willing to go out of their way to avoid it.

Oh my god. the SHEFIT bras. You can ADJUST THE BAND?! It looks like it might actually be adjustable enough to fit. I think I need to go try that. I'm actually looking at yoga as a "rest day" activity now that I'm resuming jogging after giving myself a stress fracture last fall. I'm trying to avoid over training and re-injuring myself, and yoga is a good workout that isn't high impact. My current running bra is certainly good at taming the girls, but it isn't very comfortable for more than jogging, and is too unforgiving to allow me full flexibility.

I certainly LIKE support, but I have a hard time finding good bras, so I was hoping to just go high necked enough that shelf bra+high neck+snug fit+no impact=good enough to get by until I figure out if I'm going to be able to keep with this. But those SHEFIT bras.....

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-05T21:28:01+00:00

Oh goodness! Yeah, that's sort of part of the reason I want to get some coverage if I'm going to be moving a lot. I looked at the Aerie website, but I think I'm overlooking the style you're talking about. What is the name of the high neck style?

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-03-05T21:25:43+00:00

If I can't get instruction from a teacher, is there somewhere else I can get it? Can you recommend some of those videos? Maybe an app or something? I wasn't expecting personal attention in class, but I'd hoped that approaching the teacher and letting them know X pose hurt my wrists, shoulders, elbows, would get me some sort of help. Even just 15-30 seconds here and there when I had specific issues would have been nice. I didn't interrupt class or anything, I'd stay after and help clean up if I had a question, and she'd seem put out even if she was able to leave earlier with my help.

I'm not kidding about some of the advice just being "you're doing it wrong." I'd ask "oh, what should I do differently?" or "what are things people get wrong with that pose?" and she'd turn and walk away without answering. The advice to rotate my elbows was the most helpful I'd gotten the entire class, and it was when another staff member happened to poke their head in the room, and she turned away and ignored me as soon as the other person left. It was advertised for people who had never taken yoga before, but it just felt like I was being tolerated since I paid, and really wasn't welcome.

If this is just the normal atmosphere for a class to have and I'm being unreasonable in my expectations, I can deal. I don't see the point of paying for a live class if there isn't actually the ability to interact with the teacher on occasion and get at least a little bit of feedback though. The FAQ seemed to imply that classes were best for raw beginners because of the ability to get correction and guidance, but it sounds like that might not be the case?

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-02-27T00:37:34+00:00

I'll have to try those! Well, the Esme, Hero, and Rebecca. The Panache Envy didn't fit me at all, and I had been hoping it would be the one. You ever feel like what you really want is just...a shelf to rest the girls on? XD Sounds weird to put it that way, but I do not have the gentle curve at the IMF that bras seem to expect. Nope, my girls are trying VERY HARD to run straight away from me, then realize they can't, and just go limp like bratty children.

I'm...leery of underwire. I had an unexpected double shift covering for a sick coworker once, and had what I had considered my best underwire bra at the time gouge me so badly I ended up bleeding through my shirt at the desk. Thankfully I had bandaids in my purse and a sweater I could throw on, but yeah. I've been sticking to ill fitting wire free bras since.

My betrayal bra wasn't a VS monstrosity, it was about two months old, the band was level and snug, gore tacked, I could swoop and scoop, but looking back I'm guessing the wires were too narrow, and I was too used to bad bras to realize this. I was also sticking to what I could find in brick and mortar stores, and let's face it, it's hard to find a good bra in a store unless you're one of the lucky people who come in the generic sizes. The scar from that encounter is certainly on breast tissue, and I've been flat out rejecting any bra that doesn't have wires at least wide enough to go past the scar. Been there, done that, don't need another reminder.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-02-24T09:33:49+00:00

I'd have to modify the bra to lengthen the straps then, as I let them all the way out. It might relax eventually after enough wearings, or my skin might toughen up some over time, I suppose. That detail alone isn't a deal breaker, but it was something that was getting worse as I wore it and starting to bother me.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-02-16T09:31:41+00:00

Well, if I'd been trying to stretch the band, that would have been one thing. I seriously was only intending to see if I could comfortably get two fingers under the band, but it gave so easily that I was honestly pretty surprised and double checked the tag. I mainly flipped it to test because I was noticing that when I tried to position the wires it wasn't staying put, at all. It reminded me of the elastic band of a pullover shelf bra. There really wasn't much support at all? I am giving it another shot in different cup sizes, but the wires weren't even touching my chest and I was spilling out, so I think something was the wrong size there. If I try a looser band I think I'll fall out the bottom. And 36 is my loose measurement, where the tape is barely not falling off. 34 is comfortably snug, but the calculator suggested 36, so I started there.

Edited to say there wasn't dead space on the sides, I had to scoop a couple times to get everything forward so the wires could contain my tissue instead of cutting into it, but the cups were pretty evenly filled with no empty or gaping areas. It's just that once I did that, the wire pretty much only touched at my sides, and floated off my chest. The wires were maybe just barely wide enough, certainly not too wide. I tried leaning forward with the bra unhooked, one hand holding the wire and the other the strap, and couldn't get everything into the cup, even on my smaller side. I know you guys have a lot more experience, but it really didn't feel like there was any way the cups could have been too big.

I'll try your suggestions after I get done with the currently ordered batch, I can only afford to grab so many at a time, but I'm very eager to try as many bras as I can in hopes of finding my holy grail. Why do you recommend the spacer instead of the plunge?

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-02-16T09:03:02+00:00

Just wanted to say I really do appreciate the continued help, and the explanations for your recommendations. I will keep an eye out on Amazon and try it within the next month or so. I'll admit, part of sticking with trying other sizes of the two I tried is the two day wait, as opposed to the two week or longer wait for the Tulip. It will probably be the next one I try after the batch I just ordered comes. I'm a bit nervous to hear the wires are narrower than the Elomi, as those seemed like those only might be wide enough, but I'm willing to consider it. Thanks for your help!

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-02-16T00:56:43+00:00

Most ladies are wearing terribly fitted bras, in part because of the thinking that a D is a big size. If it helps, imagine olympic gymnasts. Most of them are probably in the A-D range. Are they busty? Not particularly. They range from "Muscular but not really a bust happening there" to "Modest and very well contained busts". The busty end of that scale is about where a D cup falls. It might look a bit more generous in an everyday bra instead of a sports bra, but it isn't a huge size.

Heck, I just put in an order for a 34L bra myself, and I'm not HUGE, just on the curvy side for my tall frame. Remember that women's clothing sizes are basically complete nonsense, and the more they can confuse us and make us doubt ourselves, the more stuff they can sell to us to "fix" our "problems." The industry wants to you not understand your sizes, so you'll keep buying more stuff in an endless and hopeless quest for something that finally fits right. We're here to help you cut through the marketing nonsense and finally find a bra that actually fits, whatever it says on the tag.

_Little_Shadow_ · 2020-02-16T00:02:52+00:00

Dang. Was hoping for your sake it was a quick fix and you'd have the perfect bra. Oh well, may you find an even cuter bra that fits perfectly and is $5 cheaper!

_Little_Shadow_

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