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meditation

October Challenge | Yoga & Meditation

October 2, 2016 by Lindsay Ingalls Leave a Comment

3-19-2016-bend-yoga-7

My relationship with yoga and meditation is one that goes in waves. While I love both I often find a pile of excuses as to why I can’t make time to practice either. Excuses include:

I’m too tired.

I don’t have childcare and my kids are too wild to do it at home.

I have to work. 

I can’t afford ($$) going to a studio. 

I don’t have time. 

The reality is everything in life is a choice and I am simply choosing not to practice. That being said I have made a choice to change my reality. I know that practicing yoga and meditation will….

… provide me with more energy throughout the day. 

… allow me to be more mindful when I am with my crazy kids.

… help me to be more focused during my work time.

… make me healthier and happier because I am investing in my health.

… remind me that there is always time for myself. 

Who else could use a little shift in their reality? How many of these excuses have you used? 

So this month I am challenging myself to return to yoga and meditation for my health, my sense of self and my wellbeing. My goal being that I come out feeling more calm, peaceful, self aware and ideally more flexible. 

yoga-time

Plans for the challenge:

Unlike previous yoga challenges that I have done this one isn’t about doing yoga everyday, however daily mediation is a significant part of the challenge. 

  1. Attend one yoga class per week. Before you protest this let’s all be honest with ourselves we get way more out of a yoga practice when it is done in a community setting. You do have the time and you can afford to do it. If you don’t have studio you love plan to try a few different ones out. If you want to save money look for free classes (often athletic apparel stores hold free classes) or sliding scale/donation classes. 
  2. Practice yoga at home for 15-30 (ore more) minutes 1-3x week. You can opt to take your practice to the studio if you’d like but for flexibility sake you are welcome to practice at home. You can follow a video or just simply do you own thing. 
  3. Meditate EVERYDAY. Yes I said it EVERYDAY. Now take a deep breath I’m not talking sitting for hours meditating. Start with 3-5 minutes and increase a minute or two until you get to 20 minutes (or more). You can use apps, practice repeating a mantra to yourself or simply sit and focus on your breath. 

That is it. 

So who is ready to commit with me? 

Posted in: Yoga Tagged: meditation, mindfulness, yoga

Why I’m Quitting The Gym [and joining ClassPass]

May 11, 2016 by Lindsay Ingalls 4 Comments

Nike Run
In January I joined the gym at Neil’s work. While not the most convenient gym for me to go to the facilities are top of the line and the cost for me to join was less than my monthly coffee habit. So I joined and I have been fairly dedicated to making it to the gym at least twice per week while supplementing with at home workouts.

The thing is I am only able to go gym when Neil gets out of work or on the weekends. For months we have been making it work but I’m going to be honest it’s not without it’s struggles. My gym time is right when I would normally be preparing our dinner so by the time I am done at the gym it is dinner time for our early birds. This means I either have to prepare a meal that can easily be eaten at the gym or we end up going out to dinner.

Sleep has also become a bit of an issue. Edith who is nearly four only naps [maybe] once per week and not for a lack of tiredness but for pure strong will that she doesn’t want to nap. That being saidcome 4pm I usually find her asleep in carseat on our way to the gym or both littles fall asleep on the way home from the gym which means bedtime is a struggle. Late bedtime means that often Neil and I have little time for each other and little time to work at night. Screen Shot 2016-05-11 at 11.27.08 PM

This weekend I was finally at my breaking point because we have been so behind on dishes, our organizing projects and oh the never ending laundry. To top things off because it’s a work gym most of the workout classes are during the day or just at a time that doesn’t work with our schedule so I haven’t been able to take advantage of them.

Since workout classes were a ‘no go’ for me I bought a personal training package assuming that I would be able to find a trainer that worked for my availability and not one was available. So since I usually just spend my time doing cardio while catching up on Pretty Little Liars I figured it was time to take the summer off from my gym membership. I can spend my time outside on walks and hikes with my family this summer and who knows maybe I’ll actually take up running again.

That all being said the decision to quit the gym was one that I was very conflicted about because I have fallen in love with routine and making that time for me. Unfortunately  I just hate everything that comes along with it.

I thought about joining a gym closer to our house but it would still be a lot of the similar issues that I had with the work gym. I felt a bit at a loss but then I thought about ClassPass*. I had given it a try last May and while I loved the classes and the concept where we were living at the time just wasn’t ideal for me to keep with the pass after my trial month, but right now it seems perfect so I signed up.  I have decided to go with the 5 classes for $45 option so I can see how much I will really use it. If I find that I am using it enough to get the the most out of the unlimited package I will bump it up. ClassPass Fitness Night Out | THE BAR METHOD

With ClassPass* I can go to barre3, The Bar Method, a ton of yoga studios that I have had my eye on and a meditation studio that I am so excited to try. So my new workout plans include regular barre3 online at home, hikes and walks with my family [maybe some running?] and at least one workout class per week. It sounds pretty perfect, at least to me. 

Where do you do most of your workout classes (home, classes, gym, etc)? Have you tried ClassPass*? If you are local to Portland or are traveling through Portland and want to attend a fitness or meditation class together let me know! I love to go to classes with others – especially new-to-me classes! 

*Affiliate Link. 

Posted in: Fit In Portland, Fitness, Fitness Friday, Oregon, PDX Sites & Eats, Portland Tagged: barre, barre3, classpass, fitness, meditation, oregon, pdx, portland, workouts, yoga

I’m a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Essential Oil Lover, Recipe Creator, Mamax2, Aspiring Runner & barre lover blogging my way through life. Contact Me: Lindsay@runningwithtongs.com

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