Serenity now.
2011 has gotten off to a stressful start for a variety of reasons, and my hip issues have left me largely without my main personal recalibration tool, running. Actually, injuries continue to add to the overall fog of stress that permeates my personal landscape these days. I was hopeful that some time off during the holidays would cause the stresses to pack their bags and head for warmer climates, but instead they seem to have quietly rehearsed and choreographed their efforts, and met me with a Youtube-caliber stress flash-mob to start the new year. Time to fight back. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
Chai Tea is something I’ve discovered in the past couple years, and it seems to have a stress-relieving effect on me. Not in a cheesy ‘International Coffee Moment’ kind of way, but more in a ‘forcing me to hit pause on my day for a couple minutes’ way. Even just a couple minutes of processing can make a world of difference in my personal and professional effectiveness. BIG fan of the Big Train brand Chai Tea, which I order from Amazon in the ‘Rodeo Clown Drum’ size container and keep in my office at work. I’ve never been a fan of hot drinks, so I was thoroughly surprised to find I like this stuff. Worth a try if you’re not a coffee drinker, which I am not. Juan Valdez and I have just never really hit it off.
I’ve never tried Tai Chi, but I thought it fit today’s motto and made for a catchy title. I have, however, tried Yoga, and I’m planning to give it another shot. I had added yoga to my routine as part of training for my last marathon, since I am brutally lacking in flexibility and thought it might help ward off injuries. Ironically, just when I was getting going with it, I had to stop because of the Plantar Fasciitis in both of my feet that was badly agitated by the calf stretching inherent in yoga. The PF hasn’t really gone away, but I think it’s minimized enough now to give yoga another shot. I’m going to ease into this slowly, to see how my hip responds, and hopefully make this a significant part of my routine while I’m not training for a specific race, and figure out how to make this a x-training activity when I do start actively training again.
I'm confident that one day I too will be able to bend over and touch my waist.
