Why India? - A Guest Post by Angie

While I'm off soaking in thermal hot springs and figuring out how to take up permanent residence with the Icelandic Elves, I bring you a post from Angie who blogs about travel, veganism, yoga and much more. 

Hello Far From Kansas readers! I am Angie from Angie Eats Peace and am honored to guest post today about my own upcoming travels.

My husband and I are fortunate enough to work for the public school system and have most of the summer off from work. We try to make the most of our time off and are generally hopping on a plane as soon as the last school bell for the year has rung. We have exploring some beautiful parts of Europe (Spain, Portugal, France and Italy) and last summer we visited China and Japan. This year we are headed to Northern India and Nepal.

Most of our family, friends and co-workers know that we travel every chance we get and have both been asked multiple times where we are going this summer. We have both been surprised to find we are getting similar responses when we share that we are going to India. We are getting confused looks and being asked, "Why India"? Usually followed by, "aren't you scared"?

My response has been, "Why Not India"? But, if someone is truly interested, I share the following with them:

I am truly looking forward to India. It's going to be life-changing. I just know it. I am going in with high expectations, but also the realization that I am incredibly ignorant about what I am about to experience. I open to what the many temples, holy sites, the Ganges river, the market place, the ashrams, the food and most of all, the people, have to teach me.

I travel to learn, to connect, to experience and to EAT. I do not travel to relax, to be comfortable or to have an experience that I could easily have in my own country. Most of my trips are spent walking, exploring, searching, talking and connecting. I rarely lay on a beach and relax. This extremely flattering photo below was taken by my wonderful husband in a park in Paris. I completely crashed after two weeks of travel and endless walking. I needed a quick nap before going off again to explore the city.

The one time I did NOT love a travel experience was when I stayed at a resort in Cancun. Although I loved some of the excursion activities, I did not care for the all-inclusive resort filled with other Americans and non-traditional food. I like to feel out of my comfort zone and be pushed to understand a different way of life. I love realizing that there is SO much more to the world than my own narrow viewpoint.

I know India will have so much to teach me about my own comfort zone and force me to confront parts of myself that I am currently unaware of. I look forward to what I will learn and what I can share when I return.

I will be posting some pictures here and there, so if you care to follow along, you can do so on Instagram or visit my blog around August, when I am back from my travels.

Thanks Angie!  I know I'm looking forward to hearing about this trip and I'm jealous that I'm not going!!

What Makes a Good Workout?

When you've been taking workout classes for years it can seem like it would be pretty easy to be an instructor...heck, you practically have the entire class memorized yourself.  Then you stand in front of a class for the first time!  When I taught my first class years ago I had no idea how much extra effort was involved simply in having to give instructions out loud the entire time.  When I started planning classes I couldn't believe how hard it was to come up with an hour's worth of material and then to do it again and again in new and different ways. 

Sometimes you spend hours drawing up a plan that looks great on paper only to have it completely not work the way you thought when you're there in class.  Other times you pull something out of your mental arse at the last minute, fully expecting it to bomb, and everyone loves it.  One thing I learned early on is that you can't please everyone!  I've had plans that one class loved and repeatedly ask for and then used that same plan with a different group and received very negative feedback (one woman actually yelled at me).  It's so hard to know sometimes what will go well and what won't. Some students want the security of knowing exactly what they're going to be doing while others don't want to see the same thing twice. 

I'm not a yoga instructor but I taught a yoga (-ish) class.
Recently I went to one of my weekly yoga classes and the instructor didn't show up.  Being an instructor (not normally of yoga) I told the other class participants that I could lead them in *something* yoga-ish if they wanted but warned them that I normally teach boot camp, not yoga (and th end result was probably a boot-camp-ish yoga class).  It was definitely the most stressful yoga class ("stressful yoga class" is not a phrase you want to use) I've ever done.  I've taken yoga for years but as soon as I pulled my mat to the front of the room I suddenly couldn't remember more than a couple poses. And interestingly, I'm very used to saying "right" but using my left when facing the class (if I say "right" and use my right they will mirror me and use their left) when teaching other formats but I could not do it in yoga.  Probably partly because I was so nervous but even when I realized what I was doing I couldn't get it right (or left!).  I'll say with certainty that it wasn't the greatest class ever but the participants seemed grateful to have had something and I learned that pulling a yoga routine out of my arse (much like trying not to fart in class...seriously, read this article, it is HILARIOUS!)  is Really. Freakin. Hard.  I'm sure, though, that they were almost as relieved as I was the next week when the instructor was there!

This week I was having trouble coming up with something new to do in my water aerobics class.  I'm still not quite sure how I even ended up being a water aerobics instructor.  Back when I applied to teach here locally but before I was assigned a class I got a text message asking if I could fill in for an aqua class (a class that started in 1.5 hours not really leaving me a lot of time to prepare).  I replied that I've never even taken an aqua class, let alone taught one.  I was told it was just like teaching on land (for the record, it's not).  Sure, I said. I'll come up with *something.*  And I did.  And I was terrified. And it went surprisingly well (I've actually used that plan many times since).  I was asked to teach again the next week.  And then I got my assignment and didn't teach water again for months (which was actually just fine with me).  When the classes at the gym on post were all canceled (the contractor who offered the classes pulled out of their contract and we were all out of a job) I signed on with a national chain.  The first availability they had was a water aerobics class.  So I took it.  And it turns out I like it. 

But this week I was struggling.  I came up with an idea that I feared would bore them to tears but gave it a shot anyway.  I'm pretty honest with my students and told them that they should tell me if it was really boring and I'd figure something else out.  They liked it so much they asked me to do it again when I sub on Saturday.  I was surprised.   I'm still surprised. 

So, what makes a good workout?  Damned if I know! There's no magic formula, that's for sure!

Do you workout? How do you define a "good" workout? What are your favorite class formats?

The Best Time to Do Yoga Is When You Really Don't Want to Go

I recently started going to yoga again. I went for years and then didn't for years when there weren't any offerings to my liking nearby.  I knew from past experience that it would be very difficult at first but, over time, would get better.  I used to really enjoy going on Saturday morning. I found it to be a good way to start the weekend.  Lately I've been going after work and most days, I really don't want to go.  But I've found that on days that I really do not want to go, even if I struggle through Every. Single. Pose, I end up getting the most benefit and leave feeling much better than when I arrived.

 

This is pretty much how I feel part, if not all, of the time!

I just wanted to remind myself of this the next time I start thinking how much better it would be to just go home and take a nap!

How do you feel about yoga?