Temptation

Monday Dec 6

5.20am. It's my rostered day off, yet here I am, sliding out of bed and into my workout gear. J suggested that I come to Monday's group PT session since I wasn't feeling well enough to make our normal group PT session on Thursday.  I was pleased when she suggested it, but then exercising always sounds good in theory!! Truth be told, it's a beautiful time of the day.

This time, I was wised up to the 'running up the stairs' business and I only jogged up once! All 3 of us turned up today. We did the new warm up of throwing the ball to each other and then running to the wall and back. After repeating that 4 times, we started on our stretches and then headed to the mats. J introduced me to a new personal favourite (not!!). Lying on my back, I had to hold the gym ball between my knees and then raise my knees to my chest and then lower the ball (without letting it touch the ground) almost like a reverse crunch. I knew that exercise would linger for days. My thigh and groin muscles were screeching by the end of that.

Then into the circuits. Triceps twice. Then onto the bicep. Since J changed the weights on the bicep curl, I'm feeling it a lot more. Getting through 20 the first time was tricky enough, but by round 2, I was really struggling.  Plus, I'm feeling lousy. I'm light headed & a bit nauseas- just like last time. I thoroughly enjoyed our 3 minutes of bliss at the end. There's something wonderful about lying on a yoga mat, with soft music playing, lights out, breathing in the energy of the Centre.

Faltered a bit on the first step, but I wasn't as sore as I thought I might be after a week of no exercise. Had to sit in the car for about 10mins waiting for my light-headedness to pass. I can't understand why I'm feeling so lousy. Exercise is supposed to be good for me -increased blood to my brain, better circulation. Weird.

Drove home without incident, put on some laundry, made my breakfast and took it outside to the table with my copy of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows. 2 hours and a few hundred pages later, I reckoned it might be time to be a bit more productive. I hung some laundry on the line, put another load in the washer and checked my shopping list.  It would be a good opportunity to get some Xmas and Birthday shopping in for G.

Retail therapy is great. I wandered through Big W for a couple of hours, scored some excellent pressies, and I even checked out the workout gear. Think I might have to invest in some more of that now that I'm working out more.

The hardest bit was the lolly aisle. My weakness. I was there to pick up stocking stuffers. It would have been so easy to slip something into my basket, eat it quickly and destroy the evidence before G got home. It's not worth it though. It only hurts me in the end. So, with much deliberation, I picked up only 2 items- one for S & one for G. It probably didn't help that I didn't eat lunch before I left for the shops. I was quite 'chuffed' (that's Australian slang for 'impresssed') with myself.


Sunday Dec 5

Drove today-free parking! Class was a little more serious today. We had an assessment on our focusing and the last bit of our written assessment. Then, we constructed a class Mandala. Jane divided a large circle into 15 sections like pieces of a pie, and we each decorated our own slice. I brought pictures of Canada. Some people drew and others pasted on photographs.  I wasn't sure how it was going to look as a finished product, but it came together nicely! Very cool! Then we hung it up on the wall in our normal classroom.

We have a group project due for our Wednesday night ethics class, so I stayed back with 2 of my classmates. An hour and lots of giggles later, we had it organised. This is going to be lots of fun!

Since being unwell,  I haven't felt much like exercise, so I've been very careful to stick to my eating plan.  It's tricky.  Sometimes 'comfort food' is just the thing when you feel sick!

It's lovely to be at home with G, watching tv and just hanging out. It's been a full on week.


Saturday Dec 4

Had a wonderful night with friends last night! Lots of laughs, great company and a wonderful home-cooked meal. Perfect! But, it's time for me to get out of bed and get organised. It's the second weekend of my college intensive. It was lovely to be chauffered to college today.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my college classes-especially the transpersonal aspect. We learned 'focusing' and touched on art therapy and symbolism. Pretty amazing day!

Broiled salmon with a salad of tomato, cucumber & lite cottage cheese. Then time for some TV.