Week 157: Darn Pineapple.

This week's practice almost didn't happen.

Stomach ache in full effect and THIS is my time to do yoga, my inside voice says.

Okay, what's causing this stomach ache. It must be from stress, I rationalize. But what the heck am I stressing about??? Stomach aches have been associated with stress many times in my life. The most notable was either right before a major synchronized swimming event or on the bus ride home from the competition. 

I reflect back on my day so far...and can only come up with my usual day-to-day rush of getting out the door. I question whether or not I was panicked in Costco or did I have some pent up road rage?

None. Notta. Nothing. Hmmmmm.

So before getting to much in my head about the pain, I jumped on the mat for a session with Adriene. Scrolling the list of YouTube videos, I land on her Balancing Flow video. 

Do I need to balance my flow, I question again with my inside voice.

I'm so glad I started because within minutes of starting, I recall...that darn pineapple.

Say what?

Well, without self diagnosing myself, I think I've got a sensitivity to raw pineapple. Hawaiian pizza, fine. Carrot muffins (with pineapple), fine. But raw, cut fresh pineapple is not good for me. I tend to half forget that I bothers me and half ignore it in the moment. Fresh pineapple tastes so good but more than two pieces makes me pay for it about an hour later. Acidity maybe the culprit of GI pain. 

Who knows!

But it was when I took time to calm, focus and BREATHE did I realize what was going on!

Bonus point - yoga.

As always, I'm so happy that I started to practice as I thoroughly enjoyed the side bend variation Adriene offered. It takes the stretch of the seated side bend and adds some tension with the crossed arm. 

In Adriene’s words, “balance of the push and pull”. 

In this side bend, which I couldn’t find much in my research this week, was called crossed side bend. Since there is limited information and there is also limited pictures of this lovely pose, so I’ve take a print screen of the video.

This practice was all about balance and this pose epitomized it. Adriene said it best, "This is what hatha yoga is all about…finding a little marriage of the strength and grace, of the push and the pull, press and the squeeze, the sun and the moon, the masculine and the feminine."

BREATHE, balance flow and forget the pineapple next time!
LW