Tag Archives: yoga

MY ROUTINE

Leave a reply


I woke up with my usual pleasant demeanor, a little sore from my yoga and work out with Mike. I thought I would share my weekly workout and yoga routine.

Yoga 5 days a week
Working out with my trainer and friend Mike, 1 day a week for now
Walking 5 days a week
I have been incorporating beginning jogging as much as I can
I keep it flexible and sometimes change it up a bit. 

I may add Ballet classes, and other things as I progress more. I take the Richard Simmons Slimmons classes on occasion. They are so motivating and fun.  I am trying to really work on my yoga practice so I will return to his classes sometime in the near future. I believe my yoga practice will really open up by doing it almost daily. I am now an official yogi.

My eating plan is pretty much just eating healthy with lots of vegetables, and I am keeping a food journal. I sometimes do not eat enough and I can use to eat a bit more protein. I am a work in progress. I am not making any food off limits but I do not indulge usually. The time will come when I will get cravings, and I will deal with it then. In the meantime I am just eating clean with an occasional piece of dark chocolate from See’s Candies. Coffee is my non negotiable. I love it, and not because I need the caffeine. I actually just love the taste. So every morning as I blog I brew.

This is what I am doing, and I work from ten to three Monday through Friday so I work out and take yoga in the early evenings and I blog first thing in the morning. I live for Saturday’s, that is our fun day. 

Namaste’
Love and Light to all
Rose

YOGA AND A STARRY NIGHT

Leave a reply



Good Morning and Happy Friday. Yesterday I took my first Iyengar Yoga class at Yogaworks in West Hollywood.
 (Named after and developed by B. K. S. Iyengar, is a form of Hatha Yoga that has an emphasis on detail, precision and alignment in the performance of posture (asana) and breath control (pranayama). The development of strength, mobility and stability is gained through the asanas)

It was a wonderful class, and it really worked your body. It is much slower than Vinyasa but you really get deep in the poses, and learn what they do for your body. It is about connecting to your mind to your body, and getting in the pose first through your thought process. Mind and body together as one. The yoga teacher was amazing. I used to volunteer at City Yoga, where Yogaworks in West Hollywood is located, and coming to classes there in a way is like a homecoming. The  two spaces feel like sanctuary’s to me, so much so I can imagine the building was once a church or temple.
The trees are right outside the beautiful open windows, and the breeze came in like a gentle nudge to remember to breathe. I can tell I am going to love practicing yoga at Yogaworks in West Hollywood. The management and staff are very friendly and thoughtful and they answer all of your questions. Anna from City Yoga is working there, and it was lovely to see her smiling face.

Afterwards I asked if I can take some photos of the space in the future, and I was granted permission to do so. I will post those at a future date. 
After class I walked home and watched the sun set these unreal hues of pink and purple. On the way home I stopped in a used book store to purchase a beach read for our outing Saturday, and oh what a find I discovered. It is all about this man who loses everything, and he decided to bike his way cross country. He meets some interesting souls on his new journey. I thought it was the perfect beach read, since I am on a journey of sorts myself. It is called The Memory of Running, a novel written by author Ron McLarty. 

When I left the bookstore all of the stars had appeared like a kaleidoscope for weary eyes. I wanted to go lay in the grass somewhere, and stargaze with the cool September breeze upon my surrendering body. I love to just lay down and look up at the marvel of the vast night sky. We truly are just a spec in this spectacular universe. There is so much more out there, it really puts everything into a clear perspective.

Well enough of my musings for the day. Coffee, breakfast and work await. Tonight I am either working out at the gym or walking and taking another yoga class. Tonight’s class is set to music, that should be just delightful.
Wishing you a breathtaking Friday, full of all of those simple moments that make life grand.
Namaste’
Love and Light
Rose

ADJUST YOUR SAILS

Leave a reply



Good Morning, Happy Thursday to all. I am up early, making coffee and planning my workout routine for the next few days. My workout routine each week consists of my weekly Thursday classes at Slimmons with Richard Simmons but he was out of town for a few weeks. Today I can say he is back in Beverly Hills and I will be dancing to his retro aerobics tonight. I really need his electric dose of energy and motivation. I found myself slightly wavering this week, so it will be good to get back to his classes. Taking his class is a natural high, he is so high on life and I usually am too. His classes bring out the very best in me and inspire me to keep going. I am meeting my friend Francie from the Richard Simmons video afterwards, we have become fast friends and we are going out for chit chat and a little treat tonight. Mind you, a little treat, I am behaving myself.

My routine was adjusted, but that is fine. It works for me to try to have some sort of routine to guide me as I continue on my quest to get fit and lose weight. It as just as important for me to be flexible in my routine as things can change from week to week. I just have to imagine I am a sailboat, adjust my sails and continue to travel the vast ocean to my final destination and goals. Sometimes the seas will be rougher, and I just need to ride it out and make it there anyway I can. 

I went to Yoga last night with Nicole over at Pink Iron. I go to Yogaworks but I enjoy Nicole’s classes so Wednesday is a permanent part of my routine. She is an amazing yoga teacher. We did a lot of shoulder openers, and it was fantastic. My flexibility is really coming back, my nose is almost to my knees in a forward fold.  It was very hot, and I was a bit tired but I did not falter nor did I give up. I am so dedicated and I will find a way to make my goals happen, one lap at a time. 

Wishing you a bright and beautiful Thursday full of natural highs.
Namaste’ Love and Light
Rose


RUNNING ON TIME TOWARDS MY GOALS

Leave a reply
Good morning and Happy Friday to all. Yesterday I was off to go to the DMV and that freed up my day afterwards.  I had time to go to YogaWorks and speak to the management and staff about my yoga needs and which classes are best for me as I begin my experience with YogaWorks. I have unlimited classes, but since I am new there they recommended certain classes for me to begin with, and as I progress with their teaching style I will be able to take more advanced classes. They stress proper form and they recommend I start at the very beginning to make sure I am  performing the poses correctly. They have a candlelight flow, which I am excited about and some of their classes are set to music. I am going Saturday morning for my first class, and I am truly excited to be able to take my practice to another level. Just another notch added to my journey of fitness and well being. I am making time for my My Change For A Ten by running towards my goals, and it feels so amazing.

Speaking of running, I  recently started running with Mike, my trainer and friend and he wants me to be able to run longer and with more ease. Yesterday I waited until the evening since it was a scorcher, and I walked to this little park up the street from my house in Beverly Hills. There is a fountain, and a little walkway that goes around the fountain. For me it is the perfect place to practice running, I can run around the park and then take walking breaks and then run around again. Yesterday I ran twice around the park with somewhat ease. I was listening to music, and it drowned out the heavy breathing sounds I probably make so I did not think about my breathing as much. Each day I will try to run just a little farther. 

My journey is an ongoing one, with hard work and dedication and I understand not everything will be simple or in my comfort zone. I accept that and I know I will progress as time goes by. Time will pass, I might as well make the best of the time I am given. Time is elusive, we think we do not have enough time but in reality we have all the time in the world, it is just how we use it that really matters. I am managing my time, it is not managing me. I will no longer let time hold hostage of my life, I own each and every day and I will continue to run towards my goals and away from the fears that held me back in the past. 
Wishing everyone a beautiful day.
Namaste’
Rose

HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT

Leave a reply



Good Morning Thursday. This is a particular good morning since I have the whole day off, and I work tomorrow and then I have the weekend off as well. My driver’s license expired and apparently they need an updated one for my work, so my manager told me to take off today to get it done. So yes, I have to go to the DMV, yawn. But then the whole day is mine to do as I please once I am finished there. I was just saying I needed a day off during the week to have some alone time, alone time at the pool or to take another yoga class and I was granted my wish. So today is mine.

I have been thinking a lot about my goals, and how I am really sticking to my program. I am really trying hard, I want to achieve what I seek, and I want it bad. Nothing will get in my way because I am on a mission. A mission to change my life, a mission to make a difference in the lives of others as well as my own. I have so many things I plan to add to my list of goals, and I know I will make each and every one of them happen. I am making them reality because when the mind and heart believes anything is possible. I have decided I would approach everything with no fear and no procrastination. I may bend but I will never break. 

Yesterday was my Wednesday evening yoga class with Nicole at Pink Iron. It was an amazing class, she is a fantastic yoga teacher. I was much more centered and I felt great. I am so excited to say that I took my bridge pose into a full back bend for the first time. I did my first back bend ever!!  I did wheel pose.  That was such a feeling of elation. I decided to just go for it and I was able to lift my whole body up into the back bend pose. I am definitely getting stronger. I do have to give Mike kudos for that, I believe my Tuesday workouts are strengthening my yoga practice. Like I have said countless times before, and I will always say it,  no person can go it alone.  I am full of  immense gratitude for those who support me on my endeavors. I also believe in supporting all of my friends and loved ones in their paths as well. We are all each others biggest fans and cheerleaders, belief in one another is the heart of inspiration and motivation. After all one of the meanings of Namaste’ is we are all one, we are all connected.

I wish everyone a beautiful Thursday, full of belief in all your heart desires.
Namaste’
Rose

CORE OF THE MATTER

Leave a reply



Good morning Wednesday. I am up extra early today, savoring a few precious moments of sunrise, solitude, and silence and trying to gather my thoughts over a delicious cup of coffee. I greet my day with a heart filled with gratitude for everyone that has graced me with their positive presence. I am grateful for this beautiful planet we reside in and of course for my beloved cats and this cup of coffee. I am grateful for the sheer blessing of being alive, tired yet so alive.

I am really getting much stronger and more balanced in my workouts with Mike my trainer and friend. Yesterday he stepped it up a few notches, He said he has been too easy on me and it was time to make things more difficult, and he and guaranteed I would be sore today. I woke up sore of course, but it is that job well done type of soreness that comes with accomplishment. 

We jogged a lot, or for me it was a lot. The hardest part is my breathing, and some of that may be due to allergies. Nothing that the neti pot cannot cure. I actually did more than I thought I could, and I will continue to improve on the jogging part of the workouts. I will do some jogging this week when I do my walking.  I have also been googling breathing techniques. I will get this. He plans on us jogging longer distances. Nest week we are going to video tape me doing simple beginner burpees for Melissa @ Melissa Bender Fitness so she can post them on her blog. We figured out a way for me to do them using the bench as a prop so I can ease into them without straining my knees. 


My core is pretty darn strong. I was a dancer and of course your “center” as we called it in dance is the most important part. You have to constantly pull up, suck in, relax your shoulders and do not arch the back with your hips tucked in. I still walk like this to this day, head high. I guess some habits stick over time and this particular dance habit is really helping me with my core. The core matters!  My sit ups are getting so much more fluid, I was really proud yesterday. My hard work is starting to really pay off and I feel so motivated to continue. I am very grateful to Mike, he teaches as well as instructs and I can feel my body changing. I am so much stronger than I was over six weeks ago. 

When I got home I did some yoga poses to stretch, but of course doing yoga poses at home with cats is a challenge. They are mesmerized by the mat, and attack your feet as you are doing downward dog. Tonight is yoga with Nicole. I will be sure to drink enough water and eat enough so I do not get lightheaded or sick like I almost did last Wednesday. I still need to get to YogaWorks and use my month unlimited Groupon, it doesn’t expire and works from the first day you use it. I will begin there either this week or the next. I am really enjoying the process as well as the results, and that is what keeps me going each and every single day. This is my lifestyle and I absolutely love it.

Wishing you a Happy Wednesday
Love and Light
Namaste’
Rose

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE 8/27/2013

6 Replies
Good Morning Tuesday. I just weighed myself and I lost two pounds bringing my total weight loss to 9 pounds and my weight is now officially 188 lbs. I am so excited, last November I actually weighed 207 lbs, so I have lost 9 pounds since I began my My Change For A Ten Project but since last November I have lost a total of 19 pounds. I am almost at my first ten pound My Change For A Ten goal, and then I will set the date to feed the homeless with The Monday Night Mission. I am really proud I am sticking to whatever I say I will do. This is just the beginning for me to change my life and to help make a difference in the lives of others. I am reaching for the moon.

Here is a photo of me and my wonderful friend Amy this weekend, we were out with our husbands at Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood CA.  I will have more full body shots when I return to Richard Simmons this week, he was out of town but I believe he is back Thursday. I went out and I was disciplined. I ate extremely healthy, a turkey sandwich on whole grain with Dijon mustard, avocado, lettuce and tomato and steamed vegetables. I also had a cup of bean chili with no meat.  I believe you can eat healthy almost anywhere. I drank Perrier and tons of water since I do not drink, which helps me save on calories.



Tonight is my workout with Mike, and I am really learning so much. I am also learning how much food my body needs to sustain my workouts, walking, and yoga. So I will be sure to eat enough from here on out. The whey protein shakes help me fill in the blanks when I do not have time to sit down to a meal. I have also been watching my sodium intake. It really makes a big difference. At work I have been ordering my chicken plain with no marinade and no dressing, and I use oil and vinegar. Little changes add up for big results. I buy tuna and peanut butter with no added salt, and I try to eat as clean as possible without obsessing or depriving myself. I am achieving mind and body balance.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”


― Mark Twain


I wish everyone a terrific Tuesday.
Namaste’
Rose




MASTERING THE ART OF BURPEES

Leave a reply

When you learn something new that is outside your comfort zone, you feel awkward doing it. For me, exercise has always been dance related. When I speed walk I dance in my head to the music I am listening too, everything for me up until this point had a rhythm to it. My heart would follow the beat, and it was seamless and natural for me and I loved it. 

I still love to work out to dance moves or  walking outside or on the treadmill to music, but I have added a lot of new exercise moves to my regimen since I started working out with Mike my trainer and friend. Like I have said before in recent posts, his help is invaluable and I am learning so much. He is really helping me through our weekly workouts. Now, a lot of what I do with him is completely foreign to me, and some things are down right difficult since I have never had arm strength. In the six weeks we have been working out though, I can see significant changes in my form as well as my strength. I am definitely getting better, and that is when he mixes it up and makes it more difficult for me. I love a challenge and I am working really hard, and each week I get a little stronger and more fluid in my movements. I am so grateful for his expertise, assistance, and time.

Burpees feel so awkward to me, and I am yet to master the push up part so I do the burpees without the push up. I do not know what my hang up about this exercise move is, but for some reason I feel like I look completely silly when I do it. My best friend Melissa at Melissa Bender Fitness has asked me to see if Mike would video tape me doing burpees for her website. He loved the idea, me not so much. It looks like we will tape me doing burpees next week. I am going to practice the hell out of them in the week to come. This is an adventure, and sometimes you have to not fear and just do. 

We also worked out a lot with a kettle ball, and a jump rope as well as the machines that are at the park we go to. I can jump rope fast but my endurance is not as good. More things to improve upon. Each week is different and each week I get a little more natural at everything we do, and if I do say so myself I am very proud I have stuck to my regimen thus far. I have a long way to go to my goals, but I am definitely just around the corner to my first ten pound goal. I can tell I am losing inches too.  I feel stronger and I have more energy, and it feels completely wonderful. 

Tonight is yoga with Nicole, and I look forward to it so much. Last week she was explaining the difference between sensation and pain. I still cannot decipher which is which. I also signed up for a Groupon for one month unlimited classes at YogaWorks, thanks to  my friend Francie from the video shoot. She sent me the link and I had just enough time to get the amazing deal. I have to say I am so happy our paths have crossed, she is a fantastic human being and friend. We are both excited that the Richard Simmons video comes out this Friday. We had so much fun dancing in it.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Wednesday full of love and light.
Namaste’
Rose



YOGA PRACTICE

Leave a reply


There is nothing like Yoga practice to give you that mind body connection. I feel so zen today after my class with Nicole Sherman at Pink Iron. I am trying to do as much yoga as possible, and I can see my practice is opening up with each class. Today we did a lot of hip openers, which feels completely marvelous, especially afterwards. I am really getting more flexible by the day and that makes me completely happy. Afterwards I awarded myself with a fresh squeezed carrot/cucumber juice from my friends at WeHo Bistro. Now it is time to eat a healthy lunch and workout soon. I love being so active, I feel like I am floating on a cloud.

Yoga fuels my muse, here is a poem I wrote that was featured in Lightworkers World. It is how I view my yoga practice. 
Namaste’ 
Love and Light to all
Rose



NAMASTE’

Coming from me, a poet and former ballet dancer,
yoga combines the cerebral aspects of my brain with the physical reality of my body;
stanzas gesturing in motion.
As I transition from asana to asana, my mind poses that
age old question; am I one with the universe?
The answer is always a definite yes.
I feel as if I am the salt of the earth below my toes, the clouds hovering above my head.
I realize not only am I one with the earth and the universe, I am so with all creatures;
and one with my sometimes puzzling psyche.
By the time I reach the elusive state of savasana I feel as if I am floating above my body.
I finally return back to earth in prayer pose to recite that final namaste,
in that belated moment of clarity I am reminded of the gratitude I have for being heaven sent yet earth bound.
(c) Rose Bruno Bailey

THE SECRET IS OUT

Leave a reply

Happy Weekend to all. Yesterday I decided to try on some cute summer dresses that I have never worn, since they have never fit. They fit now and look great, but not for long since soon they will be too big for me. The secret is out, no crash diets for me, eating clean and healthy with moderation and exercise six days a week actually works. Did you hear that? Shocker, hard work pays off and it is fun too.  This should not be a surprise to me or anyone. I exercised like crazy when I danced, but somewhere in the chaos of moving around in the last few years I had stopped taking good care of myself. That will never happen again, I believe our bodies are our temples and I will not trash my temple any longer. My husband commented last night after my workout he has not seen me have such quick results in years, and how I look great. I feel healthier and stronger too with much more stamina. I am really looking forward to assisting with the first charity the Monday Night Mission, I am getting close to the first ten pound goal. My self esteem has returned and I get to do what I love to do, help others. It is such a win win for me. 

Today I will work out later, an hour on the treadmill and some other moves I have learned plus free weights. Yesterday when I did an hour speed walking on the treadmill, I actually jogged some of the time, and it made me feel so proud. Tomorrow same workout plus morning Yoga Flow with Nicole at Pink Iron. I tried to sleep in a little today and now I am meeting my friend Francie from the Richard Simmons video for a little Birthday Brunch before she leaves town to visit with family. We had plans to take Richard Simmons’ Saturday morning class but he is out of town for the next week, so no Richard Simmons for over one week.  Later my husband and I will go to the beach to walk and see the sunset, nothing like walking in the water in Malibu for some extra exercise on top of my workouts. Activity is the best natural high. I believe getting outdoors in beauty breathing in fresh air is mandatory for a healthy mind and body.

I feel very lucky to have such help with this endeavor, and to live in such a place with natural beauty to do it in.  I could not go it alone and I am learning so much about the body and achieving peace of mind in the process. So this morning I am radiating gratitude for my blessings. Life is truly beautiful.
Wishing you a sunshiny Saturday,
Namaste’
Rose