Well hello everyone!!!  This is your pal Sara and I have to say, I am feeling better than I have in a really long time.  I’m eating healthy and moving my body again.  My mind feels calmer.  I feel present and inside of my own body instead of my own head.  I feel powerful and calm and excited to moved forward with all the things I’m learning in therapy and all my other endeavors!  In the spirit of change and new beginnings, this weekend started my Yoga Beginners Series at Bliss Body Yoga…you’re not even going to believe this!!!  I loooooooooooooooooved it.  It was everything.  What an enlightening experience.  I had such a calm feeling driving there.  Not many things make me nervous, but doing new group exercise things are usually a nail biter for me.  But the night before I fell right to sleep, woke up on time, got dressed, had a green tea and headed out.  My drive there was so peaceful, windows down and I wasn’t nervous…like at all!!!!  I pulled up, walked in and was greeted by our instructor, Nancy, the cutest cutie. This place is gorgeous.

A tiny voice in my head said , pick a spot in the back.  But I’m a front row girl, so I shook that thought away and sat front and center next to my new friend Jo!

By the time 11:15 rolled around, the room was comfortably full.  Nancy welcomed us, introduced herself and told us a little about her.  Then we went around the room and said our name, what our previous yoga experience was and what we would like to gain from class.  It was so nice to feel a sense of community before we got started and by the end of intros it was clear that everyone was kind of on the same page…wanting to learn the basics so as not to feel so lost, gain strength, flexibility and relief from our stressful lives.  We started with Savasana or corpse pose, which lets you focus on breathing.  It was like a peaceful nap.  Then we slowly progressed into a series called  Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation which included table to cat to cow to childs pose.  We went over lots of body posture points and ways to modify as your body gets used to the stretch.  Then we went over how to distribute weight in your hands and feet for downward dog!

Then we walked to the front of our mat and did a very powerful stance. Hinged at the waist, into downward dog, then into a plank to cobra to downward dog I think, then back to standing and hands to heart.  It was a lot of information but it felt nice and I loved the repetition of it.  To finish up we did Savasana one more time and she came by and misted a lovely smelling mixture over us.   Before you knew it an hour and fifteen minutes had flown by.  I ran into one of Kelsey and Alleys clients before we left…such a small world!!!  I have to say, I absolutely loved this.  I love Nancy, I loved Bliss Body Yoga, I loved our group and most of all I loved the way I felt when I left.  I don’t know if I’ve ever been this relaxed after exercising.

I just cannot wait to go back!!! Thanks Nancy!!!! Xoxo It even made me confident enough to go back to Pure Barre.  I woke up Sunday morning and found myself in Jenny’s cousins class, Ariel!!!  And it was serious.  I was welcomed back literally with open arms.  You really get to know people in this intimate setting!  My pal Brooke was there and then some PB friends, Camille and Karen.

Ariel is the living sweetest, but once that mic went on, it was business time…my butttttttttt!!! It aches in the best way.  This weekend I also went home and health shopping…

I got a tea kettle for my new tea obsession, some mason jars for juicing, a better knife, meat thermometer, some dish towels, yoga blocks, a pill caddy to keep all of my elimination diet supplements organized!!!!  I had a Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card from my lovely client who moved to Ireland, Mary and I finally joyfully spent it!  Thanks Mary!

Since I’ve started the elimination food plan to see if I have food allergies, I’ve already noticed that I have sensitivities to cinnamon and cayenne pepper.  Nothing major, but it was for sure harder to breathe after i ate them!  Imagine how great I’m going to feel getting rid of the things that make me feel bad!?!?  It feels so nice to be cooking again and in charge of my nutrition.  I’m not sure how I get so far from center but now that I’m feeling a little better, it actually is fun to meal plan, grocery shop and cook. I’m trying to think of just two days at a time, so I don’t over plan and get stressed out.  Also, it leaves room for creativity and what I’m actually craving…which lately is MUSHROOMS!!!  Lately I can’t get enough!

I love knowing that I have healthy things in my house to nourish and heal my body.  There are so few things i can eat on this list and brown rice and quinoa are two of the items, so I have embraced the grain for the next 30 days.  This weekend I made a mushroom, onion, garlic, leek gravy with oregano pan roasted chicken and tossed the whole thing with brown rice.

I also roasted zucchini, squash and onions and added it to the mix.  It was so good and satisfying!  I also experimented with some smoothies.  I cant eat bananas which is a smoothie staple for me!  So I mixed spinach,  unsweetened coconut milk, blueberries, mango, pineapple and fresh squeezed lime juice….um delish!  I also made a PBJish type smoothie with spinach, unsweetened coconut milk, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cashew butter.  Jenny tried it and said it was bland!!!  It so funny when you are so restricted how different things taste…I thought it was decadent! Haha.  You guyyyyyyys.  I Feel so flipping good!!!!  I’ve have learned so much about myself.  I tend to put all my happiness eggs in to my health basket.  I’m trying to change that so it isn’t so devastating when I don’t feel well.  So now I’m just focusing on positivity and celebrating when I feel great.  Thanks to all of you and if you aren’t doing yoga or have some form of peaceful meditation in your life, I can’t say enough wonderful things about it!!!  Love you all like woah!  Namaste. Ps: Y’all, this is our 302nd post!!!  It has been so crazy lately I missed the 300th, but what a ride this has been.  We are so grateful to every single person who reads our story.  Xo time a milly.