I Make Myself

Non-negotiable

This was my weekend:

On Friday I was done with work by noon and got together with some friends to catch up on what's going on with our lives lately.

At 8:00 I had a dinner to attend. Heinz was feeling tired so he joined us for dinner but left early. I stayed longer.

Saturday we had plans to go the beach but at the last minute I had to substitute for a Yoga class so we ended up staying here. 

We decided to stay in and go on Sunday.

Sunday we went to the beach where my parents, my sister and her husband had already spent the night. Some friends came too and we had an amazing time. 

It was fun going to the beach, hanging out with my friends and playing with their (really cute) babies but I was happy Heinz and I got to spend some alone time the day before.

I don't care if we go out for for a quick bite,  stay in and watch TV or even fall sleep together on the couch. There are things that are non-negotiable for me.

Spending some just-the-two-of-us-time with Heinz is one of them.

I told you my friends have really cute babies. This last photo is exhibit A.

Now tell me, do you have some non-negotiable weekend activities too? 

Are they work-out related? family related? chilling out related? Is it watching a TV show? a sports game? 

I think it's cool to figure out what things you are willing to negotiate and which ones you are not. 

Not only on the weekends but also when it comes to what you want in life.

Have an awesome week!

Yoga playlists

A few people have asked me about the music I play during my yoga classes which made me think it could be a good idea to share my current playlists here.

Most of the songs I've been using are from my training. I've been using songs I absolutely adored like music from Snatam Kaur and The Guru Singh Experience.

Here are my four current playlists: 

  

  

Yoga56:

It's a 56 minute playlist (the name sort of gives it away) I use this playlist when we start the class with breathing exercises. I don't like to play music while we are doing this because I feel the rhythm can alter the breathing. I start the music after the Pranayama is done.

 

Yoga 1H and 1.3H:

These are my go-to playlist for most of my one hour classes. 

 

YogaMoving:

My favorite playlist so far. This is for a more upbeat and sweaty class. 

 

I'm planning on putting together a new playlist every month so if you have any good music recommendations please share :)

 

Have a great weekend!

Mixing it up

Where have my recipes gone?  I'll tell you. 

But first lets do a little recap.

Last year I struggled (in a good sense) to come up with easy and delicious recipes that would help me smooth my way into a healthier diet.

I experimented. I was determined to try whatever I needed to try in order to incorporate more veggies and stay away from processed food. You may have heard this before and it's the truth: somewhere along the way it stops being about weight loss and it starts being about fueling your body.

Some recipes were a huge success for Heinz and me, others just for me and the rest were half eaten, tossed away and forgotten.

As the year ended I didn't feel I had to go out of my way to come up with a balanced meal and that leads us to today.

Lately I've been mixing things up. Literally.

What I do is: 

1. Choose a green base

It's Brussel Sprouts season! I precook a batch and keep it in the fridge. Broccoli is also my go-to vegetable and I've recently discovered Chard (Acelga in spanish). Chard is a very green leaf that can be used in salads or boiled and sauteed just like Spinach. I personally don't like the taste of raw Spinach leaves and I feel I get a weird aftertaste. This is not the case with Chard. It's filled with nutrients and the taste is better than regular lettuce and a lot better than Spinach.

2. Mix something else

This varies from Quinoa, sauteed mushrooms, hard boiled eggs, cheese to broiled chicken strips. It's normally just one or two of them NOT all of them.

3. Adding the avocado touch.

Hi, my name is Ruth and I am avocadoholic.  

4. The final touch

A drip of olive oil, lime drops and some salt.

That's it.

I put everything in a bowl, mix until the avocado turns into a paste that holds everything together and finally I eat this not-anthony-bourdain approved stuff right out of the bowl.

Nothing fancy, nothing out of the extraordinary and it's the same....every.single.day.

I used to get bored easily when it came to food. I was constantly looking out for recipes so I could keep myself "on track".

For some strange reason I'm not bored yet, maybe it will happen soon...maybe it wont.

Until that happens I'll enjoy this veggie bliss. If I come across a recipe worth sharing trust me I will and if you'd like me try one of your recipes please send it my way :)

 

How about you? have you noticed your relationship with food change in this past year? could it probably be the end of the Mayan calendar and those energy shifts that were supposed to happen? mmmm let me know.

 

 

Weekend in Rome

This weekend was particularly mellow for us...and I think I may know why.

We got an Apple TV for Christmas.

That little box made us stay home most of the weekend.

Glass -and wine-  can make faces look distorted.

Netflix is rather new here in El Salvador and it was not until very -very- recently that their movies got interesting. 

I don't know if you may know this but Netflix outside the US is different. We don't have access to the same choices. 

The same applies with most streaming stuff. It's a pain.

Anyways...Netflix upgraded their entertainment options (adding more movies) and a very cool thing is that now, through Apple TV, we can rent movies on ITunes.

We could do it before but Heinz and I don't like to watch movies on our computers so we never did.

This weekend Heinz watched two documentaries and we watched To Rome with Love (yeah, I skipped the documentaries in case that wasn't clear)

I am not a big Woody Allen fan I just love Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris. Love Midnight in Paris. Love it. I guess I don't mind Vicky Cristina Barcelona but Scarlet Johansson's character gets on my nerves and I also sort of like Hollywood Ending.

Out of all Woody Allen's films these last european-city-movies have been particularly funny for me so I was looking forward to watching To Rome with Love. 

The movie was entertaining but it lacked originality. I felt like I'd heard the stories before -not because I had- but because they were very predictable. There was a lack of sass and sarcasm which is something I love about Woody's writing. I was looking forward to a bolder script but at the end I got the feeling that Woody might have been in a rush when he wrote it.

Saturday we went thrift shopping and I finally found one (out of the two) night table I've been looking for since last year.

This baby is getting painted today.

We got it for 15$.

Sunday was church, movies...and NFL games....bo-ring.

While Heinz was watching the games I asked him if he wanted to go out for dinner...I got a silent stare as an answer.

It made me look forward to Super Bowl Sunday.

I hope your weekend was good, filled with fun stuff and no silent stares.

Coffee Break

For this refreshing and energizing smoothie I used:

 

• 1 banana
• 1 espresso shot
• 2 spoons of cashew butter
• Some almond milk & ice

 

 

Comfort zones

Last week was my first -official- week  as a yoga teacher. 

I taught some yoga classes in December but it was not until January that I was included in the classes schedule.

Last saturday Heinz joined my class (if you are new to this blog Heinz is my husband). He is very enthusiastic about me teaching and has been trying to come to the classes I teach.

That saturday, as I planned my class, I included something I completely love and that is to give out sometime for your own individual practice.

I learned this at my YTT. In one of our first yoga classes during my training the teacher said: ok, you got five minutes. Go into your own flow...this is when magic happens.

The first time she did this it was intimidating. I kept glancing at what others where doing because I had absolutely no clue what do. What did she mean by "my own flow"? child pose?

The second time she let us have this time I completely owned it. I went inside and blocked out everything. I decided to give myself the opportunity to listen to what my body wanted to do and honestly...something unlocked.

I can only compare it to when I did speed-work. I am not new to running but I am definitely new to running techniques so it was not until recently that I discovered speed training. It was love at first run. 

I felt so free.

That is exactly how I felt with this "free" time in that yoga class.

I knew right there that if I did ever teach I wanted to incorporate this into my classes.

Being mindful that I am new to the studio and to the students I wanted to do it little by little.

On that saturday I decided to let the students do five Sun Salutations and they could each do their own modifications. They could go through runners lunge, warriors or just through slow, gentle vinyasas if so they chose. Each at their own pace.

After I finished giving out the instructions...yeah, some looked puzzled...Heinz included.

Sometimes we go in and out of our yoga studio having challenged ourselves physically but what about our minds?

What about doing something so simple yet so mystical like asking ourselves what we want to do. What better opportunity than to have your own time during a class.

With those five Sun Salutations I was asking more than just a sequence of postures,  I wanted them to experience doing something out of their comfort zone. I was asking them to stop listening to my ques and start listening to themselves.

Believe it or not this is out of my comfort zone too. I could have easily skipped this part and not deal with either love or hate reactions but the truth is I am teaching from my own experience. I want other people to have the oportunities that I've had.

Once we came back home I asked Heinz if he had liked the class. He said yes, but he added that those five Sun Salutations had made him feel disoriented. This put a big smile on my face.  That is exactly what I was looking for! It is in those moments when yoga starts to transcend the postures. That is -how my yoga teacher put it- when then magic starts to happen.

As a side note I've started to buy real flowers to try and make the apartment more cozy. Last week it was Flor de Durazno which translates to Peach's flower (or peach tree flower -maybe). I do wonder if peaches do come from this plant. I didn't even know we grow peaches in El Salvador. If anyones knows please let me know :)

 

Bikram Yoga

I was in Miami for a week and I thought this would be the perfect time to try out something I had been dying to try: Bikram Yoga

I had heard of Bikram a while back but it never interested me. I mean yoga in a heated room? why would you do that yourself?

Then I did my Yoga Teacher Training and a lot of people had tried it. They either loved it or hated it.

I am always drawn and interested in  things that people are so passionate about. Politics, wine, coffee, food...except golf. I'm not interested in that.

This planted a little seed in me and I thought it couldn't be so bad. Maybe by hot they meant room temperature. I am a tropical girl, I am used to hot. It couldn't be unbearably  hot.

I searched for a Bikram studio and found Bikram Yoga Miami.

I emailed them ahead to ask if it was OK to take photos so I could share my experience here and they were really cool about it.

I got there and introduced myself. The teacher asked me if it was my first time doing Bikram and I said yes. She  kindly offered me a bottle of chilled water. I obviously followed here advice.

She told me to stay in the back of the room, I later learned that the front row is reserved for advanced students and the back is for newbies like me who need to double check what everybody else is doing after an instruction is given.

The room was already being heated. It was really hot. You know how when you are pre-heating an oven and you open the door to place what you are baking inside and some heat comes out and you go...damn...well, that room reminded me of that feeling.

But I love to bake and grill so I gladly stepped in.

People were lying on their backs but they were facing the non-mirror side of the room which got me a little confused. Were the mirrors the back of the room? I could see myself landing in the front row after getting this minor detail wrong but I followed my intuition and laid on my back facing the mirrors. A yogi yet a rebel.

When the teacher came in I realized I was facing the right direction. Ruth scores. 

The class started and it all picked up pretty fast.

I mean, I get it,  there is no point in warming up right? you are already feeling like you are burning inside out so why bother.

It was all very fast paced and the words "lie down on your back and relax" will never have the same meaning after taking a Bikram class.

I was familiar with the postures, they are not different from what I am used to doing in a regular Yoga class but it has a more strict approach.

I felt there was no range for mistakes and that was a little demanding for me. I felt I had to get the postures right and follow the pace as the teacher guided us. Of course I could stop and lie down if I wanted, the teacher had told me I was free to do it whenever I needed to but  psychologically I was unable to do it. Don't ask me why.

As we were lying on the floor, facing down, the teacher stepped out of the room and I thought "well this is nice...an inverted Savasana..." As I started to relax and place my right side of the face on the floor I congratulated myself for finishing the class with dignity....I was so wrong.

The teacher stepped in again and guided us through the second part of the class. A whole second part. We had only gone half way through.  I don't know how long the class lasted but I can tell you it felt eternal.

It was a tough class but at the end I really liked it. The sweat kept getting in my eyes, my hands couldn't grab my feet because they kept sliding but I loved it. It was uncomfortably great.

I can see why people get into it. After the class I felt a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I felt light - I bet it was all the liquid I lost- and I felt like I'd worked out hard.

I definitely wouldn't advice it for someone who wants to try Yoga for the first time. I think it could be a little overwhelming but obviously that depends on each person.

To sum things up:

Did I love it? Yes

Would I do it again? Definitely yes

Would I do it everyday? No

I hope -someday- there'll be a Bikram studio here in El Salvador. I can see myself hitting the studio once in a while.

You can watch this Youtube video on Bikram in case you are not familiar with this type of Yoga.

 

2013 what's ahead

I don't know about you but 2013 is shaping up to be a pretty awesome year: yoga classes + new projects + more traveling = fun.

I am diggin' it.

However I did not feel the same way about 2012 at all. Emphasis on the AT ALL part!

I remember last year  getting together with my friends to write down our New Years resolutions. We started this tradition a couple of years ago but last year I think we did it as a pep-talk & moral support activity because we were all kind of down. I remember we all had a hard time coming up with our resolutions trying to hold on to our faith that 2012 would be a good year.

I can't even remember why we were all feeling so beaten-up back when 2012 started and after all the anxiety it turns out last year was pretty great for all of us.

This year I'm shifting my goals though and...everything is getting logged in my Le Petit Prince Moleskine special edition!

I almost cried when I saw this at the bookstore. I love am obsessed with Moleskine products and every year I always get a new daily planner from them. Le Petit Prince is one of my favorite (if not my favorite) book of all times. I even have the elephant&boa drawing tattooed so  to have a Moleskine daily planner with my favorite book...COME ON! I can only take this as a sign. 

Back to the goals.

Let's start with running.

I had thought I wanted to run a second marathon but that is no longer in my plans. Instead of having a marathon as a goal my main objective this year is to have an injury-free year.

How will I achieve that?

You see I would always get injured. Even when I wasn't in "training mode". The problem? over-a-chie-ver Ruth.

Yes, I was my own problem. Running started out as a "safe" zone where I felt free and most important...I felt happy.

Don't get me wrong it still is but having back to  back injuries can leave you burned out. 

Somewhere last year running lost its fun. I would gear up and it would take me forever to get my foot out the door. Antichafer, hydration, power gels, putting on those darn compression sleeves, setting up my Garmin, pace, distance...it all became too much.

I know I came to yoga because I'd heard it would help me with my running injuries and it did. You would think that it was all the stretching that helped me but actually it wasn't. Yoga has helped me in giving me the confidence to be...moderate. For me this means I don't have to push myself anymore. It means I don't have to prove myself  through races or PR"s to call myself a runner. 

This year I'm taking my yoga practice off the mat and bringing it into my running. I will do this by setting how-I-feel- goals. You can call them intentions because I will. 

I will run for fun and I will -only- run for fun. That's it.

No more losing weight related, no more pace & distance related shizzle. I will just have fun.

Will I wear my Garmin? Well of course! Specially because I got a new -fancy- one for Christmas. 

Black...but fancy. Apparently more sofisticated means less colorful. Garmin needs to pimp them up.

But I will wear it to set myself a goal, I will wear my Garmin to get to know my body.

I will check what pace my body feels more comfortable in. I will check it to see what distance my body loves to run. 

I will use my Garmin as a learning tool not as a measuring tool. Nope, not this year.

This year I will not measure my running in how far or fast I can run. I will spend this whole year learning.

I will continue to share distance and numbers here but what's most important to me is that I will share whatever it is I learn.

The same goes into my yoga practice. 

My goal is to discover. DIscover my body, my emotions, mindsets...and you know...learn.

I do want to continue my trainings. I really want to make it to the Self Awakening Yoga training in March at the Nosara Yoga Institute. 

I think it may happen :)

I hope you stick around this year. Not only to read whatever I mumble but to share your story too. Let me know what YOU are setting your mind to, what  your struggles & your achievements are. Let's all make this 2013 great. Don't leave me alone in my fun quest. Join in. Let's have fun together.

6 + 1

Even though Heinz and I are not big on parties we do like to celebrate special dates in our own special way.

This weekend was our 6-year anniversary and I've got two words for that: time flies.

Last year I shared our beach getaway mini vacation. This year well, we did the same.

We chose a different location. This time we went to La Cocotera.

It's located in Barra de Santiago. It takes about 1h30 to get there if you are driving from San Salvador. It's an ecolodge that even has its own turtle release program. 

The resort is small and private making it the perfect place for a couple's getaway.

If you are planning your wedding or just merely fantasizing about that special date I only have one advice for you. Choose a date that is close to a holiday...you will guarantee yourself an off-from-work anniversary your entire life.

Six years ago we got married on January 6 and from that day on, as every new year starts, Heinz and I mark a new beginning in our relationship. Celebrating our anniversary it's not about keeping track of the time we've been together. It's about taking some time to look back asking ourselves where we were this time last year, where do we plan to be next year, what trips do we want to make, etc.

Even though surf and kayaking were offered at no extra cost we decided to chill by the pool ALL DAY LONG. Heinz is currently reading Life of Pi and since I (surprisingly) got a new Kindle for Christmas we both kept our noses buried under exquisite literature. I am currently reading two books, one is The Great Gatsby because the movie is coming out and I cannot let myself  watch the movie  before reading the book and I am also reading Murakami's 1Q84 which for me has been a page turner and I mean this literally because its a paperback edition (a non traveler friendly one) 

Talking about books...how would you feel about an IMakeMyself book club? would anyone sign up? Let me know because I'm really contemplating this idea.

This date marks another special day for me. This weekend was my first blogging anniversary! It's been a whole year since I started sharing my story through IMakeMyself and to all of you who keep coming back...thank you.

Thank you for being part of this 6 + 1 celebration.

The Holidays

Vacations is almost over. I officially will be back to work on Monday.

Yes, I make my own schedule so that means my boss (me) is actually excited about not working until next week.

I feel like I've been on a two-month vacation. First it was a whole month in Costa Rica and then I came back for a couple of weeks and left again. This time it was to go to Miami.

Heinz's grandparents, aunt, uncle, nieces and a nephew live there and actually I've got family there too. We decided to spend Christmas with them and on December 23rd we were off. 

Miami has been a big part of both our lives. We each grew up visiting our family there, spending holidays and summer breaks in this sunny city. We even got married there - it's a long story but someday I'll share it here :) -

Christmas Eve was a mix of German and Cuban cuisine: PERFECT. Oma (which translates to grandmother in English) cooked an awesome Lomo (read pork in Spanish)

Very multicultural right?

Christmas Day was my side of the family's day. My aunt cooked Gallina India which is a traditional Salvadorean dish. I wish I could use a different word other than -extraordinary- to describe it but I can't. I can't even describe what it tastes like because it has a lot of traditional spices and I just feel it tastes like home. 

We spent a week in Miami and before we left on the 30th I went for my last 2012 run. 

It was a very emotional moment. I like to run on the 31st but I wanted to take advantage that I was there to run my last run of the year. 

It was a 45-minute no pace & no distance oriented run.

Half way through my run I couldn't stop the tears, I started thinking that 2012 has been the hardest yet most amazing year. I ran my first marathon, I got my yoga teacher training certification, I became a freelance writer, I traveled, I laughed, I cried, I complained (a lot),  I blogged and I faced a lot of fears.

But out of everything that happened there was one thing -I think-  was the most valuable lesson I learned. From me to me.

I realized all my goals for this year had been based on numbers: How many things I can get done in a day, a month, a year. How quick can I become the person I want to be. How fast can I run, how far can I go. All numbers, numbers, numbers.

Have you ever felt that you get a lot of things done but yet still feel unaccomplished? That is how I used to feel and that is because numbers are good for certain things but they can't measure how much fun or  frustration you'll get out of something.

This year -by the way- I'm doing the opposite. That means I still will plan mostly everything (I can't help it it's my thing!) but I'll try to be careful not to power through things on my to-do list. I'll try to live them out instead of just crossing them out.

Here are some snapshots from my last run. I love that I was able to bring my phone with me and capture that sacred moment when I was cut off by this bridge...Miami's version of a traffic jam?