challenge continues

after a mini hiatus from yoga due to painful injections in my shoulder, I was thrilled to return to the mat

day 16: MY GRADUABIRTHDAY.

When I was little I would wake up basically every hour too excited about the fact that it was my birthday. Apparently at age 22 some things never change because at 6:15AM I couldn’t contain my excitement about the day. After a few practice downward dogs on my bed to make sure my shoulder joint was ready for yoga, I was off to Crunch for some graduabirthday vinyasa at Sunrise Salutations.

Between my excitement to be back in a yoga class after 2 days away, my excitement for being the birthday girl and my excitement to graduate college I was a hot, but incredibly happy mess in this class. I knew it would be a slightly lost cause from the start because my body was literally buzzing, but I knew I wanted to go to yoga.

I really try to make a conscious effort now to workout in some format first thing in the morning since it was really reduced my anxiety. I didn’t want anxiety to ruin the day. It was an incredibly sweaty but lovely class.

I’ve never left before shavasana in a yoga class, but I knew it was necessary in order to get ready with enough time to go to Yankee Stadium. Leaving I gave a cute little shrug and said “sorry, graduation!”

day 17: after the whirlwind that was graduabirthday I definitely needed to calm down and re-calibrate my mind and body. I went to a basics class at Yoga Vida with one of my favorite teachers there. As much as being injured is a downer and consuming much of my life now-a-days, one odd perk is that people remember me now. Teachers remember who I am since I am the one-armed girl modifying everything. Generally I am shy and would never introduce myself to instructors at the end of a class, but because of the injury it has brought about conversation from instructors and other students.

a big focus in this class was finding balance, something that I definitely needed to find after being a ball of energy on Wednesday. It was incredibly difficult for me to balance, a mixture of being a bit dizzy all class and feeling wobbly the whole time.  As frustrating as falling over was, I knew it what mirroring how I felt this week. As thrilling and exciting as graduating is, I definitely feel off balance.

I have found great comfort this spring semester. Sometimes the semester feels like a mad dash to the finish line where I just want the insanity, work and stress to end, but this semester I remained calm for much of it. I found a schedule that worked– I had a good grasp of when I would work out, when I would go to yoga, when I would eat, where I would eat and kept a pretty consistent schedule week to week. I feel frazzled now knowing I will have to create a new sense of schedule when I get home, another schedule when I start work, and a completely new schedule when I move to california. I already miss the sense of balance I had this semester, but I am sure I will find it again

day 18: later today is part two of graduation. Yes, we have TWO graduations at NYU! Today’s is for all the students at Tisch. I am ridiculously excited for our guest speaker Michael Mayer who directed American Idiot. How fitting that the guy who basically created the broadway show that made a hugeeee impact on my life at college would be speaking at my graduation?

Worried I wouldn’t be able to make it to a yoga class later today, I went to Yoga Vida early this morning for a class. The instructor started off class talking about making room for change. Allowing change to happen and not being afraid of it. Oh wow, how perfect for the day of my college graduation, and the day I cut off my last tie to New York University.

Change is scary, terrifying even, since there is a lot of unknown. But this morning I was reminded that in actuality we are constantly changing– my downward dog is different today than it was yesterday, my relationships with my friends are constantly evolving and changing in their nature and I am constantly changing

While big changes like graduating college and leaving Manhattan for 6 months are rightfully scary, it also leaves room for so many good things. Incredible opportunities that I don’t even know about. Change doesn’t have to be bad.