Yoga Love: A New Year

   Happy New Year Everyone!! As cliche as it may be to say, time flies when you are having fun or in graduate school praying that you graduate on time. Thank heavens I did graduate on time and debt free. To all students still undergoing the struggle, may the odds be ever in your favor.

   

                                                                                

   For the next month I am participating in two different yoga challenges that are being hosted by various yogis on Instagram. These daily postings help to get me back in the habit of a daily yoga routine. It is far too easy to hibernate all winter long in my cozy bed instead of hitting the gym and yoga mat. Thankfully, a dear friend of mine and I have started lifting together and practicing Tae Kwon Do again. Flipping tires in 45 degree weather is much more bearable when you have a buddy who is working their ass off right along side you. 

    It has been a year since my cadaver ACL transplant and my knee just keeps getting better and better. Dr. Cochran gave me the gift of a second chance and I intend to lead a very active and joy filled life. Squats, running, jumping, etc. are so much easier and pain free now thanks to my cadaver ACL. It was a year of hardships, pain, and a wonderful recovery. Cheers to the road ahead! 

Yoga Poses 

Yoga Love and My Cadaver ACL

   Good evening y'all! I just spent almost 8 hours playing catch up with one of my online classes. Yes, you read that correctly and no I am not a dumb blonde. There is so much reading and outside research that usually  my whole weekend is dedicated to homework. To get away from the homework I traipsed off to Target, my place of zen. While wandering around I came across the Halloween section, hooray! Halloween is my favorite holiday and I like to decorate my dwelling and dress up. I am trying to hold off on decorating until the end of September but damn it's hard. My strength wavered when I found the dish towels. My husband is smart enough that upon seeing them in the Target bag simply said, "Well, we do need dish towels". Good job dear.

   

   How could I pass these cute towels up? I love seeing them in my kitchen and cannot wait to buy a few Halloween themed candles from Bath & Body Works. 

   After I got caught up with my articles for class I decided to play catch up with the yoga challenge on Instagram called #beautifulbodiesyoga. I find the yogis I follow on Instagram so inspiring and graceful. They inspire me to try new poses and not give up when a certain pose challenges me. While scrolling through pictures of yogis I found a chick (M_MIJARES_LO) who posted a picture of herself in flamingo pose. Holy hell, she made this pose look so cool that I immediately tried it and realized that this pose will take some practice. I couldn't help but laugh at how awkward I felt in this pose, which makes me want to keep working on it. 

   The pictures that follow are the litany of some of the poses I posted to Instagram today. 

Wild Thing Pose

  

Crow Pose, assisted by the wall

Tree Pose variation, @busybodyyogi inspired me to try this pose. 

 

King Pigeon Pose

Downward Facing Dog Pose 

Warrior Three Pose 

    I love yoga for helping me deal with stress, making me feel beautiful and strong, and centered. This time last year I had a lot of trouble getting into these poses. Thanks to a cadaver ACL and Dr. Cochran I once again can enjoy the benefits of yoga. Thank You to All organ donors but I am especially grateful to the soul who gave me my new ACL. This new ligament gave me a second chance at life and countless moments of sheer joy when I loudly exclaim "look what I can do!". Yoga On Y'all!