Nia in Houston
I had a single objective today; and that was to teach my Profound routine at NiaMoves. I have been teaching the routine using the same focus that Winalee used in her Deep Dive routine; connecting to the flow of water.
But something told me this morning that here in Houston it might be a little bit insensitive to bring that as a focus considering they've probably had enough communing with water. So in the car on the way to the studio, I came up with the idea of setting the focus on something that WOULD resonate with Houstonians.
I decided to set the focus on Active Recovery. I explained how the most valuable part of any exercise is the recovery, and that life doesn't have to stop in order for us to recover. But we can pause mid-movement and take a breath, or silence our mind, or return to state of peace even as the movements of class are quickly coming and going.
I think I'm going to keep this new focus. I love the concept and considering how much it seemed to help me embody this routine, I'm going to take that as a sign that it's the right direction to take this.
After class, Angela, the owner of NiaMoves, took me out to lunch at Tacos a GoGo, which had outdoor seating for River.
I ate some incredible tacos, one with lamb meat and the other with pork. River did his best to remain calm although it was quite a bustling scene on that patio. There were also other dogs there. So considering all of the triggers, River did a remarkable job of remaining calm and sticking near me.
After brunch, we went back to the motel room.
After a morning like the one we had (from River's perspective) I like to give him just as much free time as I required of him to behave or be caged. So that meant I owed him about two hours minimum of free time in the grass. There was a huge lawn across the street so we went over there and spent a good chunk of time over there.
At one point, we were running together and I think that may be when I tweaked my back. I noticed it starting to hurt later in the evening and I can feel around back there and pin point the place of trouble. It seems to be between two of my lumbar vertebrae. I'm hoping it's a short-lived issue. I will be poking and massaging and stretching and mobilizing that region until it calms down.
During the planning phase of this trip, I had picked out a few interesting-looking local parks to visit while in Houston. But as is often the case on these trips, I felt like it was more trouble than it was worth. It never fails to surprise me how much work and energy goes into doing the simplest things. Keeping River out of harms way and being social are quite a drain on me. And I make a concerted effort to conserve my energy on these trips, and always err on the side of being too cautious. I can much more easily recover from having a boring afternoon than I can from overdoing it. And truth be told, it is actually very difficult to 'bore' me. I have a wonderful and very active imagination and can usually make the best of any situation. So when we spent a couple of hours playing on the lawn at Motel 6, I can have just as much fun and enjoy it just as much as going to a fancy official national park, but I don't have to deal with crowds, parking, driving, negotiating River among strangers and keeping him calm in the buzz of general excitement.
In addition to the lawn date, I ate my meals out of my cooler and did a load of laundry. I watched the progression of Irma on the news and then also watched some cartoons on Adult Swim until I was sleepy.
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