Kyria's journal

It's been roughly two weeks since I decided that I want to move around more often, ergo exercise some more. I had some excuses in the past year (falling in love, buying a house, etc) that made me not work out much and I probably will have an excuse in the future too. However, I like moving my body. I like feeling present, seeing how the power of my legs can help me cross distances on foot and on my bike. It makes me feel strong.

A short recap after two weeks:
1. I feel sweaty most of the time and start sweating the minute I think about walking around. This is unpleasant, but I comfort myself with the idea that I will sweat less when I burned off the 10 pounds that I piled on in the past year.

2. Related to feeling sweaty, my metabolism is turned up and where I usually felt a bit chilly, I am now feeling hot most of the time, to the degree that I kick off blankets in bed and want to wear a thinner coat outside.

3. I haven't stepped on the scale yet, because I tend to focus too much on the number instead of how I feel. I stepped on the scales a couple of times before I started and I was at 68.8 kg, roughly 6 kg above the weight where I feel comfortable. Hoping to bring it back to 63-65 ish, that might take three months or so.

I started sampling the gym's in my area: yesterday I took a Zumba class in the gym closest to our house. It was a fun class, though I believe Zumba to be a very unsafe way of moving due to no safety cues at all and the huge, uncontrolled flailing. I'll try the bigger and more luxurious gym next week. I really enjoy riding my bike again for longer distances, it is very meditative :-) Belly dance class and ballet are as usual, though I am finally seeing some slow improvements in ballet class after a long plateau. Ballet teacher is the best and I like her as a person, maybe because she also taught several of my dance friends. She sort of feels like a dance aunt.

1. my classes started and I have two lovely groups of ladies. I scared the shit out of my intermediates yesterday with the 8 minute shimmy drill. My beginners class has two return students + two people who dropped by because of worth of mouth. I am a happy camper. Bellydance 1 is doing a choreography to Fakerni by Haifa Wehbe. I chose to do a more theatrical style with less repetition, as it appeals better to the creative nature of some students. Last semester had a choreography that relied on symmetry and counting, this one is more about musical interpretation.

Bellydance 2 is getting a drills/improv thing, meaning we work on drills for a saaidi choreography for the 6th of april performance, and on improvisation with Aziza (the song, not the dancer). It is an easy song to recognize the structure and I feel it is a good way to usher my students towards classis BD songs.

2. running! The Netherlands had the whole snow and ice thing going on, off and on during the last couple of weeks. I got a bit out of practice with regards to running but I was reminded today that I will be doing the CPC run at the start of March (yes, in three weeks). I upped the ante and went with 10k instead of 5k, as I usually run 7-8k for practice. Those extra k's will be heavy, but I run for my company and we have our private changing area and a sportmasseuse. Meaning I can drop on the floor of our pavilion afterwards and do my yoga stretches and all will be well. And if I don't recover on Sunday I have a good excuse to call in sick on Monday :-)

3.ballet. due to work I missed the last three classes. Eep! I look forward to getting back in class next week. My turns are getting better and so is my core strength, so that is good. If I could get back into running my flexibility would greatly benefit, nothing beats stretching after a good run for improved range of motion.

4. badminton. Also missed several classes int he past couple of weeks due to work. It is not a priority but I hope that I can make it to at least two sessions per month. I am getting better at foot placement and strategy, but I don't play often enough to ingrain the patterns for shuttle placement that I need. *shrugs* It is fun though.

5. horseback riding: also missed classes here but I went last thursday and had a blast. Things are solidifying into my system, I hve a better sit (meaning better balance on a horse) and I use the tension on my stirrups better. When the weather gets better I want to  do a 2 hour ride outside once a month, I imagine that will be lovely.

6. my own BD practice: I have several practice sessions planned in the next months with various groups: expanding our repertoire with FaKyMa, rehearsing with the LAT project (30th of march Groningen, april 5thin Amsterdam) and Sense of Bellydance (hafla on april 6th). My fancy has been tickled by the online classes from Datura and Raqstv, but I told myself I should start with the dvds in  my closet first. I am once more trying to do a dvd this month, I have to keep up with my flisties on the dvd challenge.