Perspective.

So I'm on day five of the broken toe and, as usual, accepting what is. I'm learning to cycle through the stages of anger, grief, acceptance blah blah blah faster after what the past two years have thrown at me. I suppose this is a good thing. I've been in yoga all week, and its been wonderful. I strapped back on my big girl pants after getting off track with my Whole30 on Friday night and Saturday, and have been eating on plan since Sunday. Back to feeling great, if limping.

Monday I took off from the gym as I was at the Ortho for the toe (all good news, a clean and simple break, no surgery required, and I got a big boot which offers increased healing time and increased protection from the kids accidentally stepping on it). Took care of a ton of errands, and saw my pain specialist for my hip. Treated myself to a deep tissue massage on Monday night ~ saw someone new, who unfortunately was not very good. A bad massage is so disappointing, isn't it? Anyway, it was an hour of quiet in a busy day and with Nate out of town, it was appreciated.

Tuesday I took a wonderful class with Chris. My downward dog was a bit more like limping puppy, but after modifying for pregnancy for 3 years and a broken hip for months, accomidating a broken toe was simple. Wednesday I took a 2 hour 15 minute inversion workshop. Perfect timing, right? When better to be upside down then when faced with a broken wheel. Inversions are probably the strongest aspect of my yoga practice, as they rely more on strength and balance then flexability. I'm generally very flexible, with the exception of my hips. My hips are incredibly, ridgigly, tight. I've been working on them daily, I have a series of hip openers that I've been doing, but its always been and probably will always be my weak point. Anyway. Inversions. It was so much fun. I love being upside down. It takes me back to being a little girl, having handstand contests with my friends on the beach. I could forget about my toe and simply relax into my handstand or dolphin or whatever configuration we found ourselves in. It was lovely.

Yesterday I took Janice's class. I used to hate her classes, but she has finally learned to turn off the lights and to use music, both things that I enjoy. There was a half hour break, in which I stayed and did my hip openers and some handstands, as I was already warmed up and relaxed, and then took the first 45 minutes of a class called "foundations of yoga". It was nice.

Today I went to an hour long foam roller stretching class before yoga. This is the fun of being injured ~ it forces me outside of my box....and truthfully, I needed a break from my box. I was doing too many stairs (you've heard this song before, right???) and today, simply rolling out my entire body was amazing. Ironically I got way more out of it than I did my costly deep tissue massage. I've been using my foam roller more lately, but learned some good new ways to use it today, which was great. I need to make my roller part of my daily at home practice. That thing is magical. And free. Both good things. The stretching was immediately followed by Janice's 75 minute flow yoga class, which was wonderful. I can tell that the toe is already feeling a lot better as today I was able to place my foot on the mat in downward dog.

I've been eating well ~ branching out into a few new things. I confess that vegetables at breakfast before yoga still turns me off, and the summer fruit is just SO good that I've been eating big bowls of fruit with almonds and chia seeds and hemp, and its been just the thing. Lunch has been spaghetti squash (I've never made it before, which is weird as I love squash.....but I love spaghetti more.....so I've always just made spaghetti). Yesterday I made it and loaded it up with shredded chicken and tomatoes and artichokes, it was delicious. Today I sauteed a heap of portobello mushrooms with jalapeno chicken sausage and tossed that over the squash. Tuesday night we went out to dinner at Iron Hill with my Dad and I had that delicious Fishermans Stew again, this time of year always has me longing for fresh seafood. I've been incorporating a lot of smoked salmon, crabmeat, and sardines and shrimp into my lunches as well. Easy and fast to throw in with a salad or roasted vegetables. I've found that doing yoga instead of the intense cardio has me very content with three large meals and not in need of as many snacks. I've been doing a good job of hydrating, though it still takes a conscious effort.

I finally went today and got the blood work that was part of my physical from APRIL. Pathetic. It was fasting blood work, and as sad as it sounds I simply hate to get up and not eat or drink anything. Nate got in from DC last night and wasn't going to play BB this morning, so I finally got on it. I was at the lab at 6:30, and by 7:30 was home, blood work done and hot coffee in hand. I will have all of the results tomorrow.

I'm over the bitterness about my toe. At least this time it was a simple accident ~ not a result of overtraining or anything else ~ just pure dumb luck. Its slowing me down and changing my focus ~ but in a good way. I was verging on exercising too much again......so perhaps this is just the universe getting my attention, as it is wont to do. Some people get gentle nudges, I get sledgehammers to the head (or toe). Its okay. I start my teacher training in 6 weeks....incidentally the exact same amount of time that I am supposed to not run for. Everything else I am to do to tolerance. This week that means yoga, probably next week as well. I will throw some lean conditioning in next week as well as I can do it without shoes and its non impact. I like the feeling that I am going into this teacher training program really honed in on my yoga practice. I feel really focused when I am practicing, my mind clear, generally joyful. I feel a lot of gratitude ~ there is a lot of change coming up in the next few weeks and frankly the best place I can ever be when change is on the horizon is on my yoga mat ~ eating well, sleeping a lot, and generally focusing on taking the best care of myself (mentally and physically) that I can. Its the surefire way to keep my anxiety at bay, so in a way I'm thinking that this toe break was a little gift from the universe ~ so thanks, doorjam.

Nate and I are playing golf today. I would not have set it up that way but we had scheduled a tee time to check out Concord Country Club and it would be really difficult to reschedule it. I'm going to take some Tylenol about an hour before hand, wrap my toe up to its "buddy toe" (love that, we all need a buddy when we are feeling broken, don't we?) and give it a go. I'm bringing my boot along and worst case scenario I will be the freak show playing golf in a boot. I'm sure its been done before.