2019 Intention - Summary : It's a Matter of Balance

This post will recap all three of my 2019 Intention posts, wrapping them all up in a nice little theme. And adding perhaps one or two more intentions for the year. I also intend to keep the door open for some additional goals and/or things I may want to add as go through the year. To start with here are the links to previous 2019 Intentions posts.

2019 Intentions

Part I Journaling #journaling

Part II Meditation #meditation

Part III Reading #reading #spiritualreading

Part IV Yoga Studies #yogastudies #yoga

As you have already guessed from the title of this post, this year will be about regaining balance or perhaps establishing balance. Let me explain.

Last year due to a change in work circumstances (not a bad change mind you) my schedule changed and it became difficult to maintain the schedule that had become routine. Although I can't in good conscience say that it was only the change in work circumstances, I also tried to expand my home yoga practice. My goal was to be able to get some asana practice followed by meditation and other practices before getting ready to go to work. Calculating backward that meant I had to get up by 4 or 4:30. I tried that for a while and just couldn't do it consistently. While the schedule change at work made it very difficult to near impossible to get to my yoga classes during the week. And once that spiral started it's been hard to get back to a regular cadence. So as it stands I've dropped from an 7 times a week asana practice to just a couple times a week.

It wasn't completely a mess. I successfully added meditation to my daily routine as well as reading every morning for 15 to 20 minutes. So while my asana practice has dropped off my meditation practice picked up a nice consistency. I am currently at 70 straight days without missing a day, though some are yoga nidra right before bed so I fell asleep more often than not but I'm still counting it!

Neohawk is Moving

However the biggest thing I discovered through my struggles last year was that I losing so much time commuting back and forth to work. In fact, as Arisa, my wife, also works at Hyland more often than not due to my schedule we were commuting separately - so two of us were driving 60+ miles each almost every day. That's 90 minutes everyday sitting in a car.

One day I worked from home and on that day the light bulb went off. I got up around 5:30 or so (doable compared to 4-4:30), did all of the practices I've been trying to incorporate daily, took a shower, ate breakfast and leisurely logged into zoom for a remote meeting at 8am. It was awesome! It also made me aware that the one thing I could control without other changes (i.e, dropping some of my later yoga teaching gigs) was to eliminate the commute. After several months of discussion, Arisa and I are in the process of selling our house and buying a house. Yup, we're physically moving.

So We Moved to the West Side!

We moved to West Park or Kamm's Corner neighborhood of Cleveland. The neighborhood is very cool, almost like a traditional neighborhood out of a 1950s movie. Originally the City of Cleveland had a rule that employees of the city had to reside within city limits. This neighborhood is were alot of the police and fireman lived. My next door neighbor is a civil engineer with the city. Even thought the rule doesn't exist anymore, many still choose to live here. It's created a great neighborhood community of which we are looking forward to being a part.

More importantly, it's about 10-15 minutes to Hyland which means we'll be seriously cutting out a lot of commute time. I'm hoping this in effect does what that working from home allowed - for me to get a full practice in the morning completed without having to get up so early. We are still unpacking and getting settled but I've already noticed a difference. I am hoping to kick in on May 1st (next week)

What's the Schedule Look Like

Daily Morning Goal

Wake Up 5:30 - 6:00

Kriya/Pranayama/Asana 30 - 60 minutes (minimum 10 minutes asana (magic 10))

Meditation 10-20 minutes

Spiritual reading & journaling 20-30 minutes

At Work by 8

Read 20 minutes

After Work Yoga

Mon: 6pm Yoga with Jen Lenhart or Courtney

Tues: 7:30 Teach at 3 Sisters (sometimes sub for Colleen at Hyland (5:15))

Wed.: 6pm Colleen's Class

Thurs.: Open/Off - Cardio maybe?

Fri: Carrie T at 3 Sisters

Sat: Marni at 8:00, Teach at 11:20

Sun: Colleen at 9, Marni at 11:30

As you can see, I already have a full schedule. In there I'll need to figure out where I fit the yoga studies of beginning to consolidate and synthesize all of the learning I've had over the last 4 to 5 years. I'm going to play that by ear for now, but I know the challenge I face will be getting back home after yoga and will I have enough energy to "study". I think a decision I am also facing is do I eat at that point and I'm guessing the answer is no. Currently I am and I don't think that's a good routine to have - eating late and going to bed directly after eating. So I'm probably going to have to figure out "intermittent fasting" or have something light.

This year I hope to come back to this before next year and see how I'm doing.