yoga!

so i've been doing yoga on and off for about 10 years now. when i moved to texas, i stopped because there were just not enough hours in the day. with my new found freedom from homework though i have been looking forward to restarting. the rec center at ut offers a $70 pass that entitles you to unlimited fitness classes, which happen to include a bunch of different types of yoga. one of my housemates has recently been getting into yoga so she decided she'd get one of the passes too. this morning i checked out the 7a hatha flow class. its actually exactly what what i wanted in terms of the types of things we're doing. however, i'm realizing that i was spoiled by koa, my last yoga teacher.

koa was this rail thin women in her 50s or 60s, very blunt and a little rough around the edges. she also happens to be one of the best yoga instructors i've ever encountered. she was very good at correcting posture and pushing you a bit. i was always tired by the time her classes were over. my instructor this morning (amy) didn't do position adjustments. maybe she's not supposed to at this point, i'm not really sure, but hopefully that changes in the future. anyways, the years with koa made me very aware of what i should be paying attention to in the poses, so i can kind of self-correct, just because i can feel it.

i'm signed up for an introductory rock climbing class too. it starts in about two weeks and is supposed to teach the basics. as i seem to have a lot of friends who climb, i figure i should learn so i can join them sometimes.

on a different note, i was trail running for a few hours on monday morning (yeah for holidays!), and discovered a new series of trails for me to explore along the greenbelt. the weather here earlier in the week was simply gorgeous. its still sunny, but the temperature has dropped quite a bit.

here is a link to a blog i follow. i found the most recent entry amusing (indexed). my friend chris invited me to go to his church a couple months ago and i finally got around to going. the denomination is reformed presbyterian. they're calvinist in their beliefs and the services (in my opinion) see to be some sort of hybrid of mormon and catholic services. anyways, in sunday school they're teaching the five points of calvinist doctrine. while i'd heard of calvinism, i had never really explored it in depth. i was raised catholic, but in many ways, i think i know more about mormon theology (which i came to know as an adult). calvinism kind of flies in the face of everything i have learned, so its been kind of interesting to try and wrap my head around it. i knew there were differences between the various sects of christianity (in the broadest sense of the word), but i'm beginning to understand better where some of these differences originate and why.

on another completely different note, i just found a book called balance by scott mccredie. its about balancing in the 'stand on one foot and don't fall' sense, not the feng shui sense, so its related to my research. one of the applications of my research is to falling in the elderly, and the book made me start thinking about degradation of the inner ear (one's balance center, if you will) with aging and how that might contribute to instability when walking or standing. i've also been pondering why/how you can train yourself to have been balance--for general walking...or maybe for trailing running and scrambling over rocks quickly...is it just practice? or can you physiologically train something to make yourself have been balance and in theory, fall less frequently?