Sweat it out!

11Jan11, 7:15am: Body Pump with Kelvin

12Jan11, 7am: Hot Yoga with Shirley Wong

13Jan11: sick day, tried some meditation, was really good to myself relaxed in bed with my laptop, caught up on blogs, and added captions to some recent photos I had uploaded, felt very relaxed.

14Jan11, 7am: Silent Hot Yoga with Martina Lee

I thought that sweating would make me feel good, which it has. Although, my glands in my neck are still like peach pits, and I think that if I talk too much, I will cough and worsen my sore throat. However, I knew that sweating would help me feel a bit better about myself not only from the perspective of being sick and wanting to heal, but also from the perspective of taking care of myself and maintaining some semblance of a routine. Studies show that mild exercise does nothing to hinder or help an illness like a common cold or flu-like virus, and so why not do it if it makes you feel good? As for the idea of "sweating it out" that is personal and not scientifically supported. I like to sweat, period. It makes me feel great!

Plus, going to yoga or the gym gives me some quiet time, fresh air, and a long hot shower, all of which I crave! Especially when your apartment is approximately 100 square feet in size, you don't want to be cooped up all day and night, even if you are feeling ill. Furthermore, if you haven't gotten this from any of my other posts, I'll elaborate once more. Hong Kong is not a quiet city, it does not go to sleep before midnight, and the Cantonese language, to me, resembles people screaming at each other. Finally, lots of people in this city smoke... still... why? I don't know. Collectively, this does not lend to me staying in one place for too long, as I'm bound to get thoroughly annoyed with one or all three of the aforementioned "attributes" (what's the antonym of that word?) of Hong Kong. Seriously, these things evoke very bad parts of me with which I'd rather not be associated. I'm not sure why I get so angry with loud noise, pollution, smoking, crowds... perhaps that's a great topic for another post. So, while I can technically take a shower at my own apartment, I do love the space and convenience of doing it at the yoga studio, and the other factors... quiet time, fresh air... all come with getting to exercise and meditate a bit during that time. It's a pretty good package deal and part of who I am right now.

Back on track

22Dec2010, 7am Hot Yoga with Shirley Wong

23Dec2010, 11am Body Pump with Juan, 20 min. sprints on treadmill

24Dec2010, 7am Silent Hot Yoga with Martina Lee

Silence is a virtue...

Cinderella

8Dec10, 7am: Hot Yoga with Cinderella Yau

It was a good class, and I got in that really good sweat that really fuels me in the morning. A few things came up that I'll write about when I have more time, but in the meanwhile I was intrigued by my teacher, and so I'll jot down a few things to ponder...

She was the tiniest thing, very flexible, strong, but not super young. I'd say she was late 30s, maybe 40 at the most, but I find that Asians always look young until one day when they are, perhaps 87, they wake up and are a cute, old Asian man or woman. Up until that day, they look super young. Anyway, she had what appeared to be burn scars all over her upper back, shoulder, and upper chest... maybe more, but she was wearing clothing, and so I couldn't completely discern. She spoke mostly in Cantonese, but with a few words in English, appropriately placed throughout the practice. She started the practice with 3 OMs... which were not pleasant OMs when the rest of the class joined in, as they sometimes are. I prefer one OM, and often I find myself annoyed with the OM process. That's another story, though. She also made really helpful adjustments to me, and I felt good throughout the practice. Finally, her name was Cinderella... no joke.

I realize that almost everyone I meet here has a Chinese name and an English name. There is always a blank for both on all of the paperwork I've ever had to fill out over the past couple months. I've thought about putting something down for my Chinese name... what would it be? Because I know 3 words in Mandarin and 4 words/phrases in Cantonese, I don't know if that would be a good idea for me quite yet. Plus, the Chinese name is in character form (all the more reason to have an alphabetic name, especially for government forms and such), and I only know 6 characters... one, two, three, chicken, duck, and conference room. Although, I do know "thank-you" in both languages, just not the character form, neither traditional or simplified... but maybe "thank you" would be a good name for me. It got me thinking, though. When do Chinese (Asian?) people get their English names? My mentor here told me that sometimes they get to choose as adults as soon as it is necessary, which is why he knows a guy named Angel. Did Cinderella get to choose her name? If so, what drove her choice? Was this recently, or was she a young child mesmerized by the Cinderella story and content living in fantasyland as many children are? When did she get those burn marks, before or after she was called Cinderella? What's the story here?

What would I really choose if I could pick any name for myself?