I had a sudden urge of the “I wants it” (really bad) today when I found out that Garmin is set to release its new Garmin 405 for runners sometime this winter. Think of the opening scene in Lord of the Rings where Golem can’t stop talking about his “precious.” That was me this morning.
While I can’t stand having anything on my wrists when I do yoga, running is a different story. For me, checking my time when running has become an absolute necessity. There’s something about looking down at my Ironman Timex that makes my legs move faster. I came perilously close to buying the Garmin 305 last summer, but chose not to when I decided it was still too big for my skinny wrists. It was also a couple hundred dollars cheaper to just buy the Nike+ shoe insert that connects with my iPod. The only problem with that setup is that I feel like I have to listen to music all the time when I run.
However, I think I am now fully committed to saving up for a Garmin 405. I think it will look quite nice on my skinny wrist. Despite the fact that I clearly recognize what a materialistic obsession this is, it’s probably going to be a while before I completely eradicate my thoughts of fascinating new gadgets. Interestingly enough, Lifehacker has a post today on how to avoid getting sucked into buying the latest and greatest gadget. That ought to hold me off for a while at least. Runner’s World video of the 405 Pre-order on Amazon (great description of the watches capabilities)
I love books! I especially love free books! If you don’t mind reading books in PDF format, I ran across Yoga for Men by Thomas Claire on Scribd. It’s probably not the top book on my list of places to start reading about yoga, but it’s pretty hard to beat free! In perusing the book, I was surprised at how much information Yoga for Men contained, especially concerning different styles of yoga. While some of the information is targeted towards men, most of the book just deals with yoga subjects that would appeal to anyone interested in yoga. One of my favorite parts of the book was the depth of resources the author provided for further study. If you’re looking for a good list of yoga books to read, I highly recommend checking out the additional resources at the end of each chapter.
There are quite a few books uploaded on Scribd (some yoga related), making it a decent place to look if you want to preview a book. I also found Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, one of my all-time favorites. If you’ve never read it, you’ll eventually end up buying you’re own copy. I like the Scribd version because I can put it on my Pocket PC for reading late at night in bed. Good stuff!
It looks like Yoga Journal has just started a new yoga podcast series. The first episode is a 20-minute practice segment taught by Yoga Basics columnist Jason Crandell. It looks like a promising start to a nice feature.
If you’re into practicing with podcasts, also be sure to check out Elsie’s Yoga Kula. There are many other podcasts out there, but I’m mostly wondering what you all think of yoga podcasts and which ones are your favorite. Maybe you like podcasts, maybe you don’t. I’m just curious.
(By the way, it’s nice to be blogging again…at least for the time being.)
I just came across Yogacards.com, an interesting site where you can print off yoga posture cards that can be used during practice for creative sequencing. Looks fairly useful, especially since it’s free.
I’ve been told that dads don’t actually “babysit” their own kids. My wife says it’s called ” “parenting.” Whatever. Whenever mommy is gone it is a crash-course in babysitting for daddy around here. Tonight mommy had some meetings to go to so it was just me and my three-year-old daughter Kennedy “hanging out” after dinner. Having been rather busy lately, what with moving across the country and starting a new job, life has probably been a little more hectic than a three-year-old deserves. So, I decided that tonight I would focus on doing exactly what my little girl wanted to do. With a face like this how could I resist?
We started out reading a book, moved on to coloring, and eventually the idea popped into my head to see how well an informal yoga class with my daughter would go over (with me as the teacher). A few weeks ago I received a free copy of a little yoga book from LibraryThing’s “Early Reviewers” program titled The Yoga Adventure for Children by Helen Purperhart. Pretty much all I had to do was put the book in my daughter’s hands and she was quickly busy turning herself from a caterpillar to a butterfly or balancing herself like a tree in the wind. Each pose in the book is illustrated with a different animal juxtaposed with a drawn picture of a child in the pose, so she knew exactly what the pose was to look like and pretty much what it was called. Another fun part about the book is that it has an adventure story that children can act out through yoga poses as it is being read to them.
Kennedy loved it! I’m sure there are other good yoga books for kids out there, but I was very impressed by how well Kennedy connected with the pictures. As it turned out, we did yoga together for almost 45 minutes and Kennedy really worked up a sweat. When I finally got Kennedy into bed (late I might add), she told me thanks for teaching her how to do yoga tonight and asked whether we could do it again tomorrow night. I’m not sure Ms. Purperhart needs a much better endorsement than that for her book.
“When we listen as if we were in a temple and give attention to one another as if each person were our teacher, honoring his or her words as valuable and sacred, all kinds of great possibilities awaken. Even miracles can happen. To act in the world most effectively, our actions cannot come from our small sense of self, our limited identity, our hopes, and our fears. Rather, we must listen to a greater possibility and cultivate actions connected with our highest intentions from the patient and compassionate Buddha within us. We must learn to be in touch with something greater than ourselves, whether we call it the Tao, God, the dharma, or the law of nature. There is a deep current of truth that we can hear. When we listen and act in accordance with this truth, no matter what happens, our actions will be right.”
I had a sudden urge of the “I wants it” (really bad) today when I found out that Garmin is set to release its new Garmin 405 for runners sometime this winter. Think of the opening scene in Lord of the Rings where Golem can’t stop talking about his “precious.” That was me this morning.
