New Month, New Beginning

So today is the first official day of my new yoga project: building a daily Ashtanga practice. I awoke at 6 a.m. and did 5 rounds each of Surya A and B, and the fundamental standing poses, followed by the Salambasana sequence, Matsyasana, Padmasana, and Shavasana. I still have a lot to learn, but I enjoyed the starting point this lent to my day.

I also made a batch of breakfast cookies yesterday. I had a couple of these with a cup of milky chai before heading out to the weight room where I did my standard lifting routine: 5x5 Australian pull-ups, barbell squats, bench press, and deadlift; then 3 sets of planks and side planks. Followed by yogurt and nuts and another cookie. I'm feeling great, and definitely feeling the mental effects of a morning yoga routine.

Another epic salad for lunch. Maybe I'll post a picture of it later. All vegetarian, though I did add eggs and cheese for protein. Apricots and cottage cheese on the side. The store was out of the kind of cottage cheese I usually get, so I opted for Nancy's cultured cottage cheese. I had bought this one before and was freaked out by the "live cultures" and "tangy taste." That was before my traditional-foods journey. Just seemed like cottage cheese to me now. Maybe a little tangier than Organic Valley, but that could also be the lower salt content.

The view from midmorning suggests this will be a good day.