Not Easy: Do Oprah & Deepak's meditation challenge

When I first made this list of 40 things, I had initially put Vipassana on the list. For those of you who don’t know, Vipassana is a 10-day extremely difficult meditation course. That’s right 10-days. A week and 3 days. For perspective, I was recently in India for 10 days. Everyone I know who has gone to Vipassana has had an amazing experience, but each person also said it was likely the hardest thing they’ve ever done. Given that I have anxiety attacks on the regular, my friend suggested I not be alone with my thoughts for 10 days. :o) Instead she suggested I try Oprah and Deepak Chopra’s meditation challenge. Having done ZERO meditation in the past and wanting to do something challenging, I wasn’t sure about this. 

It was hard. Trust me, trying to make time for an hour long self-guided meditation daily was so.damn.hard. At first I tried doing it at night before bed and I’d wake up to a dead phone or my headphones still in, so I shifted to the morning. If you know me, you know that I never quite wake up at the same time each day. So that didn’t quite work either. What I found was, much like working out, I prefer the middle of the day for this. Doing the recordings before lunch or after lunch would break up my day really nicely. I felt calm and peaceful after a crazy morning and knew that the rest of the day would go better. I stuck through the 21-days, I filled out my daily journal and gotta say Oprah and Deepak both have amazingly soothing voices. Day 22 was hard though, I no longer had a recording to go to and therefore have fallen out of the daily practice. I know I should do it more (my ancestors were not wrong) but I’m finding it hard to do without a program. That makes sense for me too — I can’t just go to the gym and workout, I have to go to a class. 

What I do though is wait for each new program from O&D to come out and I try to be consistent about it. The content is amazing and I think anyone would benefit from a 20-day meditation. Another friend had suggested I try out Headspace - I may have to do that because the bootleg meditations I have on my phone are getting repetitive. 

Maybe for my 50-year goal I can try Vipassana. 

Old Skool: Get a Library Card

When I started my book club over a year ago, I started off buying the books on Amazon (used and new), which was great because I could write in them, drop water on them (true story) and let friends borrow. That had to end quickly because we read a new book every month. That’d be 12 books a year, not counting all the random books my husband buys. A couple book club friends suggested I get a library card. 

I did. And it changed my life. 

First of all, the libraries of today are far different from the ones I used to hang at back when I was younger. Yes, I did get a physical library card, but I also got access to all the other cool resources:

-Put books on hold online

-Borrow books via Kindle

-Borrow audio books (particularly nice when reading funny people’s biographies: Tina Fey)

-If you put a book on hold and it’s at the main branch of the library, they’ll bring it to your local branch and you can pick it up there

-You can see how long it’ll take to get a book on hold (I’m #4000+ for Michelle Obama’s book, which someone just gifted to me!)

-They make recommendations based on your preferences

I mean, I’m really sad I didn’t get a library card when I lived in DC and NYC (come on NY Public Library!), but especially NYC because the library was next door to my office. It’s fine though, that was at a time when all I read was magazines or news articles. 

But really I’m enjoying the resources from the library and if nothing else, I hope my ignorance and subsequent discovery will prompt you to visit your local library if you’re not already a member. Heck make it your New Years Resolution and go get a library card; and remember, the bigger the city, the better the resources!

Finally the 5k!

Welp, it happened. I signed up a 5k. But not just any 5k, my bestie Amishi hooked me up with tickets for Wanderlust108, which is a mindful triathlon: 5K run, 75 minute Yoga practice, followed by a 20-25 minute meditation session. 

And, I completed it this past weekend with a dear friend, who cheered me when I finished the 5k, almost crying. Here's why: the entire event took place on the Santa Monica Pier, which is amazing and right near my house; however, the run portion took place on the beach, in the sand. This by a long shot was the hardest run I've ever endured.

Like many others, I didn't know that the 5K was to take place on the sand, so I went down with my running shoes on. I started the race with others, trudging through the sand with tennis shoes on, getting wet, huffing and puffing. About 3/4 of the way to the 1/2 way point, I pulled over to the side and took off my shoes and socks, which now weighed about 2lbs because they were wet. Taking off the shoes was like Christmas morning -- I was finally able to run a little bit more freely. Making it to the half way point felt like a huge milestone in itself, but finishing in 50 mins felt like finishing 3 precision running classes back-to-back. I knew my legs were going to hurt like a mother-f'er later that day. 

I still had the yoga portion to get through, another physically challenging endeavor. However, we had an hour to kill in between finishing the 5k and the start of the yoga practice. We spent the time visiting some of the vendors. If you've never attended a Wanderlust event, I highly recommend it, it's every health-conscious, tree-hugging, yogi wanna-be's dream come true. I grabbed a sip from the Kombucha station, got some cereal from Kashi, an Rx Bar, I also bought a hoodie and a tank-top from Adidas and got a cute swag bag from Ford amongst a bunch of other fun stuff. 

Ironically, the yoga practice felt amazing. It was the stretch that I needed following that bitch of a run. The 75 mins sort of flew by, not like what I usually do, count down to Shivasana. I was also reminded of how much I truly enjoy yoga. This year has been so busy for me with work, renovating my parents home, and just life, that I've completely fallen out of a regular yoga routine. It doesn't help that my fave yoga instructor at the gym has been on a month long vacation. 

It took everything out of me to not fall asleep with my hat on my face (the sun was beating down at this point) during the meditation portion. The instructor's voice was soothing, as expected, and the time just flew by. I don't think I'm ready for a rigorous meditation plan like a vipassana, but these short meditations are my jam. I felt completely relaxed, which is great, because the ensuing pain was not fun. 

Following the event, we went to Cafe Gratitude and ate so fast and in silence, it was kind of funny. My toes were completely messed up from the beach and I was long over-due for a pedicure, so I treated myself. Afterwards I came home, ate dinner, took 2 Tylenol PM's, turned off my weekend alarm and went to bed. It was one of the best days. 

Birth of WilMont Book Club!

I wanted to read again, enjoy getting lost in a good book. Starting from when I was in elementary school, my bestie and I spent many summer days at the local library, participating in the reading programs and collecting stickers for reading books. Then as a middle school and high school student, I somehow still found a way to read 1-2 books a week. That habit carried over into college, in addition to text books, I'd read a book or two a week. 

It was such an escape during those college years, when I didn't quite fit into the crowd in my first year computer science classes (all men) or when I would have to get over to school by 8am for an 11am class to get a good parking spot. I'd use all that idle time to read. 

What did I read? I read it all, fiction, non-fiction, autobiographies, biographies, old and new tales. Anything. 

When I graduated from college, I'm not really quite sure what happened, I sort of dropped off from reading. I plowed through the first few Harry Potter books, but I lost my library card, and never got a new one. Every now and again, I'd grab a book that was highly recommended and I'd read it in a week, but I did not immediately pick up another one. 

Fast forward about 15 years, we moved from NYC to Los Angeles, and I wanted to get lost in books again, but I also wanted to make some new friends in the neighborhood. I thought it would be a good idea to join a book club...or better yet start one. So I turned to Nextdoor to see if anyone had a club I could join, but I ended up posting about starting a new club. And then 38 people responded. While the response was overwhelming, we were able to get a decent group of people together to discuss how to make this club work. About 15 of us met at a local coffee shop to discuss the specifics and get to know one another. From there, WilMont book club took shape.

We've been meeting for almost a year, and have read some really amazing books. Most importantly, I meet with an incredible group of women every 2nd Tuesday of the month for laughs, wine, snacks and a little bit of book discussion. It's been amazing, the power of books has brought an unlikely group of women together. 

Here's what we've read so far:

1. The Commonwealth - August, 2017
2. The Circle - September, 2017
3. Behind the Beautiful Forevers - October, 2017
4. Kaffir Boy - November, 2017
5. Paris Wife - January, 2018
6. The Wonder - February, 2018
7. Everyone Brave is Forgiven - March, 2018
8. Luckiest Girl Alive - April, 2018
9. Hillbilly Elegy - May, 2018