What a difference a day makes!

You know, I think I really do believe in biorhythms, you know, the natural cyclical nature of our inner workings. My Aunt Kitty, who was one of the loveliest and most evolved people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, once gave me a formula for figuring out what are good and not-so-good days in our lives. I think I know where that formula is, and everytime I've pulled it out and done the math I've looked back and it's been a fairly accurate calendar of what turned out to be effective days as well as I'd-sooner-forget-them days. Hormones, the phase of the moon, who knows, but there does seem to be a pattern in our lives that leads us to feel more powerful some days and more vulnerable others.
Anyway, today I feel much more pulled together. I think teaching class yesterday was part of it, the privilege of leading my students through asanas and through a bike ride. So much fun, and such a kick. I couldn't ask for a better group of folks.
I also think that last night's perfect sleep is a big factor in how I feel today. I slept all the way through to my alarm--at 5:00am--with only one memorable dream, one of driving a car on ice and slipping around, just barely missing other cars and coming to a stop in front of a giant (13') television in the middle of the road. Go figure.
I've recently switched from swimming to lifting weights again. The swimming was my personal challenge, as I've (from the age of 12) been deathly nervous in the water. I really struggled with that, and for the first two months of lap swimming in the early hours of the day on Tuesday and Thursday, I would swim a lap, stop and catch my breath, and do it again, over and over. I would do this for 45 minutes, and exit the pool exhausted, hiccupping, and miserable. And then suddenly one day I "got it" and from that point on was able to swim continuously for the whole 45 minutes. It was miraculous! The problem with it was that I was losing muscle mass by not lifting weights, so I'm back in the gym again. I do so much exercise you'd think it wouldn't matter, but apparently I've trained my body to demand a high level of activity in order to function well, so I listen. There is really something quite cool about moving steel plates and dumbbells. It's empowering in a real, physical way. What a thrill to be able to deal with physical challenges when they arise.