The past two days I have woken up feeling crummy - headache, sore throat, general malaise. Saturday I felt so bad I stayed home from my race (that didn't stop someone else from registering under my name!), but both days I pushed through and at least made it to the gym. However, both sluggish mornings were after drinking the night before. Coincidence? Maybe, but the alcohol surely didn't help.
Part of living a yogic life is practicing the yamas and niyamas, the core values of yogic philosophy and guidelines for ethical living. One of these yamas, brahmacharya, relates to energy moderation. While it gets a lot of press because many interpret this yama to encourage celibacy from sex, it really just means using self-control in the way you live - particularly in relation to drugs, sex and alcohol (and yes, rock and roll too, I suppose).
In my interpretation, practicing brahmacharya doesn't mean that I have to give up alcohol altogether, but it reminds me to listen to my body. The drinks that I consume are loaded with unnecessary calories and muddle my thinking. Clearly, my body can't perform optimally on a morning after a few drinks. That physical discomfort stands in the way of the goals that I have set for myself. While I don't think I am going to become a teetotaler, brahmacharya can lead me to make wiser decisions about drinking so that I am not sacrificing my overall well-being.
Today's workout:
25 min. yoga
40 min. interval run
20 min. strength training
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