I feel like the tin man at the beginning of the Wizard of Oz.
Oil Can!

I just completed my level one yoga teacher training:18 hours of yoga and talking about yoga in two days. It's hard to talk about yoga without doing it. That was a lot of yoga. My upper body is talking to me about it today!

My class was all women. I wasn't the oldest or the heaviest as I had feared, but I was definitely not in the same shape as most of the class. More than half of the 16 participants were already fitness instructors: Pilates, zumba, kickboxing, and a few were already yoga teachers too. They were expanding their skills and already in terrific shape.

I made quick friends with Dina who said yoga teachers scared her when she introduced herself. Our teacher was great, not taking her task too seriously. She put us all at ease and helped us learn a lot. Some of us were planning to take level 2 together at the end.

I have been taking yoga for about 4 years now, so I wasn't really learning new poses - just doing the basics over and over. In fact sometimes it was frustrating to limit myself to the 20 poses that they were reviewing in level one. We were learning more about common misalignments, how to modify poses for a variety of health issues, how to make poses flow together, and how to sequence a class.

So I'm excited about this new turn in my career. I'm still working for a local magazine, but I'm pulling away from that and heading in this new direction.

Have any of you made a big change in your career? Any advice?

I wish you could have been there.

I am so glad I went to the Rally for Sanity this past weekend - me and over 200,000 other sane individuals. Well, I'll use the word "sane" loosely.

The signs were hilarious - worth the travel hassles. There were political signs: "No Nukes", "Thank you 4 Health Care", "Pro-Choice because politicians make crappy doctors", "Separation of Corporation and State", and of course, "Legalize Pot."

There were many relating to Fox News: "Fox News stop scaring Grandma & Grandpa!", "Restore Sanity: Cancel Fox News" and my favorite was a guy dressed as a giant whoopee cushion with a sign that said "Squeeze me to hear the latest from Glenn Beck."

There were signs about Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert: "Jon Stewart for President", "Jon Stewart for moderator of 2012 presidential debate," and "Team Fear".

There were signs mocking the extremist on the right: "Not to angry to spellcheck", "Actually I'm quite content", "The kids are going to be alright" and "Jesus was a socialist."

Then there were the sillier signs: "This is a good sign", "I love bacon", "I come to rallies for the chicks", "My arm is falling off" and a little sign that said "I fear big signs"

The line to get on the metro in the morning wrapped around the parking garage. The trains were packed. The cell phone service collapsed on the mall. People were climbing into trees and onto the porta-potties for a better view. My view wasn't great, but here are some things I got on with my phone. I got some video with my phone, but blogger isn't letting me upload it. I'll try in a separate post.