Bambi de la Cruz Makeup Artistry Blog: I Bought Books!

It's Monday and the start of the week. For some reason, everyone seems to be out this morning the traffic is just horrible it made attending my 10 am pole class impossible so I decided to train at home instead so I never miss a Monday so I start my week right with fitness. So I'm typing this blog post after 2 hours of training. I did the blogilates workouts for the day and when I get super warm, you know that I take advantage of that warmth to catch up with pole.

Anyway, I'm here to share my recent purchase, which I think came at the right time. I bought Cassey Ho's book - Hot Body

Year Round. I saw it available at a Fully Booked branch but I didn't think of buying it at first because I didn't want another impulse purchase and I follow her workouts anyway. Somehow though, that book never went out of my mind so when I saw it at Fully Booked in Rockwell yesterday and it was the only copy they had left and it was at 10% off because of a tiny little dog ear on the cover, I knew it was meant to be and it had to be mine. So yay! My own book by one of my fitspirations, Cassey Ho!!!!

No, Sebastian. That book is for Mommy.

But that's not just it because I saw one copy of The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark and I knew that by browsing through it I'm super going to need it when I teach my classes since I've been getting more classes lately (and hopefully more!!! *fingers crossed*) so this can really up my teaching and my personal practice.

So yes, I walked out of the store with two books and it's so funny that I actually bought two books because I'm really not much of a book person and I get really bored when I go in a bookstore so these books really called to me.

I think it's just the perfect combination too because Cassey's energy and enthusiasm is the perfect flavor I want for my fitness. As a yin yoga teacher, it may be weird for me to be all energetic in my classes but I can sort of incorporate that same flavor of inspiration and enthusiasm in a different dish. Like I can make my classes enjoyable for my students for them to come back again rather than scare and intimidate them with all the jargons and pretzel-like poses. Like I want to make my students feel like I'm in the same plane as they are rather than they feel like I'm some flying priestess or something. This is why I love these YouTube fitness gurus like Cassey and Tara Stiles. They make fitness really fun and available for anyone. So in some funny way, the purchase of these two books is like me trying to get my own flavor, or as what they say my "yoga voice." Besides, fitness is fun! It makes you healthy, it makes you pretty, it makes you happy. Yes guys, even in my dark dreary looks, there is still happy in there. just so you know. :P

I'm starting to read Hot Body All Year Round and the foreward just got me. Apparently, Cassey and I have something in common - we are both former biology majors! We both followed that typical smart Asian child path of getting the "proper" professional degree but somehow found out that it didn't quite fit us.So reading that intro was like reading a parallel of my life right there and I think that if I weren't in a public place (I was still at a mall), I would have cried. I'm loving her more because she was not afraid to do what she wanted and she stood by it and now she's super famous and successful! When I saw the part when she was miserable at work, I kinda remembered how horrible my life was at college because I was super bullied (like Revenge of the Nerds type of bullied) by a lot of people, I was in an abusive relationship plus I was under so much pressure because I had to like plow my way through it alone. But that's all gone now! It's like omigod, I am so not alone!

Leafing through the book, there are workouts and recipes (which she divided according to seasons)
to follow to sculpt, tone, and strengthen.

She also encourages eating clean and shows that it does not have to be super expensive. If you love her Cheap Clean Eats, there are more recipes to follow that I am super excited to try.

The workouts are perfect because I now have absolutely no excuse to work out and I can't use the Internet is busted and I can't access my workout channels or I don't memorize the primary ashtanga series. I can whip out the book and even do several exercises while waiting for pole to start.

I also found one part she said quite interesting, and surprisingly, it relates to the module 2 of my Yin Yoga Teacher Training, which I'm set to take next year.

"Traditional Chinese medicine explains the sugar craving as an imbalanced Spleen Qi. Qi is the energy force that allows the organs to work seamlesly together, and the spleen is responsible for digestion, metabolism, and energy production."

"When people are spleen deficient, they crave sweet flavors; it's just like when someone's liver is imbalanced, he or she craves the sour taste. Women tend to be more spleen deficient than men because the energy of the spleen is used to make blood. Because a woman's monthly cycle depends on the spleen, we crave sugar more often."

So that explains why when we're PMS-ing we always want that candy bar (with the caramel filling) or we go wolf down a tower of gummies. I love sweet things myself, but I know that I can't have too much of it. Sugars and carbs aren't all that bad, and in fact they give you energy. There are bad sugars though, and that's what we're avoiding, The book also shows how you can add flavor to food and how to add some sweetness naturally like add some fruit to your water or drink fresh juices, etc. (or maybe, I can cut down my cookies instead of a dozen to half dozen?) Also, this means I should get to work the spleen and kidney meridians as well (Another sign to take my module 2 seriously).

Don't get me wrong guys, you will still see YOLO meals in my Instagram, but I'm going to include healthy meals that are just as happy. It's food. It should be fun.

I rarely buy books or read. So on the times I buy, it means I really like the books. So I stopped by Fully Booked and saw Cassey Ho's (@blogilates) book Hot Body All Year Round and it was the only copy left so.I bought it. Meant to be!!!! Spotted also another book on yin yoga by Bernie Clark. Double glee!!! You see this smile???? My students will know soon.

A photo posted by Bambi De la Cruz 🐱🐯 (@bambikitty) on Jul 17, 2016 at 6:47am PDT