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intenSati Warrior Challenge: Day 9 (for love of light and mornings)

morning on the High Line

I love early weekday mornings in lower Manhattan.  I love the light on the fairly empty streets, the occasional cobblestones, the trucks and workers with dollies making their deliveries.  This is part of what inspires me to make the two mandatory 6:30 a.m. classes a week as part of the intenSati Warrior Challenge.  And I'll take the inspiration where I can get it, because two weeks into this thing, I've officially hit the wall of "It's 5 a.m.; what the hell am I doing waking up at this ungodly hour to go to a fitness class downtown before I've even had my freakin' coffee."  I suspect it does not help matters that I'm averaging a mere 4-5 hours of sleep due to my being in a production at the moment.  At the same time, I've noticed an increase in my energy (and improvement in my mood, despite my occasionally snarky-kitty commentary) and I know it's only because I'm working out on a regular basis.

So I staggered into Equinox this morning - if not for the expense, I would move into Equinox, I swear - looked at the clock and briefly considered taking a nap on one of the benches in the dressing room before sleepwalking into the studio. Natalia had said she'd be on vacation this week but, lo and behold, she was there to kick all of our groggy asses into submission. Her energy is infectious - really, any instructor's energy has to be at that hour if they're going to be effective, but hers is doubly so.  I think I would take any class if she was teaching it.

After class, I got a smoothie at the fitness club's bar and took it up to the High Line to enjoy while overlooking the Hudson River and the gardeners and landscape architects working on the new water feature they're constructing.  I've decided I am hopelessly, irrationally in love with the High Line. I'm a sucker for anything that marries industrial elements with nature. I took a detour over to Chelsea Market for a latte and window shopped until I was done with my brew. Having recharged and quietly meditated on urban oases and the latest offerings in the window at Anthropologie, it was time to start turning some of those intenSati affirmations into reality.