day 20: sun salutations

30 minutes - sun salutations and so on

from yoga journal

i feel like a kid who left her homework at school. i woke up this morning without a plan for my practice and ended up choosing a class focused on repetition. really, the class had participants do 10 series A sun salutations and then i did the first of 10 series B sun salutations before i turned off the class and did my own thing.

rather than continue to be annoyed with the class, i chose to follow what my body wanted to do. i did some forward bends, a standing balancing pose, cobbler's pose, a twist and happy baby. it felt really good to practice on my own without someone chatting at me. while i certainly didn't look like the model in the picture, i got a good stretch.

tonight, i'm actually going to do my homework and make a plan for myself for tomorrow morning. then, when i start going to the studio once a week (thanks to my amazing birthday present!), it will be a welcome feeling to be guided through a practice.

day 19: condensed full practice

30 minutes - quick essential poses

this morning, i feel like we took a full practice and crammed it into 30 minutes. we started with 3 sun salutations, did a couple standing poses (warrior 2 and triangle), balanced in mountain, transitioned into seated poses and ended in hero.

for me, i would have chosen a different series of poses, but the flow made sense. i just didn't care for the seated poses we did. apparently so much so that i can't remember what they were. meh.

maybe instead of doing an online class, i'll take some time this evening to design my own practice. i bet i can come up with a series that takes 30 minutes, follows a similar pattern and takes the path i want to take.

maybe that will be my challenge within my challenge. do you have any tips for planning a practice?

day 18: a gentle practice

20 minutes - nice and easy

today is my birthday and rather than wake up at 6am for yoga, i decided to sleep in a bit. i also kicked my own butt a bit with yesterday's practice and my arms could certainly feel the workout. i did a nice gentle practice, mostly on the floor, and stretched out my hips, my hamstrings and my back. just right.

i also had a massage today and it turns out my giant knot was actually on my right side, not my left like i thought. my right upper body was so knotted up and tight that i overstretched my left side which is what caused the pain. the good part is that my knots are gone. the bad part is that i'm a little sore from how hard she had to push to get my muscles to ease up.

tired, sore, but glad to be sorted out.

day 17: modified primary series

60 minutes - ashtanga modified primary

my practice today is the best one yet. i had a whole hour (M took the girls to the grocery) and i figured after more than 2 weeks of daily practice my body would be ready for a proper class. i've been telling myself to stick with beginner classes and level 1 ability because i've been away for so long.

today felt like coming home. i knew the pattern and my body remembers the poses. i didn't have to watch the instructor, i could finally just follow my breath and move through.

she did about half of the primary series, but in an hour it was still a serious practice. i feel strong and i feel tired. i forgot how much one goes from a seated pose back through plank, updog and downdog. today is the first time i've been able to *almost* jump through.

i wish i could do a practice like this more often, but finding an hour is challenging. however, tomorrow is my birthday and i feel like this gives me license to ask for a little extra time.

this is also the first time i've felt really calm after practicing. i don't feel distracted. i don't feel in a hurry.

day 16: better than coffee

30 minutes - vinyasa flow

better than coffee? i'm not so sure about that, but i will say i felt more awake when i finished than when i started. this was the most active practice i've done in about a week and it felt good.

from yoga journal

in all truthfulness, i couldn't actually manage a couple of the poses. standing split? at 5:45am? nope. camel pose? i didn't even know what this was. apparently, one kneels, then lengthens through the torso, then leans back and grab's one's ankles. not happening. (proper instructions can be found at yoga journal.)

it felt good to get moving  and even though i really, really didn't want to get out of my nice warm bed and wander downstairs to find my mat, i'm glad i did.

day 15: shoulders

30 minutes - shoulder openers

from balanced yoga

to follow on my balance class last night, i chose a class this morning for people with sore shoulders and upper back. it seemed appropriate considering my giant shoulder knot that has been working itself out since the beginning of the week.

i did quite a few standing poses which had me reaching up and pulling down at the same time, again to create space- space in my middle, space between my ears and my shoulders, space between my fingertips and my body. the final pose in the series started with laying on my back with a block under my shoulder blades and a block under my head. then, i reached my arms from my sides over my head with my fingers touching the floor. it was pretty hard to gracefully get out of the pose, but it felt great while i was in it.

and, today is officially the half-way point in the 30 day yoga challenge. i am super impressed with myself that i've managed to make time to practice for 15 days in a row. and with my good friend who is side by side (and on the other side of the world) with me.

we're really doing it.

day 14: balance

60 minutes - balance and alignment

we had our last on-site yoga class at work last night with my favorite instructor. she's so good. we had a small group, but we moved quite a bit. she led us through a series of poses to open the chest and create space between the hips and the shoulders. i felt so much taller after the class.

and she sells wedges to help prop up one's rump when sitting so that it's easier to be tall. it takes less effort to stack my body and decreases the instinct to round the upper back and hunch forward. she jokes that the class should be called all about the pelvis because we spend so much time figuring out how to align our bodies to move with the natural curve of the pelvis and shift from the cultural tendency to push our hips forward, pull our tummies in and muscle our back into sitting up straight.

amazingly, our body is designed to do this on its own and figuring out how to allow that to happen takes concentration and practice.

you can find more about this instructor here. i would recommend her to anyone with any degree of familiarity with yoga. it can feel a little disjointed at the beginning of this type of practice, but the benefits are huge.

day 13: restorative in the morning

20 minutes - restorative

the class i chose this morning had gentle movement to relax. the class was geared toward winding down after a long day, but it felt good to start the day with an inward focus. i forget how we started, but the middle included a good bit of cat/cow and ended with my legs from the knee down supported on the seat of a chair and my back on the ground.

my should is better today, but again i didn't want to aggravate it any more than necessary. tomorrow i'm going to get back into the swing of things with the balance class and then thursday i'm planning to do a more vigorous flow.

i also participated in a mindfulness workshop yesterday and i wanted to replicate the calm from simply noticing my body and noticing my thoughts. it is a relief to not spend time worrying about what's next.

day 12: sore shoulder and hip openers

20 minutes - hip openers, encore performance

i have a giant knot under my shoulder blade on my left side. it is killing me. it's the kind of knot that makes me aware of it every time i move and sends pain radiating into my whole side body. ugh.

i thought to do a nice shoulder practice this morning and my shoulder still hurt so much that i thought i might really hurt myself. i did the hip opener class from yesterday again.

M said that with a knot like this usually it's bad, then really bad and then gets better. i'm hoping that last night to this morning was the really bad and now i'll be on the upswing.

it stinks getting older. oh well.

days 10 & 11: ashtanga and hip openers

day 10: 45 minutes - ashtanga

i took a long car trip with my girls yesterday - 3 hours out and 3 hours back. i need something solid to start my day and this worked. i felt comfortable because i knew the flow and i could challenge myself in places where i have gained strength and ease up on myself where my muscles felt tight.

i did learn that i made a mistake about terminology. apparently, pranayama means breath and vinyasa  means tying the breath to motion. so there's breathing and breathing in coordination with movement.

day 11: 20 minutes - hip openers

after driving for 6 hours yesterday, i have a pretty killer pinch behind one of my shoulder blades and 10 sun salutations might just knock me out for the day. rather than aggravate my shoulder, i centered my practice on my hips this morning. i feel soft and open and good.

happy weekend practice!

day 9: upper back and shoulders

30 minutes - vinyasa for athletes

not being an athlete, i feel i may not have benefited as much from this class as say, a footballer, but i do have tight shoulders and this certainly worked out those areas. it is the first proper level 2 class i've done since i started the 30 day yoga challenge and i think it's safe to say that i'm not quite there yet. i got totally out of breath and couldn't get as deep into the poses as i would have liked.

we did one section that started in warrior 2 and keeping my legs in that stance, i brought my right arm up toward my head with my arm bent and my left arm pulled my elbow back. it was a great stretch, but we held it for so long that my arms started to tingle and now my right arm is still tingling. that was an unanticipated outcome.

on the whole, it was a good morning practice. this morning, i really wanted to stay in bed and skip it altogether. i'm glad i didn't.

day 8: move

30 minutes - vinyasa and warrior 2

this morning i did a simple 30 minute class which felt just right for my morning practice. while we never did the full sun salutations, the different poses followed a familiar pattern and the breath followed the movement. it felt like home instead of wondering what we would do next.

my challenge came as M came downstairs to get ready for work. our house is creaky and i can't turn up the volume because i don't want to wake the babies. but M kept walking through the living room. he wasn't distracting me on purpose and was doing the stuff that needs to happen in the morning, but i lost my focus at the end.

overall, i feel great, though. i feel balanced inside and out.

day 7: balance

60 minutes - balance

this evening, i participated in one of my favorite classes. the instructor is the same as when i took pre-natal yoga and she helped me through 2 pregnancies.

it's a super gentle class with not a lot of movement, but i feel taller. i practiced opening my shoulders which i tend to scrunch up. i practiced forward bends and sitting properly. we used props and i am so conscious of how i sit now. i can't sit like i used to in my office chair or my car or my sofa. i feel like i can relax and align my body so that it's not working to hold me up.

also, today is officially one week into the 30 day challenge. i found myself today feeling like i forgot something this morning even though i knew i'd be practicing in the evening. i didn't realize how much i would look forward to that time.

feeling balanced.

day 6: radiate health

30 minutes - pranayama

this morning i chose a class called "radiate health". the description said it would be great for morning and get you energized. it was a little odd and the instructor told us to do the "breath of fire" during one section which i hate and chose not to do, but the idea of pranayama is to tie one's breath to movement.

today, we did several 2 minute sets of different exercises with specific motions tied to inhalation and exhalation with a minute rest in between. i felt strong when we finished and managed to complete the whole class before any babies woke up.

i am starting my day with strong arms.

day 5: delay of game

this morning i had every intention of getting out of bed and practicing for 30 minutes. except my big kid also woke up at 5:15am. she had had an accident and after cleaning her up, i put her in the bed with me in hopes of her falling back asleep. 45 minutes later, after trying to convince her to close her eyes, i gave up and let her read books.

i could have let her stay in the bed by herself, but i would have worried about her and rushed through the practice. i'm going to make time this evening after settle down instead.

20 minutes - restorative

tonight, finally, i made space for myself to practice. N was crying after i put her down and V was settling down, too. understanding that my time may be limited i chose a short restorative class. rather than spread out in the living room like i usually do, i rolled out my mat on the kitchen floor somewhat sandwiched between the island and the walls. sounds carries in our house.

the practice itself was excellent. after a long day i turned my attention inward and opened up my hips and rolled out the knots in my lower back.

until V started yelling at the top of her lungs. and woke up the baby. i managed to finish the class before going up to calm her down.

self-realization: mornings are my only chance for a quiet practice. i'm getting up at 5am tomorrow in hopes of the pre-dawn calm.

day 4: restorative

30 minutes - restorative

today, i did an evening class in the morning. i figured after starting from nothing and practicing yoga for 4 days in a row, maybe i should slow it down for a day. except it was mostly centered around relaxing from a long day. V woke up in the middle of the class and while M agreed to practice with me, he agreed to go get her and then missed the entire middle section. V however sat with us through the last 10 minutes.

she didn't want to do it. then she did. i mostly couldn't concentrate. i stretched though.

i think my take away from today is that i enjoy practicing by myself when i don't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt or not wanting to do it or thinking it's not the right thing. while i find the camaraderie of a class reassuring, i find company in my own home distracting.

day 3: modified primary

45 minutes - modified primary

today felt better than any other so far. i'm sure that part of it had to do with me not waking up until 6:30am and then not feeling like i had to rush as soon as i finished.

the class i did was geared toward beginners and focused quite a bit on engaging the muscles and keeping them active in each pose. while the practice wasn't vigorous, i had time to get into each pose and then really put my attention on my form.

totally satisfactory.

day 2: deeper alignment

30 minutes - focus on alignment

today, yoga was terrible. the class i chose didn't have any sort of identifiable flow and in the end while the focus was to increase alignment i felt totally out of balance and off kilter.

and i woke up with a headache. and i was sleepy. and i still got up to practice and didn't quit half way through mostly because now there are 4 of us participating in 30 days of yoga. so awesome.

day 1: beginner ashtanga

Day 1: 30 minutes - Beginner Ashtanga

last night, before i went up to bed, i selected a 30 minute vinyasa flow class to do this morning. the description said i'd need 2 blocks and a strap. this morning, i woke up, unrolled my map, pulled up the class and realized that my blocks were in my sleeping daughter's closet.

so, rather than start my 30 day challenge by hurting myself, i stopped the class and pulled up the same beginner ashtanga class from yesterday.

today, i realized my shoulders hurt. lowering myself from plan position to the ground took all of my concentration. i struggled to keep my elbows in, but i made it. the nice thing about repeating the same routine 2 days in a row is that i felt more liberty to follow my breath with the movements as opposed to waiting for the instructor to tell me what to do next.

today, i feel pretty proud of myself for officially starting my 30 days of yoga. and i'm super pleased that my very good friend will be joining me from all the way across the world. now that i have a partner, i'm much more likely to make it past this weekend.

30 day yoga challenge

today, i decided to start my own personal 30 day yoga challenge. for me, this means choosing to practice yoga for a minimum of 20 minutes per day for 30 days.

i've been considering establishing a regular yoga practice recently and have given myself all the excuses in the world to not do it. i'm too tired at the end of the day. i'm too tired to get out of bed early. i have to work. i have to pick up the kids-feed them dinner-get them to bed. i tell myself i'm too busy.

but, i read an article today about how establishing a home practice is essentially creating a habit. you can read the full article here. i realized that i am busy. i work full time and i have 2 young children. however, i can choose to create space for yoga.

my goals with the 30 day challenge are to make time for myself, become more active and add some balance to my life both physically and mentally. and last, i hope to create a habit that leads me to continue to have a daily practice in some form or fashion.

pre-challenge: Beginner Ashtanga class - 30 minutes

i subscribe to yogaglo and have a plethora of yoga classes to choose from. last year, before i paused my practice, i became interested and enjoyed practicing the primary series. having not practiced yoga in any real way for nearly a year, i thought a full 90 minutes might kill me. i started with the primary series light. it was just what i need to kick start my interest and not too much to make me want to quit.

wish me luck!