355 + 354: tree pose, inside, outside, upside down

355: i'm going to be honest. i totally forgot to practice and/or meditate. i woke up late and went to bed early and it wasn't until this morning that i realized i had missed a day. while i'm not giving myself a pass, i do choose to accept the fact that establishing (or breaking) a habit takes time and attention.

354: 30 minutes - vinyasa flow

credit: google images

tonight, i really wanted to be active. i thought about choosing a restorative flow, but i kind of wanted to re-center. the class i chose (on yogaglo) focused on tree pose. standing, in down-dog, on my tummy, on my back, on my side. literally inside outside upside down.

and i fell over about 5 times. usually, i'm solid in tree pose. i find my focal point and i balance. i just couldn't find my balance this evening. but, after my practice, i could re-do the flow and probably not fall over at all. i feel more centered and i'm really glad i focused my intention in on myself and embraced my wobbly balances.

360 + 359: my little home practice

360: meditation before bed

photo credit: balanced yoga

yesterday, i was in a foul mood. i had spent the entire day in the car and my cold was hanging on for dear life. i took myself upstairs at 9pm, but rather than just lay down and read, i sat and meditated for a little while. remarkably, i felt much calmer and more settled.

359: my little home practice - 25 minutes

this afternoon, i took my youngest upstairs to nap and figured i'd fit a little practice in while she slept. i wasn't sure how long i would really have since she sang to herself literally the entire time i practiced so i decided to go through a vinyasa series of my favorite poses. i also have a giant knot on one side of my lower back so i wanted to be as aligned as possible through my practice.

1. 3 sun salutations (a)
2. 2 standing forward bends
3. mountain
4. warrior 2, side angle pose (i did the bind!!), reverse warrior and triangle (first on one side, then the other)
5. wide legged forward bend
6. squat with prayer hands
7. pigeon pose
8. some seated poses i don't know the names of
9. tall seat

i feel more balanced and totally glad i didn't wait for my little one to fall asleep before i took advantage of my moment. i will say, i had a harder time focusing on my breath since i had one ear trained on listening for my girl to climb out of the bed.

T25: abandoning ship

well, so much for that idea. T25 is simply too high impact for me.

as i sat last night talking with my husband, all i could think about was how little i wanted to do the next workout or even repeat any of the ones i've done so far.

the program is designed to cram as much high-energy activity into 25 minutes as possible and as a result, there's very little transition time between activities. i feel like for the past 3 days i've been out of balance and sore as a result.

it turns out it's not just jumping i don't care for, it's the rapidity of motion in terms of getting a handle on what my body is supposed to be doing. with yoga, half my practice is easing into a pose and then adjusting and then adjusting a little more. i have time and liberty to help my body get into alignment. with this type of workout, i just don't.

M actually agreed with me and he's much more capable of doing the high impact work. his body is more used to that type of activity. i think i may have spent the last 10 years avoiding exactly this.

however, it was worth a try and i'm glad i gave it a go. moving on...

nice and easy

25 minutes - whatever i want

this morning, i thought i would do the 12 asana practice my friend recommended to me, but i kept getting dizzy in downward dog. so, i scrapped that and did a nice little series of standing poses, a balancing pose and some seated forward bends. i added a little twist to round out my practice then tried to finish up in hero pose again.

except i couldn't quiet my mind. the cat tried to use my mat as a scratching post. i worried about the baby waking up. i thought about the back to back interviews i have scheduled this afternoon. ugh.

i gave up and started my day. oh well.

high probability of falling over

60 minutes - vinyasa 1/2

i went to the 9am class at the studio this morning for the vinyasa level 1/2 class. i was surprised by how many people were there, but it was a great class. we did a great flow and focused quite a bit on the 3 locks- the chin, the middle and the lower belly. it brought a higher level of intensity to my practice.

at one point, we moved from table top to threading the needle. i don't know if that's what it's really called, but it's when you move one arm under the other with the shoulder and the head rest on the floor. the instructor gave us a couple of ways to move through to the full pose. she said there's a high probability of rolling over by losing your balance. i started in the basic pose, got one leg up in the air and thought i felt balanced enough to raise my supporting arm.

nope. i totally rolled over onto the floor. fairly loudly. at least it was funny, but i still felt a little silly.

no harm in trying.

day 28: trying to get taller

25 minutes - balance and alignment

the balance class i took at work stuck with me and this morning i tried to recreate that feeling of getting taller and creating space in my middle. i'm not sure i quite managed that in my 25 minute practice, but i feel longer. (at least a little)

i should have thought this one through a little more rather than trying to rely on my memory early in the monring. but, here we are.

today is the 4 consecutive week of practicing every day. i am super proud of my good friend who joined me on this. and i'm super impressed with myself that i've developed enough discipline and motivation to get up early just about everyday to make time for something that's important to me.

the article i read in the beginning talked about creating a habit. i hope i've created a good one.

day 22: self-guided practice

25 minutes

last night before bed, i grabbed my yoga deck and pulled out 6 or 8 poses that seemed to flow in my mind. this morning, i rolled out of bed, rolled out my mat and lined up my cards so i wouldn't forget.

i started with some sun salutations and then moved through the poses. as i got into my practice, i rearranged and added variations as i felt like it. adjusting as i practiced made sense.i added happy baby after my shoulder stand and plow because my back felt tight.  i could move how i wanted to move and not feel like i have to go with the rest of the group.

the risk in self-guided practice is that i'll never do the poses i find uncomfortable or scary. i'm hopeful that attending a group class (in person) once a week will help me continue to grow in my practice.

also, today a woman told me that i walk like a model. she said that i walked with grace like the models walk. "did you take modelling classes as a girl?" nope. i am not a model and couldn't really ever be mistaken for one. but i believe that my yoga practice over the last 3 weeks has made a noticeable difference in how i carry myself.

who wouldn't want to walk with grace?

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 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 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.