Wells....

I haven't done any yoga this week.  For no good reason.  I totally should've gotten there at least once.

But, overall, I'm pleased with my practice this month.

And I know I can get back on the wagon this weekend.

I also watched the movie Forks over Knives the other day and that has made me think more about what I am putting into my body.

Just curious if anyone made the change to a whole foods heavy diet? 

In the past I've given up the heavy carbs too several days per week and I lost weight and felt so much better.

I'm looking into this as a new goal along with keeping 3 days a week of yoga on a consistent basis.

Baby steps though.....

When everything is getting to me.....

Went to class 10 last night.

And holy hell, was it tough.

Just getting to class was a challenge.  I had been feeling blah all day....the weather took a turn yesterday afternoon and became gloomy and that combined with some issues on my mind really dampened my spirits.  I am absolutely someone whose mood is affected by what is going on around them. This is me, and not just on my yoga mat.

I knew I would feel better after class though, so I got myself to the studio.

The energy in the room from the beginning of class was negative.  Someone came with a sports injury so was sitting out from opening breathing.  One of my other yoga buddies who practices behind me told me she had just quit smoking a week ago and was very on edge; another person said he forgot to eat all day and was grumpy. The temperature control in the room was pretty wonky too.  So needless to say, by awkward pose I was starting to actually feel the onset of a panic attack.  I also know I was not the only one. At one point, our teacher actually stopped class and told everyone to stop what they were doing, and just breathe.  Then to please smile.....he also went on to talk about the benefits of the heat, and that just being in a hot room, even if doing nothing, mimics exercise to our bodies, and will always end up making us feel better.

I ended up needing to take a long break around the time of standing seperate leg stretching, and sat out until tree time.

I had a decent floor series after that.

As predicted, I also felt fabulous after class.

My takeaway from last night's practice is that you can really be influenced by everything that is happening around and inside of your body. But no matter how terrible class goes, it's still the best thing for it, being in the hot room.

 I also know I sound like a cultish advertisement, but I hope that I still will be at least a little push for you to check out yoga.  Whether it's in the hot room, or in your living room to a video on YouTube. Especially when everything around and inside you is getting to you.

Yoga really is the best therapy.

Made my 3x this week

Oh I was home last night and the voices in my head were so telling me to just hang out and not go to the studio.  I ended up reading my blog entry from yesterday morning and some stuff on a yoga forum and this was just the push I needed to stop making excuses and get to class.

Of course I was so glad I went.  A GREAT teacher I haven't practiced with in well over a year (if not longer) was back last night leading my class.  It was so nice to change things up a bit, since usually I practice under the same teacher or two most sessions.  He also gently gave me some corrections that made lots of sense....little comments he made to the whole group about poses also gave me the push to try things just a little differently.  It was great energy having someone else leading, and I was able to get through most of my practice with very few breaks.

And today is finally Friday!!! I got my 3 classes in this week (Sat, Sun & one weeknight!), and am all caught up on most of my job things.  Well, except for filing.  Filing is dreadful and I always put this off longer than I should...my clients seem to be happy though and there were no crises this week (knock on wood).

I have some things planned after work tonight with my son, but I will be back to my mat tomorrow evening.

How's your week going? Hope you are getting some yoga in. 

It's been a long week

and so it goes, I still haven't gotten back to my mat.

Send me good yogi vibes today that tonight will be my 3x a week.

Forgot

So I totally forgot to blog this weekend.

I finished classes 7 & 8 and while I know at this point I will not make the 20 classes for the month, I am probably farther ahead in staying committed to my practice, than I have been in many months.

3 classes a week seems to be my magic #.

I also can't really remember anything super insightful I took from classes this weekend.

I want to say that probably makes me a bad yoga blogger, but it also makes me a normal person so it evens out LOL.

Sometimes we don't take anything fabulous from our practice, but we know it's still wonderful.

Hoping to get back tonight because this week is already off to a crazy start, between my home life, some extracurricular obligations (beating myself up for even getting involved!) and of course work!!

At least we made it thru Monday though....

I skipped class tonight

and I only felt guilty for a few minutes.

I made pizza and snuggled with my son instead.  

Perfect evening. 

Namaste.

Changed it up

Eh so could've gone to class last night, but my son had a soccer game and I felt I needed to be there.  If I hung out at soccer, and then went to the late class, I would've had NO time to spend with him.

So for a change, and in place of my yoga, I decided to walk to and from our local park where his games are held.

It was a nice little workout.  

I feel like I never walk enough anymore. This is actually something I miss of my days living in NYC and later in a beach town.  Now, walking is something I always intend to do, but living in the burbs, I just become so reliant on my vehicle to do anything.

But that walk last night.....perfect. First, I did it alone, which was an awesome way to clear my head. Just being outdoors, in the brisk air at sunset and then later in early darkness....I noticed so many things I don't see in the quick drive around my neighborhood.

Plus the best things....going for a walk is totally free, you can bring anyone (enjoy taking my son!) and it doesn't require much planning or juggling to attend at all (unlike yoga class LOL).

I think I want to add walking more to my list of intentions. It really does my body good to take a nice walk outdoors.  It's something I truly miss in my life.  

Day 6: Modify

Morning guys.  I finished class #6 last night.

It was a decent class, although my knee continued to pain the heck out of me.

I tried to stay in all the postures as best I could though, and didn't take any breaks during standing series.  My word to myself last night was "modify".

I did what I could to make the class as manageable as possible, after an already long day.  In some postures, this meant just standing and stretching out my leg even if I couldn't fully stay in the pose.

I'm still feeling way behind on making the 20 classes this time around.  This is hard accepting at times,  but I'm reflecting back on my original intent which was to at least get to class 3x a week in a consistent practice.

I am continuing to meet that goal so yay me!  I'm trying hard to be easy on myself.  I'm a busy person...I work FT, I'm a parent, my son is involved in two nightly activities a week....sometimes I'm just tired....and getting to the studio cannot be a priority.

I want to go tonight, even if I just hang out on my mat most of class, but also keep bringing myself back to the fact that I may need to modify my plans later if that is what my body needs, and this is okay.

Happy hump day everyone!!  Only a few more work days to get through....

How is your week going? If you yoga, have you been keeping up with it?  

Day 5: Morning yoga

So I knew going into class yesterday morning it would be tough.  Me and AM classes are not besties at all.  Not to mention I didn't have a great sleep the night before, and overall wasn't very hydrated. My joints and muscles were VERY stiff and I had to keep stopping even in Japanese ham sandwich!!

But what was an accomplishment.....as usual, I still was able to push on and class gradually got a whole lot better. The heat didn't even bother me.

I was chatting with a student before class yesterday who I hadn't seen in awhile. She asked me how I was and I joked "Tired!" and that "I hate morning classes because I always feel like they are so tough".

She, being the older and wiser yogi she is....smiled and said "Don't worry. You will feel amazing after class, and will be glad you came early."

These words couldn't have rang more true.  I felt better with each pose and the mood in the room was very positive and charged.  The morning sun especially added to lifting my mood.  When I left my house close to 7, the sun was barely in the sky yet, but as we finished our warm up, it was shining across the studio.

While I will always be a later-in-the-day yogi, I think there is definitely something to be said for morning classes. Once in awhile it's good to go early. Not only will you have the whole rest of your day to do whatever you want besides yoga, it's such an amazing mood-lifter that does stay with you for the rest of the day.

I'm not just making that up, I promise.  Check it out for yourself ;).

Day 4: Life Force

Yesterday's class was a little bit easier.  I know it's probably cheating, but the heating system was down the beginning of class, so this made it a lot less challenging for me to get through a lot of the postures.

I didn't even have to take any breaks at all! 

What stands out to be from the practice, were several discussions on prana, pranayama breathing and just overall "life force".

I like the thought that everything in life comes back to our breathe. I also love that we have the ability to control our breathe and how this always helps (or hinders!) us in life situations.  I also feel it's important the reflection on a bigger scale of the types of forces we have guiding and in a sense, controlling our lives.

We also were asked to pick a mantra to focus on at different times throughout class.  This is always a great tool for me. 

Do you use any of these tools in your everyday life? 

I plan to come back to all these things this morning....I am up super early for morning yoga. I rarely go to class in the AM, but today we are planning to head out east to wine country and since I'm already behind on my challenge, I didn't want to skip anymore classes unless I absolutely had to.

Happy yoga-ing everyone.

Day 3

I ended up getting into a cycle of bad, and took 3 days off from the studio before basically forcing myself out the door to class last night.

When I got there, I was fine, but class was still super-duper challenging.  We had a guest teacher who fills in from time to time, and I think the room was extra hot.

I was able to get thru with only a few breaks though, and I took it easy in a lot of the poses, pushed hard in others.

I am pleased though with myself, because even though I'm lagging behind for the 20 classes this month, I did meet my personal goal of getting in 3 classes this week. Yay me!! Little things!!

Now the only problem is my sleep is all screwed up and I know I will be dragging today...I was up until about midnight and woke up at 4 today tossing and turning.

I think when I try weeknight classes next week, I'm going to have to go straight from work, so I can get home earlier and have a decent night rest. I may push to do some doubles on weekends again as well (yay to having two late afternoon/evening classes now!!)

It's really hard to appreciate the yoga when I'm feeling super exhausted and just plain drained.

What I'm taking from this class: it's baby steps sometimes, and often we need to revisit our plans to make our goals a reality.

Happy almost weekend everyone!!!

Rest

I took a couple days off to rest and am hoping to get back to the studio tonight.

I always have such a hard time during the week because I want to see my son right after work (ruling out going straight to class) and once I'm home, it's SO HARD heading back out the door to class.

Although I'm always fine once I'm there ;).

It's a 20 class challenge this month, but I'm still focusing on my intention of doing 3 classes a week (which includes weekends!). This is a much easier goal to meet.

Anyone else feeling the mid-week struggle?

I also have a damn cold coming on too!!

Day 2: Get thru

Class was challenging today.

I was running around this morning, and not super hydrated, so I knew going in I would have those two things working against me. 

I sat out several postures.

My knee that I injured last year was also really acting up.  I had a lot of trouble with standing series, especially in the balancing poses.

However, I went in with the intention that I was going to get through and not make it any more difficult than it already is. I was able to accomplish that...I guess that's my good advice from class #2: don't make things anymore difficult than they are already :).  This is definitely something we can absolutely apply to most situations in life.

Now for my crazy moment of the day...I came home from class and took a shower and then........

......fell on the floor stepping out. The rug was slippery underneath, and went right out from under me. My bootie is really sore, but I will take that over how much worse the fall could've been.

Now I just want to settle in, hopefully get to bed super early.  

Til the next yoga class everyone!!!!!

Day 1 done: Functional strength

Love this term, and we hear it a lot in class.

Functional strength is the type of strength that gets us through daily life and survival.

If you google this topic, it talks about lifting a heavy weight being a fantastic measure for a competitive lifter, but the history of manual labor has consisted of something quite different...

When I think of daily life, it's a lot like manual labor....going through the motions, sometimes good and sometimes not....sometimes different and fun things, many times not...sometimes physically and mentally exhausting challenges....just to get done what we need to do.

Often though, the weight of the competition is what actually drags us down, and drains us of all our functional strength.  I'm seeing this right now in my own life with things that tend to stress me out the most.

As I complete Day 1 of this challenge, I am going to reflect on all of those things in my life that are my functional strength...and work on releasing those things that are weighing me down.  

I also leave you with this fortune I got in my cookie tonight.  Definitely a timely good thought!!!

I made the mistake

Of getting involved again in something that makes me feel bad.

Total lightbulb moment of what was I thinking, and of course this made me feel even worse.

This month I need to focus on myself again and living with intention. So it's very timely....

I signed up for another yoga challenge, which I hope to begin today.

Even though the goal is 20 classes, my intention is to make it to my mat 3 days per week.

I want to start spending time again with people who are positive and understand me.

Yoga is the backbone of this.

What is new with you? Have you gotten sucked back into any bad habits that are making your feel terrible at times?

Come join me here on my path to getting and STAYING positive. We can support each other. 😊