Saturday Morning Wake Up

Saturday morning was a rough one! I usually like to make sure I'm up around 7am so I can have a decent breakfast and have plenty of time to digest before going to class. Today I couldn't rouse myself until 8ish, and then I didn't want to eat a huge amount.

When I got to class, I was already starving! I'd had a fair amount of water, so luckily I wasn't dehydrated. But that first set of half moon was rough. My empty belly was screaming at me, and so was my lower back. Just tight all around! That meant I had to do a little more thinking today and pay closer attention to make sure I wasn't over stretching anything.

Despite being not very bendy today, I listened to Vicki and made some adjustments to certain postures that changed things a bit. It's funny, she probably says the same things every class, but every now and then I pay closer attention and learn something new!

First, it was in awkward. I have a hard time holding up my weak flabby arms through the breathing, half moon, awkward, and eagle. It's a lot of arm holding! Today I focused on keeping my arms engaged and reaching toward the front of the room. I thought that the more active I kept my arms, the more they would hurt. I was both right and wrong. Keeping them active in the posture helped me maintain my balance more and it actually wasn't as much of a chore to keep my arms lifted. A few hours later and trying to fold my sheets on laundry day is more of a challenge than its ever been!

Next, as my sweaty feet were slipping across the room in triangle, Vicki told me to really engage my thighs and they wouldn't slide so much. She was very right! I was trying to ground my feet, but it seemed the more I tried to hold my feet firm, the more they kept slipping. When I squeezed my thighs, my feet stayed put! I couldn't get as low as I have been in triangle as my hips and butt were super stiff.

My back slowly loosened up, but still wasn't quite there when I got to camel. I could get into the posture, but I couldn't maintain it. Vicki has often said in this posture to acknowledge whatever you have going on, good or bad, and let it go. I like camel a lot, it's often one of my better postures, so I usually have high expectations for it. But today it wasn't there, and I had to take my expectations and just let them go.

Yesterday's day off was good for me. Gave my muscles a chance to rest and rebuild. My butt and hamstrings have been really sore lately, but today they gave just a little bit more without causing too much hurt. Hopefully that progress will continue :)

I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy the sunshine today! It's beautiful out, and thanks to practicing this morning I'm nice and loose and have lots of energy for all the yard work that needs to get done! Given how hard it was to get myself out of bed this morning, I doubt I would be doing much of anything if I hadn't dragged myself into that hot room!

The Floor is Lava!!

Wowzers! Today was a hot one! Class stayed above 102 the whole time, so for those purists who think the high 90's aren't hot enough, you should definitely come back to class! And the rest who dig the lower temps, don't worry, it was challenging, but it felt really good.

I'm pretty sure I drank more sweat than I did water this class. I could already see beads of sweat forming on my arms in the beginning breathing series, and in Hands to Feet I had sweat going up my nose.

Pictures were being taken today, and so I wore capri pants since I was a little self conscious, and the shorts I had brought were really short and kind of loose fitting, so I thought bad things might happen. By standing bow pulling pose I was so miserably hot! I pulled my pants above my knees, which was a huge relief, but just not good enough. Since I was about to rip my pants off and do the rest of class in my underwear, I decided to quickly run out of the room and change into my shorts. (My deepest, sincerest apologies if I was a disruption or distraction to anyone's practice today - I know it was a little rude to change my clothes halfway through. I promise I will never do that again.)

We also had a celebrity in class - Robin Ivy from WCYY!! It was very exciting to have her there, and hear all the wonderful compliments she had for both the studio and for Vicki.

I've been in class where the temperature has gotten up to 103 before, but this class felt so much hotter. My towel was drenched with sweat, but the floor was even hotter than my towel was, so there was no relief to be found. Ever played "The floor is lava!" when you were little? It reminded me of that. Except, you know, you could actually stand on the floor without burning anything because it wasn't actually THAT hot. Huh, I guess it's exactly the same as the game.

A small personal triumph - I actually gave toe stand a try today! I've been worried about trying it because my balancing needs so much work, and also I have one ankle that is really tight. It screams a little every time I try to lay all the down in Fixed Firm. I think it partly stems from my being pigeon-toed (also the reason I walk on the outsides of my feet and therefore have a hard time grounding down through my big toe in balancing postures), and partly because I was in a car accident a few years ago and injured that foot. I think balancing on my toes is actually going to help gain strength in that foot and ankle. After trying it today, Fixed Firm already felt a little bit better, so I'm going to keep giving it a try!!

Tomorrow is a much needed day of rest after 6 straight days of yoga! My butt is really sore, so I'm definitely going to practice some stretching tomorrow.

Keep an eye out for those pictures and anything Robin Ivy has to say about class or the studio!!

The Good With The Bad

Today marks 5 days in a row!!

And 4 different people (including Husband-Elect) commented today that I was looking great and like I have lost weight. That's because I have! 5 pounds so far - I'm really excited!!

That being said, I know I've mentioned before that negativity has no place in this class, I just couldn't help myself I guess. Standing Bow just made me angry. And I was doing just fine on my right side, but the left side was a big hot mess. I have such an issue balancing on my right leg. And then through balancing stick, and standing separate leg stretching series I was just mad for really no reason. Just... angry. I guess some days are like, but it definitely took away from my practice.

By the time we got to tree, I was able to look at myself in the mirror, take some deep breaths and calm down. And then I got to lay down and relax for a minute, and the floor series went great! Camel was back! At least for the first set, I think a little of that negativity was bouncing around in my chest still, and the second set was harder.

I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but both tortoise and rabbit felt really good tonight. I actually felt my bum touch my heels in tortoise, and I felt like I was getting I really good stretch down my spine.

Even with all that going on, I felt great at the end of the class. The tension in my shoulders had melted away, and I saw lots of smiling faces outside the yoga room as I got changed to go home. I'm still excited to go to class tomorrow for 6 days/classes in a row!!

Steamy Vinyasa!

Woo! Tuesday night Vinyasa - such a workout!! Tonight's class was warm and steamy. I had sweat streaming up (down?) my nose in a few downward dogs.

My legs are definitely feeling it now! All those lunges and warriors... man! I'm having a hard time thinking of anything else now. So here's this cute little dude - he's pretty good :P

Downward dog is coming along. It's starting to feel more like a resting posture than it did before. Shaking my head out each time is super helpful to make sure I'm not tensing my shoulders or neck too much. And it's definitely easier for me than high to low plank. I like to give those a few tries though in an effort to make my arms resemble actual arms someday.

I'm starting to dig the switch up between Vinyasa, Hatha (Bikram) and Yin Yang. It's nice to get some variety in throughout the week, and to work different muscles. My arms and shoulders were much more fatigued at the beginning of class than I expected, but I was able to mostly work through, taking it a little easier when I needed.

I tried balancing half moon for the first time ever tonight. It was a lot harder than it looked!! We all know balancing is tricky for me, but I was shocked at how hard it was for me to touch the floor and then open my hip. And by "hard" I mean I couldn't do it. Something to work on!

Overall, class went well. I was really excited to go to class, and a little nervous as I never know what to expect with Vinyasa. I was breathing hard and sweating, and feeling good about it! I could slow down and catch my breath when I needed to, and keep pushing forward when that felt good too.

Improvements!

Seemed like we had quite a few new people in class tonight. Hooray!! I love seeing people start out at this lovely studio. The bigger classes get, the better! Speaking of, I at first thought it wasn't too hot and humid (especially considering that it was raining), but then as we were getting through the standing series I realized how super sweaty I was! Especially during Standing Bow - it was really hard to hold onto my ankle.

Speaking of Standing Bow, I had about 4 whole seconds of AMAZING tonight! I still have a loooong way to go, but I'm definitely seeing progress and getting happier each time to do it.

I started today with sore shoulders from sitting in an office all day, and while I managed to rock half moon, the rest of the "arms up" series was so tiring! By the way, in case you wondering, the key to half moon is totally pulling. If you're just trying to bend and you're not pulling and stretching the "long" side it's so much harder! Although it does make the arms tired. Or the limp noodles, as is my case :D

Class went by pretty quickly today. And only once did I give Vicki the "OMG Hurry UP!!" look. It wasn't intentional, it's the equivalent of checking the clock for when time's up - Vicki's just my clock :) Speaking of Vicki, it was super great to watch her and her pregnant belly get into triangle with us! Another posture that's getting better as I go. I can't say that I love it yet, but I definitely hate it less than I used to. Lunging is getting easier, and getting deeper into my hips makes holding triangle easier.

Floor bow also went better today. Squeezing my bum helped me get up on the soft part of my belly and off the hard pointy parts of my pelvis that pinch when I balance on them. And yay! No heartburn or throwing up. I was a little worried after lunch today, and the fact that I nearly threw up after one of the standing balancing poses. I also think I need to work on keeping my knees from splaying out too much in floor bow.

Today's class felt great! I was excited to go, really happy to see a fairly large class, and overall felt good going in. Any soreness I had at the beginning of class had totally vanished by the end. It's so great to see and feel that I'm steadily improving! I'm getting more excited for each class. I know I took some time off in the middle and I'm just getting back in the swing of things, but I really thought by this point I'd be tired of going and dreading each class - just the opposite is happening! I'm so excited that I'm able to do more in each posture that I want to keep going back and trying again!

Another Day of Yin Yang!

2 days in a row of Yin Yang Yoga! I'm going to forget all about the bikram series soon :P

I was a little worried going into this class that everyone went to class yesterday, and I was going to be there all by myself. Which I supposed wouldn't be so bad. But I needn't have worried as there were plenty of people who wanted some yoga this morning.

Today I made sure to have breakfast and plenty of water before class, and I think that made a big difference.

Yin postures are a lot more challenging than I initially gave them credit for. The challenge is that you hold them for a LONG time. So what starts out as slightly uncomfortable can be practically unbearable by the end of it.

Today we did a lot of core work, something I really need to work on. I really appreciate that this class and Kate as the instructor has a large focus on correct posture. I've taken classes before that just move quickly through, and it's easy to make mistakes and keep making the same mistake class after class. Sometimes it seems like a minor adjustment, but it can make a HUGE difference.

We also spent some time really working those hamstrings! I was not quite a melty as this picture here, but it still felt pretty good. My hamstrings are slowly getting used to stretching out more, and my quads are getting stronger and are much more useful in supporting my legs and protecting my hamstrings.

And we played with straps and balancing! As you may know, balancing is a bit challenging for me, but it was really fun. Trying to move my gaze though turned out to be much more difficult than I thought it would be!

Overall, class was challenging and fun!

Open House and Yin Yang

I probably should have done some yoga at home yesterday to keep myself loose, but I didn't. My legs were SORE after class with Vicki on Thursday. It's good though - means I'm building :)

Today was the big Anniversary Open House at Hart Yoga. It was fun! The room was PACKED with people, but I rather liked it like that. I'm not as used to Yin Yang as I am with Bikram, I think this was my second or third Yin Yang class. It's definitely a change! My arms get a lot more fatigued, and I never really know what's coming next. It's good to switch things up though.

As I mentioned, I was tight and sore going into class, especially my legs. They were so shaky through the whole class and made holding lunges for all the warriors very challenging. It definitely made me more aware of both my legs though, and made me put more of an effort to keep my weight disbursed evenly whenever possible.

I really liked the energy in this morning's class. There were a lot of new people, and a lot of experienced people, and it seemed like everyone was there to enjoy themselves. And since I got there a little late, I was front and center in the room! But I think it worked out for me because I was able to see myself clearly in the mirror and focus on my own practice. And when class is started with the promise of muffins after, what's not to love?

While I don't *love* pigeon, today it felt really good! It helped me get deep into my hips and stretch them for awhile. It felt better on my left side than my right side, perhaps I positioned myself a little differently, but either way, it was enjoyable today.

And when I was in child's pose, Kate came over and pushed down on my back a bit and it felt great! I got a few seconds of a mini massage, and it was just what my aching muscles needed.

I'm excited to give this class a try again tomorrow!

p.s. the ginger muffins were really, really yummy.