May 9, 2012

Weakness Wednesday

This 30 Day Yoga challenge is surprisingly challenging for me this time around.  Life has gotten slightly busy at the moment, even if I am on “vacation” from work.  I have to get 15 hours of class observations done this week for my first summer class which starts the 21st. I’m trying to catch up on my house cleaning, I started triathlon training, and I’m trying to fit yoga in everyday.
Not to mention writing and oh yeah, resting.
Life is just busy.
But oh is life good.

And I honestly think this yoga challenge is part of that goodness.

hb

It’s helping me relax, and it really does release all that tension in my muscles.
My own yoga dvd collection is really small these days, but I do have a couple of books that I use for my own quiet class sometimes. Mostly though, I've been practicing on my own, putting together sequences from what I know and based on what hurts.
Through this challenge, I’ve realized how much I miss practicing in an actual class, but unfortunately, that’s just not available in my town.
I think I should change that.
Maybe someday.


Do you find that’s the case for you? No classes where you live? Can’t always find the motivation for living room yoga? Well wouldn’t you know it but there are TONS of free materials on the web.
Lately, I’ve been practicing in our back office in front of the computer because I’ve found a couple of video sights with free yoga practices. Some are short, some are long, but the key is they are FREE.
The first is the website Yoga Journal and if you click on the video tab, they have videos for just about every level and practice, but the LIVE MAG tab is awesome. It’s different routines from different months of the magazine, and most of them are fairly decent sequences. Some are meditative, and some focus on specific areas. There are even some podcast yoga practices as well.
The second website I found is a YouTube channel, called The Yoga Solution with Tara Stiles. Most of these are short sequences, but they focus on certain areas.
Today’s choice is 5 poses that help tight hips:

 
 
Yes, I'm still focused on my hip area, but my hips/glutes/hamstring are my weakness issues, and areas that need more stretching than I often give them.
I challenge you to try this one today. It's not even 5 minutes long (4:59) and I know you will walk away feeling better.
 
Passing the Baton: Ladies, if you run/bike/swim/workout do you find your hips being a tight area? What other poses do you like to practice to help with that problem area?