So... tonight's Weakness Wednesday is the last post for the 30 Day Yoga Challenge, but fear not, I shall be continuing on with my yoga! It's been a great month of yoga, and now that I'm back in school, I definitely need yoga in my life again.
I decided to do a series of poses tonight--for relaxation and loosening. My muscles are TIGHT after two runs today. One of the videos I chose was How Yoga Can make You a Better Athlete by Tara Stiles. It's a short video, but a good one hitting a lot of the poses I like/need:
Hero Pose, Cow-Face Pose, Pigeon Pose, and a session of Alternate Nostril Breathing
So without further ado, here it is.
Hope you relaxed well today! I did, and now its off to sleep well.
Have I mentioned that with these intensive, summer classes, I get to sit in lectures for 6 hours a day?
No, I haven’t mentioned it? Hmm... maybe I've just been complaining constantly to Music Man.
Well… let me just tell you: it creates havoc for my back.
You would think sitting would be much better than standing all day, but in fact, it doesn’t.
I get lazy.
I slump.
I already have back issues.
But there’s this new spot on my left side, middle back that is just killing me this week.
Sometimes I think it’s my kidney exploding.
Probably just the stupid classroom chairs.
Today’s Weakness Wednesday pose focus is most definitely the cat-to-cow sequence.
I love to open my yoga routines with these poses, and I seriously do them for about five minutes every time.
It’s a great sequence to open up my spine and to warm the muscles.
Plus I feel like it hits all areas: shoulder area, middle, and lower back.
And it’s really easy.
As you breathe in, arch your back like a cat. Then, exhale, drop your pelvis to curve you back, and look up.
Match the movement to your breath.
If you inhale/exhale slowly, you’ll get the much needed stretch/muscle warmup.
Here’s a 4-minute back sequence video as well. No cat-to-cow example, but I do like to sometimes begin my yoga sequences with these poses as well. This video would be a good warm-up for your 30 minute session of the day!
I’m off to do some yoga, then back to studying.
Namaste everyone!
______
Seek Peace.
After a late night last night, I decided to curl up in bed and stay there as long as I could this morning. Suffice it to say, I didn’t get any yoga in before heading to work.
I didn’t get any in after work either. In fact, I’m sitting here blogging about yoga to pump myself up about my practice. I’m thinking a little something like this tonight
Ok. Not really. But someday I would seriously love to be able to hold that pose. I mainly do yoga to release my muscles from all my training, but I also use it to help balance my crazy life and de-stress myself. But sometimes I get bored. So look at all the crazy balancing poses on pinterest and wish I was that cool. Then I tell myself that maybe someday I’ll be able to focus enough on yoga and use it as a challenge to really find balance. Probably when my hamstring blows out and I’m forced to quit running forever. But I’m not thinking about that tonight. Instead, I think I’ll focus on bridge pose
Slightly more my style, a bit of a core workout, and hopefully some release to the trouble spot in my back. Time to get practicing.
Passing the Baton: Do any of you suffer from chronic back pain? Or, are you like me and have a super tight lower back from running/lifting? If so, have you tried yoga? Any poses you like that help the hurt?
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.
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.
Remember last July when I did my 30 day [at-home] Yoga challenge? It went well, and I completed the challenge, but I wasn't too changed afterwards. Mainly because my challenge consisted of doing yoga at least 10 minutes a day. Since I was commuting and super busy at the time, 10 minutes of yoga was pretty much all I did. And it wasn't enough to increase my flexibility or persuade me to keep my yoga practice.
So, I'm trying the 30 day Yoga challenge again, only this time, I'm not hosting it.
Head over to Run to the Finish to sign up. During the month of May, she is challenging readers to practice yoga at least 30 minutes a day. That’s it. That’s all the guidelines we get. What type of yoga is up to us. Where we practice is up to us. It’s going to be a good challenge. She'll have posts about yoga throughout the month, and we'll also be hearing from other yogis. I think it will be good to join someone else's challenge.
