One Year Of Yoga

Tonight I practiced at home. Started out doing Bikram which Fused into Ashtanga. I had to miss the studio class because I decided to accept a happy hour invitation instead. This time of year, it feels more important to spend as much time with your friends and loved ones as you can. After all, yoga means balancing the mind, body and spirit. I think time with friends can help balance the spirit.

Today’s class was a little more mellow than I like.  It felt more like a restorative class.  Definitely not intimidating, so anyone new to yoga or injured might enjoy it.  At the end of class, I felt myself fighting to stay in Savasana until the instructor said her parting “Namaste”.  It is always good to try new classes.  Not every yoga is right for every body.  It is great when you find one you like and then stick with it!

Yoga Cats

Created by professional photographer Dan Borris and his wife Alejandra, the calendar combines real photographs with a whisker of Photoshop magic.

via The purrfect workout: Yoga-loving cats are a Christmas calendar hit | Mail Online.

Clever calendar for yoga/cat lovers.  I’ve seen my dog and cat do yoga poses around the house.  They seem to instinctually know yoga is good for you!

I was very stiff today. My arm is sore so I tried to not use it too much in class.

Imagine this: Ray Lewis, that brash, intimidating linebacker from the Ravens, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed practicing yoga.

via Heres a twist: Ravens Ray Lewis into yoga – Chicago Breaking Sports.

Many athletes are experiencing the benefits of yoga!

linebacker does yoga

Today a friend of mine from Colorado was in town, so we went to this class together. It is always fun to practice with a friend. I realized how much tighter my left hip is than my right. Good flow between poses. Another student in class told the teacher she has a pain in her hand…I wanted to talk to her about it since I had the same pain when I started my experiment. I wanted to tell her it eventually goes away with regular practice. I hope she sticks with it.

Today I missed my yoga class time, so I had to improvise with my own class in the gym. Not the beautiful yoga studio, but it will do.

On my way to class today I ran into an old schoolmate (from gradeschool) on the streetcar. He said, “We used to ride the school bus together and now we ride the Streetcar.” It’s fun seeing old friends. The class was good and I like the instructor because she really watches everyone to make sure they are doing the poses correctly. I feel like my hips have been much tighter lately. Sort of like taking 3 steps forward and 2 steps back in my yoga practice. This is probably correlated to stress factors. It’s interesting how our bodies are in a perpetual state of change.

Nice basic class.  Have an off feeling today.  A little disconnected to those around me.  Hopefully, yoga will help the rest of my day.  Luckily, there is always tomorrow….