By the minutes

I haven't thrown in the towel!  But as my minutes show, I am trying to avoid yoga burnout.  And there have been a few days when my enthusiasm for the project has been lagging a bit.  If anyone wants to take a guest to their yoga studio in the near future, please bring me!  I'm in need of a little yoga buddy support.

Perhaps one reason I'm dragging a bit in my yoga is that I've started training to run a half marathon at the end of June.  I'm wearing knee braces every time I run and I do think yoga is helping protect my knees too.  I had three "no-knee-pain" runs this week: 2-1/4 miles, 3 miles, and 4 miles yesterday (This morning, I woke up muscle ache-free and eager to do my morning yoga--very encouraging all around).

I also have been busy building vegetable growing boxes and in the next few days hope to start some seeds.  Beginning a lot of things at once can be tricky.  Luckily, I'm over 45 days deep into my 360 of yoga already.  However, taking on more activity, while often energizing, can also be overwhelming.  Thus, note lots of 30-35 minute practices in the last ~two weeks!  My practice has been full of Suryanamaskar A & B.  That's Sun Salutations, yo

Commando Duke demonstrates Virabhadrasana I and Suryanamaskar B at this fantastically funny website.

 

Before the minutes, a question to you: What keeps you energized and motivated when you have a big, and seemingly endless, project at hand?  Or want to build an exercise or meditation routine?  Or stay on a diet?  What has been helpful to you?  What hasn't been?

Here we go, Days 35-46:

Feb. 9: 45 minutes

Feb. 10: 90 minutes

Feb. 11: 35 minutes

Feb. 12: 35 minutes

Feb. 13: 40 minutes

Feb. 14: 40 minutes

Feb. 15: 90 minutes

Feb. 16: 35 minutes

Feb. 17: 90 minutes

Feb. 18: 30 minutes

Feb. 19: 35 minutes

Feb. 20: 30 minutes

Namaste!

First month in review

I am on Day 35 of my 360 days of yoga!  That's over a month of daily Downward-Facing Dog, packed full of Sun Salutations, forward bends, back bends, twists, and balance poses.  As predicted, I really have done Adho Mukha Svanasana ever single day.  Dog is like the oxygen of yoga--I can't seem to do an asana practice without it.

If only I had flippers, my feet would touch the ground!

I was reviewing the list of questions about what effects 360 straight days of yoga practice might have on me from my first blog post. I haven't learned to levitate yet.  However, I do think my heels are descending a little closer to the floor in downward dog which means my hamstrings are a little less tight.  Perhaps they will hit the floor by the end of December after all...  Also, I've finally learned how to do one of those more challenging poses that I never really get enough time to work on in class, Bakasana. Per the superficial, my apartment has been, overall, cleaner and more organized to ensure I have clear space to practice in.  I can't say that I'm slimmer or taller, but I can say that my thighs are super muscular these days from all that time in Warrior I and II, Utthitta Parsvakonasana, and Utkatasana. I also have some mean guns--don't mess with this yogini!

As for my mood, mental health, and my outlook of the world, I know that I almost always feel better about myself and the world around me after my yoga practice.  This is not to say that a month plus of yoga has eliminated all traces of SAD, reactivity, self judgment, anger, impatience, anxiety, and general discontent from my being.  It hasn't and it won't--I am human.  But I think that I spend a little less time dwelling in those undesirable places.  I do have a case of the mid-winter blahs, as I often do in January and February.  But these feelings are more episodic than part of my constant state of mind: a low mood comes and I sit with it for a couple hours or a day before it passes on; another case of the blues might not strike for a couple of weeks.  I do think the yoga helps alleviate these less happy moods.

It also seems to me that I have a lower tolerance for criticizing myself--I'm quicker to dispel harsh self-judgments.  Likewise, I'm more aware of my criticism of others.  Not that I never do it, but I notice when I'm judging others with more frequency and I question whether my judgments are fair or educated, or whether it benefits me or anyone else when I voice these criticisms.  Is my critical feedback remotely constructive?  What is my intention in voicing such criticism?  My mind has not always taken the time to reflect on such questions.

The above are pretty positive results of my daily yoga practice.  But I've noticed some other things that I need to be cautious of as I proceed.  First, just because I practice everyday does not mean that my body is equally capable in terms of flexibility and strength and endurance from one day to the next.  There are days when a certain pose feels so wonderful that my body is content to sink deeper and hold it for a long period of time.  The next time I try that same pose, however, it may cause me extreme discomfort or my body may not able to bend as much to assume it.  So I absolutely must pay attention to my body's needs and capabilities each time I'm on the mat because if I make assumptions about what my body can do without considering what it wants to do on any given day, I WILL hurt myself eventually.

Second, I need to continue to look out for that whole yoga-as-chore mindset.  If this way of thinking becomes too prevalent from day to day, I will eventually fail to step on my mat one day.  While I hope that, should I fail to practice yoga one day, I do not demean all my previous effort and practice by dismissing myself and this project as a failure, I really don't want to get to the place where I'm so down on yoga that it feels like a burden more days than not.  I mean, I love yoga, and practicing it is so beneficial for me!  So if maintaining a positive attitude about daily practice means doing more 30-minute practices than 60-minute practices, doing more Pranayama, and more slow, gentle practices--or even doing two 15-minute practices instead of one 30-minute practice, then I've got to be open to such. I guess this means is I have to be mindful about whether I'm practicing in a way that is headed towards burnout.  No burnout!

A note to myself.  Cribbed from Mudra Moments

Anyway, I'm burnt out on this blog post about now, so thanks for reading and,

Namaste

Daily yoga numbers for last couple weeks

For posterity:
January 29: 30 minutes
January 30: 30 minutes
January 31: 45 minutes
February 1: 60 minutes
February 2: 60 minutes
February 3: 60 minutes
February 4: 60 minutes
February 5: 60 minutes
February 6: 35 minutes
February 7: 50 minutes
February 8: 90 minutes

Instead of listing a pose I'm hating on and one I'm loving, I'm choosing a challenge pose for the month, or however long it takes for me to get it.  This is a pose that I can not really do right now.  It might even be impossible for me.  The idea is to try it anyway, to acknowledge that I am attempting something difficult, and to appreciate my effort--regardless of the outcome.  So, my challenge pose for now is:

Tittibhasana, or Firefly Pose 

 

  

Piece of cake!  Right...  At any rate, this pose should keep me busy for a good long time!

Facing Doggie Down

I've returned from Mexico with a tan line (twas a burn line... I fear my future includes melanoma) and about five new pounds on my body from margaritas, tortilla chips, and guacamole. While I succumbed to the temptation of tequila and too much avocado--I didn't think that was possible--I did not succumb to the temptation to ditch my daily yoga practice. Yay!

It did take some effort to practice on my trip, particularly on that dreaded travel day last week when I took a 6 AM flight to Houston en route to Cancun. As I mentioned in my last post, I'd loaded up my i-gadget with a couple of chair podcasts from Hillary's Yoga Practice, so during my layover in Houston, I tried to find an empty chair that wasn't too close to anyone else and looked out the window with room to cross my legs and to stretch them out in front of me. Then I plugged the ear buds into my ears and pushed play.

How did it go? Well, unsurprisingly, I felt a little self conscious meditating in public. I thought my OMs instead of chanting them out loud at the beginning of the practice and I held my hands in Anjali Mudra in my lap. The chair practice incorporated a lot of arms overhead stretches and I felt pretty conspicuous after the fourth or fifth one. Likewise, after the first couple of forward bends in my chair, I wondered if people were watching me and judging me. It was very difficult not to become self aware to the max. And then my practice was interrupted because I had to go stand in line at the gate counter to get my passport validated again. When I resumed it, I really struggled to find a calm mind again because I was all revved up to go to Mexico. Will I do a chair practice again next time I have a long plane day? I don't know--it was convenient on a day when I was traveling SO early and traveling to an earlier time zone, eliminating my daylight hours. But yesterday morning, I made sure to go to a yoga class at the resort spa before we checked out and headed to the airport.

I went to the 8 AM yoga class at the spa Monday-Friday this week. A muscular, short instructor named Mauricio taught the classes. His English was quite good. Except for yesterday, he taught entirely in English. Yesterday he translated everything into Spanish for a few Latina women. I didn't pick up anything, except inspiras and espiras. Mauricio really focused on the breath a lot in his classes, when to inhale and exhale, how many times, and breathing into the diaphragm, not the chest. This kind of pranayama instruction can feel patronizing to me often, given how long I've been practicing yoga. I have to remind myself in gym/spa/community yoga classes that not everyone who comes to these classes has been practicing yoga for over 10 years, or even over a month, and that I'm lucky that the instructor is teaching pranayama with such focus at all. Mauricio even ventured into Nadi Shodhana Pranayama, i.e. Alternate Nostril or Channel Cleaning Breath. Regardless, it was hard to be critical of Mauricio with his cute little accent and way of saying Downward Facing Dog ("Down Dog Facing" or "Facing Doggie Down") and adorable pronunciation of vertebrae.

Mauricio led yoga on this pier one day--Lovely. Picture by jeco.

Back in the USA, I entered month 2 of my Yoga 360 today. I've done yoga for 32 straight days for at least 30 minutes! I suppose I should pause and reflect at this point on how I feel, but I'm blogged out for the day. Tomorrow, I'll post with some musings about the 1-month mark, along with my minute count for the last 10 days! Until then,

Namaste.