Oh, neglected yoga blog...

I practice yoga every single day.  I also think of something yoga related that I'd like to blog about almost every single day.  I blog about yoga every single... month?  Getting on the mat may have become pretty dang easy for me, but taking the time to organize my thoughts in Times New Roman on this here blog hasn't become any easier.  So I thought I'd use this blog to post my minutes for posterity and, also, to list a few things/ideas I have found interesting re: yoga, but about which I haven't managed to articulate my thoughts in blog form--yet.  Form your own thoughts as you may.

First, MIB (Minutes In Brief):
July 7-July14: 90; 90; 35; 40; 40; 90; 35; 90
July 15-July 22: 30; 35; 75; 35; 90; 40; 90; 30
July 23-July 30: 30; 30; 40; 30; 30; 90; 90; 30
July 31-August 7: 35; 35; 90; 35; 90; 30; 45; 30.

Second, BIMBO (Blog Ideas My Brain Overthrew):

#1--Why Can't We Be Friends? 

John Friend leads Warrior I; photo by Jon Hyde for The NYT

There has been a lot of hoopla about this NYT article, a profile of John Friend, the creator of Anusara Yoga--which is type of yoga I study.  Waylon Lewis of Elephantjournal.com referred to the piece as "the most popular, prominent article re yoga in recent history" and a blogger for Yoga Journal online referred to the profile as "glowing."  But the Anusara communities I practice in beg to differ. As does John Friend, who wrote this response to the NYT piece.  My Monday night teacher, the fabulous Denise of Seattle Yoga Arts, asked us before class last week if we had any questions regarding the article and all the hoopla; someone asked my Wednesday teacher, the fabulous Wendy of OmTown Yoga, if this means we're all in a cult.  Many Anusara yogis and yoginis have voiced outrage per the article's description of Friend as "doughy."  Basically, anything I may have wanted to blog about this has been said by someone else, with more passion than I can muster on a hot August day.  My favorite response to the NYT-Friend media circus?  This satirical piece by Jimmy Gleacher, which examines the many similarities between Friend and Jersey Shore's own media phenomenon, Snooki.

The 4'9" train wreck, ready to snook the night away.

#2--No One Wants To See Your Stretch Marks In Yoga Class.
The latest copy of Yoga Journal (YJ) is noteworthy for a few reasons.  It's the 35th anniversary issue of the magazine.  There's a time line of the last 6000 years of yoga history outlined inside.  Sarah McLachlan is on the cover in Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana. And, in the "Letters to the Editor" section, there's a letter from Judith Hanson Lasater (one of YJ's founders and a frequent contributor) expressing her concern about the advertisements featuring naked or half-naked women that have popped up with more frequency in YJ. Lasater writes, "These pictures do not teach the viewer about yoga practice or themselves. They aren’t even about the celebration of the beauty of the human body or the beauty of the poses, which I support. These ads are just about selling a product."  She goes on to request that YJ stop running ads that exploit the sexuality of young women to sell ad space or magazines.  (You can read more from her letter here.)  As someone who considers herself a feminist and who would NEVER attend a naked yoga class, let me just say, "RIGHT ON, SISTER!"

Dogs always do yoga naked.  This pup gets some extra torso extension help from Doga instructor Brenda Byran in Bellevue, WA.  This image is inspiration for yet another, never-to-be-written-by-me blog post.  Goodness.

#3--Any way you can bend, I can bend better.
Okay, that's not a really appropriate title for this idea.  But the other weekend, a friend and I went to my dad's lake cabin for a weekend of sunshine in the woods and water.  As my friend practices yoga herself, and I am on this yoga-every-single-day quest, she joined me in practice for two days.  And it was really a fun way to practice, as opposed to all by myself or in a class with a ton of people and one teacher.  The second day we practiced, we loosely took turns leading each other.  One of us would lead through a round of sun salutations, then the other would lead her own variation.  Or she'd lead a couple of shoulder stretches and then I'd do a few hamstring/quad stretches.  Since I'm too lazy to put together a full blog about the experience, let me just say that it was a new, refreshing way to practice, that I appreciate what I learned from her and her reciprocal enthusiasm to learn from me, and that we had so much fun!

What we saw when we weren't doing yoga...

AND that about wraps up my blog ideas.  Something kind of neat happened while I was writing this post....  I wrote another one!  So check that one out too!  Until then...

Namaste!

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.

Como se dice "Downward-Facing Dog" en espanol?

This is NOT Seattle.

I admit it: I am a lucky, lucky gal. What else can I say about the fact that the biggest obstacle to my 360-day yoga quest thus far is that, gosh darn it, I'm flying to the Riviera Maya in Mexico tomorrow morning to stay at the resort pictured above with my family for a week? I am a lucky, lucky gal.

But I have put a lot of thought over the last few weeks into how will I practice yoga on vacation in warm, exciting, DISTRACTING Mexico? How will I be able to practice with genuine attention in a two-bedroom resort/time share unit with my father, stepmother, brother, and sister-in-law hanging around? Do I take a mat, buy some of those strap-on yoga paws for my hands and feet instead, or wing it without a mat on the bare floor or carpet? If the resort has yoga classes, will they be led in Spanish? And what about those 8-hour travel days?

I don't yet have the answers to many of these questions, but I am not taking a mat, nor did I buy yoga paws. I am winging it on the room floor, and, whether or not I have an audience, I will do yoga every day. Somehow. If the resort classes are in Spanish, that will be a pretty cool experience! And if not, hey, at least I'll have the option to go to a class. Finally, I downloaded not one, but two CHAIR podcasts for my big air travel days. I'll have to combine them with some other light yoga/pranayama/meditation to get my minimum 30 minute quota, but I'm excited to have found these. I'm so psyched to do one at my gate in Houston tomorrow!

I'll be sure to post about keeping up a regular yoga practice while far away from regular life. But for now, here's my yoga minutes for the last 13 days.

Day 11, 1/16: 55 minutes Day 18, 1/23: 75 minutes
Day 12, 1/17: 48 minutes Day 19, 1/24: 90 minutes
Day 13, 1/18: 90 minutes Day 20, 1/25: 60 minutes
Day 14, 1/19: 50 minutes Day 21, 1/26: 40 minutes
Day 15, 1/20: 90 minutes Day 22, 1/27: 90 minutes
Day 16, 1/21: 40 minutes Day 23, 1/28: 75 minutes
Day 17, 1/22: 30 minutes

One pose I'm hatin' on: Salamba Kapotasana, or Supported Pigeon Pose. Or Eka Pada Rajakapotasna, i.e. One-Legged King Pigeon Pose--and any variation in between. My knees aren't liking these poses at all this week.

And one pose I'm loving: Bakasana, or Crane Pose. Mostly because I did it right AND held it for longer than two seconds for the first time ever today! Yay!

This will soon be me. Except for the gender thing, I suppose.

Namaste!