Stay tuned for upcoming classes!

I successfully finished the challenge. I did 20 classes in 30 days. As I got over the halfway mark I began to realize that this is only the beginning of this journey that I have embarked on. I thought that over the course of the month I would have big dramatic changes in my body, and that I might be working toward that yoga body I have always wanted. Well I did make some progress, but what I truly realized was just how much work that yoga body really takes. In the last week of the month I was able to do two 4.5 mile runs. That week was the closest I came to my goal. It felt good, but it felt like a lot and not much recovery time. The thing I really appreciated about the challenge is that there could be no excuses. I either had to go no matter what, or I wasn’t going to finish the challenge. I made it through a cold, and then an injured finger (that was terribly painful).

The point is that I went to class no matter what and I worked it out on the mat. I understand the term “working it out on the mat” so much better now. I went to classes that I might not have tried. The best part is that I formed a routine. With that new habit formed I have now been able to continue to get up at 6am most weekdays and make to a 7am yoga class. I am going to just keep going. I am starting to notice some changes in my structure that I am really enjoying. I feel better than I ever have and my energy is so much better.

I love this quote, “The nature of the universe is such that the ends can never justify the means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end”. Aldous Huxley. The end of the yoga challenge was anticlamactic. I gave myself one last gold star by my name, a little knuckle bump to my shoulder and went on my way. I was on my way to the next thing that life would present. Life is so full of everything. It is full of big laughter, sadness, tiredness, frustration, business, and love. All meant to felt and experienced. It is nice to take a little quiet time each day just for myself so that I may, WORK IT OUT ON THE MAT.

Thank you for anyone who cared to read this blog. It was a test for me to see if I could actually write anything that the public might enjoy hearing about . I have found it to be quite rewarding and I hope to do it more often. Peace, prosperity, and joy to you all!

I am happy to post that I have made it halfway through the yoga challenge. I also finally made one five mile run this week. Early in the week, I came down with a cold. I wasn’t sure I was going to continue to make it through the yoga challenge. I was able to go to an easier class and not do handstand that day. Aside from sleeping twelve hours last Monday, I am convinced that it is the yoga that moved the cold through my body so fast. It just goes to show how much the lymphatic system works and flushes while doing yoga.

My energy has continued to stay surprisingly high. Another odd thing is happening. I don’t want to speak to soon, but I may be becoming addicted to this lovely thing called yoga. I have just never felt so good. I keep wondering if I am loosing weight. I don’t necessarily think so, but my body is definitely changing. I feel so much stronger. Before, when I was only doing two classes a week I wasn’t getting this energy boost that I have now been experiencing. I am starting to feel possibilities in my body that I didn’t think were possible for me. I am not particularly flexible. Many yoga poses are very difficult for me and quite often painful. But a little tweak here, some teacher assistance there, an honest effort, and it just might happen.

Another thing that is starting to happen is that I am beginning to feel a sense of community. I see similar faces every day at the studio. I see the same teachers as well. People are just so friendly at this yoga studio. It makes me feel right at ease and truly non-competative.

That said, I have picked the theme for the week. I think it was best quoted by Baron Baptiste when he said, “The prize is in the process”. The goal is not to achieve a certain posture, or even to attend a number of classes. The true and real goal is to honor ourselves by respecting our process. It is that time when we forget the goal that we achieve peace and grace. It is when we loose ourselves in the moment of something that it’s beauty becomes apparent. If only for a fleeting moment. I know there is a word for this in yoga, but it is not coming to me now. Grace. Ah yes, grace. I told my husband that my New Year’s resolution was to be more graceful in my life. I said this, but really had no idea how to get there. Now I see, and I have to thank the universe for responding to my call and leading me down yoga lane.

I just have to end with a special thanks to the Sunday morning class I attended. It was my first Anusara yoga class. The owners of the studio led the class by playing an instrument known as the Harmonium. It is beautifully made to help balance the tones that the human voice can make. We sang to it. It was truly beautiful. Then with my heart open, I actually was ready to do handstand (with assistance of course). Ha!

Ok, so I was not able to blog daily like I would have liked. My new goal is to write a couple times a week. Already I see the huge challenge of what I have set up for myself, but alas things are going just fine. I made four classes this week. I fell short today due the class I chose being full. I went to the studio and I could tell from the minute I walked in the door and the amount of shoes at the entrance was more than I had ever seen. I realized that this must be the prime class of the week. There was no room for my mat and even though the teacher said we would make room, I opted out. It was a hot yoga on top of the fact that it was packed. I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated and so I opted out. I came home and went on a run. I ran just four miles and felt happy for the dry weather to allow me the opportunity to run. I am going to try for five miles tomorrow. All of that said, I now have little flexibility to complete my goal of twenty classes by the end of the month.

Every morning before my 7am class, I have been reading a meditation. I actually like this ritual so much that I have been reading a few meditations. I love having things to ponder during yoga class. When I come to a difficult pose it helps me to remember what my intention is and that is what takes me from a place of rigidity to a place of softness. I have been thinking this spring time about cleansing and renewal. An out with the old and in with the new sort of thing. I then read a passage that has been on my mind for days and several yoga classes. It goes something like this, “What we need is not to dig a new well, but to dig even more deeply the well we are already in.” Ah ha, self cultivation. The tools we need are the energy, balance, insight, and the motivation to work the eight limb path of yoga. “The eight limb path is not linear; it is a dance of energies building upon themselves.” Quoted from Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat. Ok, I get it. It’s about doing the work. The payoff speaks for itself.

I thought I would be so tired during this process. So far I am happily surprised to have much more energy than usual. I also feel more full in breath and more free in my body. I am not feeling my normal aches and pains. I am feeling some new soreness in parts of my body I haven’t felt for a while. I am feeling great all together. I was dwelling in so much positive energy this week that I barely had time to check in with the circus of the news and the government. I was far more productive because of it too. I think that all poiticians need to practice yoga…. On that note, see you later for week two!

30 day Yoga Challenge

Follow my blog as I take the yoga challenge and attempt to do at least 20yoga classes in 30days! Start date is April 1.

April 1st-First Yoga Class of the month!

Today truly felt like Spring to me, so it was a little easier to wake up and get going to my 7am yoga class. Upon arriving at the yoga studio, I felt excited to have a goal. This is a goal, that I possibly will not achieve, but I think I can do it. My goal is to do five yoga classes of all kinds per week. Then on the other two days of the week, I would like to do a five mile run. Up until this point I have been attending roughly two yoga classes per week and doing two four mile runs per week. On my first class of the month today I already felt shaky from the intense class I did yesterday. I wish I could count yesterdays class, but I can’t so moving on. I thought to myself today that I better take it a little easy. I don’t want to injure myself on the first day. That would be tragic. My intention for the first class was to send energy to Japan. I want to give back as much as I can this month with my intention. Yoga has given me so much thus far and now I want to use it to give back in some way. At the end of class I got to put one gold star by my name and that felt so fun! Woohoo, for a gold star. Now just 19 to go.