Today I woke up not feeling primary series at all. I checked the moon days and thank god that today was a moon day! I've never felt so excited. I usually look forward to a nice intimate session with the series, is only up to standing sequence.
So I chose to do a simple vinyasa flow with stephanie s instead. I like her classes because her strong is my moderate, and I just felt like having a moderate exercise. Nevertheless it was a fun workout: lunges, high lunge, low lunge with side plank, bound angle pose, reverse warrior, three legged downward dog, lots of side stretches, janu sirsasana, urdvha d, and a nice sirsasana. I was sweaty! and I had fun!
I've also incorporated daily handstand kick ups and pincha kickups. Some days it is a miss but mostly it is a hit. I am trying to stay up for as long as a minute but only managed to stay for about 5 long breaths now. It does get easier. Also, have to do dolphin everyday!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Weekend Relaxation
took it real relaxed today with yoga.
Simple core salutation, then lunges, birds of paradise, crescent pose, half moon, navasana, happy baby and nice savasana.
Last week it was pretty slow: primary series on monday, hatha class tuesday and slow primary wednesday. Thursday I did a yin practice which was good.
Simple core salutation, then lunges, birds of paradise, crescent pose, half moon, navasana, happy baby and nice savasana.
Last week it was pretty slow: primary series on monday, hatha class tuesday and slow primary wednesday. Thursday I did a yin practice which was good.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Leg and Neck Stretch
I woke up not in the best feeling today. Scheduled in a run but body (or mind) wasnt feeling up to it. So I started with Dice's surprisingly very gentle leg flow, aimed to stretch the hips area to release stress. I didn't really feel any difference (my work problems are still there) but I do feel better, just knowing that I've done something to release the psoas and hip flexors. It was a lot of lunges, variation of lizard pose stretching to the side, virabhadrasana 2 with reverse virabhadrasana that burns the legs. Some utkatasana variation, and happy baby pose. It climaxes at the pigeon pose. Which was done a bit differently.
Then I continued with Tiffany's shoulder and neck stretch, which was INTENSE. I do not know what is it with her classes - they make me fidgety and uneasy. I guess because both classes I did with her was on the shoulders and neck, and obviously those are the body parts of mine that have the most issues (disc herniation at C5 and C6) and carry the most stress. The side neck stretch, particularly on the right side was torturous. I surrended earlier in the poses than I would have, it was that uneasy. It wasn't painful or excruciating, I just feel uneasy. I kept imagining someone slicing through the exposed, stretched part of my neck. How's that for creeping myself out of the pose. She mentioned something really nice along the class, trying to keep our attention from the effort. She said something about having the option to take the neck out from our attention, and focus on other body parts instead. And when you let go of the tension, choose not to acknowledge it, it disappears. How right... but somehow this time my inner discomfort won.
I've also decided that I'm going to pare down my Ashtanga for the next one week. I'm going to do a simpler version of no chaturanggas and skipping the bhujapidasana if I felt like it. My left infrasupinatus and teres minor still are achey. Really sore. Sometimes they burn. and tingle.
Anyway, good classes today. Those two are my two favorite teachers now.
Then I continued with Tiffany's shoulder and neck stretch, which was INTENSE. I do not know what is it with her classes - they make me fidgety and uneasy. I guess because both classes I did with her was on the shoulders and neck, and obviously those are the body parts of mine that have the most issues (disc herniation at C5 and C6) and carry the most stress. The side neck stretch, particularly on the right side was torturous. I surrended earlier in the poses than I would have, it was that uneasy. It wasn't painful or excruciating, I just feel uneasy. I kept imagining someone slicing through the exposed, stretched part of my neck. How's that for creeping myself out of the pose. She mentioned something really nice along the class, trying to keep our attention from the effort. She said something about having the option to take the neck out from our attention, and focus on other body parts instead. And when you let go of the tension, choose not to acknowledge it, it disappears. How right... but somehow this time my inner discomfort won.
I've also decided that I'm going to pare down my Ashtanga for the next one week. I'm going to do a simpler version of no chaturanggas and skipping the bhujapidasana if I felt like it. My left infrasupinatus and teres minor still are achey. Really sore. Sometimes they burn. and tingle.
Anyway, good classes today. Those two are my two favorite teachers now.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday: primary series... and did not even finish it, stopped untiil urdhva dhanurasana because time was short and also because I did not feel like myself. Only later did I know that it was MOON DAY. No wonder I felt so lethargic and I couldnt even lift my seat up for lolasanas.
My shoulder, left, the infraspinatus and teres minor, have been aching and feeling tender for a long while. I tried tennis ball therapy and it feels awesome painful but the gimp is still there.
Today I did a good easy flow with Katryn B, lots of one legged downward dog and kiss the knees, fire hydrant pose, chaturanggas and navasanas. Then continued with Noah M, whose flow I didnt quite like. I ended up cutting it short because it puts a lot of emphasis on my arms and I wanted a strong legs practice.
My shoulder, left, the infraspinatus and teres minor, have been aching and feeling tender for a long while. I tried tennis ball therapy and it feels awesome painful but the gimp is still there.
Today I did a good easy flow with Katryn B, lots of one legged downward dog and kiss the knees, fire hydrant pose, chaturanggas and navasanas. Then continued with Noah M, whose flow I didnt quite like. I ended up cutting it short because it puts a lot of emphasis on my arms and I wanted a strong legs practice.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Weekend fun!
Yoga weekend.
Its been great as usual for me. I woke up Saturday for a much needed run, a simple slow 5.5km. Then I did a 30 minutes post run stretch with Tiffany C, which was simple and sweet, a lot of forward holds, with minor twists. Then the fun part - a yin/yang class with felicia and dice! Saturday is arm balance day - so it was a great class for me as it had eka pada koundiyanasana 2, flying crow pose and astravkrasana (my favorite!)
The yin part was sweetly torturous - the dragon lunge was painful and my face was contorted. The pigeon pose was deepest than I've ever been, I could feel my hips and outer hips working and releasing. It was really good. When dice stepped in he had us do warrior and reverse warrior back and forth that reallllly burned the thigh muscle - worse than climbing up the steepest hills! Then we started off with eka pada koundiyanasana 2, which I somehow managed to get. The flying crow pose was hard... could not even find the connection between lifting and letting go, could not even engage. Astravakrasana was good/
Sunday is backbends!
I started with Dice energetic backbends, it was a great prep class for me as we did many backbend lunges. A lot about stretching the side of your waist, elongating your torse, keeping your ribs in, putting your sternum up, it was a tough workout, but fun. We had to do some hanuman backbends, but I couldnt get there yet so it was semi hanuman with extended chest.
Then a 60 minutes hatha backbend basics with Noah M. It was good... and HARD. Something simple as just stretching your arms straight, elbows straight, juicing your ears was hard core. We did a lot of those lunges, stretching up until I could explode. A lot of arching your upper back looking up towards the ceiling. We also had to do some dhanurasana kickback, which felt good to the shoulders. Then bhujangasana, salambhasana, upward facing dog, all good.
I finished with a simple 15 minutes of shoulder tune up.
Its been great as usual for me. I woke up Saturday for a much needed run, a simple slow 5.5km. Then I did a 30 minutes post run stretch with Tiffany C, which was simple and sweet, a lot of forward holds, with minor twists. Then the fun part - a yin/yang class with felicia and dice! Saturday is arm balance day - so it was a great class for me as it had eka pada koundiyanasana 2, flying crow pose and astravkrasana (my favorite!)
The yin part was sweetly torturous - the dragon lunge was painful and my face was contorted. The pigeon pose was deepest than I've ever been, I could feel my hips and outer hips working and releasing. It was really good. When dice stepped in he had us do warrior and reverse warrior back and forth that reallllly burned the thigh muscle - worse than climbing up the steepest hills! Then we started off with eka pada koundiyanasana 2, which I somehow managed to get. The flying crow pose was hard... could not even find the connection between lifting and letting go, could not even engage. Astravakrasana was good/
Sunday is backbends!
I started with Dice energetic backbends, it was a great prep class for me as we did many backbend lunges. A lot about stretching the side of your waist, elongating your torse, keeping your ribs in, putting your sternum up, it was a tough workout, but fun. We had to do some hanuman backbends, but I couldnt get there yet so it was semi hanuman with extended chest.
Then a 60 minutes hatha backbend basics with Noah M. It was good... and HARD. Something simple as just stretching your arms straight, elbows straight, juicing your ears was hard core. We did a lot of those lunges, stretching up until I could explode. A lot of arching your upper back looking up towards the ceiling. We also had to do some dhanurasana kickback, which felt good to the shoulders. Then bhujangasana, salambhasana, upward facing dog, all good.
I finished with a simple 15 minutes of shoulder tune up.
Friday, October 12, 2012
glowing!
Did primary series on Thursday.
I came to enjoy my mix of ashtanga (which is personal) and other forms of yoga - vinyasa flow, yin, etc. To me doing ashtanga is like delving deep into my own sacred time and enjoying every single second of torture. Most of the time I want the practice to end. But I ended up finishing it. Loving it, relishing it. I made a point to make urdhva dhanurasana as the main focus of this practice to enjoy it more. And I did... I am getting better in my backbends. So my primary yesterday was sweet, slow, and this time I was able to focus on my breath. I did supported headstand with blocks.
Later in the evening I kicked up to a 5 seconds handstand and pincha. At night I ended with pigeon pose, reverse pigeon, mermaid, eka pada raja kapotasana, puppy pose, supported backbend, utrasana, and dropback practice.
This morning I did a class with Dharren R, just a 15 minutes wake up class. It had a lot of sweet variation - eagle arms with tree leg, lots of side stretches (reverse warrior seems to be the recurring theme) warrior 1 and 11. Then I continued with stephanie s sweaty flow, which had me in a dolphin side plank variation, which burned my arms more than my core! It was nice, the mermaid pose and spidey were good.
I attempted to try to do Kathryn B super lunge flow but gave up because I was too tired.
I came to enjoy my mix of ashtanga (which is personal) and other forms of yoga - vinyasa flow, yin, etc. To me doing ashtanga is like delving deep into my own sacred time and enjoying every single second of torture. Most of the time I want the practice to end. But I ended up finishing it. Loving it, relishing it. I made a point to make urdhva dhanurasana as the main focus of this practice to enjoy it more. And I did... I am getting better in my backbends. So my primary yesterday was sweet, slow, and this time I was able to focus on my breath. I did supported headstand with blocks.
Later in the evening I kicked up to a 5 seconds handstand and pincha. At night I ended with pigeon pose, reverse pigeon, mermaid, eka pada raja kapotasana, puppy pose, supported backbend, utrasana, and dropback practice.
This morning I did a class with Dharren R, just a 15 minutes wake up class. It had a lot of sweet variation - eagle arms with tree leg, lots of side stretches (reverse warrior seems to be the recurring theme) warrior 1 and 11. Then I continued with stephanie s sweaty flow, which had me in a dolphin side plank variation, which burned my arms more than my core! It was nice, the mermaid pose and spidey were good.
I attempted to try to do Kathryn B super lunge flow but gave up because I was too tired.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Morning Yoga!
Early morning yoga makes me happy and in a good mood.
I realized that I have sort of not become attached to Ashtanga... which is good, in a way, because I know all about repetitive stress injuries. Not to say that Ashtanga gives you injuries, but you can get a little overexcited and overwork your joints. Especially in a practice that is as taxing as ashtanga. I am glad of my decisions to do ashtanga only 3 days a week, 5 max, but 5 is very rare. I like my cozy little ashtanga schedule - either monday wednesday and friday or tuesday thursday and saturday. And in between, I have fun with other types of yoga, my favorites would be a basic hatha, or a vinyasa flow, or restorative and yin! Before 'glow', I used to have my own fun with my own home sequence, taken off yoga journal's home practice. I still treasure them to be honest, and if in a pinch with no internet connection and resources I would turn to the home practices as a guidance.
But with glow now I am having a ball of a time discovering classes and teachers I would never though I'd have access to. Today I did a nice 20 mins sequence of morning yoga with Amy I. Very simple routine, cat and cow, downward dog, one legged downward dog, then with a twist, bow pose, warrior 1, half moon, bound half moon - that got me sweating - pigeon pose and twisted pigeon. It was a very good workout for 20 minutes! I continued with Kathryn B, a 30 minutes flow with reclined hamstring stretches ala ashtanga, with you leg to the side and cross over while the other leg is flat on the floor. Then some thread needle with the thighs, then puppy pose, thread the needle with the shoulders, warrior 1 and warrior 2, triangle pose, and little handstand kicks, which I failed miserably. It then followed with some twisting poses, which felt good.
Love it!! I feel like doing yoga all the time!
I realized that I have sort of not become attached to Ashtanga... which is good, in a way, because I know all about repetitive stress injuries. Not to say that Ashtanga gives you injuries, but you can get a little overexcited and overwork your joints. Especially in a practice that is as taxing as ashtanga. I am glad of my decisions to do ashtanga only 3 days a week, 5 max, but 5 is very rare. I like my cozy little ashtanga schedule - either monday wednesday and friday or tuesday thursday and saturday. And in between, I have fun with other types of yoga, my favorites would be a basic hatha, or a vinyasa flow, or restorative and yin! Before 'glow', I used to have my own fun with my own home sequence, taken off yoga journal's home practice. I still treasure them to be honest, and if in a pinch with no internet connection and resources I would turn to the home practices as a guidance.
But with glow now I am having a ball of a time discovering classes and teachers I would never though I'd have access to. Today I did a nice 20 mins sequence of morning yoga with Amy I. Very simple routine, cat and cow, downward dog, one legged downward dog, then with a twist, bow pose, warrior 1, half moon, bound half moon - that got me sweating - pigeon pose and twisted pigeon. It was a very good workout for 20 minutes! I continued with Kathryn B, a 30 minutes flow with reclined hamstring stretches ala ashtanga, with you leg to the side and cross over while the other leg is flat on the floor. Then some thread needle with the thighs, then puppy pose, thread the needle with the shoulders, warrior 1 and warrior 2, triangle pose, and little handstand kicks, which I failed miserably. It then followed with some twisting poses, which felt good.
Love it!! I feel like doing yoga all the time!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Crazy weekend classes
It's been one crazy weekend of yoga. I thank my internet connection and the access to many awesome yoga videos.
Saturday morning I did a crazy standing flow class with KB. It was supposed to warm me up, and it did, but it was mild. Lots of warrior one and two, half moon, lunges. I continued with a one hour session with Jo T, who uses the word rhomboid as a key in her class, so I was expecting lots of upper body workout. But it was mostly just forward bend, janu sirsasana, some lunges and sun salutations. It's different, but what I loved the most was the slow gradual buildup to stronger poses. I felt tired, without really sweating much.
Then I decided to go for a yoga class. I expected thst it would be a vinyasa class today but she changes her schedule every first saturday of the month. So it was actually a full primary series led. I was on my period! Did not see this coming. But I ended up doing the whole practice except for the finishing sequence. It was actually awesome, and I was veryyyyyyy tired. I think I might have compromised my chaturranga due to the tiredness and I could feel the front of my shoulders a little bit sore. But what I hate the most about going to a class is how easy my ego gets in the way, especially when I am the most 'advanced' student/ I hate it when that happens. Because it is very hard to keep my mind focused on NOT feeling the ego. This is hard because I came from a background of sports where you should feel your pride and that churns you on. Also I noticed how short I've been holding the poses for. We did the class with david robson's gentle drumbeat and his counting is superlong!! But it works. I feel like I've been cheating on myself a little bit with the short 5 breaths. Need to breathe longer.
Today I woke up to a crazy 30 flow with KB. It has a loooot of lunges, with one leg downward dog and pike (she has us kissing our knees hehe) and crescent pose. The crescent pose was crazy aweosme... and tough. Lifting my whole body up, lifting my chest up, it was all I could do not to explode from the sheer effort of it. Oh I always have a hard time with my upper backbend. It was a very challenging class! It ends with eka pada raja kapotasana, but by that time my psoas were screaming. I did not even remember how my upper body felt like because my hips were on fire.
I finished with a nice 45 minutes of shoulder opening poses with Tiff C, who looks a whole lot like Natalie Portman. She's just too pretty. With her earrings and all. Her shoulder openers were intense, and I couldn't really settle, found myself squirming left and right just to ease of the mild intense sensation on my supraspinatus and infraspinatus, especially when I arranged them in sort of a cacus arm and played with the angle.
Anyway, I'm kinda hooked with how good yoga makes me feel. I'm so glad I got crazy over this.
Saturday morning I did a crazy standing flow class with KB. It was supposed to warm me up, and it did, but it was mild. Lots of warrior one and two, half moon, lunges. I continued with a one hour session with Jo T, who uses the word rhomboid as a key in her class, so I was expecting lots of upper body workout. But it was mostly just forward bend, janu sirsasana, some lunges and sun salutations. It's different, but what I loved the most was the slow gradual buildup to stronger poses. I felt tired, without really sweating much.
Then I decided to go for a yoga class. I expected thst it would be a vinyasa class today but she changes her schedule every first saturday of the month. So it was actually a full primary series led. I was on my period! Did not see this coming. But I ended up doing the whole practice except for the finishing sequence. It was actually awesome, and I was veryyyyyyy tired. I think I might have compromised my chaturranga due to the tiredness and I could feel the front of my shoulders a little bit sore. But what I hate the most about going to a class is how easy my ego gets in the way, especially when I am the most 'advanced' student/ I hate it when that happens. Because it is very hard to keep my mind focused on NOT feeling the ego. This is hard because I came from a background of sports where you should feel your pride and that churns you on. Also I noticed how short I've been holding the poses for. We did the class with david robson's gentle drumbeat and his counting is superlong!! But it works. I feel like I've been cheating on myself a little bit with the short 5 breaths. Need to breathe longer.
Today I woke up to a crazy 30 flow with KB. It has a loooot of lunges, with one leg downward dog and pike (she has us kissing our knees hehe) and crescent pose. The crescent pose was crazy aweosme... and tough. Lifting my whole body up, lifting my chest up, it was all I could do not to explode from the sheer effort of it. Oh I always have a hard time with my upper backbend. It was a very challenging class! It ends with eka pada raja kapotasana, but by that time my psoas were screaming. I did not even remember how my upper body felt like because my hips were on fire.
I finished with a nice 45 minutes of shoulder opening poses with Tiff C, who looks a whole lot like Natalie Portman. She's just too pretty. With her earrings and all. Her shoulder openers were intense, and I couldn't really settle, found myself squirming left and right just to ease of the mild intense sensation on my supraspinatus and infraspinatus, especially when I arranged them in sort of a cacus arm and played with the angle.
Anyway, I'm kinda hooked with how good yoga makes me feel. I'm so glad I got crazy over this.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Scattered Mind
I noticed that my home practice has been a little bit scattering. I used to practice with complete focus on my breathing, and which legs to cross behind and jump back, etc. But now my attention and focus are everywhere. I would even stop to check my phone! I do not know why this happens. The quality of my practice still is satisfactory, I feel like my urdvha Dhanurasana is improving day by day, but I feel like now it's more of a physical practice than also a mental one. It used to be totally emotional for me as well, and sometimes I could feel my mind tuning out to the rest of the world and concentrating only the sound of my breathing. I lost that...
Improvements: WAY BETTER chaturranga, and to my pleasure utthita Hasta Padangustasana has improved SO MUCH, thanks to la ruga's teaching. I am able to bring my feet up to my nose at all three poses. It also feels easier to stand and balance.
My Mary D feels tighter on my right than my left. And my Urdvha Pindasana is also better... I can balance on my shoulders only now, but my arms are not straight yet.
Love the practice today nevertheless.
Improvements: WAY BETTER chaturranga, and to my pleasure utthita Hasta Padangustasana has improved SO MUCH, thanks to la ruga's teaching. I am able to bring my feet up to my nose at all three poses. It also feels easier to stand and balance.
My Mary D feels tighter on my right than my left. And my Urdvha Pindasana is also better... I can balance on my shoulders only now, but my arms are not straight yet.
Love the practice today nevertheless.
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