Go directly to your yoga mat, do not open the refrigerator, do not collect the mail.
Kath, Tate, and I tried to go to a free yoga class at Ashtanga Yoga Charlottesville this afternoon but unfortunately it was canceled. 🙁 I was so excited that Tate was interested in going to yoga so hopefully his interest will last through the next time I ask him to go. He does yoga with me about twice a year.
Kath and I did get a lovely 3.5 mile walk in and I got to take the spinal decompression machine for a ride.
This fancy and high priced piece of equipment was one of the items included in the purchase of the clinic and the main reason Tate was super excited about the whole deal. It is a Lordex Spinal Decompression machine and excellent for treating herniated discs among other spine ailments. It felt great and I was at least a foot taller when I stood back up.
My uddiyana was set on practicing yoga so when I arrived back home it was time to get down to it. I walked in the door and immediately turned on a Dave Farmar podcast, distraction is cheap these days so I knew that I must immediately get on my mat. After about 20 minutes the hunger hit. Is it strange that my appetite can go from 0-60 in a matter of minutes? Before long my belly was taking all of my focus away from my pranayama and I committed to finishing another 15 minutes then calling it good and eating dinner.
Dinner was practically instant, reheated split pea soup topped with homemade (strained) yogurt. A hearty hug in a bowl. 🙂
Something Dave said in the podcast Kath and I did on Sunday has stuck with me. I have known for a long time that one focus of yoga can be to learn find calm and focus in uncomfortable situations (long holds, tricky balances, life) but I hadn’t thought about how finding grace in the transitions between poses can translate into “real life”. Dave talked about paying extra attention to the transitions and practicing them with all of the grace, strength, focus, and balance you give to each pose. He also spoke about how this relates to daily life and that transitions, as tricky as they can be, have their own challenges, beauty, and lessons.
My life has been nothing but transitions for the last 13 months so this really resonates with me. Just a new way to think about them.
Time to go back to the kitchen to make some coconut oil fudge (sugar-free of course!).
I would love to try yoga but don’t know where to start. I am a runner and I am so not flexible. I have a stress fracture and think this may be a great time to try yoga. I am not a member of a gym. Where should I start? Oh and I love your blog! 🙂
Leslie,
It’s best to begin yoga with a teacher and at the appropriate level so if you have access to a class at a gym or studio that would be great. Otherwise, there are dozens of videos available for all styles and levels. Collage Video is an online store that carries tons of titles. This routine from Exercise TV is just 10 minutes but will give you a little taste of some of the poses.
Vinyasa, flow, or power yoga (types that are more or less interchangeable in name) is usually what appeals to us movers but I recommend you try a variety of styles if you don’t immediately like it. Yoga varies widely style to style so while you may really dislike your first class or video another style may be perfect for you.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for reading! 🙂