#365Yoga Day 59

Confidence is closely linked to how well our perceptions match reality.

Matthieu Ricard

#365Yoga Day 57 & 58 - The Heart Chakra

Where did the weekend go?  I have been so caught up in stuff that I totally forgot to submit a post yesterday.  Whoops!  I realized that today while I was lying in Savasana at the end of a wonderful Heart Chakra class my friend Kim taught.  Funny what comes up when you finally slow down long enough to listen!

It's been a great yoga weekend.  I did a Power Yoga class yesterday led by Dave Farmar and as I mentioned above, I attended a class this afternoon focused on opening the heart chakra.  Yummy!  And I made some real progress on my take home final and on the study guide for my in-class test.  So this evening I'm putting away the books and shutting off the computer.  I might even turn on the Oscars (and mute it of course because I'm really only interested in the clothes!) for awhile and then crash.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!
Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 56 - Surrender

Today I took a mental health day from work.  I strongly recommend you do this more often than not to maintain your sanity.  I can handle cube world for only so long before I start to twitch.  I had started twitching.  I have spent the better part of today immersed in my yoga from practicing to studying for my upcoming final.  Now I'm going to do some reading in both Yoga International and Yoga Magazine.  Yipee!

Judith's entry for today was perfect for me.  The topic is surrender.  Yesterday I tweaked my left hamstring again in practice.  It's been year since my initial injury and it had slowly started to feel better.  Well yesterday I gave it a run for its money and I lost.  I spent the evening sitting on an ice pack.  Not fun!  So today when I got on the mat I told myself that I would not, under no circumstance, battle my hamstring.  I let it run the show.  I'm feeling pretty good as a result.  No ice pack needed.  This is a new approach for me, but one I think I could get used to.  Letting go can truly take us farther than holding on sometimes!

Have a great weekend!
Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 55

Day 12 of the detox and I'm hungry!  I need to do a better job at having some decent snacks around.  My teacher training instructor said something very interesting when she described her own detox process:  you think you need something, but you really don't.  I've been struggling with that today!  Instead of diving face first into the box of crackers like I wanted to, I got on the mat for a decent 60 minute detox flow.  I'm glad I did.  Now I can go and have a healthy dinner and move on to other things.  Like meditating.

I hope your Thursday was good!
Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 54

A terrible case of insomnia last night has left me feeling ragged today.  I will be lucky if I even get on the mat before I fall asleep standing up.

I leave you with some wise words from the Buddha:

Things that are empty make a noise,
the full is always quiet.
The fool is like a half-filled pot,
the wise one is like a deep still pool.


Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 53

Today I practiced reminding myself that I'm already holy.  I really needed to dig deep to stay in tune with that mantra this afternoon when I had a bit of a "moment" at the local drug store.  I was proud of myself because I remained balanced instead of losing my cool like I normally do.  I very calmly turned around and walked away from the situation.  I had a feeling that things weren't going to go my way and reminded myself that there's always tomorrow.  It worked!  I let go of the moment and moved on to the next knowing that I was doing the right thing.  I came home, threw out my mat and did a very nice gentle practice.

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 52 - Follow your Heart

Judith's entry for today:  Wherever your heart leads, follow.  This has never been an easy thing for me to do because I've always given my head too much power.  Thanks to my meditation practice I feel I've gotten better at putting my head in its place and paying closer attention to my heart.  I find it easier to relax into moments now and not over analyze every nuance.  I just allow my emotions to guide me; the results seem more authentic.

I hope you were able to follow your heart today!

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 51

Happy Sunday!  A good day with a yummy hour long practice dedicated to backbends.  I always feel so invigorated after opening my heart.  These practices are my favorite way to start a day!

This is day six of my 21 day detox diet and I'm happy to report that I'm feeling great and looking forward to another week of eating well.  I honestly think that by incorporating these healthy habits into my life I've improved my practice.  I certainly feel lighter and more in tune with things.  I highly recommend trying a mini detox to take your yoga to the next level.

This week will be focused on plowing through my take home final and studying for my in class final.  So much homework!!  But one month from today I will be done and officially certified.

Have a great week!
Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 50

The mind produces a powerful illusion,

that of existing in this body which we consider

to be our own.

Kalu Rinpoche

#365Yoga Day 49 Happy Friday

I can't begin to tell you what amazing weather we're having here in Central Virginia.  It's crazy.  It is 77 degrees right now.  Is it still February?  It doesn't feel like it!

A decent Friday except for being a little hungry.  I need to stock up on some food to keep things interesting during this detox.  I'm a little tired of salads!

Great flow class today.  I honestly think my Ustrasana is getting better!

Today's offering is courtesy of Pema Chodron:
We can awaken to basic goodness, our birthright.


Be good and have a great weekend!
Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 48 - The breath

Today wasn't an easy day.  I didn't sleep well last night and I am really starting to feel the effects of the detox.  At one point I realized I wasn't breathing fully.  I got up and walked around the office taking full, deep breaths.  It's amazing how much vitality can return to the body by just doing that simple exercise.  I returned to my cube feeling better.

Despite the day starting on a bit of a sour note (wishing for coffee and popcorn) it has ended on a much brighter one.  A fellow teacher-in-training (Kim; she already has a certification from YogaFit and is currently teaching) offered up a volunteer teaching opportunity at her gym to the group on Sunday.  I took her up on it and today she responded positively to my interest.  I am so excited.  I'm hoping things come together and I can start in April.  WOW....it just blows my mind.

I hope you all had a wonderful day and if it was as nice in your world as it was in mine (65 degrees!) you were able to get out and enjoy it!

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 47

Day 2 of the detox has gone well and I'm happy to report that I'm feeling pretty good.  I think I just need to keep a decent selection of nutritious items on hand and I'll be fine!

I took time today to really do a good practice and my body thanked me.  Usually after a teacher training weekend I am a little slow to get back on the mat after such an intense few days.  Parsvakonasana felt particularly yummy this evening.

I am waiting to hear back from a teacher training buddy regarding a possible volunteer teaching opportunity after the program is over.  I'm excited; I hope it's still available!!

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 46 - Detox Diet Day 1

Day 1 of the detox diet was awesome.  Surprisingly I wasn't hungry.  And I hit the store tonight so I've got more goodies for the rest of the week and should be able to head off any crazy cravings.  And a big YAHOO goes out to my buddy Clair for getting through the first day too.  She's owning this and I'm so proud of her!  You're the bomb lady!!!

Today's offering is from the 14th Dalai Lama:
The true essence of humankind is kindness.  There are other qualities which come from education or knowledge, but it is essential, if one wishes to be a genuine human being and impart satisfying meaning to one's existence, to have a good heart.


Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 45 - Resistance

Who felt resistance today?  I sure did; first thing this morning as soon as that alarm went off at 5:11am.  Oh heck no!  I totally resisted the start of this 45th day of the year.  But I prompted myself by saying that it was going to be 65 degrees today and if I didn't get my butt out of bed I wouldn't be able to enjoy any of it. So I got up and tried to approach the day from a place of gratitude.  It turned out to be a pretty decent day.

I think resistance is probably going to be an underlying theme for me for the next 21 days as I move through my detox.  I'm geared up and ready to go though.  I have an arsenal of recipes and an wonderful partner in crime. I truly believe we can do this.  We chatted today and agreed that our meditation practices are really going to come into play these next few weeks.  When that resistance rears its ugly head we'll need to stop, check in and pay attention to that aversion but not give in to it.  This is going to be tough, but rewarding work.  I'm so looking forward to it.

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 44 - Forward Bends

Well I had another "ah ha" moment today in training.  It came when I realized that once again I've been doing poses incorrectly.  I can't go down nearly as far as I thought I could in a bend if I want to maintain the integrity of my lumbar spine.  Duh!  I learned about the importance of the shoulder girdle in bends and how most folks just plow right into the pose and don't realize the potential damage they're doing.  Today was a practice in patience and being with myself and understanding that sometimes we need to take a few steps back to make forward progress.

On a different note I'd like to make an announcement.  My wonderful teacher training buddy Clair (check her out at Own Your Backbone) and I have decided to do a 21-day detox.  Part of our training this weekend was a discussion on Ayurveda and I think we both got inspired to take our practice to the next level.  SO.....without further ado I would like to announce our start date....drum roll please....Tuesday, February 15th.  I do all this because I've read that people are more likely to follow through on things if more people know about it.  I guess it's that feeling of accountability!  Clair and I have already established a diet plan and decided to be in touch daily to motivate each other.  Has anyone done a 3 week detox before; if so can you pass along some tips and suggestions??  Any advice or feedback would be welcome!

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 43 - Arm Balances

What a day!!  Let me first start by saying that I have a very limited practice in arm balances so everything that was taught today was pretty much new to me.  The most striking thing I learned was that I have been doing arm balances incorrectly!  Getting over that samskara was a bit tough.  I had to learn a whole new way of thinking and approaching the poses.  But now I feel I have a decent handle on them; certainly the component parts that make them work.  Today's class included Vasisthasana, Bakasana, Bhujapidasana, Parsva Bakasana and Tittibhasana.  As you can probably guess...I'm a bit sore!  I'm afraid of how I'm going to feel in the morning.

Quiz tomorrow on standing twists and Urdhva Dhanurasana.  Off to study.

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 42

Happy Friday!

Today in teacher training we focused on abdominal work and poses likes Vira 3 and Navasana.  It was more mentally challenging than physically for me today.  I had to really focus on my movements and keeping them slow and even rather than just rushing into the pose and trying to fix it once I got there.  My work paid off; I think I did well.  And today's class certainly give me stuff to incorporate into my home practice!!

Tomorrow is arm balances.  Wish me luck!

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 41

When we respect the natural cycle of life,

we find that each of life's stages has a spiritual dimension.

Jack Kornfield

#365Yoga Day 40 - Light on Yoga

Well another teacher training weekend is rapidly approaching and I'm in the midst of another round of self-doubt (this has been the trend for the past 6 months).  Will I able to keep up with the practice?  Is my practice teaching going to suck golf balls?  Please don't let me tank the quiz!  Phew...it's all very exhausting and frankly I'm damn tired of it.  Of course the one thing I need to do more than anything this week is to sit on my cushion and calm the monkey mind.  But we all know that doing what's best for us is the hardest thing to do!

As I prepare for the weekend I am finishing some reading in B.K.S. Iyengar's amazing book Light on Yoga.  I would like to share with you a passage that is helping me relax this week.

Page 41
The yogi realizes that his life and all its activities are part of the divine action in nature, manifesting and operating in the form of man.  In the beating of his pulse and the rhythm of his respiration, he recognizes the flow of the seasons and the throbbing of universal life.  


For some reason this gives me peace, to know that my practice is part of a bigger picture.  And maybe if I let go of the ego this weekend I can simply flow with the divine.

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 39 - Impatience

Impatience is my middle name.  If you look up the word in the dictionary you'll see my picture next to it.  Impatience has been something I've been working on for YEARS.  I think I'm getting better at it, but I still have a long way to go.  So when I read Judith's entry this morning I knew this one was just for ME!  The practice I've recently adopted is that when I start to feel a twinge of impatience I immediately focus on my breath and mantra (so-hum).  It has gone a long way to helping me relax into the moment and not become satan's love-child.  I am happy to report that today I only felt that twinge once while waiting at the dentist's office.  There was an elderly lady in front of me who had pretty much emptied her (large) purse onto the counter and was digging through it.  I needed to fill out some new patient paperwork and wanted to get everything over with sooner rather than later.  When the twinge hit I reminded myself (1) her digging in her purse was not a personal attack on me or my time (2) where was the damn fire? what was my hurry to have someone dig at my gums? (3) I wasn't in my cube so be bloody thankful for that!  I actually didn't even need my breath/mantra tool because I'd already relaxed.  Thank goodness!

Oddly enough, before I even looked at today's entry I read a brief article in a flyer called Taste For Life that talked about patience being a virtue.  They cited a 2003 report linking impatience and the risk of hypertension in young adults (granted I've not been a young adult in years, but I still took it personally).  Another study done in 2007 by European researchers found that impatient people are more likely to experience financial insecurity.  Yikes!  Oh...and they say impatient folks are tenser and fatter. Well all of the above is certainly enough for me to take it seriously.

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 38 - Being Nicer

I woke up this morning and my first thought was "I'm going to be nicer today."  Strange I know.  Most people's first thought is probably "coffee".  I meditated on it for a few minutes before I left the house and decided I would focus on AHIMSA today, specifically in terms of thoughts/speech/written word.  So I tried desperately to not think negative thoughts about people who drive 10mph under the speed limit or co-workers whose laziness makes my job a little tedious.  And most importantly I tried not to gossip about others.  When you're really being mindful you can catch yourself sliding down that slippery slope to nastiness.  For me the key is to stop mid-slide and scramble back up and either stopping thinking about it or find just one thing you find nice about that person or situation.  I need to think these nice thoughts every day and not just on random Mondays!

Judith asked us to stop today and recognize the multitude of things we have to be grateful for.  Here are few of mine:

• My Dad
• My boyfriend
• My health
• My friends
• My job
• My health benefits!

What are you grateful for?

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 37 - Gayatri Mantra

Om Bhur Bhuva Swaha

Tat Savitur Varenyam

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi

D'Yo Yona Prachodhyat

Earth, Mid-heaven, Heaven!

Let us meditate on that most

Excellent light of divine Sun

That it may illuminate our Minds

#365Yoga Day 36 - Breathing into discomfort

It's a rainy day in Central Virginia.  Days like this I have a tough time getting motivated to do much of anything.  Thankfully I stuck to my guns and started my day with a great Vinyasa 2 class.  I read Judith's entry before leaving the house today and honestly thought that I probably wouldn't get a chance to practice breathing my anger into being present.  How wrong I was!  I didn't exactly get "angry" during class but I was certainly irritated.  My teacher training instructor has talked on numerous occasions about students who come to classes that are above their skill level.  There was a gentleman next to me today who had done just that.  While I'm trying to settle into my breath and the flow of the class he was literally huffing, puffing, snorting, laughing (when he is falling out of poses) and gesturing wildly on the mat next to me.  It was very distracting.  But I remembered Judith's words and started to concentrate that much harder on my breath and mantra.  It worked.  Pretty soon I stopped sensing him and just worked on jumping back from Bakasana.  Once I recognized he was irritating, but told myself that nothing was going to be gained from clinging to that I was able to move past it.  That was an amazing experience!!  I went on to have a very enjoyable class.

Some good news now.  I can honestly say that I have never won anything.  I can't even win $2 on the scratch off lottery cards.  Well that changed last night when Nancy of Flying Yogini announced on Twitter that I was the winner of the bolster from last month's contest (we had to write about what yoga meant to us and how we are going to live it the next 11 months).  To say I was floored is an understatement. You would have thought I won the darn mega millions the way I was bouncing around the house.  My boyfriend thought I was off my rocker.  I can't wait to get my new bolster!!  Thank you Nancy.  And thank you for your wonderful words of wisdom each day.

Enjoy your day and remember to breathe into discomfort.  It really works!
Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 35

Happy Friday! I have to admit that I don't think I could have gone to work one more day this week.  Or if I did have to go I can't promise I would have worked much.  Life in cube kingdom sucks the energy out of this old body by Friday.  I am in need of rest, relaxation and FOOTBALL.  Oh...and yoga of course!

To review the week, I've been on the mat every day and have done some decent meditation too.  I completed my homework assignments and even got them back with a "good job!" comment.  Those positive words can hold me over for days.  I find my instructor very knowledgeable and to receive praise from her is a huge boost to my ego (in a good way!).

This weekend will include more time on the mat and cushion and a heavy dose of reviewing for my final that is rapidly approaching next month.  I need to get on it because with training next weekend I'm limited in my time.

Best wishes for a relaxing and enjoyable weekend!
Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 34

Today I tried to practice mindfulness and loving kindness toward myself.  Tough work for someone who has trouble sitting in meditation for longer that 20 minutes.  But I kept coming back to it as much as I could and I think that helped keep me centered and focused.  I also printed out this wonderful list from Kimberly Wilson's Tranquility du Jour website.  I love her blogs.  She sends great inspiration just when I need it.  And she keeps me motivated to be creative.

My yoga practice was good today.  I stopped when my shoulders asked me to and went on to do some forward bends and twists.  Instead of trying to figure out what's next, by listening to my body I just know where to go.

I hope your Thursday was a good one.
Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 33 - No Guilt

Generally I try not to get wrapped up in guilt and all it entails.  I remind myself that no one else makes me feel guilty; I make me feel guilty.  Today I’m doing a good job of it.  I had every intention of going to a 6pm Iyengar class tonight, but then the un-thinkable happened.  It turned out to be 66 degrees and sunny.  Now if you are one of the poor souls living in one of the 30+ states covered in snow and ice then certainly you can understand my absolute NEED to get outside and soak up some sun.  Especially since tomorrow’s high is only going to be 42.  So I went for a walk with my headphones and sunglasses on and got a nice dose of Vitamin D.  I came home and unrolled the mat for a brief, but pleasant practice.  So should I still feel guilty?  I think I need to remind myself that I still did yoga, just not the yoga I had initially intended.  Do I feel good as a result of my walk?  Absolutely!  Sunny and 60+ in February?  How can you pass that up?  Morale of the story - get over it and do what feels good!

Namaste'

#365Yoga Day 32 - Adapt

I know this pic doesn't have a thing to do with yoga, but it makes me smile.  How can you not love that face?!

Okay, back to yoga.  Judith's entry for the 1st day of February (how did we get here?!) is about adaptability and letting life and yoga flow through you.  I think I did this pretty well today in my 45 minute practice.  I did a Power Flow class through yogadownload that wanted you to hold plank for long periods of time.  Well I've been having some shoulder issues as of late, and instead of doing what I was told I adjusted (adapted) my practice so I wasn't feeling any pain. Normally I would berate myself for not following directions, but I'm slowing changing that thought pattern (nasty samskara!) and listening to my body.  By letting go and doing what felt right I enjoyed my practice so much more today.

I hope you have enjoyed your first day of February and if you are in one of the 30+ states with weather issues I am truly sorry.  Here in Central VA it is 50 degrees.  Don't hate us!

Namaste'