Practice yoga 30 times in 30 days

I apologize for not having posted the follow-up. Life has been busy, tough and I kind of forgot. But I wrote this wrap-up report at VF, my favorite fitness forum and I am copying and pasting it from there. I posted it there on 2/23/2008.

This is my second Sadhana. I officially finished it on 17th, but the “musing” took this long. This is one of the tougher periods in my life. Surprisingly, I had no emotional meltdowns during any practice in contrast to last year when I had cried for some silly reason.. hurt by some insensitivity of a friend. In the grand scheme of things, it was no big deal. But I am surprised at how relatively calm I am this year..perhaps I am finally “growed” up.

Focus: Just doing Yoga everyday.

I was doing Yoga fairly regularly before the Sadhana due to ongoing low back issues.

I started Sadhana on 12/21/07. Had a break in between when I traveled to India. I completed 40 days, but I did miss 5 days… so basically I reached 40 days 45 days after starting my Sadhana (not including my India trip). Well, this is the best I can realistically ever do.

Improvements over last year: I am able to easily do Yoga practices longer than 45 minutes. Last year I was just managing 30 minutes. I don’t mean that poses got easier, I am not fidgeting after 30 mins wanting to stop.

What did I learn: I figured out I am inflexible to varying degrees almost everywhere. And that is OK with me. More than learning, I should say I ‘unlearned’. My big thing is not to push myself and get into poses the wrong way… eg, rounding of back in forward bends. I noticed that I was doing that in cradle stretch when I was doing Backyard as well as Tilak’s Altar. The other big thing is trying to breathe through the practice. I did well for the most part, paying attention to my breath, somehow towards the last few practices, it was hard for me to keep that focus on breath.

My experience so far:

I started doing Yoga as a stretching component when I started running with Cardiocoach. I am thankful to Yoga cross-trainers (these are people I check-in with at VF every week to talk about our fitness activities. They have encyclopedic knowledge when it comes to Yoga). It was their chatter that hugely influenced me and guided me towards Yoga.

The first year, I was eager to do poses, effortlessly did Ardha Chandrasana in my first class and was always eager to try hard poses.

Where I am now:
I cannot do Ardha Chandrasana easily, sometimes I can, sometimes I cannot.
I am not in a hurry to do the poses wrong anymore. I enjoy slower, gentle Yoga, poses with longer holds ( even when I cannot hold it long). Fast Vinyasa just does not work for me. I need to figure out how to best optimize a pose for me and this takes several tries, several minutes in poses for me. Now, that is the big reason why Barbara Benagh clicked with me. It was not love at first try. I started with YFSR and repeatedly did the low back and hip and sacrum segments… but initially I felt it was slow, I was impatient and my hamstring inflexibility made it unbearable to do these sections day after day. But I had great faith in all of you ( I am referring to the friends at videofitness who extolled its virtues). I was using YFSR before I started the Sadhana and I was bit tired of the reclining sections by that point. So, I tried a variety of different DVDs during the Sadhana. This is how my final breakdown looks:

Barbara Benagh: 18 (all YFSR)
Erich Schiffmann 5 ( 4 BB + 1 Gentle Yoga mp3)
Gary Kraftsow: 6 (low back viniyoga)
Lillah Schwartz: 2 (Freedom from back pain)
Darlene Bink: 2 (From the ground up)
Tilak Pyle 1
Mary Pappas: 1 (Y for weight loss)
Raji Thron: 2 (Gentle series)
Rodney Yee 1 Conditioning for athletes)
Peggy Cappy: 2
Sudhakar Kem McRAe 1
Danica McKellar 1
Yoga radiance 2
ETA
Hips and hamstrings 1

( Total no. of practices > 40 as I did two practices on some days )

Realistically, I don’t think I will be able to do Yoga everyday, but I hope to incorporate more and more into my routine.

I thank my Yogini friends at VF, they have been wonderful in terms of their input. I certainly would not have been this committed but for them.

In closing, all I can say is Robert Frost’s famous words: “Miles to go before I get good at Yoga”, but the journey is fun.

Since, it has been a few months, I can also update I actually do Yoga regularly (at least 4 out of the 7 days). It is usually short 30 minute practices.

So, I am happy to cross of this goal from my list as I know I will practice regularly now. I will try to add hyperlinks to some DVD I mentioned. I am currently into Barbara Benagh. I must warn that it might not work for everyone as she is slow and deliberate, but if you really listen to her and follow the instructions, you will find the pose so much more enhanced than what you were doing before, at least that is my personal experience.

NAMASTE!

Deep seated stretching this morning after my workout.
Focused on opening my hips in butterfly.

Taught class tonight and then had the studio to myself. Got very warm fast w/sun salutations working on jumpbacks. Focused on 1/2 moon and revolved half moon. Still congested, so breathing was still strained, but feel great and open.

I always give many modifications and variations in my classes, but am trying to help everyone find their pose for them (at the moment). I am trying to focus on allowing those certain students really grow on their practice and not hold them back b/c of where the rest of the class may be. I always want each person to feel challenged and successful at the same time.

First day officially starting this goal again. Will try to keep track here.

After my bike-run brick, had the studio to myself. Did some sun salutations. Then worked on some different flows from cat-cow, cow-downdog, puppy, etc. Did a sequence W2, RWarrior, Ext. side angle. My legs were shaking so much from before, but felt strong. Was trying on staying grounded and feeling my feet press the earth away. Did locust and then worked on sphinx and standing split on the wall. My arms felt weaker than before. Ended with some seated postures.

It felt good just moving with my own body and trying to flow w/my breath although this was difficult b/c I am very congested. I am working on some new sequences for my class-want the new year to be a bit more interesting in my classes.
:)

I am going to start this again on New Year’s and log it. I am going to a conference in Feb and since I have been teaching 2-4 classes per week, my own practice has dwindled. I will set aside at least 30 mins. a day for this. I will also go to at least 1 class per week at a studio.

Well, yet another go at this goal again. I am planning on doing at least a 30 min session everyday.. focus will be restorative Yoga (mostly). I will traveling a bit next month, but besides that, I hope to stick to this for the next few days. I will not update here everyday, but perhaps a weekly entry or may be I will follow Librarian’s method.

Today was Yoga for stress relief : Low back section and evening revival.

Namaste!

I just completed this again for the 2nd time

so great!

I was thinking of making myself a 365/365 goal, but that just might be a little too much…

30 in 30

today is 3/30

11 Sept – 10 Oct

editing this – I had to start again

today is 4/30

22 Sept – 21 Oct

I don’t see myself completing it any time soon, although I have been more religious in my stretching routines thanks to taking up running. The main reason for putting this aside for now, is that I need a bit of room to add another ‘thing’.

I’ve been sooo bad at keeping track, but yoga has truly become part of my everyday life-part of me. I am growing deeper and deeper in my practice and am continuing to teach my adult class. I am starting another class this week and will also teach a kids yoga class at my gym this week. I hope to incorporate more kids classes too. There’s a new free center opening in a nearby town where I hope to teach a class there and I’m continuing my own training and working towards my RYT 200 hrs.
Yoga has really helped me stay strong and focused in my first triathlon and I am reminded of my breath. This helped me so much in the bike and run portions! I didn’t even think about it benefiting me in this area, but it really has!

Anyone in the NYC area, I took the Karma Kids Yoga training recently and it was fun and inspiring :)

...this was just not achieveable for me currently but hopefully, it will find its way back on my list at a future time. for now, trying to exercise 4 times a week and do yoga at least once.