When I’m having a little trouble getting a practice going myself, I turn to Baron.

I don’t have the benefit of a class nearby to depend on when I’m in need of guidance so this handy dandy set of CD’s is great in a pinch… and when I just want to merely follow rather than be thinking about what postures I want/need to come next. I just plain love this set of CD’s.

There is the 75 minute Vinyasa. It never seems like over an hour and I feel like I’ve touched on every muscle by the end.

There are a couple of shorty 20 minute practices for when I’m in need of just a little perk.

Now that I have something of a dedicated space, with a CD player, and as I continue training through the summer (after this next fun tri, half marathon second weekend in August) I plan to be using these more.

I get so tired of my own voice in my head I have to remember I’ve got a session with Baron I can always turn to….

This morning’s practice was a good one.  Forty minutes of lengthening lovliness… Sure, there was battle from “Age of Empires” screaming from the office computer beyond… too loud not to be noticed, but hey, when you’re in the flow, it’s all good.

As we stood in Mountain Pose at the beginning of practice, I stated to husband, “Here’s the deal.  You’re on the own for Sun Salutations A and B.  At your own pace.  Five of ‘A’, and then if you need, follow me for ‘B’.  But I won’t be cueing.  Again, you’re on your own here.  Yeah?”

“I’ll follow you.”

And so he did.  But I left it up to him as I really wanted to enjoy my practice today and not interrupt my own flow to speak.  To cue.  While I have now had a little experience in leading a group and speaking my way through, I still haven’t got a good handle on maintaining my own breath and flow while doing so.

Today I just didn’t want to even try.  And it sure felt good.

Which brings me to an email I received this morning from Heather, about to take on leading a class herself, and how I designed the practice for the class I led this winter.  In the spirit of honesty, and as I sheepishly explained to Heather, I really didn’t design much outside of my own practice.  I pretty much just modified what I have been doing in my living room/bedroom/basement/playroom for the last eight years.  I know my practice and its variations like the back of my hand and this is what I felt comfortable presenting to a group.

Understand, Heather, and everyone else, I am not a teacher, certified or otherwise.  But I sure love my yoga and with enough disclaimers to save my crazy ass, I was able to lead a class.  Perhaps I will pursue certification and work on my teaching chops more formally in future, but as it is, I have enough on my plate.  And that goes ditto for taking on another class.

I love my practice.  I used to love it alone.  Now I am enjoying it with hubby.  But leading a group… hmmmmmm….

In the grind that is daily life, along with the added grind that is triathlon training, not only regular yoga practice gets overlooked, but as a result so does maintaining my practice blog. Well, I was pleasantly nudged this morning with the reminder that people are reading….  I shall try to keep on the posting stick.
As per above, practice, until this week has fallen by the wayside. However, yesterday, Hubby felt a need for lengthening and got me up off the couch for a 35 minute session. As I peruse the last several posts, it seems Hubby can take the credit for any semblance of yoga that is getting done. As was the case yesterday.

And thankfully he did. With regular training over these past many weeks, particularly the amount of running I’m doing… Muscles. Shortening. Badly!

Oh Boy! Feel those hamstrings!

I focused on the trusty and reliable sun salutations.  Starting slow and easy, we built heat and gradually… oh, so very gradually, the backs of my legs gave up a little of their tension.  Even as the flow became more vigourous, I didn’t push.  I listen to my muscles.  This day they were definitely scolding- OK, maybe it was more like nagging- “Sure, nurture the the cardio, the endurance, all the glamour of the distance work.  But we’ll show you!  Oh, yes.  Just try to touch your toes!  Ha!  That’ll teach you to ignore the stretch, the lengthen, the cleansing breath… the quiet.  With you it’s all about ‘how far’… you forget about ‘how deep’. ”
We are 5 days and counting until event. Yoga is scheduled twice more between then and now in attempt to make ammends. Before Sunday. Whistling dixie, no doubt… but every little stretch- and cleansing ujjayi breath- has to help!

Today, a perfect sunny Sunday… I yoga with husband.  Not ideal, as I like the meditative aspects of a solitary practice.  But, if we weren’t doing it together today, I don’t know that I would get one done.  It’s also a great exercise in cuing, should I take on a group again any time soon… or be requested to take over a class at the last minute.

The kids are thoroughly engaged in their weekend morning laziness and allow us and hour or so uninterrupted.

A great way to begin a perfect sunny day.  And the week.  Though a run still hangs over for today…

A good day!

Husband and I did yoga together yesterday.

It’s fun. Sometimes I actually like the company. And God/Allah/Eddie Vedder knows I probably wouldn’t have got in a practice at all if he hadn’t suggested doing one together.

Only catch. He doesn’t do it very often. So, I lead. Which means, I have to speak. Cue. Maybe not as good as it could have been for me. OK… so not the first time he’s heard that…. I kid!

I love a vigorous Vinyasa. So, this was OK. Struggled balancing getting my breath in any flow… when choking on words. Anyhow, he liked it. In training for this damned tri, the both of us, we need the added benefits of pulling a regular practice (twice weekly…maybe) out of our butts. Along with the rest of our training.

Had nearly four year old Fifi watching me, following me from side to side, “I will follow your face… teehee!”

From side plank, conscious of keeping feet active, heels pressing towards wall, belling button drawing towards spine, ribs high, thighs up, tail bone pulling towards heels, and finally, jaw relaxed, “Ummm… no, please… not now.”

“teehee.”

Enjoying running. Need yoga to keep me from seizing up in hamstrings… and attitude!

Well, after a couple of months of inactivity- yogic and otherwise- I managed to teach a class at the behest of neighbor teacher who was unable to make it herself, in addition to attending one of hers later in the week.

I’m also back into running. So its a triathlon. So its less than two months away. Just, so…

Running is a good start. The bike and swim training will begin next week. Baby steps.

I would also love to make sure that a regular yoga practise is made a priority as well… to keep my long idle muscles from becoming seized, inflamed, downright angry masses of under-appreciated tissue.

A great week for physical activity, despite the nasty early-March type weather.

I attended the 5:15 class of our local yoga instructor- and yes, unlike myself, certified- a perfect experience in length and relaxation.  Perfect in that at the end of it I felt deliriously and blissfully, unwound.  An absolutely lovely, so necessary, experience after a day- any day.

Despite now leading my own class, I am a paid student in this, her latest session.  I am happy to be so.  She is the only real instructor within a 25 mile radius and I want to do my part to see that she is able to remain in our little, tourist driven, outpost.

It was a wonderful thing, and another wonderous experience in the Spirit of Yoga.  Wonderous may be a little over the top, but competetion among most industries and professions in our area is fierce, from real estate to the arts and people are frequently driven, out of sheer self-preservation, to unfriendly, bitter and resentful behaviour.  It’s dog-eat-dog, for sure.
I naturally, and mistakingly, assumed this attitude would extend to the business of yoga.  Even when one of us is not really even in the business of yoga. I was experiencing a stressful, and thankfully unwarranted, paranoia that my teaching presence and the fact that I am entertaining what might otherwise be paying clientele for neighbor/instructor would essentially… piss her off.  I wish to step on no one’s toes.

I was welcomed with nothing but smiles.  Graciousness.  Open-ness.  Nothing less than a Spirit of Yoga.

I had an interesting conversation with a mate from the class I’m teaching- using term oh-so-most loosely- where she brought to my attention the importance of modifications.  Not only modifications but perhaps a less than acute attention to detail in the postures.  Very nicely, of course.  This particular student of yoga is certainly the most knowledgeable of any of the participants, and is more likely than I towards due diligence in fleshing out the “perfect” posture.

I understand this, particularly from someone who is not partial to a “flow” and prefers to learn a pose, practice and refine it and “be” in, and with, that posture.  Developing a consciousness of the posture.  It is because of this approach to yoga that I listen to her.  I tend towards a focus on the movement as it is guided by the breath and the refinement of the posture may not be of priority.  And certainly as I find the “teacher” in me, trying to maintain the flow of the class, the details of each posture may get lost.

There is validity and benefit to both approaches.

So, thank you, fellow student.  I needed to have my attention drawn more into the details.  At this level of yoga practice for these others, if I don’t someone could, in fact, injure themselves.

I am pleased with this conversation partly because I learned something, but mainly because I returned her call “open” to learning something and accepting feedback.  Something, in a previous life, I would not have been.  I would have been caught up in my ego and my own right-ness and authority as “leader” or “teacher”.

The result.  An open relationship with neighbor and fellow student/teacher.  And, in her gratitude for my doing this, she is getting me a subscription to Yoga Journal.   Wow!

Open heart and mind…. there are many benefits.

How’s that for motivation. I shall share it with the class this evening- get everybody working towards a pretty vigorous flow! Loosely stated, one hour of dynamic Vinyasa practice should equate to a whopping 439 calories burned!!

I just completed a lovely 40 minutes, 30 of which were ass-kicking. 215 and one-half calories. I’ll take ‘em! Still need to work on the gall-’durned Savasana. Quiet the mind. Quiet. Sssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………………

A great 75 minute practice today followed by a nice, if somewhat inadequate, five minutes of Savasana. 

Closing my practice with a good long Savasana is still a challenge and one I will continue to work on.  But I feel so good and I am ready to move on and tackle the demands of this crazy house.  I also knew there was a pair of pretty blue eyeballs staring at me from outside the glass door that provides my only barrier from the rest of the house.  I had an audience.  An audience anticipating my completing practice very, very quickly…  so, I did.

Despite a somewhat rushed ending, I really felt like I had made some progress in a few postures.  Namely anything involving a forward bend.  I am much more conscious of bending at the hips instead of my waist and lower back.  As well, when seated I am pretty effectively combining my breath with the posture and allowing myself to extend through the spine on the inhale and deepen the stretch on the exhalation.  It felt very good today. 

I was also loving the twists.  A good wringing is necessary these days.

I’m feeling pretty zen about this upcoming inaugural class I will be teaching in a few days.  While I was allowing myself to get right bound about it earlier in the week as of yesterday I forced myself to step back and get some perspective.  This is something I have thought about doing for some years, now and I am now fortunate enough to be asked to do so by a close, safe group of friends and neighbors.  It’s all good.  I will certainly expand and grow my own practice through this opportunity while, I hope, providing some fun and oh so beneficial physical activity to some very lovely women.