I just did wheel

I did some Plyometric exercises yesterday in an attempt to try something new (it was fun! and thanks for the workout, Tone It Up!!).  I will definitely keep trying those, as they are fun and still intense.  It's a good cardio addition to yoga, I think.

Well, between those and the time between my last wheel try, my arms got stronger (or, the right part of them got stronger, rather).  I just did wheel -- twice!  From the floor, I should say.  My back already feels amazing.

So, obviously, it's time to walk away from the posture-destroying computer and run errands!!!

Wheel

A few weeks ago I did yoga with a friend and couldn't do wheel.

I just tried again.  My hips and everything to my shoulders go up ... but my arms can't lift.  This is what the pose is, from YogaJournal.com:

 I don't think I have the triceps for it.  So, I need to work on my arm strength.  Tonight I did a ton of planks and everything so I guess my arms could have been tired, too, but I am betting I don't have the triceps for it ...yet.

On the plus side!! Tonight I did a crapped-out, first-time version of Shoulder Pressing Pose.  My feet got this much off the ground -- |     | (quite literally).  But I did it!!!!  Which means I can do it again, and again, and more correctly each time.  Woot!!

Breathing helps ...? Breathing helps!

So far the best thing I have learned from yoga, that I do every day, is breathing.

The deep-throat, concentrated breath has come in handy many times but I can think of two specific incidents.

1) Rabies Shots.  There was a bat in my apartment and it was there overnight and protocol in Boston is you get the rabies shots.  This included, the first time around out of a series of five, immunoglobulins in my derriere.  These are thick liquids.  I got three big ones.  It *really* hurt, I had bruises.  But I got through the actual shots by focusing on my breath and making noise with it.  In .... out .... in .... out .... By the third I was afraid I would scream but my breath helped me.  And sooner than I thought it was over.

2) Thesis Presentation.  I don't get anxious about the presentation, I get anxious about the questions.  It's what I think about DURING presentations.  Tonight, every time my mind wandered, I stopped and took a deliberate breath.  While my actors demonstrated and I was silent, I took deliberate breaths.  And I made it without getting too anxious (or passing out, as another almost did).

So never underestimate the power of the breath.  That is my lesson today.  Another one I keep relearning ;)

Holy Sweatballs!

I haven't posted much as I have been in what they call "thesis hell" (though it hasn't been hellish) and have forgotten that my best weapon is time for myself.  If I give myself just 10 to 20 minutes a day to yoga it up, I'm a much better human being.  I have a feeling I will continue to keep learning this lesson for a little bit before it sticks again.

Anyway.  I started again wanting something to make me sweat.  I did THIS Tara Stiles weight loss routine.  I always watch routines before doing them (and at this point can write the stuff down and do them at my own pace *brushes shoulder off*) and as I watched this one I thought "Fun!  Looks challenging but nothing that will make me really sweat."

WRONG!

I say again: WRONG!

I sweat like a stuck pig.  Granted I have never seen a pig stuck in anything but if they sweat half as much as I did the old addage has truth to it.

And between that, her holiday weight loss routine, some Kundalini stuff I've been checking out, and Pilates, I figured this out (well rather, it smacked me in the forehead when I fell during her legs-up plank thingie): Slow repetition of ANYthing will lead to lots of sweating.  The best part about yoga is that it makes your body work in ways you never thought it could.  Or should, in some cases (upward bow pose, anyone?).  Adding slow repetition between 2 or 3 poses increases the cardio aspect.

Yes, slow repetition.  It sounds backwards!  And you can certainly speed it up depending on your breath.  But forcing your body to go through motions slowly makes ya sweat.  No treadmill needed here.

So, as I go through my "omg I gained HOW much weight this winter?" astonishment, I will keep this in mind.  And I will most definitely be going back to that Tara Stiles routine, as well as the YogAmazing weight loss routine on iTunes.

Warrior (Part One: Finding my Hips)

Today I did a lot of work, so my hips were hiding once again.  I couldn't square myself off right.  I tried a quick routine on YouTube in the morning (thanks Tara Stiles!) but it wasn't quite enough. Tonight, after all that stress of work had settled nicely in my hips, I did a YogAmazing Warrior Flow (thanks, Chaz!)

It was great.  I have been feeling like too many things are out of my control lately, and the warrior poses gave me back control.  They also gave me strength -- both physically and mentally.  They also gave me flexibility -- both physically and mentally (my head almost touching my knees again in forward bend? sweet!).

Warrior poses are also great for my hips.  They simultaneously stretch them out and make them solid.  I feel my strength radiating from my hips -- upward, through my back and to my arms, and downward, through my thighs to my feet.  In warrior sequences, my heart is not my center -- my hips are.  And I *love* it :-)

My arms are too short (Part One: Finding my Hips)

My hips, by the way, are quite well found for today.  I am planning on alternating between short 10-15 minute sequences and all the work I have to do today.  So far, my hips are great.

However!  My arms are quite short!!  I knew I was a torso-y person, with not too much in the way of outer limbs.  But I did NOT realize until today how much longer my legs are than my arms (relatively).  I am doing slower sequences today to help my mind refocus and my body align -- but when I go from any pose where one leg is between my hands, and go back into downward dog, my foot scrapes the mat.  I am lifting my leg up to my chest, but then my knee scrapes my chest.  I am lifting through my arms and pushing back.  No matter what I do my arms feel quite short.

Am I over-extending my body in downward dog?  It feels great to me, but I will try varying distances.  Maybe my legs can just span more space than my arms.  Maybe I need to work on more arm-lengthening poses?

Lengthen, arms!!

Happy Baby (Part One: Finding my Hips)

My "yoga goal" is to be able to do a headstand.  This doesn't mean that I am rushing toward it, or that I will expect to feel astounding achievement and then leave yoga when I do it.  It just means that the practice leading up to doing a headstand will be very beneficial, and allow me to concentrate on my alignment instead of just flopping over things.

I have been able to do camel recently, but have been having trouble stretching out my back afterwards.  I couldn't quite hit the one spot that gets slightly compressed.  Then tonight I remembered Happy Baby.  This is mostly a stretch for your hips (helps me find mine!) but my back gets pushed back into the mat slightly when I do it.  And in just the right spot, too.

So if you do an inversion or backbend that puts some pressure on your spine (be careful!), happy baby could hit the spot.  I love finding the holistic side to poses :)

Part One: Finding my Hips

I have been doing yoga since I was 12, on and off. That's almost 12 years, now. I took a too-long haitus recently because I was "too busy" -- the nice way of saying "lazy," I suppose -- and recently started back at it. I knew I had lost some flexibility. I knew I had lost some strength. But what I didn't realize was I had also lost my hips.

My hips! I couldn't find them, either by touch (too much fat) or with my legs. "Spread your legs hip-width apart" meant nothing to me. Nothing felt right. I got scared that my pelvis, like my motivation and stamina, had left me when I ignored it. No bone structure likes to go unnoticed, after all.

After a brief freak out and some Dove chocolate, I started slow. I used every motion deliberately to find my hips again. They were tight. All the tension of graduate school and being away from family had migrated to my hips. There's lot of space there, if you think about it. Sure, there are organs, but I certainly am not using my uterus right now -- might as well fill it up with that paper I didn't do so well on, or the birthdays I keep missing, right? I tried pose after pose, sequence after sequence, and still, nothing felt right*.

Then I realized that if I was going to focus on my hips, I'd better *focus on my hips*. This meant that whatever I did should be supported -- aka, there should be something underneath my back. So I did bound-angle pose, put a bolster (really, a folded-in-half body pillow) right up to my butt, and laid back onto it. My back was tight at first, but slowly I melted into the pose. I almost literally melted into the pose. I breathed into my hips and that paper fell away. I breathed into my hips and the birthdays dissipated with my exhale. I breathed into my hips ..... and found my hips again. My body felt whole once more.

It's still a struggle, sometimes, to find my hips. There's such a big space between that I still sometimes fill with tension. But if I start every practice with this supported reclining bound-angle pose, the rest of my practice is more focused. I wasn't so worried about my hips running off again.

*If you are wondering, good poses for your hips include pigeon, bound-angle pose, triangle pose, and warrior poses to name a few.