BEHOLD…HOT YOGA…
…on a budget! hahaha
It works, seriously. Oh my muscles felt so warm and loose. Mmm.
Costco heat lamps rule. We barely turn on the heat in the house (we keep the thermostat around 65F) and we just use the space heaters and it saves so much energy. The only thing that sucks is leaving the room and you realize how cold it is in the rest of the house! ;)
Anywho, back to yoga talk.
Yesterday something inside me sort of clicked and I fell in love with yoga!!!
It was like I was running in a grassy field and I saw yoga off in the distance. We both began running toward each other, arms outstretched. It was in slow motion, running, and more running, and finally a twirling, loving embrace.
Yes, it was that good.
Monday’s Lunchtime yoga:
I did Crunch Yoga on my lunchbreak for about 25 minutes. I went back to work energized and ready to roll.
Sarah Ivanhoe is a good instructor. She explains things well. I really enjoy the Crunch yoga DVD because it is great for beginners. I can do the entire 40 minute DVD!! Amazing I know. It is a real confidence booster for beginners. They also offer modified movements in case you can’t do the ones that Sarah demonstrates. The first 30 minutes is yoga and the last 10 focuses on abdominals. And let me tell you the ab stuff is HARD!!!
I did 25 minutes over my lunch break and it was just lovely.
This block is probably the best purchase I made, in addition to my Green Lululemon Biodegradable Align mat.
It is a yoga block and it is great for beginner’s who find they can’t do certain poses. You can put your hand on the block instead of the floor and it gives you a few extra inches! I can maintain my form much better when using the block. It is a real confidence booster! I love it.
The only thing I have been a bit disappointed with in both the P90X and Crunch DVDs is that I find I can’t really zone out and relax because the instructors talk the whole way through the DVD. Does anyone else find that? I guess when I get used to the DVDs I can mute it and put on my own music! Nothing against the instructors, but it is just a bit distracting. I prefer silence or soft music.
Monday evening, I found myself craving more yoga!!
Because I wasn’t in the mood for another instructor-talking DVD, I decided to just print some poses and try it on my own!
Of course, I posed the following question on Twitter:
“Does anyone know where I can find yoga poses to download and print?”
@Janine9148 said to check out yogajournal.com
@balanceisbeauty said to check out yogadownload.com
I checked out Yoga Journal’s pose guide. I love that website and used to frequent it last winter when I was doing yoga a lot. Yoga Journal has something quite fun and unique; you can create your own sequences and print them. I selected about 8 poses and printed it off.
Next, I went to Yoga Download. Another awesome website. I clicked on Yoga Download Printable Guide. It was exactly what I was looking for!
It is 2 pages…
I glanced at all the poses and I was surprised that most of them I could do! No super advanced stuff here.
I simply put the guide in front of me and follow the poses in order. It was SO much easier than I thought!!!
The best part of it was that it was quiet! I totally zoned out. This was the first time I have ever been able to really zone out and feel like I was truly relaxing. No voices…no music…nothing.
The child’s pose is SO amazing for my sore back and shoulders. It is unbelievable how stiff I get from baking all day.
Sketchie makes me giggle. He is definitely the weirdest yoga instructor around!
hahaha!
For whatever reason, when I do downward dogs, he HAS to walk underneath me. It’s like he’s challenging me to stay up longer! I warn him that I could fall and crush him at any given moment, but he doesn’t seem to care.
Might I add that my body is sore from yoga? It most certainly is a hard workout. My arms are really sore this morning from all the downward dogs I did yesterday!
Demonstrating the yoga block!
It adds a few inches to my arms and allows me to keep a better form than if I had to put my hand all the way on the floor. I wish I knew about these blocks last winter! They are a real confidence booster for beginners like moi.
I finished off my evening yoga by really challenging myself- I tried the CRANE!!!
I have only done the crane successfully 2-3 times in my life. It is the ultimate challenge for me. I knew I had to try it out after seeing Alex and Krissy rock one out the other night.
After a few attempts, I did it!!!! I guess I found the ‘right’ spot because I held it for a good 8-10 seconds. I yelled for Eric to take a picture but he missed it. :( You’ll have to take my word! It was awesome. I felt so good and I was just beaming with pride! The only thing is this crane pose really hurts my wrists. Is this just because I am not used to it, I wonder?
I highly suggest printing the pose guide and trying some poses out on your own. It was so calming for me. I will certainly be doing some solo (DVD free) workouts today and this week.
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Do you use any fun yoga equipment?
I am so happy I bought the Align mat and block. For one, I was slipping all over the carpet with no mat, and two the block helps my form so much. Both worthwhile purchases in my opinion!
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See you later for a GLOWING and energizing lunch and the winner of my 1st year Blogiversary giveaway!
Enjoy your Tuesday everyone. :D Make it glow…
Don’t forget to enter Krissy’s Glo bar giveaway! Last chance to enter!
“Keep these concepts in mind: You’ve failed many times, although you don’t remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim. . . . Don’t worry about failure. My suggestion to each of you: Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” Sherman Finesilver
ahhhh isn’t that amazing? Gives me chills!
yay glad you’re loving yoga! i’m a newbie too and i’m quickly falling in love. i just won a sticky mat from a blog giveaway and i LOVE it. i love you makeshift hot yoga set up; i haven;t been going to bikram bc the studio is sooo expensive… so i may have to give that a try
Another fabulous post, Angela!! I think I’m going to order Crunch yoga today.I’m looking forward to my Glo Bars.hehe…
You really are inspiring me on my mission to relax and be healthy.It may take a year( hopefully not),but I’m determined to be comfortable in my skin.I was thrown off a little this past year with some health issues…I’ll get there:-) Thank you for all your support!! cc
Good job on the crane! That’s one I like to challenge myself with as well. I’m not great at balance poses, but I love trying to get them right! (Especially when I’m home alone so there is no one but my pets to laugh at me when I fall on my face- haha!) I find that the balance point for crane is further forward than I “think” it should be, so I definitely have to try it a couple of times before I find my balance. :)
i LOVE that you have found your ‘om’ love!!!! you can do anything you put your mind to!
Make sure you are stretching your wrists in the opposite way that they are in crane- counteract the stress of the movement!
Hi Angela! I am SO glad to hear that you are enjoying yoga. When you initially said that you were doing the P90X and Crunch dvds I was a little worried … only because I really LOVE yoga for everything that it does for me mentally, spiritually and physically. Those DVDs really seem to focus on the exercise component of yoga. You should consider downloading a few of the classes from yogadownloads.com. You can print off the pose guide that goes along with the narration (mine just downloads to itunes) and the talking is really only to guide you into a pose. All of the 20 minute classes are free, too! (I really like the Power Yoga and Yoga for the Core … Dawnelle is my favorite). Also, once you get more comfortable with the poses, you can just “flow” on your own! I LOVE to light candles, put on Coldplay, and do it on my own!!
straps are something that is also good for beginners. You might be able to google yoga straps and see what they suggest on how to use them. I really like to use a blanket in my practice for various things.
Dawnelle for Yoga Downloads is my favorite too she does a great job actually it has been quite a while since I did one of those downloads Maybe I’ll do one tonight!
With Yoga all over the internet map now I have been inspired to at least look into it! I cannot get down on the floor to do it…well actually down is not the problem….I get down very easily…usually accidentally….when I don’t want to (LOL!) It is getting UP from the floor that is the problem!
Anyway…for those like me I found some chair yoga and even found a class for that, that is not to far away! Now I need to fit that into my schedule.
I will check out those printable poses…there are probably some standing poses I can do.
Congrats on your crane pose!
You and Sketchie have such a gift of motivation and inspiration and it is so nice that you share it with the rest of us to move us toward a healthier attitude!
i LOVE your heat fan!
I have to chime in here with lots of the other comments. I REALLY like Yogadownload.com. I found their free 20 minute podcasts on iTunes and was hooked. They are great to do in a hotel room or in the house when I don’t feel like getting out to the gym. Dawnelle is also my favorite instructor. Her voice is soothing and she times the movements well. I really get both pumped and calmed (is that weird?!) from her power yoga classes.
Angela – I’m loving my GLO Bars that arrived last week. I will email you about our fun airplane experience and your new convert.
I’m a new reader and really enjoying your site! I own a yoga studio and I think you are doing a fabulous yoga job! ;) And I’ve heard several people complain about too much talking on the yoga dvd’s. Good work with the print out.
And I must say that I love the yoga fan AND your tank top! Where did you get it?! Love that it’s customized….
Woohoo! You have had your first “yogasm”! It took me 6 months of doing yoga twice a week to get there since like you, I like my cardio workouts.
The Bikini Bootcamp book has good yoga poses and sequences as well as suggested music.
My favourite is playing my yoga cd, turning the lights down and lighting candles.
Enjoy!
Congratulations on doing crane! Thos balance poses are really tricky to pull off. If you are feeling pain in your wrists, its possible that your alignment is off. Arm balances and inversions are really all about alignment, and with most of them, I’ve needed an instructor to physically manipulate my body into the right position before I figured them out.
The first two things I would check: Are your hands pointing straight forward?–you want your middle finger pointing straight ahead. I also have a tendancy to collapse my shoulders in these poses, so you might check to make sure that you are really pulling your shoulders back. Good luck!
Angela, what an awesome idea about the heat lamps from Costco!! I really want to try doing some “hot yoga” with our space heater! Have you tried Polly’s yoga is yummy dvd or her mini videos at wwwyogaisyummy.net? I love her stuff!
I love my block, too! It helps especially in triangle pose. Putting my hand on my shin feels akward, but I can’t reach all the way to the floor – so the block works perfectly!
And what a great idea to use a space heater for “hot yoga”! I was going to run when I got home, but I might do another yoga session, just to try it with the heater!
That looks like the perfect guide! Thanks for sharing. My cat does the exact same thing, and any time my ponytail gets loose he starts batting it around as much as possible – definitely adds a distraction factor to doing yoga at home, at the same time it reminds me I want to be fluid like my cats who stretch and move their bodies seamlessly all the time.
love your idea of homemade hotyoga!
I normally go to the library and get different yoga dvds, it’s nice because it’s free so I can try them all :)
Congrats on your crane pose!!! Is it mostly upper body strength, or do you need that and experience with yoga? I want to build up to that – looks awesome :-)
So cool! Im glad you like Yoga! It is fun. I just started myself and and completely new at it. But am loving it so far. Thanks for posting those sites too. They look fabulous.
My cats are always walking under me or rubbing up against my legs while I’m doing yoga. Always makes me laugh. :)
And I agree – Sarah Ivanhoe is great.
Ooooh! I’m on the exact same page as you! I actually mentioned you in my blog post today because I really need to get back into yoga. I’m going to be printing a few things off Yoga Download today (thanks!!!) and I’ll be incorporating yoga into my daily routine. Even just a few poses will help!