Ladies and gents, I have been rocking the yoga this week!
Specifically, the P90X Yoga that I mentioned earlier this week. Eric borrowed this from a coworker and we have had it sitting around for ages now. I finally dug it up and gave it a whirl!
If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you probably remember my stint with yoga in December 2008/January 2009. I dove full force into yoga, 30-Day shred, and training for a marathon. It was no surprise that I sustained an injury from the over-training.
I have grown a lot since that time and I realize that I am the type of person who likes to focus on one main goal or challenge, instead of spreading myself all over the place. When I was training for my races this summer and fall, I was focused. I had tangible goals and I met them.
There has always been this lingering desire for me to practice yoga on a regular basis. I think this is the perfect time for me to explore something new. I find that I am craving flexibility and tension-relief exercises. I haven’t done anything of the sort in months! Baking all day has left me with really stiff and sore back muscles and I hope that yoga will help with that.
I have been turning out the lights in the office and lighting a few candles. This instantly relaxes me, similar to baking when the sun rises and everything looks clean and crisp outdoors.
I haven’t set a time limit. I just go until I feel tired and stretched out. Tuesday I ended up doing 15 minutes, Wednesday I did 25, and Thursday I did another 15.
I immediately knew that I was going to like this DVD because it didn’t seem too ‘out there’ for me. It seemed like a normal group of people practicing yoga. I liked that the group involved a male athlete who had just started to take up yoga to help with his athleticism! Many athletes in all different areas practice yoga as a way to improve their chosen sport. I think it can really help with my running too because I have obviously gotten really tight and was doing nothing about it.
I can’t review the entire 90 minute DVD since I have only done 25 minutes, but I can tell you what I liked about it so far:
1) Aside from the instructor’s heavy breathing, he is quite easy to listen to and learn from. He explains things clearly.
2) The DVD counts down the time remaining (far right) as well as how many seconds are left in each interval. I don’t pay much attention to it, but it is nice to have.
3) For the first 25 minutes, I was able to follow along with the poses without too much difficulty. At some parts they moved a bit quicker than I did, and this caused me to lag a bit, but it wasn’t a big deal.
4) In addition to the instructor naming each pose, the bottom of the screen also displays the name. This really helped me learn each pose name. I find when instructors just say it, I never really picked them up. I am a visual learner! I love how clear this DVD is.
Here is what I didn’t enjoy:
1) Downward facing dogs
I despise them with every core of my being. My arms are so sore!!!! I could see enjoying this pose if I was flexible, but it really is no fun when you aren’t. I hope this improves over time. This DVD had many series of down dogs over and over and over again. I found it felt a bit long. Again, I hope that improves as I improve. I also need to work on my mental game and focus because I am not as zoned out as I would like to be.
At the start of the DVD, the instructor says, ‘Free your mind of all the clutter’. It really is necessary to get into it. Tonight my mind wasn’t into it and I could tell. Eric and I sort of had a stressful night and I was just not able to tune out my thoughts.
To all you yogis out there: What are your tricks for zoning out and being present in the moment? Does it just come with practice?
What do I think of yoga so far?
All and all, I am enjoying it so far and I am trying to keep my spirits up despite feeling like I suck. I think the reason I get so frustrated with yoga is because for me it is not easy to see improvements with it as fast as I would like to. Yoga, to me, seems abstract. With something like running or weight training, I have clear tangible evidence of my hard work in terms of numbers. I know that my flexibility will improve and I will notice that over time, but it is just not what I am used to I guess!
Yoga is probably one of the hardest challenges I have given myself because of my lack of flexibility and my fidgety personality. When I was young, I always scored POOR on my flexibility tests in gym class. I also am the type of person who can’t sit still, so it is no surprise that I did not gravitate toward yoga.
I got frustrated with my down dogs tonight and Eric said something very clever. He said, ‘It’s not about whether you do the pose exactly right or not. It’s not about your form. It is whether you are challenging your own body. Are you stretching? Well, then you are doing it right.’
Who is this guy? lol. Apparently, he was a yogi in his past life! ;) Wise words from my man.
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I think I need to stop focusing on my form so much and start focusing more on how my body feels and where my mind is. I think I will find that it is much more pleasurable this way.
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Do you do yoga? What was it like when you started? Tell me your story!
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I’m actually really curious about yoga and will probably try it really soon. :)
it will come with time, I have been practising on and off since grade 7 so almost 10 years and the focus comes the more you practise and it really helps with my everyday life too! Also downward dogs can be challenging for long distance runners but its a great stretch to loosen up your hamstrings
Ange, Tomorrow I am going to send Ms. Alex Kelly a free yoga pass for you! Its at an amazing studio in central Toronto called 889 Yonge. Enjoy!
yoga rocks…
i have been to the Yoga Show in London today..and it was amazing
I went to Simon Low’s Yin Yoga workshop and it was fanatastic xxx
I love how men somehow always get to the point of the matter. Eric’s comment was spectacular!
Hi! Came out of lurking to comment because I was in exactly the same situation as you only one year ago. Struggling and feeling like I was getting nowhere.
I didn’t even want to do yoga initially. I was looking for cardio workouts on the exercise channel but these stupid yoga classes seemed to be on whenever I had time to work out so I ended up grudgingly doing one or two. At first I hated down-dog…..it drove me crazy! All I kept wondering was “When is this over! Stop talking instructor! I want to come down now!” It was hard. And I am also a very fidgety person…..I can’t watch a movie without simultaneously reading some blogs and leafing through a magazine so I get the lack of focus thing:) However I will say that maybe 2 weeks in of everyday practice everything started to be easier and now I genuinely think of down-dog as a rest pose….It will happen even if you don’t believe it now. I started doing some of the Yoga Today classes which are great and then when I felt ready started to do one class a week with a really good ashtanga style teacher. Now its all the exercise I do! My main practice is at home but I have to say that its my class that gives me the tools to have that home practice. There is nothing like a good teacher. As for results…..this is my first year since the age of 14 where I have not had to have time off work coupled with lots of muscle relaxants and NSAIDs for back problems.
A really good way to give yourself a goal and start a great habit is to do a 30 day challenge of practicing at least 15 minutes every day. I did this in January of this year and it really gave me so much momentum. Best January ever physically and mentally. Wow! This is long!
Hey Ange, I am just catching up the last two days of posts. Thanks so much for your kind Birthday words, I’m sure you aren’t surprised that it brought the tears to my eyes. Also, I really appreciated all of the very nice HBD wishes from your readers. I was surprised to find out so many of them share my birthday. We are enjoying our time in Tahiti. I also appreciated the suggestion from one of your readers about the restaurant to go to in Bora Bora — can’t wait! I am having difficulty with my email account, but have sent you an email via John’s email.
I have been practicing Baptiste yoga on and off for a year and I STILL loathe downward facing dog until I get nice and loose – which doesn’t take long practicing in 100 degrees. But you’re right – focus on your body and what it’s doing!
Eric is totally right! I’ve found that every class is a little bit different, there are tons of variations for each pose, but every single yoga teacher I know says that doing the full expression of the pose isn’t really important. Allowing your body to go as far as it can, without sacrificing the proper alignment, is key.
And I’m the worst at calming my mind and letting go of everything on the yoga mat. I used to get so mad at myself because I felt like I was doing something wrong when my mind wandered during a yoga class. But just like you’re patient with your body as it gets more flexible, you’ve gotta be patient with your mind as it (much more slowly, in my experience) learns to slow down and let things go. You’ve got the right attitude already; just keep reminding yourself to be patient and as long as you’re doing your best, you’re doing enough.
I have been doing yoga on and off for over 3 years now and I like it but like you, I’ve never REALLY gotten into it. It’s hard for me to remove all the thoughts from my head while practicing. I will say that my arms are always so sore the day after yoga. It’s a great strength training exercise for me.
PS Is your cat a leopard!?!?
I first started yoga in August! I went right into hot yoga which to this day, I can’t think of any other time I walked out of the gym or any thing else for that matter feeling so refreshed and rejuvenated. Several weeks in I was going strong and noticed an improvement in my flexibility. I was in a car accident in Jan ’09 and sprained my pelvis, it felt good to give everything a great, big deep stretch! Then disaster struck — I was in a softball tournament in mid-September and I took a line drive to my knee! I haven’t gone back to yoga yet. I’m just not feeling that motivated. I’m more concerned about getting my knee back to normal and being able to do 30 mins on the treadmill without it hurting my knee the next day. If you have any ideas for rehabbing a bad knee I’d love to hear from you.
Good luck with the yoga though, I really recommend the hot yoga I found it easiest to let go of my inner thoughts and just mindlessly do the poses.
I just started yoga a few months ago and I love it. I think the mentality that is acheived during your yoga practice come with time and …well, practice ;)
I think it’s important for beginner yogi’s to attend group classes (hello college!) or seek private sessions to assist in learning the basics of each pose. As you begin to gain knowledge about the different poses and yoga in general, I think there comes a shift in your yoga practice; mine happened to go from physical to mental fitness.
I think too many beginner’s try to emulate those more experienced in group classes, which is why I recommend solo practice with adequate knowledge after a few group sessions. I’ve found that I’ve been able to increase my “mental” fitness through yoga when I practice solo. The key for me was to stop comparing myself to others in class or in the videos and just do my own thang! Now, when I DO go to group classes, I find I’m usually one of the more advanced ones there….all because I stopped the self-doubting thoughts and was then able to expand my yoga practice ten-fold.
A few tips:
(1) Acknowledge the thoughts and then move on.
(2) Count your breaths instead.
(3) A teacher once told me if you have thoughts about other people, then it’s ok. If you have thoughts about what you need to do later or how big your butt is, not okay.
I’ve been wanting to get into yoga as well, and this sounds like it might be a good video, but do you know if it’s only available as part of the whole P90X system?
And your flexibility will get there :)
Creating your own Routines With P90X
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Hello!
Yoga has always been my go-to exercise regime to help flexibility, tone muscles and maintain my mental health! Although I enjoy yoga, I don’t find the cost of a studio membership very affordable and it doesn’t work well with my shift-work schedule.
My favourite website to use is called Do Yoga With Me which features local yoga instructors and is filmed in *beautiful* Victoria and Vanocuver, B.C. ALSO!, did I mention that it’s COMPLETELY FREE !!!! :D There is absolutely everything on this website from yoga videos for all levels of experience to guided meditations and videos explaining poses and breathing techniques. It’s a FANTASTIC website and I cannot praise it enough. I IMPLORE you to check it out!!! :D
https://www.doyogawithme.com/
Hope you like it!
<3 Jenn