Too Much of a Good Thing

To be perfectly honest (and why be any other way?) I am SICK TO DEATH OF YOGA! I really didn't see that coming, but then again I've never attempted to do that much yoga. The purpose of the challenge was to get me to rediscover my love for yoga, but after a week it became a chore. I wanted to do something else...anything else! I would have gladly run wind sprints, and I hate running. I longed for the elliptical machine or anything that didn't involve quiet. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do yoga and another exercise, so I kept plugging along miserable. I tried meditation (which I usually also love) and I just couldn't get into it. I don't want to finish this challenge and never want to do yoga again, so I'm throwing in the towel. I did 11 days.

PS: I did get my butt off the ground in lifted lotus. SO THERE!

And now onto other stuff. I'm doing a photo challenge with Jen. I'm a bit behind at the moment. I'm taking pictures, I just haven't had a second to post them yet. You can find a page dedicated to the photo challenge to the right ---->

Yoga Challenge Days 2-6

I'm still trucking! Jen told me that September is National Yoga Month which I didn't know, but I thought it was kind of funny since I just so happen to be doing my challenge now. I'm also doing the 30 day photo challenge, but I'm only 2 days in so far. I don't know where or if I'll post those pictures yet.

On to yoga!

Thursday, August 29
Pilates (My Yoga Online)
Duration: 15 mins
Level: beginner

I am not a fan of Pilates mainly because it's all about core strength, and I don't have much! This was a fast paced class that stuck with the basics (read: sit-ups). I got off work late, and I didn't really have a lot of time to commit to a session. My favorite part of this video was the part about imprinting the spine to the floor. For someone with back problems that move is everything. I may try Pilates again in the future, but eh.
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Friday, August 30
Long Hold Yoga (my imagination)
Duration: 15 mins
Level: somewhere between relaxing and ouch

I had heard of Long Hold Yoga aka getting in a pose and staying there for a long time. I wanted to try it so I just turned on my DirecTV to the Zen music channel and used the stopwatch feature on my phone. A few of the positions felt fab (seated forward fold) while others felt...less so (plank). Overall I really liked this, and I will probably do it again sometime when I don't have a bunch of time.
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Saturday, August 31
Long Hold Yoga (on my couch)
Duration: 1 hour 30 mins
Level: what is less than beginner?

Saturday was kinda rough so I did a Savasana pose for 90 minutes. Savasana means dead body, and I was dead asleep. That counts, right?
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Sunday, September 1
Yoga class at the gym with Jen
Duration: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate

So the gym has a rotating instructor schedule on Sundays. This week's instructor was different from last week's. I liked the other lady better, but whatev. I tried a pose I had never done before called the Hindi. Newsflash: It gives you an atomic wedgie.
Jen and I decided that this gym is the only one where your resting yoga position is a downward facing dog. I've taken many in the past when the class rests in mountain pose. If you are on the floor it makes sense to rest in lotus or table. Doing a downward dog for 36 out of 60 minutes puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders. Especially if your shoulders were used to lift heavy desks the day before. Just me? Ok, fine.
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Monday, September 2
Hatha yoga (My Yoga Online)
Duration: 24 minutes
Level: Moderate

I really enjoyed this video. I will definitely be coming back to it. There were lots of standing forward folds. One of my favorite things was a pose called Sunbird bend that I had never done before. I liked it because I was instantly good at it. Hey, take your victories where you can get them.

See you later!