core yoga

Sprinkled throughout my latest experiment with Insanity and running…I’ve also been keeping up my yoga practice. I finished a month-long yoga challenge at the end of April. May wasn’t quite as consistent as I had hoped it to be, but I was still getting it done a few times a week.

I’ve been sticking with Tara Stiles, since after her challenge I had built up a very nice comfort level with it. Plus, her DVD collection offered so many different options…anything from 15 minutes of easy-going yoga to a strength building hour-long practice.

However, today I decided that I was getting a little too ‘comfortable’ with it and decided to mix things up a bit. After my daughter went down for her nap, I took a break from packing (have I mentioned that we’re moving?!?) and took Shiva Rea’s Core Yoga DVD out of the case for the first time.

First up, I was a little confused by the menu. It offered a “Yoga Matrix” and apparently what this meant is that you can piece together your own yoga practice out of seven options (plus a 2 min shavasana). Thereby being able to customize your practice based on your primary focus for the day and also how much time you have available.

Cool.

So, for my first try I selected: 1) Water Core (no idea what that was, but it sounded far less scary than the “Fire Core” alternative!) 2) Creative Core Lower Body 3) Agni Namaskar (Again…no idea what that was, but since I already worked out today I figured it was best to avoid the “Upper Body” choice.)

I have to say, this was by far the most interesting yoga practice I’ve ever done. It was definitely more ‘traditional’ than Tara Stiles. Tara doesn’t play into the whole ‘make an offering’ thing, she doesn’t get all ‘earthy’ on you and none of the Sanskrit names are used for her poses. I’m not necessarily saying I like one more than the other, it’s just that they’re very different and there’s an adjustment period. Shiva Rea is more traditional in some of those aspects, but then in others she’s in a league all of her own!

Right, so, Water Core. I enjoyed it, but there was some weirdness going on. In fact, there were moments when I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. Partly because she was flying through odd tai-chi-like-movements and partly because of the interesting/blurred out camera editing…

^^^What’s happening up there??!!^^^

Then we moved onto the Arni Namaskar. She opened up by letting us know we were about to embark on a practice centering around 109 push-ups.

Crap.

I just DID 109 push-ups this morning during Insanity!!!! *sigh*

I already felt invested in this, so there was no other choice than to hit the deck.

It was definitely a lot of push-ups, but it was broken-up into 12 rounds and as it turned out it wasn’t so terrible. I really enjoyed the rest of the video.  It’s so hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but there is something missing from the more modern-style of yoga that is present in traditional practices. There’s a flow in the traditional ones that makes it feel less like a workout and more like fluid movement. If that makes any sense.

I think from this point forward I’ll be sure to mix up both the traditional and non-traditional practices since I feel that they each have something great to offer!

diy health challenge

On April 1st I joined up with The Greatist for their month-long DIY Health Challenge.

The plan is to cook one healthy meal and make time for at least 20 minutes of bodyweight exercise per day for the entire month of April. Unfortunately, I can’t include all of my training runs, but as luck would have it I’m also on-board for the Tara Stiles This is Yoga Challenge…so I’m easily fulfilling my 20 minutes per day. (If anyone is interested I started up a check-in group for this one over on Social Workout, so if you’re following along feel free to join up!!!)

As for the daily healthy meal, I’ve also been meeting my goal for that one everyday!! I’ve posted a few of the meals here already. Some days it’s as simple as a green-smoothie and kale/veggie salad for lunch or maybe just a veggie omelet with gluten-free toast and a handful of berries. At other times motivation strikes and I get a little more elaborate…

Such as (corn) pasta served with zucchini, yellow squash, polenta and marinara sauce.

Or last night I experimented for the first time with butternut squash. It’s amazing how intimidating it can be when you’re handling new ingredients for a meal?!

I tend to wing-it a bit in the kitchen, so I don’t follow just one recipe, but end up picking and choosing between several that I’ll find online.

In the end I thought this one came out great!

I served it with brown rice, so it was very filling and again my six-year-old loved it! She ate two bowls and thanked me for a ‘great dinner’…

*happiness*

tara stiles yoga program

As previously mentioned, about a month or so ago I finally started back up with practicing yoga again. Up until this point, all of the videos (as well as the studio that I went to) offered up ‘traditional’ yoga. And that’s exactly what I was looking for. However, over the course of this challenge it was impossible to not come across Tara Stiles.

Tara is described just about everywhere as being a ‘rebel’ yoga instructor. I saw several articles where the authors had a lot of negativity to share regarding her method of teaching. Yet there were plenty more singing her praises.

Finally all of the controversy got to be too much for me. It’s like banned books. Tell me I should avoid something because it’s not in line with how things ‘should be’ and I suddenly HAVE to check it out immediately!!

So, on Day 21 (the last day of my Yoga Challenge) I opted for Tara Stiles Yoga Weight Loss and Balance. I was really curious about what I would end up doing with a yoga ‘rebel’ leading the way. During that hour we did some: plank position, upward dog, downward dog, forward bend, warrior pose, chair pose…wait.

WAIT.

What’s so rebel-ish about this??! Apparently, the only thing that makes her a rebel is that she chooses to use the English posture names as opposed to Sanskrit. Which being that English is my first (and only) language, it’s actually quite helpful.

Oh, and she also doesn’t randomly stop to tell me about how lotus flowers like ‘murky waters’ and to ‘root your sitting bones to the ground and give back the flow of energy to the Earth’.

Yeah, we’ve got a wild one here.

So, I didn’t find Tara all that rebel-ish. She offered up a nice 50-min long yoga practice. Pretty much the only thing that I didn’t like about her teaching style…

“Awesome, you guys.”

“Nice, you guys.”

Over. And OVER again, you guys.

Since that first video I’ve tried a few others by her and I’ve gotten past the “you guys” and I hardly even notice it anymore. Overall, I enjoy her straight forward style and really don’t see what all of the controversy is about.

Long story, even longer…I’ve decided to join up with her April Yoga Program!!

I’m actually really excited about it. I’ve already received her This Is Yoga collection, so I’m all set and ready to go!!

a gentle nudge

The 21-day yoga challenge ended last week, but I’m still going at it. I have seriously fallen in love with yoga. I enjoyed it when I was practicing regularly several years ago, but this is very different.

Back then I was all about the workout. It had to be intense and I would only do it twice a week because I didn’t feel like it burned enough calories to make it worthwhile. I would only do Bikram because I felt like that was the only variety that would actually get my heart pumping. I often classified all other forms of yoga as being ‘boring’.

I don’t know if it’s a maturity-thing…I’m definitely older and maybe a smidge wiser. Or maybe I’m just in a better place body-image-wise. Whatever the reason, I’m no longer consumed with the calorie burn rate while practicing. I’ve been working on casting aside my competitive-spirit every time I step on my mat. Basically, I’m letting everything go and allowing myself to really enjoy this time that I’m setting aside for myself every day.

Yesterday I was rewarded with my first obvious sign of improvement during practice. My shoulders are (and always have been) extremely tight. For years I’ve done a lot of working-out with weights. Bench-press, pec-fly, delt-rows, etc. I suppose all of that must have caught up with me because back in August while doing a very simple/routine exercise I completely destroyed my left shoulder. It literally felt as if it crumpled like a piece of paper.

I went a while with limited mobility. Eventually it got to the point where I could move it freely again, but it’s never really been the same. I try to be mindful of it during practice, but not leave it out entirely. I’ve already discovered that to not do anything at all makes it far worse! I do what I can and I stretch to the point where it’s challenging, but not painfully so. It’s been long enough now that I know it’s limitations.

Then yesterday as I was in a wide-legged forward bend, I laced my fingers and lifted my arms above my back.

I went as far as I usually do without discomfort, but then all of the sudden…whoa.

It’s hard to explain, but it’s almost as though someone gave me the gentlest of nudges…my shoulders widened slightly and my arms gently dropped much further than they normally do. I felt an openess and flexibility in that shoulder that hasn’t been there in quite some time! It was fantastic!!!

I also recently decided to start checking out yoga in the printed word. A yogi memoir, some yogi fiction (who knew there was such a thing??) and now a 365 day journey exploring yoga.

Apparently, Meditations from the Mat is the yogi equivalent to the runner’s Born to Run! Hopefully, it ends up being just as good!

on the mat

The experimenting with smoothies continues over here. Typically, I prefer the ‘green’ smoothies.  I use mostly spinach or kale, but lately I’ve been seeing a lot of recipes that use oats. I was skeptical at first, I wasn’t entirely sure that they would blend thoroughly, but as it turns out it was great!!

I ended up with a pretty basic strawberry smoothie. A cup of almond milk, a cup of frozen strawberries, gluten-free oats and a dash of agave. Very tasty! I saw one recipe that also called for some cashews, which I bet would be delicious too.

I’ve also been experimenting a lot with yoga. I used to practice (somewhat) regularly years ago. Unfortunately, there are no Bikram studios around here, so once I stopped commuting and starting staying home with my daughter I stopped practicing entirely.

Even without doing yoga during that time, I still found myself thinking about it and wishing that I could start back up again. So, I decided that even if I couldn’t visit an actual studio the time had come for me to at least start doing it at home.

Enter Yoga Journal’s 21-Day Challenge!! I came across this challenge and figured why not give it a shot. I’m already on Day 18 and completely and totally LOVING it! I signed up as a ‘beginner’, but quickly discovered that apparently I either retained enough flexibility from my past practice or maybe it’s due to how active I am in general…but I’m definitely not at the beginner stage. So, I’m using the challenge as a guide, but I’m finding almost all of the videos I use on YOME…which is complete and total (free!) yogi-awesomeness!!

back on track

Nine weeks ago our baby girl arrived.  The past couple of months have been exhausting, stressful and wonderful all at the same time.  So much to be thankful for and such happiness seeing how much my oldest loves her baby sister and seeing our little one give her constant smiles in return.  My recovery was surprisingly a long(ish) one.  I had assumed that this being my second it would be both quick and smooth.  Unfortunately, due to medical reasons, there were days when it felt worse this time around. Week Seven ended up being the magic week for me, it was the first time I noticed myself starting to feel ok again.

Not wanting to complicate things further and potentially create a set-back in my recovery…I waited until my follow-up appointment before starting to workout again.  I was extremely active during my pregnancy.  In fact, 24 hours before giving birth I did 35 minutes of spinning and 15 minutes on my bowflex.  Over the last ten years I’ve learned to love working out.  So, when I don’t do it I seriously start to miss it.  It’s been a looong nine weeks, but I finally got the okay to exercise from my doc this past Friday.

Over the last three days I’ve hit both my spin bike and bowflex…

…as well as some free weights…

I feel really good getting back into a routine.  I have ten pounds to lose in order to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and I’m looking foward to making that happen before the summer rolls around.

What I would really love to do is Bikram Yoga.  It’s the only type of yoga that I find challenging.  I used to do it regularly years ago, but at this point the closest studio is over an hour away.  Not in the least bit convenient.  Still, I miss it and maybe one weekend I’ll leave the girls home for some Daddy-Time and make the trek over to the studio…