Yoga Block - What Happened?

I imagine that if you are a reader of this blog you've been wondering what happened to me and the results of my Yoga month. I'm very sorry about the delay on this - at the end of Feb. there was a sickness in my family that forced me to travel to Arizona in March.

Good news was that I got through three weeks of my Yoga month but ended up with spotty sessions during the last week. March was overwhelming with the trip combined with an awful work schedule. Suddenly, two months had passed!

By the end of February my flexibility was pretty amazing plus being down three pounds. Unfortunately, as usual with trips - my yoga routines ended.

So now I'm back on track - gearing up for summer with April showing promise to continue my own yoga progression.

Yoga Week 1 Complete of 28 Days!

Woo Hoo!! I did it this week. I was able to complete 8 straight days of Yoga. It was tough - I just about missed it on Super Tuesday. The day was very stressful at work causing me to forget about doing any exercise - plus, I unfortunately ate a large dinner and watched the Super Tuesday results.

Suddenly, at around 9:30pm, it occurred to me that I had forgotten to do Yoga. So I just started doing some positions while watching the results. Not the best workout - but I managed to do about 20 minutes. Anything counts in my book.

I hope you're finding a way to do it as well! Keep on going.

My Own 28 Days of Yoga

Alright, I'm a bit depressed after I found that someone else had thought of a National Yoga Practice Month. I woked up last week with the ultimate inspiration that I am going to do yoga every day in February - well, except Feb. 29th since it is a leap year.

I then remembered NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writers Month last November that many budding writers use as inspiration to get their writing skills down. This has become so popular that many have copied this idea for other topics - blogging, filmmaking, etc.

I thought that yoga would be great and that February would be an excellent month to try this. It's cold, cloudy, Christmas is over, all the last obligations are done - generally very uninspiring. So, thinking of doing 28 days of yoga seems like a good cause. I really didn't think I would start a trend with a NaYoPraMo site. Someone thought of it first - check out:

http://woyopracmo.ning.com/
http://nayopracmo.wordpress.com/

Anyway - I'm going to do it! I've started today and will report my progress week by week. Don't worry - you have time to catch up as well. If you start tomorrow you can get 2 yoga sessions in on a Saturday.

Good luck and I hope you join me on this journey!

My Personal Yoga Journey

I should start this post by noting that I haven't updated it in six weeks due to my own personal journey getting back into yoga again. After Thanksgiving I had gained yet another five pounds of body fat and was reaching my point of ultimate frustration. Part of the reason I started this blog in the first place was to not only learn about yoga - but also to motivate myself to get back into doing it as a part of my lifestyle. I really want to change my life.

So, beginning about December 1st I started a full yoga program - be it only 30 minutes a day. But, from Nov 26th to Dec 24th I was doing yoga about six days a week. At first I was very disappointed with my overall yoga fitness - my flexibility was horrible, I started to see how poorly I was breathing, and my balance was completely shot. Nevertheless, I kept at it.

By the end of December much had changed for the positive. First, I lost five pounds over the month! Second, my flexibility increased dramatically - funny story; near the end of Dec. I was at home and happened to drop some papers on the floor. When I reached down to pick them up I literally just about flipped over completely on my back. My head accelerated so fast toward the floor due to my increased flexibility that I thought I was going to knock myself out by conking my forehead. I haven't seen the floor accelerate toward me so fast!

I imagine you're wondering what kind of workout I was doing. I just started with simple Hatha Yoga positions and some breathing. Now, I didn't dig deep on the breathing side - just basic breath with positions. If you look at my October 22nd entry on Beginning Yoga you will see the kinds of positions I was doing.

I hope this gives you some charge to get started or to get back into yoga!

New Documentary - Yoga Unveiled

I thought this looked like a very interesting history of Yoga video. It provides an excellent overview of yoga fitness. Here is the description of the film:

'No longer an obscure practice just for spiritual seekers, yoga has truly become a mainstream practice. Now everyone from the athlete to the business man goes to yoga class. Everyone has heard of yoga, many people have gone to a yoga studio, but how many people know what yoga really is? This is the first documentary to explore that question. Yoga Unveiled transports us back to the historic roots of yoga in ancient India, and gives us illuminating snapshots of its evolution from an ancient tradition to its migration around the world. The film also explores yoga's astonishing medical potential. In this film we get a genuine glimpse of the evolution and essence of yoga.'

Beginning Yoga

I think this yoga video is a great way to get started. Over the last few months I've been searching for a good beginner's guide to yoga fitness that would encompass the breathing, serenity, strength and poise. Many online videos or cable tv shows don't seem to combine all of these elements.

However, this one is great. Take a look.

Bikram Yoga is Hard, Very Hard!

I found this great article online from a student newpaper at Pomona College. You think that yoga fitness is difficult? Wait until you take a look at this!

"Bikram yoga is hard. How hard? If you can still feel all of your arm muscles after the first five minutes, you’re probably doing it wrong. For 90 minutes a day, Bikram devotees go through a series of 26 poses with names like “awkward,” “spine-twisting,” and “dead body.” " ...

Read the rest of this article at: Bikram Yoga Puts Twister to Shame

Yoga Video on Laughing Yoga

I can't say I've ever come across something like this before - Laughing Yoga! It seems very odd yet I'm finding quite a bit of information online about it.

Apparently, Laughing Yoga is a technique that uses a blend of playful, simple laughter exercises. With gentle breathing and stretching exercises, rhythmic clapping and chanting of Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha in unison a simulated laughter turns into real laughter. As a means to improve health, increase well-being and promote peace in the world, Laughing Yoga can deliver this through personal transformation.

Ashtanga Yoga Demo

This amazing video shows Ashtanga Yoga poses and a level of yoga fitness that most of us would love to reach in our own lives! Enjoy - I love this video.

Mayo Clinic Offers Free Yoga Video

Yoga offers many potential health and stress-reducing benefits. The Mayo Clinic is offering a quick introduction to five basic yoga poses that help reduce stress. It's easy to follow along and try the exercises, or just watch to get a sense of basic yoga fitness.

You can find this video at:

Video: Yoga for stress management