I started the day off with GREAT intentions. In fact, I set my alarm clock for 6AM. This way I would have tons of time to do my hour of yoga, take a few pictures, plus shower, write up a blog entry, make food for the day, and then get ready for work at 10am.
The first thing I thought when I finally pulled myself out of bed was, "Can you actually DO that?" I didn't think my alarm would LET me snooze for 3 hours. I was pretty sure in the past that after an hour of snoozing my alarm takes a hint and just turns itself off. My conclusion? While still asleep, I must have reset my alarm for later, and then restarted an entire snooze cycle. I proceeded on to my daily morning routine, caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and was horrified. You know when you get a ton of sleep, you tend to feel and LOOK rested? Well, I guess three extra hours of sleep at ten minute intervals does not a rested Meighan make. I looked like hell.
So, morning yoga today? Didn't happen... Pictures? What pictures? Shower? Unfortunately no. Blog? Absolutely not. Food for the day? I swallowed some fish oil capsules... grabbed an apple, dropped it on the floor accidentally, rubbed it on my shirt, threw it in my purse and ran to work. Super productive morning.
Interestingly enough, today's video is called "All Downhill". Perhaps this is some deep metaphor for the direction my energy has gone. I thought it was pretty neat though when Eoin started the class by saying: "Yoga is an acronym: You've Only Got Attitude. So let's practice the Feel Good Principle. Let's feel better than when we started. It's that simple."
It really is that simple. All of life's problems are in your mind. Your problems are only problems if you choose to see them as such.
I found All Downhill to be a summary of all the other videos. It essentially combined all of the poses from the previous videos into one shorter one that ended in under an hour.....and no boat poses! Phew! I still got some good thigh burn out of the Warrior poses, but I found a lot of time was spent on stretching and balancing out energy than on difficult poses I am mostly incapable of doing so far.
It's only day 4 and I can feel a huge difference in my muscles already.
For one, they are very sore. But mostly they just feel really toned and alive which is fantastic. I also feel strength through my core. That is DEFINITELY the result of World Champion's Hips....because man-alive, did those boat poses ever do a number on me.
I was pleasantly surprised today. During the first few sun salutations in tonight's video, I realized that my chaturanga push-ups look like legitimate push-ups now!? On day 1 I was in desperate need of modifications and had to involve my knees. Alright, let's be honest here, I even involved my breasts to help me get through those. In fact, any part of my body that seemed useful was used in helping me get through those first days.... Okay fine, my chaturanga's were really just me laying on the ground for a bit and then stretching into cobra.
They've improved greatly over just four days. I'm really excited now. If I can see that kind of change in four days, I can't even imagine what I'll be capable of when this 30-day challenge is over.
If you're reading this and also struggle with Chaturanga, or perhaps have no idea what that is... I found this link to Yoga Journal. It breaks down a wide variety of yoga postures into step by step instructions of how to do them properly, which anatomical areas to be careful with, what conditions (for example, pregnancy) are contraindicated with these postures, how to do these posures with a partner, and how to deepen the postures...among other things. It also shows pictures and you can leave comments if you want too. It's pretty amazing. Oh internet, where would we be without you?
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