Post by Mikauzoran on May 10, 2016 2:30:48 GMT
Week Four Check In
This week was Yoga Week, and I'm pleased to report that I completed one yoga video each day this week. ^.^ It was a lot of fun and really refreshing. Like I had mentioned in the header post, my yoga practice had really gotten into a rut, so it was nice to break out of that. It had gotten to the point where I was dreading having to do my practice every day, but switching things up this week was a lot of fun and made me look forward to yoga time every day.
On Monday I tried Jessica Smith's forty minutes gentle yoga for back pain ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbH8V0-f3-4 ), and it was really fantastic. I didn't like it at first, but about ten minutes into the routine, I was really feeling it working. She made me do tree (which is challenging because my balance is nonexistent), chair (which is the devil), and cobra (which usually hurts my back because I've been doing it wrong for years), and it was actually okay. Now that I've learned the proper way to do cobra, I actually enjoy it. Anyway. I love Jessica Smith. She's a miracle worker.
Tuesday I dug out an old yoga DVD that I had bought when I first started yoga eight years ago--"10 Minute Solution Yoga". It's kind of funny because it's a workout DVD. Like you'd actually pick yoga as your go-to calorie burner. ^.^ Yoga can be great exercise, but it doesn't burn a ton of calories unless you're doing some intense vinyasa practice, and real yoga isn't really like that. It's a lifestyle complete with ideas about eating and food combinations, right living, breathing practices, and sacred writings. But this was a workout DVD. I did the sections for "buns and thighs" and "yoga burn" as well as "basic yoga". Back when I started, these had been very challenging for me. I remember I couldn't get my thigh parallel to the floor in the warrior poses, and chair (which is the devil) was impossible for me to hold for longer than ten or so seconds at a time. But when I tried the DVD on Tuesday, eight years later, it wasn't easy, but I could actually do the whole thing without too much difficulty. I wasn't out of breath, and my form was solid. I was so proud of this tangible evidence of the progress I've made. ^o^ There was even a part where she said "And now moving into high plank pose" and I thought, "I can't do a real plank. I need to modify and do it on my knees." But then I thought, "Well, how do you know you can't do a real plank? You haven't tried the past few months, have you?" So I tried, and I WAS able to do plank and side plank successfully. It was just so cool to be able to do things I had never been able to do before. So Tuesday was really a great yoga practice for me.
Wednesday I did the Abs section of the 10 Minute Solution DVD, and it kicked my butt. It was bad. My core is infant-level weak. I knew that, but now it has been reconfirmed. The only thing I can say that really went well during the Abs section was this one move where you start in table top and then you lower yourself, bringing your body through your arms, and then hovering, holding yourself up so that your butt doesn't touch the ground. I had never been able to bring my body through my arms and hold myself up before. Wednesday, I was able to just barely skim the ground as I pulled through and then I could hold myself up. It was only an inch or two off the ground, but, again, it was just neat to be able to do something that I had once failed so miserably at. Progress is beautiful.
Thursday I did some relaxing yoga. I have a disc with four fifteen minute yoga practices on it, and I did the winding down section. I also did the relaxation section of the 10 Minute Solution DVD.
Friday I was running late and didn't have time for the hour-long DVD I had scheduled, so I did Ashleigh Sergeant's Yoga for Athletes, Post Workout practice ( grokker.com/yoga/video/yoga-for-athletes-post-workout-practice/52f57f13b3891a5e5d0bde1d ). I really liked it. I especially liked the pose where we knelt on one knee in a bit of a lunge and then took a hold of our back foot while twisting and leaning away from it. It was a little hard to get into, but it was a really good stretch.
Saturday I did my first ever yoga DVD, The Gift of Yoga with Gena Kenny. It's a little more granola-y than the others, but I really do like the hour-long practice. It's very thorough, and you can choose to play just the workouts without the granola-y introductions, so it works.
Sunday I did a DVD that I got from the library. It had two practices--one "solar" and one "lunar". This was sort of granola-y too, but tolerably so. I don't like my yoga too workout or too mystic. I'm more of a middle of the road type in that aspect, but this was okay. I can't get my heels down in dolphin to save my life, but I'm getting close.
It was really good to do a wide variety of poses. Like I said, I've been kind of just doing some combination of the same twenty asanas. ^.^; One thing I didn't like about the videos, though, is that the breaths were too short. They only gave me two or three counts to breathe in and then two or three more to breathe out. I'm used to in for four, out for six at minimum, so these all kind of left me feeling rushed and out of breath.
I also worked towards some of my goals recently! On Saturday April 30, my church had a big service event that I helped out at, and it was a really great experience. I got to hang out with my church family and also help the community. There were a lot of service projects going on that day, but at the end, we all got together and had a free barbecue open to the public. I helped out serving the food. All I did was just smile, greet people, and spoon out potato salad, but it's always neat to feed hungry people. We had a bounce house for the kids at the event too, and we got the local fire department to bring a truck that the kids could look at and sit in. We had attendance prizes too and free personal care items for those that might have need. We served just short of 1,100 people that Saturday, and I was glad to be a small part of it. One young mother came up to me and said that we were so good to hold this free event and she was so grateful because she had three kids, two of them being special needs, and it was so great that they could get out in the community and participate without feeling like they were in the way. I was really touched by what she said, and I felt really blessed that I could help to be a blessing in her life. I was really glad I had signed up and made time to be there. I almost didn't because I felt too busy. (This was that Saturday where I got up at 6:30 and ran around doing errands and the like until ten at night.)
So that was cool. And then this weekend I worked towards doing something nice for my family members. I cleaned the entire downstairs for my mom, cleaning the kitchen and vacuuming the living room, furniture included. She really appreciated that. But it was Mother's Day, so I feel like it only half counts because I'm supposed to do nice things for her anyway on that day. :/ But I've been vacuuming every weekend, so...
And then I did the dishes for my dad. Only, again, I feel like it only half counts because I had been cooking in preparation for Vegan Week, so...I dirtied about sixty percent of the dishes that I washed for him. :/ But I guess it's better than if I had dirtied the dishes and just left them for him to do. ^.^;
And now Week Five is upon us, and it's Vegan Week. So far so good, but I'll let you guys know if I can keep from breaking down and shoving cheese and Greek yogurt and eggs into my face for an entire seven days. I'm going to need discipline on this one.