Slacker!

I feel like the white rabbit today–“No time to say ‘hello’ ‘goodbye’ . . .” although thankfully not late. So far. Between walking the dog this morning, working on a budget, paying my bills, going to an appointment, and whatever else is on the endless list of little things to do…I’m pooped! And I still have to walk the dog (yes AGAIN…and thanks, Charlie, for peeing on the rug while I was talking to a potential dog walker for the days I’m at an internship. Talking on the phone and cleaning up pee is apparently part of my multitasking repitoire.) and put the final touches on a paper.

Bottom line, yoga is not happening today, which makes me very sad. There are at least two yoga studios in my new neighborhood:

www.bikrambayridge.com, which I’ve been to once before. I’m not particularly a “Bikram person” but it was OK. (Bikram is the “hot yoga”…you sweat. A lot. A lot-a lot.) I’m too old for the student discount?!! What?!!

www.dahnyoga.com–I’m a pretty liberal and accepting person…but not sure how I feel about a tagline that reads, “tap into the infinite potential of your brain through brain wave vibration.” Oh, Dahn. Maybe if you offered a student discount I’d let you mess with my brain waves.

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Another site

So last night I also did some research on YouTube for yoga classes and found MyYogaOnline.com. It has a very attractive website and looks like they have a nice variety of classes for about the same price as YogaToday.com. May have to check this one out.

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Yogadownload.com, pretty good

So I just finished a 20-minute class from yogadownload.com. Figuring out how to actually download a class was a little tricky at first–I tried putting one class in my cart and updating it, but nothing happened. Perhaps I should register for the class in order to download it (duh)…success! They should have some sort of announcement though for first-time users that you have to register first. They are mostly audio downloads or audio downloads with slides, which is something I’m not really used to, but it wasn’t hard to follow along if you have an established yoga practice and are familiar with the basic poses and Sun Salutations. I liked that they had a brief Savasana at the end. My only criticism was that at several points the teacher would say what was coming next (“coming up Chaturanga”). This goes completely against all other yoga teachings that I’ve heard where you are supposed to stay in the moment and stay in the pose and not think to the past or think ahead and anticipate the next move. But for busy days where I want to fit in a quick practice, this was pretty good.

And a big thank you to Charlie, who peed on my yoga mat while I was figuring out how to download the class. Good one, bud.

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Free/cheap yoga sources

I was talking to a friend from another class about yoga and she gave me two great suggestions for free or cheap yoga! Thanks, Mari!

One is www.yogadownload.com, which offers a mix of free and paid classes depending on the length of the video you download. The free classes seem to all be 20 minutes long. The paid classes range from 30 to a max of 60 or 75 minutes. There doesn’t seem to be a lot to choose from but I’ll try it during this coming week and blog about what it’s like.

The other is a place in Manhattan where you can attend 60 minute classes on a donation basis! The suggested price is $10 per class, which is pretty cheap and would definitely help this poor grad student. Yoga to the People is in the East Village. Definitely going to check it out, maybe before class, one day next week.

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Day 2–Ouch.

I woke up at 7am today. It’s Saturday. I woke up at 7am on a Saturday to get to the yoga studio by my parents’ house. (And Charlie visited the family too, to the unbelievable delight and joy of mom, dad, and brother. Seriously, I’m nothing when he’s around. It’s understandable. He’s pretty cute.) It was nice and comfortable to be back and catch up with people I haven’t seen for about a month…ok, more like two months. The vinyasa actually felt really good. (Vinyasa is when you flow continuously from pose to pose for my nonyogi readers. Think Sun Saluatations.) When we got to inversions, I was pretty happy I was able to hold headstand (against the wall) for 2 1/2 minutes. It’s a good place to start. I already feel sore in my shoulders, upper arms, and back of my legs. My neck isn’t particularly pleased with me either.

My wrists are seriously weak. I’m going to have to ask around and read up on how to strengthen them. Whenever I try to do side plank, I can’t hold it for anything. If a magic genie said he’d grant me three wishes if I could hold side plank for a minute, I’d say sorry, dude, not gonna happen. Check out this funny photo I found on Flickr:

side plank pose (Vasisthasana)

Originally uploaded by Talkingsun

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Gumby School O’ Yoga

Gumby School O’ Yoga

Originally uploaded by sdpalladio

I love people. Gumby, you are so flexible. You too, Poky.

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Headstands in cool places

on the edge

Originally uploaded by wombatina

Check out this beautiful headstand at the Grand Canyon! (I’m lost in Flickr…)

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Day 1–Success!

OK, to be honest, it would have to be a success, wouldn’t it? I mean I’m blogging about it…We’ll see what happens by day 5. But, it was a success. Took the silly puppy out for a nice long walk first thing in the morning. We came back and he ate, which I was hoping the combination of exercise and food would make him sleepy. Combine that with the fact that he is not a morning dog (how is he my animal?), I was able to do a 45 minute yoga DVD without too much harassment from the dog. I also used an older mat that has already been attacked by my cats. What’s up with my animals hating on yoga?

It felt good to practice again, even with this cold that everyone else seems to have too. I can definitely feel where my body has tightened up (hamstrings, especially in the left side, left hip) and where my balance is off (on the left side). I know this is a result of scoliosis; the right side of my body is stronger than my left. My first Downward Dog of the morning was painful…more emotionally than physically. It used to be so effortless.

I’m trying to not feeling guilty for falling out of my yoga routine, which is difficult given I spent so much time as a child with my Jewish grandmother. 🙂 (Just kidding, miss you, Gran.) Instead, any progress I make will be celebrated! And I think setting a realistic, easily achievable schedule will help me get back into a routine and I can build from there. I’m going to practice Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (the days I don’t have my internship) and one day over the weekend. That’s do-able!

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Yoga Practice Challenges

So about a year ago I was working full time, not yet in grad school, and able to wake up at 5:30 every morning to practice yoga. It was great–I found this amazing website (www.yogatoday.com) that offered free yoga classes every day, and I practiced faithfully Monday through Friday. Saturday mornings I would go to a yoga studio by my old apartment (www.exercisestudio1.com). I saw a lot of progress in my practice and was getting very close to my goal of headstand (without the support of a wall).

But then…you know how it goes. There were only so many free classes on Yoga Today and I started to get bored. All is takes is just one day to hesitate and instead of getting up, set your cell phone alarm a little later and cuddle up under your covers. That extra hour of sleep always seemed like such a great idea at the time, but I didn’t feel quite the same even with the extra sleep–sluggish, irritated (and it’s easy to feel irritated when you get out of the train at 34th Street every day), and just all around blah.

So that was then. Now things are different. I left my job to go to school full time. I’m doing an internship. So now I have the time, but not the money. Yoga Today changed their format–one free class a week or an unlimited subscription for about $10 a month, which isn’t all that much considering the price of just one yoga class in Manhattan can be about twice that much.

My other challenge to practicing at home: Charlie.

My beloved 6-month-old puppy who thinks my yoga mat is his own personal chew toy and tugs at my ponytail while I’m in Downward Facing Dog. Goofball.

So those are my main challenges. Any suggestions?

In the meantime I’m going to research yoga studios in my new neighborhood and figure out a realistic practice schedule.

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