BBM Connection

Workout: No workout
Author: chaos

Wow. Just read through my previous entries. I found the last sentence of the previous entry to be quite humorous, all things considered.
Anyway, I’ve returned to this forum after a long sojourn. There are a number of reasons for that absence, including the primary server being down for a few weeks, packing the computer, being on the road for two months, moving into the new apartment, and general laziness, but the last one is, as always, the most important one.
Fortunately, it hasn’t been that long of an absence from the yoga practice. I’ve managed to keep it up, for the most part, although there was a long period of neglect recently. However, that’s over now, and I expect to be continuing on with my practice in a regular, near-daily fashion.
The biggest development was the arrival of the Power Yoga DVD, an event which caused me to focus almost exclusively on said DVD for the past number of months. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it focuses more on incorporating yoga into an aerobic workout than on the slow, more pose-oriented Yoga for Strength set, and yet it still builds strength and allows you to get into the yoga mindset. The summary of all this, however, is that I haven’t made any significant development in my practice, but I also haven’t really lost anything. Overall, considering the travel of the summer, that feels like a success.
In other news, I finally went full vegetarian a few weeks ago. It was pretty much my plan to do so after the traveling was done, and that’s pretty much the way it went. I can’t say that I’ve noticed any health differences since finally giving up seafood, but it’s only been a few weeks.
Anyway, just a small entry to note my return, and perhaps get me back into the habit of writing here, so that it becomes a yoga journal of sorts, for now. I have to admit that I found my early entries to be intriguing upon reading through them, since I know I would have forgotten pretty much all of that without having a reminder here. So hopefully this will once again become a tool by which I help myself stay motivated, and a way to track my progress.

Update: This entry made more sense when I originally wrote it. I later went back and filled in a few entries for June, to record a bit of how my practice went over vacation. So the “previous entry” originally referred to was the last one in April, not June.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

Did a session one workout on the Yoga for Strength disc yesterday. I probably haven’t done that particular session since the last time I talked about it. I had forgotten how taxing that it could be, particularly to the shoulders. The thing about the other workouts, particularly the other disc, is that it seems to affect the legs far more than the arms, probably because you’re constantly moving your legs, and supporting yourself with them. It did feel good to do the session one again, though, particularly the shoulder stand part. I feel like I have a greater understanding of the benefits of that pose now, for what reason I’m not really sure. At any rate, although my absence from this particular workout has been long, I think I’ll be returning to it fairly frequently in the next few months.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

Well, after a week of sloth, I’ve successfully completed two consecutive days of yoga practice. Furthermore, I think I’ve developed a good strategy of alternating discs, at least until such a point where practice no longer leaves me sore in the primarily exercised muscle groups the following day. So I’m hoping that this will signify the beginning of my renewed commitment to practice, and that I’ll be able to get back to the shape I was in four months ago, as well as continue to improve my practice past that point.
Nothing overly special about either of the practices (Yoga for Strength session 1 and Power Yoga: Stamina). I think most of my gains lately are mental, managing to keep my face and neck relaxed (most of the time, I’m still working on it), and concentrating on the nuances of the poses. I’m attempting to actually partake of relaxation pose, as opposed to going through the motions. I suppose that’s true of the entire workout, but it becomes most obvious in relaxation pose.
Anyway, just getting a quick note in about my current state, and hopefully there will be good news to report in the near future.

Workout: No workout
Author: chaos

After two more workouts in the last three days, I feel that I may have successfully kicked off on my return to yoga. Have been experiencing a bit of tightness, particularly in the hamstrings, but have managed to work through that, thus far. I have to confess that I’ll be happy when I finally get to the point where I’m not sore on a daily basis, though. I would guess that it probably won’t take more than a few weeks, as long as I continue on a consistent schedule.
Progress continues to be mostly mental, working on the subtle adjustments necessary to achieve the full benefits of the workout. I think part of the benefit is that when you start focusing on all the little details, it takes your mind away from everything else, at least while you’re doing poses, which enhances the relaxation experience. A mental rejuvenation, as it were.
I’m hoping to do a redesign of the blog sometime soon, or at least to change the color scheme somewhat. However, I haven’t yet felt like dedicating the time that I’d need to effectively do that, so for now I’ll continue to just create new entries, and hopefully be inspired for some design work not too far in the future.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

It has been my belief that the practice of yoga is one of renewal and rebuilding, designed to make one feel refreshed and revitalized after completing a workout. While this has been my belief, up until now I haven’t really experienced that, as for the most part I’ve found the workouts to be quite physically demanding, and while I have had a sense of mental clarity, my body has been fatigued. However, after today’s workout (Yoga for Strength session 1), I noted at the end that I didn’t feel physically exhausted, or even tired. I felt pretty much the way I did before starting the workout, barring a slight fatigue in the shoulders. I interpret this to mean that my practice has progressed to a point such that, at least for this workout, I no longer expend a great deal of energy in doing the poses. I look forward to progressing to this point with my other workouts, and perhaps even further, to the point where I end with more energy and focus than I started, which I believe is the ideal.
I’ve also been studying the poses that I have difficulty with more closely, to try and get some ideas on what I might adjust in order to complete them successfully. It is my hope that I’ll be ready to advance to a more intermediate level workout within the next few months. For the moment, however, I have to maintain focus and continue to workout regularly, so as to keep the gains that I’m making, and continue to build on them.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

Did the Power Yoga: Stamina workout today. Nothing new to report, really… it’s definitely the least challenging of the power yoga workouts. Due to schedule fluctuations, I actually ended up doing that workout only eleven hours after the previous one, but I didn’t notice any particular strain from that. Doing some reading last night, I noticed that my downward dog pose probably needs a little refinement to be… I don’t know, of maximum benefit, I suppose. This may or may not explain why my shoulders periodically have felt, particularly in the past, like they were going to fall off. I’m guessing it’ll probably be tougher for the first few days to adjust to this “new” pose, but it should be better overall. Speaking of poses, I noticed that Yoga Journal has made pictures of a good number of the poses available in an easily-browsed form.
On another note, I’ve attempted to make the color scheme of this journal slightly more palatable. After consulting with a few friends, the pastel scheme was abandoned in favor of the “high-tech” one you should now be seeing. I’m not sure that I’m entirely happy with it, but it’ll do until I get up the motivation to change it again. I also changed the title and tagline, to be more in tune with the focus of this journal.

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

Did a Power Yoga: Flexibility workout today. It went pretty well… it’s one that I can hit all the poses in, which always feels nice, but it also definitely seems like my poses are more crisp, and taking less effort. Additionally, after completing the workout I was able to get into an approximation of half-lotus. My top knee still needs to be lower, but considering that a few months ago I could barely sit in simple cross-legged pose, it’s a definite improvement. Maybe in a few months I’ll actually be able to sit in half-lotus and have it look right, too.
I’m not quite certain how to handle scheduling right now. I have five possible workouts. The problem is, I’m not really certain how to handle distribution, and even order is up for grabs. Additionally, the three Power Yoga workouts can actually be done as a single workout. Now, I don’t think I’m actually ready to do that yet, but I’m beginning to think about doing two of them at once, which also changes the dynamic. I probably won’t mess with order, since there is somewhat of a natural progression, but I still figure I have three options to do two of them back to back. However, not having done this yet, it may be that it’s still beyond my capacity. I’ll probably try it pretty soon though, so I guess I’ll just evaluate when that happens.