BBM Connection

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

I was having some problems with staying focused again today, so I tried doing the workout with my eyes closed. It definitely helped… I had to pay a lot more attention to how my body felt and was positioned, which kept my mind on the workout. I was still having some trouble focusing, but it was definitely better.
I’m trying to begin a meditation practice in addition to the yoga. Right now I’m pretty bad at it… my mind wanders off at the slightest provocation. However, I’m hoping in time that it will significantly improve my ability to concentrate and focus, which will be pretty beneficial for just about everything, I think.

Workout: No workout
Author: chaos

Taking my cues (as usual) from yukino and after having talked with Scott, I decided to go ahead and work on future-proofing the site. Using the resources that yukino linked to, particularly the ones by Már Örlygsson and Mark Pilgrim, I think I’ve managed to remove all of the implementation dependent references in the site. Overall, it was fairly simple… the resulting URLs don’t look the prettiest, but they are effective, and unlikely to need to change.
Additionally, I’ve converted all of the dates and times on the site to conform to the ISO 8601 standard, as recommended in this note to the World Wide Web Consortium. I enjoy the simplicity of the solution, even if the date and time as one long string isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing.
Other than that, I fixed the size of the sidebar, hopefully so that nothing overflows the edges on any clients. I’m not sure how likely that is, given the difference I saw between the Windows and Linux sides using Firebird, but I don’t have a lot else to work with, so maybe it looks okay. If you can’t see the sidebar, it’s because older clients that don’t support CSS2 are trying to display it… somewhere else, I think. I know it doesn’t show up in IE6.1, at any rate. Anyway, just a note on some of the changes I’ve made in the past few weeks. I might implement menus for the sidebar sometime soon, but I haven’t felt inspired to work on them in the last week, so they might end up waiting until the next time I start tinkering with the site design.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

Had a somewhat interesting workout today. It started off with the pre-workout time, when I really felt like going to sleep. However, I managed to motivate enough to get up and do the workout. Then, about halfway through, I noticed that it seemed much easier than usual. I’m not certain why, but it really didn’t seem like the workout was really taking any energy at all, when usually it takes a fair amount, as it’s one of the tougher workouts I have. The arm balances were mediocre… pendulum was about as usual, simple arm balance didn’t really go, and crane pose… I tipped forward on. Not once, but twice, once going into the pose, after which I recovered and managed to extend into it, and again coming out of the pose. That was really odd, since I never tip forward in that pose. I think I was trying to rush it for some reason. Full Eastern plank pose went a little better, or at least it didn’t seem like I was going to cause any of my muscles to cramp. I’m not sure I was getting into as much height as I normally do… I’m going to have to watch the video closely and see what Rodney does. After the workout, I felt quite refreshed and rejuvenated, which is again somewhat unusual for this workout… usually I feel at best pretty much equal to when I started. I wish I could say that I learned something important today, and I probably did, I just don’t know what it is. Hopefully I can figure it out sometime in the upcoming workouts, though.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body
Author: chaos

Had a pretty good workout today. I really felt like I was ready for the workout, which most likely contributed. I felt stronger than I have at any time before when doing this workout, and I think that was reflected when I managed to do all three of the upward bows. Admittedly, the middle one was fairly short, maybe half the time of the one on the video, but just being able to get into it three times was an accomplishment. The rest of the workout went pretty well, too… I felt in touch with the workout. Warrior III was pretty successful, as was half-moon pose. I still don’t feel like I’m quite in tune with the stretches, though. I have this feeling that I’m trying too hard for some of them. I haven’t really noticed it in terms of being sore, but they just don’t seem to be quite right. Something to keep working on. I’m not sure if I’ll pick up another workout tonight or not… probably depends on how the rest of the day goes.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

I did most of this session with my eyes closed. It was definitely interesting… I started visualizing my body positioning in my head, getting an image of my motions as a black shape with some kind of surrounding monochrome background. It definitely seems like something that could be useful, for meditation if not necessarily for yoga. The downside of this was that while I did maintain the poses fairly well when I checked, I had a habit of shifting from side to side. This was probably because of the lunges, which I’m always a bit scattered on when taking the first leg back. Probably just a lack of focus there, since they should just be going straight back, pretty much.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

A fairly laid back session today, as sessions go. The slow pace felt pretty good. These sessions are nice because they really allow me time to concentrate on what I’m doing instead of immediately moving to the next pose, which I think is helpful for continuing to progress with the poses. The disadvantage, of course, is that they don’t really give the same feeling of having had a good workout that the more fast paced power yoga workouts do.
At any rate, the workout felt decent. I did this one in particular mainly to do the inverted poses. I even got out the blankets today in preparation, though I’m not entirely certain that I’m using them correctly. They felt like they were helping quite a bit when I was in full shoulderstand, but they almost seemed to be making things worse in one-legged shoulderstand. I probably just have to experiment a bit more with the placement of both the blankets and myself. Two minute downward dog seems to be getting easier, with the exception of the problems with my hands sliding. Almost all of the headstand preparation stuff seems much easier now, not like my shoulders are going to collapse, which is good. I’d say it’s either a sign that I’ve changed my positioning to be more correct or that my shoulder strength has increased, either one of which would be good. I don’t really think I’ve changed my positioning, though, so it’s probably increased strength. Anyway, a fairly good session, if not the most aerobically challenging.

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

Had another seemingly light workout today. I’ve had a pain in my right side for a few days now, nothing particularly worrying, just somewhat annoying. At any rate, I decided to take today’s workout a little easier than I normally do. Which, in theory, is probably how I’m always supposed to do things, but I never do. Well, rarely, at any rate. I’ve definitely gotten better about how much I try to push, but I wouldn’t say that I don’t push at least a little bit. Admittedly, it tends to be in stretching that I try to really maximize my stretch, but still.
I’ve been a little frustrated lately by my seeming lack of mental progress. It doesn’t feel like I’ve made very many gains in the past month or two. I suppose that’s the way things have been, where I’d make some gains, then not really make any for a while, then be inspired and make some more. It probably just seems that it’s been so long because of the frequency of the workouts. Additionally, sometimes it seems that I’m doing all the poses wrong, or at least not quite right. I suppose that’s also fairly normal in terms of progression. The beginner knows nothing, the not quite beginner thinks they know a few things. The intermediate realizes that they know very little, and the master knows many things, but knows that they don’t know everything. Something like that, at any rate. Although I’d be hesitant to call myself an intermediate. So perhaps the categories aren’t quite right, but the idea is there. The sense that most of the poses I thought I knew, I don’t really know. Which is progress, certainly. Just a little discouraging sometimes. At any rate, just have to carry on and hope to slowly gain further understanding.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body
Author: chaos

Did a shortened session today. I did the first section, then skipped to the last. I’m still having some trouble with my right shoulder and side, so I didn’t really want to push anything very hard. I think my side is getting better, though, and provided I don’t make it worse again I think it’ll be gone tomorrow. Not as sure about the shoulder pain, but I have an odd feeling that they’re somehow related, so it might be as well, if I’m lucky.
At any rate, the session itself was decent. I was definitely able to get into the cool down more than normal, I really felt like I was in an almost zen mental state for it, which was pretty cool. The first part wasn’t as good, mainly because I was periodically feeling twinges on my right side. Nothing severe, just enough for me to be aware that there was some pain present. I think the poses went pretty well, though, as I continue to try and tweak them towards more proper form. I think I’m getting closer with upward dog… it definitely feels like more of a backbend now. I’ll probably continue doing some reading to try and get more little things that I’m not doing right and correcting them.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

Well, ended up deciding to just jump into the week off after the last workout. After taking stock of the injuries and general fatigue of the body, it seemed like it was best just to start the recovery process as opposed to waiting another day or two. I’m still not very good at being in touch with my body, but I think that it was the right decision.
Today’s workout felt pretty good. I was a little more distracted than I would have liked, but I felt good going through the poses. It made me realize just how much the fatigue had built up before, because it felt so much better and I felt so much more fresh now. I also made a slight adjustment to the position for the warrior poses, and I think that it’s a huge improvement. How I’ve managed to go through this session a few dozen times without ever noticing that subtle directive (put your weight on the _outside_ of your heels) before is a bit of a mystery, but probably just reveals my lack of focus. At any rate, I think that it greatly improves the correctness of that pose, and not uncoincidentally, makes it seem much easier. I think that’s the amazing thing about yoga… in reality, it’s pretty much always less difficult (in terms of exertion) to do a pose correctly than to do it incorrectly. Which doesn’t really make it any easier to learn to do it correctly, at least for me, but it does give some indication of when you’re not doing it correctly. Anyway, that’s pretty much my observation for the day. I plan on picking up with a consistent practice again, though I’ll probably start interspersing more days off and hopefully avoid getting to the point where I need to take several in a row off.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body
Author: chaos

Well, had a pretty good workout tonight. It’s difficult to say whether it was because I adopted a new technique for the warrior poses, or because of the week of rest (probably the latter), but I was able to fully complete the Total Body workout for the first time tonight. The only part that posed a significant challenge to that was the three upward bows… by my theory of lesser effort for correct poses, I suspect that I’m doing something wrong with them. I’m going to have to look into some descriptions of the pose technique, because it’s taking way too much effort from my quads to keep me up. However, other than that, the workout felt pretty good, if not necessarily perfect. I definitely felt that my overall technique was a little sharper today. This is probably because I’ve regained some of my focus, now that my body isn’t operating under the previous level of fatigue. Still, my concentration isn’t really where I’d like it to be, even if it was improved tonight as well. At any rate, although the accomplishment is fairly small in the scheme of the practice, it still feels good to be able to get through the workout entirely.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

Well, I think I overdid it slightly with the last workout. My lower hamstrings ended up being fairly sore the next day, so I decided to take a day off and let them recover somewhat. Probably a good choice… while they were still sore today, it was definitely a more normal level of soreness.
Today’s workout went fairly well. I felt good throughout, and like I was a little more connected with my body. I don’t think anything particularly amazing happened in terms of poses, a fairly standard workout in that regard. I was working on my breathing a bit… practicing ujjayi breathing, in particular. I haven’t found any particular benefits to it yet, but I’m not very consistent with it, either. If I can get through a practice or two using it consistently, then I’ll probably have a better idea of whether or not it’s having an effect on my breathing and energy levels. At any rate, it was a good workout, and I’ll probably look for another challenging workout tomorrow.

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

Fairly light workout tonight. I felt somewhat out of focus during the workout, not quite there. It’s a little bit upsetting, since part of yoga is supposed to be being present, not thinking about this or that during the workout. I usually have problems with that during relaxation, since there isn’t much to attend to in terms of postures, but today it was pretty consistent through the workout. Really, it’s just an extension of my general inability to focus, and yet it’s a little more troublesome during the yoga workout. Perhaps because that had been a time during which I was, at least briefly, able to focus, and now I seem to be losing that ability as well. Overall, I think it degrades both the practice and my life in general, since I’m not creating a clear mental space for myself. Last March and April, I’d be able to stay focused for an hour or two after the workout, and now I’m having trouble getting focused in the first place. Just another thing that needs to be worked on, I suppose.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body
Author: chaos

Another round of my toughest workout. It went pretty well… got through the entire thing again today. In several ways, I think it was easier than the last time I did the workout. I can really only ascribe that to improvements in the practice… certainly, I started out a little more sore/tired than I did the other day. I was practicing the ujjayi breath throughout the workout, and I think it helps somewhat. I lost track of it for a couple parts, though, but I think with practice I can maintain a consistent breath throughout.
In terms of poses… I spent a little time studying the video after the last workout, and I think that it helped. It definitely refreshed my ideas of what I should be doing at any given time. My first upward bow today felt really good, not like I was really straining at all. The other two didn’t go quite as well… I’m not quite sure what the difference was, but it felt more like last time doing them. So I definitely need to keep working on that, but at least I have an idea now of what I should be doing. Warrior III went surprisingly well, as did half-moon pose. I think this is probably a combination of improved strength and technique growing through the workout… since I use less energy in the earlier stages, I have more to use later, and having better technique I don’t need to use as much as I would have previously.
Another thing I was noting while doing one of the infamous push up to upward dog to downward dog sequences is that, like in lifting, it’s not how much you can do, but your form while you’re doing it. It’s something that I’ve noted a number of times in the past, and will probably note a number more in the future. It’s easier to forget, since the only weight you’re dealing with is your own. But much like when you’re bench pressing, if you’re not doing your poses right, it doesn’t really matter how much/many you’re doing. You’re not getting the maximum benefit from them, and you risk injuring yourself from doing them incorrectly. With that in mind, I’m going to attempt even more to be precise in my postures, and not worry as much about getting through the entire workout.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

Went for another light workout today. I managed to focus a little more than I have been lately… not sure if it really helps the workout that much, but I feel better about it, at any rate. I definitely think that some of the adjustments I’ve been making lately are an improvement… the workout as a whole feels more fluid. The only real issue I have is that my legs still have a tendency to be a little sore or tight the next day… I think that I’m still trying too hard on the stretching poses. I think I’m going to try and back off on those a little, and see if greater flexibility will naturally come. It should, but it will be difficult to keep from trying to extend beyond my capabilities. However, I think if I can get away from over-stretching, I should start being able to do longer workouts without ill effect, which will probably more than compensate for the “lesser” stretches I’ll be getting.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

The problem with just saying that you’re going to do something 6 times a week, as opposed to specifying a certain day that you’re going to take off, is that it becomes too easy to start missing days. Yesterday, for example, I wanted to do a workout, but didn’t manage to schedule it in properly. So I may have to decide that I’m just going to take a given day off, and do the other six days to avoid that. Either that, or make sure I get the workout in on days that I want to. Perhaps both.
Today’s workout was fairly decent… not my best crane pose, but a pretty good one. I fell out of simple arm balance at the very end, but I think I actually have that one now. It’s a matter of bringing the legs out to be wider than the arms to start with. After that, it’s relatively simple. I think my breathing is getting to be fairly consistent, though I didn’t manage to work in the ujjayi breathing this time. Perhaps I need to start with the breathing slightly before beginning the workout, and that way I’ll already be going before I have to start worrying about poses and such. At any rate, a decent workout, and hopefully another one tomorrow.

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

It’s somewhat amazing to me that these workouts used to seem so difficult just to complete. Particularly after acquiring the Total Body workout, the workouts in the Complete video seem pretty easy, with the sometimes exception of the Strength workout. Hopefully I’m taking advantage of that by continuing to work on the fine details of the poses. Which, by my theory of correctness of posture, means that the workouts should be becoming easier all the time. Not that it’s really a bad thing… but I think I’m going to have to start factoring in more time for yoga, so as to do two (or all three) of the workouts together.
Nothing of particular note today… I was trying to hang back on the stretches somewhat, and not overextend things. I think I was successful for the most part, although I may have overdone it on the wide-angle forward bend. I’ll have a better idea tomorrow, I suppose. I think I may start doing the Total Body workout more often, and not coming back to these quite as much. Have to see what develops, I suppose.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

Well, had an unexpected interruption on Wednesday that caused me to miss the next two days. Annoying, but not a lot that could be done about it, I suppose.
Another fairly standard strength workout today. I definitely think my greater attention to the detail of the poses is helping… it’s keeping these workouts from becoming too routine. I don’t know that I’d go so far as to say that it keeps them fresh, but at least it currently avoids the boring label. Nothing really stands out in terms of the workout… good crane pose, and I think I refined my understanding of simple arm balance a little more. I suppose there’s not a lot to be expected in terms of interesting new developments in a workout that consists largely of going from mountain pose through standing forward bend to downward dog, and fairly quickly through the sequence at that. But anyway, that’s all for tonight. I’m hoping to get back into a consistent rhythm now… February had way too many interruptions, so I’m hoping to improve on that going into March.