30 Days of Yoga- Day 14
Power Yoga with Angela Majic
Day two at the brand new YogaSource and loving its version of “crowded”. The room was full of yogis, but I still had space to maneuver around my mat without bumping into neighbors. Angela is a fantastic teacher. She, and today’s experience, make me miss YogaSource.
I also brought Olivia along with me today and helped her rekindle her very own addiction to yoga. Two weeks and going strong!
30 Days of Yoga- Day 13
Restorative Yoga with Jeannette Goudallier
Wow! Today was my first time in the brand new YogaSource Los Gatos and it is AH-mazing! The studio, probably 5 times the size of Yoga Belly’s (and there’re TWO of ‘em!), was spacious, modern, and absolutely gorgeous. Despite having so little to do with YogaSource’s great achievement and big move, I felt proud to be there today– like being part of a monumental Silicon Valley zen.
I took a back seat today and opted for a restorative class– more meditation than exercise. Restorative is usually too slow for my attention span (which generally requires constant, challenging movement to stay focused), but today it was just what I needed. I left calmer, softer, and feeling like I had just woke up from a refreshing nap after a day at the spa. Mmm.
30 Days of Yoga- Day 12
Power Yoga with Edna Barr
Being flexible has its downfalls. Often, instructors think because I can do a perfect needle or splits, I must be stretchy everywhere. False. My hamstrings are tight, my hips are tighter, and my back barely bends into a standard wheel pose. Also, of course, just a few hours after reading this article from yesterday’s NY Times titled “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” (which mostly points to pushing yourself too far, bending the neck too much in things like arches and shoulderstands, and teachers pulling bodies into “proper” position during class as the main causes for concern) I found myself being asked to arch a lot, perform shoulderstands (however, armed with the proper technique), and being pulled into poses I didn’t know I could do.
The pulling wasn’t all bad though. Edna coaxed me into a deeper wheel pose than I had done since my pre-vaulting gymnastics years, and it actually felt really good. For a moment, I imagined myself not in a dark yoga studio, but back in a brightly lit gymnastics warehouse on that slightly smelly bright blue floor being pulled into submission by a kind, but demanding gymnastics coach from my youth. It was nice to be pushed again.
Also, there’s this video. Which I find beautiful and poetic. On to day 13!
30 Days of Yoga- Day 11
Yoga Belly with Aaron Goodnow
No major epiphanies today, but I did realize how much smoother my muscles are feeling after a week and a half of daily yoga. My body eases much less creakily into downward dog than it used to, forward folds don’t make my hamstrings want to murder me, and my hips don’t snap quite as loudly when I fold into half pigeon. It feels good to be flexible again.
30 Days of Yoga- Day 10
Hour of Power with Melissa Carlson
A YogaSource infusion at Yoga Belly was just want I needed this morning. I originally met Melissa at YogaSource, then, by chance, met her again when I showed up at her house to meet my family’s rescue dog-to-be, Bubba. A woman whose love for animals and life shows not only through her willingness to foster abandoned and abused labrador retrievers, but also through her yoga practice. She is calm and grounding, but pushes me to my limits nonetheless– just what I need!
And my entire body was so happy when she brought back the YogaSource special today– the stacked hip one-legged downward dog. Ahhhhh…
Ten days in and going strong!
30 Days of Yoga- Day 9
Megan’s Greatest Hits with Me, Myself, and I
When my dad works out without his trainer, he does a series of exercises he’s either good at, feels are good for him, or thinks he should be doing. His trainer refers to that workout as “Steve’s Greatest Hits”. Today, since I missed the morning yoga class, worked all day, coached my team, rode my horse, and got home just about when the last Yoga Belly class ended this evening, I turned up Pandora’s Yoga station, silenced my phone, hopped on my mat, and proceeded to practice all my favorite yoga poses– Megan’s Greatest Hits.
What, might you ask, are Megan’s Greatest Hits? Lots of child pose, lunging hip flexor stretches, down dog, one-legged down dog with the hip lifted and knee bent, side cobra, a Megan version of cobra/up dog with my legs sprawled out that looks too hideous to practice in front of strangers, long pigeon stretches, a few handstands, splits, forward folds, pasarita, and a good long shavasana.
Perhaps Megan’s Greatest Hits was less well rounded than the average yoga class in a studio, but it felt oh so good. 9 days down. 21 to go.
30 Days of Yoga- Day 8
Power Yoga with Fiona So
Today was one of those days that I probably should’ve just stuck to an hour of pigeon and child’s pose. My entire body felt tired, all the way to my finger tips, but I breathed and somewhat forced my way through a 90-minute yoga session regardless. I suppose this is when my trainer, Stacey, would step in and tell me I’m overtraining. After all, 30 days of yoga is a bit of an arbitrary goal– not really grounded in any fitness theories or methods. I like to think that it’s calming my mind though… and helping me think more positively about myself and the world around me. I could use a more observant and less judgmental mind and spirit every now and then (read: always). We’ll see how the body feels tomorrow, but day 9 might merit a few simple sun salutations, some good hip openers, and 9 hours of shavasana.
30 Days of Yoga- Days 6 & 7
Day 6: Power Yoga with Matt Sharpe
I said goodbye to 2011 by learning the basics of 8-angle pose… an arm balance which has always eluded me. Although my snappy hips and troublesome IT band made the leg crossing just a tad difficult (not to mention the prep work of sticking my leg behind my shoulder…) I sort of kind of achieved an ugly version of the pose. Sweet!
Day 7: Yin Yoga with Jeanette Goudallier
I said hello to 2012 by trying something new and relaxing. Because Yoga Belly was closed for New Years, I headed to YogaSource Los Gatos for a yin class, my first ever. It was their final day of classes in their old studio, so while we were busy letting gravity stretch our muscles apart while trying to keep our minds focused on the present, outside the studio YogaSourcers were busy loading up a big Uhaul with the remains of the old studio. It was at once exciting and sad– a new era of YogaSource starts tomorrow. I sure wish I lived closer!
One week of yoga, seven days of sweaty yoga clothes, and plenty of sore, but very, very happy muscles. I’m liking this commitment.
30 Days of Yoga- Day 5
Power Yoga with Fiona So
Language barriers can be challenging, but despite being occasionally confused when Fiona asked for “top up” instead of “half lift”, today, a foreign accent actually opened my mind and practice to a new way of experiencing shavasana (…and in no way whatsoever did the foreign accent detract me from getting my sweat on).
“Let your feet be happy. Let your legs be happy. Let your back be happy. Let your arms be happy. Let your head be happy.” I relaxed my body into a state of happiness, letting myself relax completely, open up, become light while also grounding deeply into the earth. Then I realized that she was saying “heavy”. That made more sense, but I like my happy body in shavasana even better. 
30 Days of Yoga- Day 4
Hour of Power with Tracy Gulbransen
Holy bootcamp. Maybe I have just forgotten how challenging power yoga is, but this class felt more like “preparation for deployment to Afghanistan” than the average “mid-day power yoga for stressed out (but very fit) housewives”. Less than 10 minutes into the class, I was sweating like than a fat man in a sauna suit (sorry for the visual) and things never really calmed down… not even in shavasana.
As Tracy told us to sink lower into the pose, push harder, hold longer, I remembered back to the reasons I was on my mat in the first place. I was there to let go. To be happy with my body for what it is and where it is. To challenge myself without pushing myself to a breaking point. As others obliged to Tracy’s requests, I listened to my body, sometimes sinking deeper, sometimes staying right where I was, and sometimes skipping the pose altogether.
I still got one hell of a great workout, but I’m pretty proud of myself for listening to my body foremost and the instructor second, for challenging myself without pushing too far, and for holding a pretty fricken baller handstand during free inversion time.
Day four. A sweaty success.