Weeks 4 and 5: Yoga Challenge

I was out of town for 1 week and had to resort to doing yoga on my own. Normally I am a pretty solid independent study kind of girl, but I can only do about 15 minutes of self taught yoga at this point. I need help deciding which poses to transition to and when. Yoga on my own is like deep stretching and some balancing movements, but it's hard for me to think of what I should do next and at the same time focus on my breathing, relaxing, meditating, etc. However, the time spent away from the yoga studio was time spent with family, and that in itself is a mental detox from my everyday routine.  I will say that coming back to hard core 75 minutes of daily yoga was hard after a week of lighter practice. I was sore and stiff and my body seemed to lack fluidity and grace that comes from daily practice. After a few days I felt like myself again, but those first three days back were ROUGH!
This upcoming week will be the last of my six week self imposed challenge and my last week of freedom before law school begins. I better make every yogi breath count!

Happy sweating!

Week 3 Yoga Challenge

Two words people: Beyoncé. Yoga. Yes, my favorite yoga instructor put Beyoncé's Freakum Dress on his playlist for one of my classes this week. I was shaking my booty in downward facing dog, loving it! I guess he caught me dancing instead of focusing on my breathing because he laughed at me and said to me after class, "I bet that's the first time you've ever heard Beyoncé played in a yoga studio!" It sure was and it was awesome! Who said yoga has to be all chanting and gongs, and ethereal music? Who says you can't find yourself in a dance song? Who says it needs to be quiet for you to be at peace? Next Monday, my teacher promised to do a full Beyoncé playlist! I'm not sure how I'll hold a single pose for longer than 5 seconds. Hahaha! I know most people hate Mondays, but I'm looking forward to this one ;)

On another note, I did recognize, within myself, an overall lack of energy this week. It was difficult for me to focus in yoga, and instead of mental clarity and relaxing into postures, I muscled through them with fierce determination, much like I would do on the track. I would say my approach to yoga was incorrect this week... I had a lot on my mind and was unable to let it go in yoga. Therefore, I found relief for my muscles but not for my mind in week 3 of this challenge. Perhaps I will find more balance in week 4.

Happy sweating!