movement
Moon day practice
Moon day used to equate to sleeping in. Lately, my body has become quite accustomed to waking up early. Moon Day or not, I am generally awake by 6am. How I use my regular practice time varies. Sometimes, I take extra time just sitting quietly. Other times I might do some journaling. I might go to the gym for an early workout, take on a light “feel good” yoga practice, or I might just walk the dog.
This past Moon Day, however, my options were more limited due to a foot injury (Foot vs. Dog Bone). I couldn’t walk too well, and was unable to put on regular shoes. Instead, I decided to get on my yoga mat to record another video for my YT followers. Since I haven’t really gotten any feedback on what it is that you all want, I kind of just made it up as I went. This one is rather short; it’s just enough to move your body in all directions so that you can go out and do all the things you love to do. I hope that you will enjoy it.
As usual, if there is something you’d like me to include on either my YT channel, or in written form on this blog, please leave a comment to let me know. Also, please click to watch, like, comment, subscribe, and share. Thank you.
Gratitude Practice
Whether I roll out my mat at the studio or at home, my focus is the same. It is one of gratitude. Yoga is a feeling practice. There is so many other feelings and emotions swirling around in my body and mind but these emotions are the ones I am bringing into focus. As I bring my attention to what is right in my life, the fear, uncertainty, pain, and other feelings fall away.
I am grateful for this beautiful life, my health, my sons’ (lives, love, health, happiness…), the close relationships with my extended family, our dog, my home, job, my practice, and the opportunity to share yoga to others (among so much more).
I invite you try it yourself. It is hard to be fearful when you are focused on gratitude. You may notice that, while in a state of gratitude, it is far easier to make important decisions, create a vision for what you want to manifest, or simply just enjoy the moment.
getting over the hump
It’s Wednesday (aka “hump day”). These days, hump day has a new significance. My youngest has now been given the 4-9:15 AM shift at our gym every Wednesday – and I drive him there. Often, I help him with his duties while I kill time until the mysore room at my yoga studio is open.
I don’t know when I became a morning person, but I seem to have adjusted to allow for a relatively easy wake up. Mid-day, however, the early rising tends to get to me and I will struggle to make it over the hump and through the end of my work day. Because of this, I was happy to have used the early morning to get in a quick upper body workout. This will allow me to get to bed early tonight as needed.
Contrary to what you might think, weight training and cardio workouts have actually been very good for me. While I am not as open and flexible, I find that these activities have helped to stabilize my joints and keep my muscles from getting too stretched out. Subsequently, I am in less pain and am now able to get my leg behind my head fairly comfortably. In talking with other yogini friends, the majority of them who have added strength training to their activities have found the same is true for them. Of course, my switch to adopting a ketogenic lifestyle has helped considerably as well.
Even so, over the last couple of days, my yoga practice has been rather uncomfortable. This past weekend, I did a rather strenuous 15 mile hike with my sweetheart and youngest son. And although I feel like I am in good hiking shape, with a 5 day backpacking trip just 1 month ago, my body did not go easily UP and DOWN and UP the mountain.
I suppose that if I were to compare today to the recent trek, I might consider getting over the “hump” a breeze.