Yoga injuries

I was on stay-cation last week and decided to do yoga as much as I could while I was off work.

I bought a groupon for unlimited classes at The Yoga Room and took a class every day but one.  It was much needed for my mental and physical health.

Now I'm back at work and my groupon has expired.  The Yoga Room classes don't mesh that well with my work schedule so I went to hot yoga at my gym on Monday night and got a little daring.

I tried not one but two poses that I've never done successfully before.

First, The Wheel.

That is not me.  This is from a Fitsugar yoga post.

I didn't get my head off the ground, but I did get the rest of me up, which is a feat with my incredibly inflexible shoulders.

I did it twice, holding it a few seconds each time.  Hopefully this is a step towards me shoulders loosening up.

Then we got some free time to do any poses we wanted that weren't in class.  I was feeling ballsy so I went with the Crow.

That's not me either.  That's from a different Fitsugar Yoga post.  I really love Fitsugar.

As you can see the knees are balanced on the elbows and the weight is in your arms and your core is tight to hold it all together.

I held it twice.  For like 3 seconds each time.  I was amazed. I was giddy. I got too sure of myself.

I went for it one more time before going into Savasana.

I placed my hands on the mat, squatted and prepared my core for the move.  Knees up, arms slightly bent and a deep breath.

Then I fell face first onto the hardwood barely cushioned by my mat.  I turned my head to avoid breaking my nose (I did that in ballet already, I couldn't do it in Yoga too) and instead landing on my cheek bone.

Remember that scene in "Pretty Woman" where Julia Roberts talks about men knowing exactly where to slap women to inflict the most pain? I did that to myself.

If you don't remember that scene then I'm not sure we should ever be friends.

Anyway, my stranger Yoga buddy giggled, I said shit and then went right into Savasana with a swollen and numb cheek.

On the plus side, no bruise!

Yoga addiction

I had a really rough week not long ago.

Things were stressful at work, meetings and appointments kept popping up and I was running around like crazy.

I was frazzled.  I kept up my running hoping it would keep me sane and centered.  It did not.

I did some yoga at home, but it wasn't centering me either.

Then I read this post by yoga goddess Cheena-

How conquering the yoga mat can help you conquer the boardroom.

She's very wise.

So, I cleared my schedule one night and signed up for a Vino and Vinyasa event.

I went by myself in my yoga leggings and a big t-shirt and drank my glass of wine off to the side, sitting on my mat and clearing my mind.  By the time yoga started I already calmer and less at the end of my rope.

Then, Jennifer lead us through a great yoga work out that stretched my kinks out, relieved my tension and challenged my limited yoga capabilities.

I left the class feeling refreshed and recharged, a huge change in just two hours.

It was exactly what I needed to get over the crap.

It was a good reminder that yoga is more than just performing the routines with a DVD or from memory.  It's taking the time to breathe, to stretch and relax.  To give yourself quiet time to recharge while you re-shape your body.

If you haven't tried it, do it.  I highly recommend it.  It's helped my posture and back pain immensely if nothing else.

Also, it makes you pretty bendy.

Yoga on the cheap

So.  I'm broke all the time now.

My money is now tied up with bills, bills, bills, and more bills.  Vet, car, normal bills.

Blerg.

So I've had to cut back on my spending, to basically nonexistent.  I go out to eat once a pay period.  My credit cards are safely hidden away.  And I had to stop paying for drop in yoga classes.

So I got thrifty to get my yogi on.  I did a DVR search and found "Power Yoga with Adrienne Reed" on my cable it's on channel 110 several times a day (the same episode repeats) and I DVR the 7pm episode every day.

Each episode focuses on hips, legs, core/abs, flow, twists, etc. and Reed will tell you at the beginning of the workout.  I usually have several on my DVR because I do yoga every other day, so I can pick which emphasis I need that week.

It's a 30 minute workout that begins with Sun Salutations to warm up, then the focused exercises.  Reed is easy to understand and the class has people of different levels of experience to show the varied poses and modifications that can be made.

Each class ends with the corpse pose to relax and decompress your body from the workout.

I really like the classes. Doing them on my own schedule helps me immensely, but I am glad I have experience in actual yoga classes because that makes me more familiar with the poses, which helps a lot.

I even rearranged my room and took a nightstand out to the barn to make room for my yoga mat.

Bella really likes our yoga space.

I also added some YouTube workouts to my playlist.

I have a Roku box so I can watch YouTube on my TV. I haven't tried it yet but I have some Blogilates queued up to try soon.

How do you workout on a budget?

Getting Bendy With It

I think you've all figured out that I'm willing to try pretty much anything at least once. 

I've gone trapezing... taken dance classes... pilates... swimming... eaten shark, alligator, lamb, brussel sprouts... mixed prints, worn white after labor day.

Now, in my quest to be the fitted Kate I can be... I'm trying yoga.

Luckily my pal Tasha had an in for me at  Inner Peace Yoga Tulsa and I took the "Yoga for Athletes" class.

I've never done yoga, I have this brain that never stops, while I'm running I'm making to-do lists, at Body Pump I'm thinking about e-mails I need to send.  When I try to sleep I lay in bed and think of 7million things I need to do the next day.

Yoga forces you to stop the madness and relax and stretch and work your body.   It was exactly what I needed.

My first body pump class in 2 weeks was a tough one and I could barely walk from sore quads.  

So, I got to the class and filled out the forms, talked to the instructor and got situated for class. 

There were just a few of us, and we all stretched out waiting for the class to begin. 

Then Kris came in and started the peaceful music and started telling us how to relax our minds.... move our bodies... and calm our breathing.  5 minutes in I was hooked.

I stretched my legs up over my head, moved my knee into my rib cage, stretched my heels up to the ceiling... felt my abs pressed into my spine... stretched my lower back till it stopped hurting.  Every sore spot on my body was stretched and pulled and prodded into a looser position.

70 minutes later I was relaxed, had no back pain and could move my legs without muscle twitches.  My brain was rested.  I felt like a different person.  I can't wait to try a different class.

A more relaxed sarcastic yogi..