and drop down for a triangle pose

The little experiment that I mentioned in the previous post went well. I definitely feel a difference in my strength since I first started yoga. Although I am repeating many of those initial poses in my current practice, I found that the biggest difference was in how well I tolerated my first triangle post.

Technically, I know that the hand on (or near) your calf is not supposed to bear weight. However, my core muscles were not strong enough to hold me there, so in order to make it, I made it into a load-bearing arm. A bad habit, as The Everything Yoga Blog would say.

The Dow has been sneaking up these past two weeks. I check up with it every five minutes because my company has a widget on our internal homepage that lets us know how the economy is doing. Financial experts say that we shouldn't get excited because bonds are still in the toilet, but I view the uptick in the stock market as a very good sign.

However, I know that the job market will get worse. Our company is making some cuts to consolidate some of our offices. I know it's smart, but I hope that our office doesn't seen any more cuts. We've been through enough, thanks, but that no longer bothers me on a daily basis. I feel more at peace.

I wonder if we could institute a three-minute corpse pose at the end of the workday? You know, to boost morale.

going backwards to go forward

I was sharing my yoga progress with my boyfriend this week, and he suggested that I try one of my easier DVDs again to see how much I've improved. I'm planning to do that today.

Much to my chagrin, I had little time for yoga this week due to a freelance project. Going through the routine on Friday make me feel a little creaky. That's what missing three days will do to me, apparently.

couples yoga?

My boyfriend and I both started yoga around the same time. We live in opposite parts of the country, but last time he was here, I talked him into doing a yoga DVD with me.

While I've been bending in front of my television, he has been doing Bikram at a studio in his area. Yes, the man who hates being too hot enjoys Bikram. I'm trying to talk him into taking me to a Bikram class when I visit him next weekend.

It does make me wonder how often couples do yoga together, and if it gets awkward when one person surpasses the skills of another.

working through it

I might have been a little too active on Wednesday. I spent six hours painting large-scale items. After dinner, I spent 50 minutes on the bike and then did yoga. On Thursday, I rolled out of bed to a world of pain in my legs.

I'm convinced that I didn't pull anything because my legs hurt uniformly. Getting in and out of chairs has been fun. Unfortunately, I then proceeded to spend most of Wednesday and Thursday eating things that aren't so good for me because I thought more sleep and food would help. To make up for that poor decision, I pulled out the intermediate Better Sex Through Yoga DVD and took a crack at it this evening.

Yoga goes by so quickly when you're unable to do 25 percent of the poses as long as the instructor. Technically, I can't touch my toes for prolonged periods of time yet, but I still got a good stretch. I might be stuck in intermediate world for a while, but I'm OK with that.

Next up: figuring out how to connect my computer to the TV so I can take advantage of the 20-minute sessions on Yoga Download.

I guess if I'm feeling too lazy, I won't even leave the couch:


Living Room Yoga - Getting the Most Out of Your Living Room from Jim Ford on Vimeo.

staying power

In addition to yoga, I regularly spend time on my exercise bike. Tuesdays and Thursdays are givens because I watch a lot of TV those nights (Exercising to The Biggest Loser is really enjoyable), and I usually hop on another night or two.

On Biggest Loser nights, I usually bike for about 30 minutes per hour of the show for a total of 600 calories lost. Normally I have to pause my bike a few times to stretch and get a drink. Tonight, I got on that bike and stayed on for 64 minutes straight.

It could be that I finally hit a point in my cardio where I was ready enough and focused enough to stay on the bike for that long. However, I can't help but wonder if my regular yoga sessions have added to my stamina in a positive way.

I do have weights, stretchy bands and a medicine ball, but I don't use them regularly. For the most part, yoga is my weight-bearing exercise. I Googled yoga and stamina and found this feature on five yoga moves to improve stamina, so I guess my theory isn't completely baseless. Cool!

how very mellow

It occurs to me that I might be hitting my tipping point when it comes to yoga. Since starting three weeks ago, I just practiced three days in a row. Previously, I practiced every other day, and sometimes less than that.

So what got into me? Well, something in my body said "let's do yoga again!" rather than hop on my exercise bike or be a couch potato. My body wanted to be stretched, and I wasn't going to say no.

Today's practice went by very quickly. I was better able to follow the instructions and focus more on my breathing than ever before. A part of me thinks that I need to switch my DVDs more often, as I've done the same one for the last six sessions. I think I'll go back to Molly Fox tomorrow (!!!) and see how that feels.

what's your poison?

I think this blog could use a lighthearted post, don't you? :)

I started my adventure into yoga a few weeks ago with Molly Fox's Yoga Sculpts. This simple yoga routine, which was filmed in the early 1990s, was a great introduction for me to sun salutations. She does go a little quickly, but once you've run through the DVD one time, it's much easier to keep up with her. The setting is simple, so there's nothing to distract you. I plan to go back to this DVD from time to time to shake things up.

I put Molly to the side when my three-DVD set of Better Sex Through Yoga arrived at my doorstep. Yes, yes, I know, sex sells and all that. I would be lying if I said that I didn't buy this DVD set because it claims to stretch out your "sexual core." However, a lot of the complaints on Amazon seem to be by people who tried this DVD once and judged it by its looks. Yes, there is some cheesy porn music, but instructor Jacquie Greaux isn't moaning and groaning. Yes, some of the moves look sexy, but they're also the right ones to stretch out your body properly. My legs and hips haven't felt this stretched out in a long time.

I considered trying MTV's Power Yoga, but I heard it was fairly fast-paced, so I decided not to try it. Thankfully, I joined SwapADVD a while ago, so I have access to quite a few yoga DVDs in case I feel like changing things up.

Anyone out there have a good yoga DVD recommendation?