Rob - Days 24-32: THERE'S JUST NOT ENOUGH TIME!

Hello friends, yogis and countryfolk. I've missed you guys and feel bad that I have been so absent, especially with how much has been going on in my practice!

I've really just been quite swamped with my work and teacher training. I learned a lesson last week about poor scheduling and admittedly my practice fell off for a couple days. I've compensated my count accordingly.

Oh yeah, it's been over a month either way! Amazing. And honestly it's working. I feel my yoga on a much deeper level than a little over 30 days ago. Of course I must attribute most of that to my training.

The YogaWorks method is such a departure from my typical Ashtanga practice that it's really shown me a completely different side of what the practice can be. There's an intense focus on alignment and most holds are upwards of 30 seconds. This coupled with a bit of vinyasa leads to a really intense practice. Oh yeah. And Natasha has us going for about 2 1/2 hours each time!

The days after I've been super tired, but once I recover I've been noticing new openings in my body. On top of this I have such a deeper awareness of alignment has completely changed my approach. I've done my regular Mysore practice a few times and felt in to my skeletal alignment in a new way. Basically what I've realized is that here to the majority of my focus was on "forcing" my tighter regions to open using mainly muscles, and the wrong ones at that. By aligning my bones neatly and engaging the correct muscles I've been able to come far deeper into many poses while simultaneously using less energy and having more focus on my breath! Hooray!

The single most beneficial teaching I've found is a proper Tadasana in ALL of my poses. By engaging my quads, lifting my arches, and in some cases aligning my pelvis properly I've found that I'm much more stable and can fold much deeper. This is surprisingly effective in the many forward folds in primary. To my amazement by engaging a proper Tadasana in the straight leg I'm able to straighten it nearly completely and fold almost completely flat. So it appears the much of my perceived hamstring curse was actually just poorly executed postures. I really mean this in a non-judgmental way. I'm so happy to be progressing based on execution and not by force!

And as if that weren't enough... I'm also finding that by proper aligning in poses I seem to be receiving much more energizing effects from them. I'm far less tired after practice and feel a deeper connection and sensitivity to the world. The awareness that I'm developing in the poses is helping my with my everyday awareness.

When I made this blog the Sanskrit words on the top that I chose are the second Yoga Sutra - "Yoga Citta Vritti Nirodhah". Roughly translated (and we discussed this in training as well) this means that Yoga enables one to still the mind and achieve an even focus (HA - that's the Rob Phillips version at least). I'm really starting to see how a physical practice of Asana can be so catalytic towards a spiritual and mindness practice.

Wow, that's a lot for one post.

And think, I'm only just over a month in. Where will I be in 11 more.....? :)

Rob - Days 22-23: FAIL! Okay, not really.

And then I lost my momentum...

Well, I guess this is an epic fail in terms of the commitment but I'm really okay with it. Both Wednesday and Thursday I didn't practice. I've thought about it a bit and came to some realizations why. NOT excuses mind you. But reasons why. I feel that learning from our mistakes and continually improving is a far more important part of Yoga than any asana practice anyways.

So what are the reasons? Well it all goes back to the Labor Day weekend. While I think it was a wise choice to stick to a more Yin practice at that point I definitely lost my momentum and drive for my yang practice. I also stayed out really late AND drank on Sunday, effectively undoing my sleep cycle. This meant that I was in no state to wake up for Mysore. I've realized that with the current state of my schedule I'm going to have to make every effort to make it to practice in the morning otherwise I won't have the time or the ambition to do a proper yang practice. I guess for the time being I'll have to forsake the late night shenanigans. Sorry crazy friends, looks like you're going to have to find me during daylight hours from now on.

Rob - Fear Not Blogosphere - I'm Still Here! - Day 16 - Mysore

Hello World! I will confess that I have been neglecting this blog for the past week or so, but fear not! My practice has remained...well...for the most part. Last Thursday I was busy from 4:30am to 9:30pm and was unable to practice. I figure this is a worthy excuse so rather than beat myself up I just hit the mat the next morning. I've skipped that day on my day counter for accuracies sake.

I don't think it will be of benefit to backlog the days so long after the fact so I'll just pick up again with today. A quick aside though. It's been over two weeks! Holy cow! (I don't normally use this expression but somehow it seems a bit yogic, yes?) I'm definitely feeling the benefits of consistency each day in my mind, body and spirit. I have more energy and more equanimity with what the world tosses at me. This is really important since I've just started a new full-time, much higher stress job (the reason I haven't posted in so long). I'm really glad I've made this commitment at such a transitional time in my life. I'm finding it immensely helpful thus far.

I made it to Mysore practice this morning feeling more limber than ever. As I've dove into my practice I can feel the opening in my body, even if it does come with some soreness and the occasional tiredness. Today as I was jumping though and around I felt really light and graceful. I'm also noticing that I am aware of more parts of my body than I used to be. For example in utthita hasta padangusthasana I no longer focus on the stretch in the extended leg but instead focus on the grounded leg. It feels almost as if my leg is attached directly into the floor. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me!

This journey is already about 5% underway and already I'm feeling amazing effects in my practice and life. Lord only knows where I'll be when I reach 100%. Also, starting next weekend I'll be throwing a little gasoline on the fires of my practice. I'm starting a 200 Hour YogaWorks Teacher Training with Natasha Rizopoulos. Needless to say this will definitely make the experiment more interesting!

Also, I found this awesome article on Huffington Post about the history of Asana. It's likely to be a bit of an eye opener for some of the yoga snobs out there:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sadie-nardini/your-yoga-poses-arent-500_b_272821.html

Namaste, Om Shanti, Etc.!