Rob - Day 36: Mysore

As promised, here for a daily entry! I set a repeating reminder on my To-Do program to make sure that I do this every day so hopefully I'll be much more consistent.

So last night I went to bed early. REALLY early. Like 8:30-9. I wanted to make sure I had enough mojo for the morning practice. It kinda worked I guess. I'm really not sure what's going on with my system right now. Obviously I got enough sleep, but I was still really tired. Probably some of this was left over from my intense led 1/2 Primary class on Monday which I followed with Heather's Yin class. I hadn't done the double header in a while and it was kinda intense. But I was really sore and tired even two days later! Also, the seasons are starting to obviously change now which is always a bit of a shock to my system.

My practice today felt sloppy, unfocused. My hamstrings were really tight and sore. I had trouble keeping focus even for the five breaths per pose. By the end I was quite tired and skipped out past Navasana. I didn't even have enough strength for Urvha Danurasana and ended up doing bridge! I let myself really go in Savasana. I borderline slept, which I guess is what I needed. I followed with a few rounds of Nadi Shodhana which definitely calmed me down a bit.

So what does this tell me..? Well, honestly I'm not quite sure. Maybe it was just an off day. By now (just after noon) I'm feeling a lot better and I'm glad I practiced even if I felt a bit wonky during and just after. I think we'll just let this one go at face value.

Rob - Days 33-35: Patterns

I'm beginning to figure out where I tend to fall off the train. This week, and last, I missed practice on Thursday and Friday. See what I've come to realize that while an evening practice is possible, it's tough. I'm best served by making sure that I make it to Mysore in the morning.

Thursday is the toughie. I sign in the Mysore class at the studio and then head straight to work. By the time I come home I'm exhausted and have no strength or motivation to practice. I think I'm going to hold on to Thursday as my optional day of rest. I mean, it's not completely keeping with the original intent of this project. However the MAIN intent of the project was to observe the process of a consistent practice. With that being said I've observed that I really need that day both for the sake of my schedule and my body. But Friday is another matter. If I'm going to take Thursday as rest I'm going to need to be vigilant about making it to Friday Primary class.

So what does this all have to do with patterns? Well, I've realized that my challenges with those days (Friday specifically) have come from my complacency with my diet. Now many would argue that I'm healthy, and sadly by American standards I'm way healthier than the rest. I maintain a Vegan diet and try to avoid processed food, etc. However since this experiment began and my schedule's gotten booked I've really fallen back into some bad habits. This has created a drag on my system which makes it hard to wake up in the morning even when I go to bed early and thus miss morning practice.

Mainly I've stopped cooking and have relied on prepared foods. Now this isn't necessarily all bad but its expensive and greatly increases my chances of eating crap. Confession: I've been eating at Burger King (GASP!) more often than I would care to (which is not at all). They have a Veggie Burger and my roomies go there a lot so it's an easy choice. I've also been neglecting to eat enough fresh veggies mainly due to my not preparing my own food.

So what am I going to do? Well, the cooking is going to be a bit of a challenge but it's something I'm going to work towards fitting into my schedule. In terms of prepared foods I'm going to stick to the least processed, highest quality foods I can get. Probably mainly from TJ's and Whole Foods.

I'm also making a conscious effort to eat less. It's so easy when we follow a Vegan or other healthy diet to go out of control with portions. Now I'm not trying to lose weight. It would probably be really unhealthy for my weight to drop any lower. What I am going to work greatly on is eating smaller portions of healthier foods. I've really come to realize how much big portions of caloricaly dense foods slow me down. The past few days I've been monitoring portions and only eating till I'm full. I already feel much better.

I may expand on this as I progress but I think those two steps are a great place to start.

Now what does this have to do with my practice? Well, EVERYTHING! I have forgotten how instrumental the entire diet and outside life is to a successful practice. Sure, I've been doing my Asana and getting great results. But I know deep down that by implementing these bigger changes my other practices will be greatly assisted. I'll feel better and actually have the energy to practice every day (or almost every day at least).

Just to check in. Asana is going swimmingly. I'm progressing very steadily I would say. This is the first time I've ever been so consistent for so long and I can definitely tell. I won't go into too many details, I'll save for a later post.

Another project: renewing my Dharma Practice (It's also going great but I'll also save that for another blog entry)

Final Project: Get back to writing on here every day! I have so much to talk about and it really helps me check in and keep focus.

Stay tuned for the continued evolution of this process. And if you're one of my friends, either real life or online, please help keep an eye on me! One of the main reasons I started this blog was so that I would have public accountability. I love hearing from you guys and appreciate all your support!

Heather - Day Four : For Real!

Partially due to exhaustion and partially due to schedule-based necessity, I did a small restorative practice today: svasana, cat/cow, brief downdog, pigeon, child's pose, (yin-style) butterfly, svasana. I forget the immense energizing value of a restorative practice when you are tired. How could I when Josh Summers, my Yin teacher training teacher, said that an indication of your energy levels and the appropriate activity is determined when you are tired by how you feel after a yang or yin class: meaning if you are MORE tired after a yang class then you were truly tired, if you were MORE tired after a yin class then you had stagnated energy that needed to be moved around, like in a yang class. The reverse is also true. I wouldn't go so far as to say I am brimming with fresh energy, but I don't feel like I could just drop at any second. I will definitely sleep fantastically tonight!

As I write this, I am thinking about how all my posts to date have had some sort of reflective theme to them. To be honest, I am running dry tonight. Maybe it is just the exhaustion, or it is just not being in as reflective of a mood. The only thing I want to accomplish with this blog as I move through my days is honesty. I admit there was a part of me that tried to find a way to twist my activities on Thursday in such a way that could be argued as yoga, and I guess I did that while talking about being present with my day and current company. But in my heart, though I know yoga is only one-eighth asana, I knew that when I made this commitment I was committing to 365 days of asana. I have already committed my entire life to the practice of the whole of yoga - at least as much as I can manage in this lifetime!

Wishing you happinEss and metta from a little dot in the universe called Boston,
Heather

Rob - Day 3: Mysore(? Heck yes I am!)

This morning was rough!

This blog is definitely the only reason that I actually made it this morning. Under regular circumstances I would have turned off my alarm and gone RIGHT back to sleep. I guess that means that the commitment is doing it's job though.

I really can't express how groggy I was this morning. I felt kinda like a zombie wandering around in search of brains. I hit the cushion for ten mins of "metta" practice. I think describing it as such is a bit of a misnomer though. It was more like:

"may I be safe. May I be happy. May I...ooooh I have to do blah blah later...oh yeah...metta...why am I doing metta? Why am I up? This is lame...FOCUS ROB...okaaaaaaay...May I be healthy..."

So by the end of the 10 mins I decided that attempting to do some vipassana would result in me sleeping sitting up and that would not be advisable. Instead I opted to try some walking in my living/dining room. I'd actually never done that at home, only on retreat. If you can imagine this only extended the Zombie like feelings as I crept slowly back and forth.

But yes, I wasn't going to stop there. I made it all the way to the studio for my morning Mysore practice. This is really the sorest and most tired I've felt on the mat in a LONG time. I guess it's just the karma for my shoddy few weeks catching up with me. My hamstrings were super sore and definitely tighter than yesterday. This is odd cause normally they progressively open more with each successive practice. I felt like I weighed a million pounds and each jumpback was quite an undertaking. By the end I copped out and stopped at Navasana. (My current practice stops at Supta Kurmasana)

I definitely fell asleep in Savasana. That's okay though. I think it gave all the PranaQi a chance to properly circulate cause as I'm writing this I feel like I've got my mojo back.

I'm pretty darn glad that tomorrow is a New Moon. As per the commitment I'll still practice, but as per Ashtanga tradition I'll hold of on vinyasa. I'm think maybe some lazy Yin/Restorative will suit me just right.

Check in tomorrow to find out exactly what happens!