Rob - Maybe I'm just not much of a blogger, but that doesn't mean I'm not a great yogi!

So it seems like I kinda suck at this whole blogging thing. Which I guess is an improved perspective over I suck at the whole yoga thing. My apologies for the continually expanding gaps between entries. Before I seemed to feel like the two were completely intertwined and if I didn't blog I wasn't doing the practice very well. LIES!

After coming to the realization that practice every day was an unrealistic perspective it's like the whole thing took on a new momentum all together. And, perhaps ironically, now I'm much closer to practicing every day than when I was trying to make it a requirement. Curious... :\

The thing I've found most surprising in the first 6 months of this endeavor is how much my perspective on yoga has changed. At the get-go I was the steadfast Ashtangi looking for an epic, sweaty, full of jumbacks practice. And yes I balanced it with a consistent Yin practice, but honestly Yin is the most intense of the calm styles (if that makes any sense).

Lately I've found a loving place in my heart for a slower, more restorative sorta practice. I'll usually start with some Yin poses, but by the end it's all really chill. I think I would live in Viparita Karani if it were safe to do so. Haha!

What's most surprising to me is how beneficial just a half hour to an hour of simple poses, without any striving or intensity can really have a profound effect on my day. I sleep better and seem to reap most of the benefits of a stronger practice. I think that it's because of this new perspective that I'm falling back into a very consistent rhythm with yoga and meditation as well. (fear not Ashtanga/Vinyasa friends, I'm also still doing that practice.)

From the beginning the whole idea of this blog was a little too striving if you ask me. And if you know Heather and I maybe it wasn't a good idea to encourage our tendencies towards perfectionism. But even if I "failed" at the original goal I still feel like I've learned so much. This whole process is just as (if not more) transformative than I ever thought, even though it hasn't looked quite like what I imagined.

So most of you probably know it's the new year. The time when people love to make promises to themselves that they can't keep (kinda like this blog :p). This year I'm not doing that, at least not in the traditional sense. All I'm trying to do is the best I can and let the rest fall in place. No specific goals. No promises or commitments. Just do my practice and all will be coming.

Namaste friends!

Rob - Day 37: Yin

Well, I actually woke up in plenty of time for Led Primary this morning. But something just wasn't right. I was tired, but not groggy tired. I could really feel it in my body that it was stretched thin. I've been busy busy busy and my body was telling me to chill out. This could only mean on thing - YIN!

I rolled out the mat at home for the first time in a little while for some AM Yin. I popped on a Dharma talk by Rodney Smith about mindfulness of the body and proceeded to practice for about an hour. Afterward I did a relatively short sit (About 20 mins) but dropped in really deep! My mind felt very calm and still.

I'm super glad I opted for Yin today. I can definitely tell that I've had an excess of Yang going on today and I needed to balance it out. I've been neglecting the calmer side of my practice quite a bit so I think I need to renew my efforts on that end.

Not too much to report otherwise other that I'm feeling really balanced and calm. I'm a little concerned about when I'm going to practice this weekend as I have a LOT going on. I guess that's an issue for another time though...

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 - Day 22: MSM (Meditation Slow-Flow Meditation)

Having learned from my mistakes I made a valiant effort to get some sort of active practice in this morning. Unfortunately my cycle has not completely recovered (it's on it's way though) so I didn't make it to led primary this morning.

I did however make it to the meditation cushion, then the mat, and then back to the cushion. Basically self-explanatory. For the Yoga part I did a little free form flow. Some sun salutes, a few standing poses and that's about it. The asana part was only about half an hour but the whole cycle was about 1:15. I feel pretty good about it.

When I was at work I reminded myself why I do an active practice in the morning. I'm so much more focused and on point. Rest assured yoga friends, I will not be missing my practices henceforth. And tomorrow. Well tomorrows a pretty damn big day.

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 - Day 21: Mini-Yin(i)

3 weeks! I almost can't believe it...

I celebrated the occassion with the most anticlimactic practice ever. I just did about 1/2 hour of Yin poses before I went to be. Really nothing exciting to report at all. Just checking in for the day. Hope all is well out in Yoga Land!

Also, I took this quiz from Yoga Journal. I took it a little while ago and it said that I'm a "Spritual Snob" but this this time I got a more favorable result:

I'm a Balanced Yogi!

A Balanced Yogi You love your friends unconditionally and accept them for who they are no matter what their yoga style preference, religious beliefs, or spending habits. You focus on the good in people and would never try to change them. Almost everyone feels comfortable in your presence. You live your yoga. You are an inspiration to yoga students everywhere!

Take the Yoga Journal Yoga Snob Quiz!

Rob - Day 20: Yin - Labor Day

One aspect of blogging that I haven't explored as of yet is writing an entry IMMEDIATELY after practice. Well, here it is! I literally rose from savasana and came here to write this. I feel kinda magical right now. But more on that later.

Today is Labor Day and the weather was more than cooperative. All around this weekend was spectacular and restful. Exactly what I needed. I'm really digging the cool weather. I think it's mellowing out some of my excessive fire from the summer because I'm feeling much more mellow.

There was no Mysore this morning because the studio was closed so I slept in really late after my slightly debauchery evening last night. I think my body needed a little rest after an intense two weeks of practice so I'm feeling okay about easing on the active practice.

Today I continued the cleaning process of the house, this time enlisting the help of the roommates. We're decluttering the house and frankly I couldn't be any happier about it. Right now I'm trying to approach my life in a real minimalist fashion, especially with my living space. YAY ZEN LIVING!

So I had originally intended to got to Heather's Yin class tonight but instead I opted to practice at home. (Sorry Heather!) I felt that his would give me the chance to get to bed a bed earlier and start off the work week with a fresh battery. And tonight I did it up! I don't know why I hadn't thought of this earlier, but I have several hundred tealights and some awesome holders. In my newly cleaned room I set up a few, put on Steve Roaches' Mantram (really cool ambient music with light percussion) and proceeded to do this Yin sequence:

Butterfly 5 mins
Downward Dog 1 min
Dragon Left Leg Forward 5 mins
Pigeon Left Leg Forward 5 mins
1/2 Butterfly Right Leg Forward 5 mins
Childs Pose 3 Mins
Downward Dog 1 Min
Dragon Right Leg Forward 5 mins
Pigeon Right Leg Forward 5 mins
1/2 Butterfly Left Leg Forward 5 mins
Downward Dog 1 Min
Supta Padangusthasana w/strap 5 mins/side
Twisted Root 5 mins/side
Savasana 10 mins

Ahhhhhhhhh. It worked. For those of you readers at home I highly recommend this sequence.

And I think I'm off to bed after a wonderful and relaxing weekend...

Rob - Day 18: Yin

So it's labor day weekend and was feeling quite ready for the impending break. I slept in fairly late and putzed around for a while. Then I remembered my rewarding experience yesterday so I reluctantly dragged myself to the mat knowing that by the time I was done that I would feel much better.

Pretty typical practice really. Lately I've been trying to focus on my hamstrings alot in my Yin practice to support my Ashtanga practice. I'm hoping that the repeated attention will help me in all those forward fold and especially Supta Kurmasana, which is currently the last pose in my practice and a truly POOR execution thereof if I do say so myself. So I've been trying to do Supta Padangusthasana with a strap every time I do Yin and sometimes before I go to bed too. There's already been palpable effects in my practice and even in my daily life. Just walking around I can feel my legs as being straighter and more limber. Awesome!

I found these slightly distasteful yet very amusing examples of "Drunk Yoga" online so I'll leave you with this for the day:
PS: Those of you in the know will recognize Natasha Rizopoulos from the picture on the left. I start my Teacher Training with her in just a week. YEEEEEEES!

Rob - Day 17: Full Moon/Yin

Ah, got to sleep in a little bit this morning as per the full moon. Something I've noticed when I practice at home is that it's much harder to get moving. With Mysore as long as I push myself enough to get out the door it's all smooth sailing from there. When I'm at home its much more of a challenge to get myself to the mat.

So on this particular moon day I told myself that all I had to do was a 1/2 hour of yin and then my commitment for the day would be all set. But man, for some reason in my first pose (Wide Kneed Child's Pose) I felt absorbed into the mat in a state of relaxed bliss. Ahhhhhh. From there I proceeded to do a full 1:15 practice quite happily. And it was quite grand!

Lesson Learned: JUST DO IT! Once you beat the battle to get on the mat it's smooth sailing from there. But I already knew that, didn't I?

Namaste, Om Shanti, etc.!

Rob - Day 6: Meditation/Yin/Teddy Ruxpin!?

Ahhhh...sleep. Went to bed at 9pm woke up at 8:30am. What a beautiful thing. I feel like I took the appropriate measures to recover from my slightly excessive previous day because I feel quite alright today. I took further measures to balance my excess of yang with my practice today.

First I hit the cushion for almost a full hour of meditation - about 10 mins of metta followed by 45 mins of insight practice. It was quite lovely actually. I hadn't really noticed before today but my sits have been much shorter of late - only about 20 mins or so. I almost forgot how much more clear the mind becomes during longer sits. I think that I will need to try to set aside more time for at least a few longer sits per week. I used to get an hour with my group once a week but sadly my old Sangha has dissolved for reasons that I won't discuss on this blog. I guess the good news is starting in September none other than Heather and I will be starting a new meditation group at our yoga studio. Stay tuned for details!

I followed this by a little over an hour of self Yin. Here is the sequence I did:

Wide Kneed Child's Pose - 5 mins
Wide Kneed Child's Pose w/Twist - 4 mins/side
1/2 Saddle - 4 mins/side
Full Saddle - 5 mins
Child's/Laying On Stomach - 3 mins
1/2 Butterfly - 4 mins
Dragonfly Twist - 4 mins/side
Dragonfly - 5 mins
Twisted Root - 5 mins/side
Savasana - 10 mins

As you can see most of the focus was on front hips and hamstrings. Somehow this felt like just what I needed. I practiced in complete silence which was a nice change. Normally at home I put on some sort of ambient music. One funny side note - for no apparent reason the theme from Teddy Ruxpin got in my head while I was laying in Savasana. What the hell!?


But all told it was a lovely day. I'm feeling quite rested and ready to get back to a more vigorous practice tomorrow morning.

Namaste/Om Shanti to all the fly Yogis/Yoginis out in blog land!

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 4: NEW MOON - Simple Yin and Some Reflections

Now I've had many a debate with yogis of different styles about the importance of moon days. The skeptics argue that millions of "renegade" yogis from non-ashtanga styles practice on moon days without any ill effect. And I suppose to some extent they're right. I've yet to see an exploded head, broken limb or complete PranaQi meltdown from such behavior. But for ME at least, I definitely tend to feel really wonky when I practice on them. Also, given Mr. Jois's knowledge and the level of refinement of the Ashtanga system I'd tend to say that he's probably onto something...

But as per my commitment I did hit the mat today, although very lightly. I did about 30 mins of freestyle Yin at home to limber up a bit. Still, and I'm not sure if this was the moon or what, I was VERY restless and felt a bit off afterward. Certainly not my typical post-yin mellow vibe.

I think I'm already starting to notice the effects of the consistent practice. Whenever I practice regularly, especially with Ashtanga, I tend to have much more energy. This morning I woke up at 4 more or less ready to go, despite the fact that I felt like I slept much lighter than usual. The thing that I must be mindful of is that sometimes I have TOO much energy. It's like the Prana's all spinning around with nowhere to go. I'm sure that over the next year I'll get a feel for how to properly contain this and adjust my practice accordingly.

Tomorrow promises to be a VERY yogic today. I'm going to a teacher's workshop with Barbara Benagh about the subtle body and chakras. Exciting! I'll be sure to let you know all about it in my next post.

Still, I do have to say that it's tough to make it to the mat with wonderful articles on Huffington Post expounding the Top 10 Reasons NOT To Do Yoga! :)

Om Shanti Gangstas!

Rob - Day 1: Yin

Truth be told my practice has been rather spotty for the past few weeks and I was looking forward to getting myself back on track as it were. I spent early Monday evening wandering the Boston garden in a quasi-meditative state, soaking up the late summer humid heat. It was great. By the time I got to class I was super mellow and ready for some juicy Yin-ness.

So I roll into the shala on this balmy Monday night for my typical Yin class thinking it would be just a regular night. Then while talking to the teacher - Ms. Heather Ash - she tells me that she is going to embark on 365 days of Yoga. Strangely, I had been contemplating just the same thing for some time but I had just needed the push to actually do it. And so, rather unassumingly, I begin my quest...

Class was good, nothing super miraculous to report. It always feels great to get back to the mat and yin is my favorite way to recalibrate. The long holds are just a great way to re-limber the body I guess. I'm especially keen on sphinx/seal. The deep backbends charge my batteries (kidney Qi anyone?).

So I'm really looking forward to this new journey. I can only imagine how far I will come. See you in a year!

Heather - Introduction and Day One

Hello Curiosity seekers, fellow yogis, friends, Romans, and countrymen (he-hem women too) alike!

I am Heather: An opera singer, yoga and meditation teacher, Starbucks barista, yoga studio supervisor, and avid reader (The Wheel of Time is rockin' my world!!!). While teaching Yin Yoga on Sunday night, I got an inspiration to begin this 365 day commitment to my own yoga practice. Two years ago I walked into a beautiful little yoga studio in the heart of Red Sox country and walked into the next chapter of my life. I took my first yoga class and was hooked. So within a month I started a daily Mysore practice, and enhanced it with splashes of Vinyasa, Forrest, Restorative, and a weekly Yin Yoga practice. I lost fifty three pounds, got healthier, happier, and more ability to create the life I had always wanted - still a work in progress of course! But, over the last few months, my work has changed, I was in an opera with a lot of late nights, took a meditation retreat that had me reeling, got a boyfriend who is NOT a morning person, and I started teaching three classes a week. So, now, my life needs a new form of balance and my yoga practice somehow became a near fatality in the fray. I picked up a book recently: "Meditations from the Mat" by Rolf Gates which has 365 reflections on yoga - by way of the yoga sutras of Patanjali and the eight limbs of yoga. I have chosen that as my daily inspirational reading along my journey. While teaching my Monday class after a truly delicious Vinyasa class with Nicoline Valkenberg, I was inspired to ask one of my sangha members and ex-co-workers to join me in my yoga endeavor. He was taking my class so, he was set to start right along with me. He said yes. AND, he and I will be sharing the blog spotlight - so to speak.
Now. What do I hope to accomplish with this practice and/or with this blog???? Good question. Everything and nothing. Yoga is union. I hope to reunite with my daily practice which has given me such a solid foundation of health and joy in the past. I hope to inspire others to join me even if it is only for a week or a month or 108 days or some other meaningful number. I hope to discover the truth of the selfless divine that unites every sentient being in the universe - even if only to touch it for just a moment. Am I nervous? Mmmmm, yeah, maybe a little. I hope I can live up to my own goals and ideals. Am I excited? Hell yeah!!!! I freakin' LOVE yoga dude! So, with that in mind, I am not going to set up the structure of how this blog will go right now. I want to see it evolve as Rob and I do.


WishiNg you happiness and metta from a little dot in the universe called Boston,
Heather


PS. Anything that makes this blog look cool is TOTALLY 100% Rob's doing. If I even THINK about doing something more than checking email and using iTunes on my computer I practically have an anxiety attack! It's true, just ask my boyfriend how I reacted to trying to get iChat set up on my computer with him talking me through it step by step. I almost started crying at one point, didn't I, George? =P