My Week in Yoga: Discipline and Naps

Well I’m only two days late in posting the weekly blog (vs. one week and one month the previous two editions) so first off,  lets give me a teeny tiny high five for that.

Discipline takes a lot of forms, and there is nothing like feeling you’ve nailed it in one area of your life (hello yoga mat) to remind you that transferring that to another isn’t always easy (darn you blogging). I love writing here, I just need to work out how I can make it work in a sustainable way for me. But that’s a whole other topic.

So here is last week’s asana practice run-through…

Monday:  

I was all set to go for an hour power yoga class. Instead, I fell asleep on the sofa after an intense day at work. Whoops! I pride myself on being body-led these days, and my body clearly needed rest not chaturangas today.

Tuesday: 

Full self-practice day. And a really good one at that. Full, balanced, I basically did an entire class for myself. I even managed to get some hollowback pincha (with a wall!) time in as well. 60 delicious minutes. 

Wednesday: 

No yoga today.

Thursday: 

5 minutes of moving. A little mini practice and I even managed to sneak some mula bandha check-ups in there. I fall into the trap of thinking that my practice has to be long and look like full class. Today reminded me of the power of just a few minutes. Consistency is king in yoga, not power or punishment. Don’t let me forget it please.

Friday: 

Back to my level 2 Rocket class. Told myself to pace myself and did a remarkably good job on that front if I do say so myself! We had a substitute teacher and he was great – spotting me in pincha and handstand, but with the lightest of touch. It shouldn’t still surprise me how different my kick up is when I have someone there, but it does every time. Which tells me, again, that it’s not a physical thing holding me back from consistency in pincha or any form of handstand practice. It’s all in my head

Ugh.

Because that as we all know is harder to fix!!!

Saturday:

I pottered through a few sequences ahead of teaching my class. 45min. Nothing too fancy but I’m always appreciative of being warmed up before I teach: I’m not quite at the stage where I can comfortably teach without any demo-ing of the more complex postures and doing that cold is a recipe for disaster! Your yoga teacher getting injured while teaching you is NOT an auspicious sign.

Sunday:

A double yoga day: B L I S S.

10min of gentle slow flows while my better (in the kitchen) half made us breakfast.

Then I headed back to my mat for a fuller and stronger 90min practice later in the day. Creative flows and backbends turned out to be the order of the day. Plus an extra long savasana. Because Sunday. 

• Self-Practice: 2hrs 45min
• Classes: 1hr 15min  
• TOTAL: 4hrs