My Week in Yoga: Home Stretch

Home stretch because I go on holiday this week!

Unless it’s not already obvious, I really love my job. I know I don’t discuss it here or on Instagram, but that doesn’t make it any less true. I work with really smart people, both colleagues and clients, solving complex problems over varying time horizons, and get well looked after for doing so. I know these wont be everyone’s criteria for a dream job, but they certainly are up there for me.

Having said that, I do still need a break every now and again. This year has been the busiest yet for me in so many ways – work, personal life, yoga, everything – so taking a couple of weeks with my husband just to recharge and have some fun couldn’t come soon enough.

Monday:  

Still in New York for work. 20 minutes pre-work self-practice. I was feeling pretty sore from all the weekend’s activities it must be said, so this was tentative at best.

Tuesday: 

An overly enthusiastic night out with colleagues meant my plans for an early morning yoga class were quietly moved to the side replaced with 10 minutes of gentle movement before barrelling out the door to a day of meetings and the red-eye flight home.

Wednesday: 

Landed from NYC at 6.30am, straight to the office and a crazy penultimate day at work. No yoga.  

Thursday: 

Final day at work, then packing. No yoga.

Friday: 

Travel day! Had plans for 5 minutes of stretching at the airport, but I ended up flexing out a full and remarkably complete 30 minute practice. Sun salutations, standing poses, core work, inversions, backbends, savasana.

And it felt amazing.

My body was strong and open, my mind calm, even though I was practicing in the middle of Heathrow Terminal 5. If you’ve been reading these posts for the past few weeks you’ll know that my self-practice has taken a bit of a back-seat as time, energy and inspiration have been somewhat lacking. This reminded me that it’s all still there waiting for me, when I am ready. 

Saturday:

90min vinyasa class at YogaWorks in Santa Monica. What a lovely way to kick off the holiday. I was a little nervous about this as it was marked as a level 2/3 class, but that clearly translates to something a bit different over here as it felt much more like an all levels class. Simple but effective sequencing with options for more advanced poses if/when you wanted to take them. The room was absolutely meltingly hot though, which added more than enough challenge for this hot-yoga hater!

Sunday:

Another 90min vinyasa class, this time at a studio in Malibu. Again, marked as a level 2/3 class but very simple sequencing meant this became what I made it. I added some extra strength stuff in (chaturanga reps and headstand presses) but mostly just went with the flow. And was rewarded by nearly getting into full splits when it came to the floor sequence. Say whhhhaaaaat?!? 

• Self-Practice: 1hr
• Classes: 3hrs  
• TOTAL: 4hrs