My Week in Yoga: Still Quiet on the Self-Practice Front

Sometimes the self-practice mojo is with you, sometimes is not. And at the moment, it is most definitely not. I think this is a sign of tiredness if I’m honest. This year has been a crazy one: work has stepped up into a whole other gear, and the only proper time I’ve taken away from it all was to do my yoga teacher training. Which was amazing, but was hardly a restful experience. But here we are on the cusp of August and I am counting down to a some actual holiday time over the next few weeks, so am just going to accept that this is what is going on with me currently. Even if it means fewer hours clocked up below (and a lot less content on my Instagram feed).

Monday:  

45min vinyasa at work. Simple, effective, just what I needed to start the week. Until the teacher cued pincha and I couldn’t even kick up. It is remarkable how the environment, aka your brain’s reaction to it, changes your physical capabilities so much. I then obviously spent the rest of the day imagining myself floating into the perfect pincha and cracked out a few beautiful ones once I got home (10min). This practice has SO much to teach me still.

Tuesday: 

60min Iyengar at work with a cover teacher who drives me nuts. She has the yoga teacher fluffy-baby-trying-to-be-oh-so-soothing voice that I know some people love but just doesn’t do it for me. Especially when she decides to skip headstand. I mean. What even is an Iyengar class without headstand? Hmpf.

Then in the evening I taught my husband and a friend for an hour. I remember so vividly being exactly where there are, and watching them struggling with downward dog and silently cursing me in chair pose really brought home just how far I’ve come. So it was a delight to stay on my mat for 20 minutes afterwards and flow with ease and with power. 

Wednesday: 

30 minutes on my mat after work. Wasn’t feeling full of beans so this was a reasonably gentle affair. 

Thursday: 

Rest day.

Friday: 

At work vinyasa (60min) but the last one with this amazing teacher as she is moving and can no longer teach at our studio *SOB*. Flipped grip dancers pose and pincha play time made this an absolute joy.

Saturday:

75min Rocket that always becomes 90. I wasn’t feeling super strong or focused, but it didn’t really show until backbend time. My teacher has me working on dropback/ups to/from wheel, and while I need a supporting hand or two, I am getting pretty close to cracking these by myself. That is as long as I maintain my concentration. Which I did not do on the third dropback. Whoops. Though I did learn that not catching yourself in a drop back isn’t the end of the world. So that’s a good thing I guess!

Sunday:

90min Rocket. The teacher made this extra spicy by subbing the normal chaturanga-updog-downdog for chaturanga-updog-chaturanga-plank-downdog. For. The. Entire. Class. Wowzers. 

Then rounded the week up with a little bonus 20 minutes on my mat come evening.

• Self-Practice: 1hr
• Dynamic Classes: 4hrs 45min  
• Flex Focused Classes: 1hr
• TOTAL: 6hrs 45min