Week Two***

8  Power Vinyasa Flow 5 was a fun flow. I got lower in forward fold and worked to stay lifted and strong in poses rather than collapse to get a hand to the floor.  Each of these classes is really different, and I never know what kind of pose series the instructor is going to take me through.  Sometimes I am looking forward to something that isn't included; sometimes they pull out poses I'm not as familiar with.  It's all good and good for me.  Part of the mental side for me is letting it be what it is--not being disappointed when it goes a different direction than I'd expected.  Just like in life, it is what it is regardless of what I thought I wanted or needed--emptying expectation to be more open to the present.

Downdog with pants photobomb

Need to get knees down and back flat

Lotus: tight but there

9 HARDcore Yoga challenged my core strength an talked a lot about finding peace--nice on this second Sunday of Advent after lighting our Peace candle.  I'd never tried this one, and she talked about how much more there is to yoga than just strength, and how the true purpose is to create peace in your mind in a challenging pose, on your mat during practice, and off of your mat as you go out into the world.  Had a hard time sticking the last couple of poses in the balancing flow on both sides.  My rector spinae are sore from that Ashtanga class Friday, and core work is extra hard with this diastisis recti still.  Shavasana is still the hardest for me--just lying still.  Sounds silly, but being still and letting thoughts pass without attachment or judgement is tough.  It's in those moments of surrender that I listen for God and set my intention to carry forth the calm and peace that I feel.

10 Afternoon meditation and evening Chakra Balancing Yoga.  What's more peaceful than being still?  I'm sore, and this still counts as yoga.  It's harder for me to sit still and work on the inside me than it is to move, sweat, and work on the outer me.  Today, the lyrics, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me," kept running through my head.

Me: Calm

11 Align and Flow was horrible.  How's that for peace?  The music was louder than her voice, and her cues were not very good.  I've done a lot of yoga, and it sucked.  I almost finished, though, and tried, tried to get out of my head and into the class.  Turns out I spiked a fever and the body ache was fever not soreness from exercise.

***We got sick.  I mean everybody but Frank for the better part of two weeks.  For me, it started the afternoon of the 11th with fever.  By Thursday, I had a shiny new inhaler, steroids, cough syrup, and more meds to stop the cough.  The cough.  I should probably be a proper noun--the Cough.  It should have it's own room in our house.  It was bad, and it's just now eased up in the week since Christmas.  Then, the kids got it.  All Frank and I wanted was for everybody to be better enough to really enjoy Christmas, and we were, thankfully.  Needless to say, yoga went bust.  I'll restart today with the new year and continue through my birthday, the big 3-0.***