Mellow post yoga posting

Today was back to work but in some ways I still feel slightly like I am in vacation mode.  The dance school and Scouts don't resume until next week, so re-entry was definately easier than it would be otherwise.  Homeschool work got done quickly; I have a boat load of work at my job but I always do.  I can go in early tomorrow and whack down a fair bit of that. 

Because there was no taxi service needed from me to get kids to and from dance tonight I was able to take an evening yoga class.  Hopefully in February my instructor will start Saturday classes again. Those are my favorite as i enjoy starting the day with the practice.  But for now, she has evening ones in a new location that is super convenient to my house.  So I will normally go on Monday evenings but took advantage of the free night tonight for a class. 

It is different doing yoga at night.  Opening my eyes after the final meditation to find the studio essentially in full darkness is a new experience for me.  But I am so glad that her studio has reopened and that yoga can once more be part of my life on a weekly basis.  I know people do yoga in solitary practice at home.  I have a great mat.  But I don't have great body sense and can not tell if my body is properly aligned. Since I have scoliosis it is important that someone see when I am rounding a back that should be straight or listing to the leeward when I think I am straight and tall. LOL

What I do at home is my on line exercise program which is great for calorie burn and cardio.  Exercise and keeping my body supple and fit remains important to me.  It helps that I enjoy it too!  It releases stress and keeps me more mellow.

I didn't make official resolutions this year, but I am making an effort to be more intentional about doing things that are good for me--whether that is emotionally good or physically good.  I think as parents many of us get so used to putting the kids first that the habit of self care is easily lost.  I don't need days at a spa, I just need a bit of time each day to move my body and/or enrich my mind.

This has been sort of a work in progress resolution over the past several years.  The first thing that I made a priority was to do more pleasure reading. Several years ago I realized that all my reading was either for work or for homeschooling.  I have made reading goals for several years on Goodreads and last year read almost 50 books.  It is fun to keep track of my progress and it is fun to find new authors.  I am a total Kindle lover.  Being able to down load a book from the on line library is the best thing that ever happened to this busy mom!  So this year, I hope you all find something that you enjoy doing, that makes your spirit sing, or heals a tired soul.

Yoga adjustments

I started going to yoga a couple winters ago with my friend.  She knew of a local hot yoga class.  It was a very cold winter and she said why not try it; I would at least be warm for an hour a week.  LOL  I did and I liked it.  The class was what was called Yoga Fit.

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I am kind of  very competitive.  I love being pushed hard.  I love trying to beat a book time or my personal best when I hike.  I like to sweat.  So this yoga class was a good fit.  There was a lot of sweat. A lot of pushing.  A lot of core work.  And though my balance was awful my flexibility was awesome so I did well overall.  People were friendly and I kept going, long after my friend moved on to something different.

Life happens.  My yoga teacher's relationship ended. She decided to sell her house (where she had her studio) and bought a small condo. While she is actively looking for a new studio space, there have not been hot yoga classes this summer. 

Summer is also the time I usually take zumba classes at the dance school. But that teacher is on maternity leave so that was also not happening.  I do work out with an on line program but I am a social person.  I really look forward to these times for chatting and connecting with others. So I started looking around for classes.  None of the zumba classes fit the times I had available.  I still have to get kids to things even in the summer and my wife still works in the evenings, so there are specific date and time windows I can do something.  So I sadly crossed off zumba but found a yoga class literally down the street.  At a day and time that I could absolutely do.  Off I went.

Initially I was underwhelmed.  No one was friendly.  Seriously, NO ONE said hi when I walked in. They all kept talking and I had to wait 15 minutes before I could ask where to pay, introduce myself etc.  Not the greatest start.  And this was not a yoga fit class.  This was, what I sarcastically called "woo woo yoga" when I got home and told my wife about it that night.  It felt like everything was about breathing. 

Um, I know how to breathe. I've been doing it for 60 years.  I wanted to twist and bend and work my core til it trembled.  Instead we moved gently, stopped to breath.  Moved gently while we focussed on breathing.  Put our hand on our centers while we breathed. . . you get the picture I hope.  There was a song you were invited to sing at the beginning of class and the end of it. Except no one teaches it to you. 

But because there was no other class I could go to that fit my schedule, and because I am stubborn, I kept going.  I figured there is always something to get out of an experience and I was determined that this was going to happen. 

And it did.  Gradually over the course of the summer I have come to enjoy this class.  I still don't know the opening song (though I did learn the closing one) I have managed through my very persistant overly friendly nature, to get people to talk to me.  (I have no idea why that is so important to me but it is)

I have learned that being more gentle and focussing on breathing is not a bad thing.  While I don't have that burn I crave at the end of class, I usually do feel a lightness and a feeling I can not quite describe.  It has been worth it.  There is something to learn from every experience even when it is not the experience we thought we wanted.  My summer yoga sessions end next week because after that our fall schedule will make it impossible for me to come. But I am glad that I had this opportunity and I am glad I kept myself open to finding the worth within it.