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Yoga Challenge Day 12 ~ Have a Plan

July 9, 2010

I’ve realized over the last few weeks of daily yoga practice that my time on the mat is much more effective if I have a practice plan in mind when I begin.  That’s probably the largest difference between my current yoga challenge and the one I completed last year.  Last year I seemed to have more of an idea what my daily yoga routine would consist of; this year, not so much, which means I sort of just improvise for a while on the mat before I decide to call it a day.  Although my desire and commitment to practice is strong, I really don’t have the same kind of personal time as I did last year, and heading off to yoga class on a regular basis just isn’t really my thing. I’m definitely all about the home yoga practice , but like most things in life, unless we plan ahead (or even have some goals), we tend to slip away from our idealistic intentions.  And, some of us just need a little more direction than others… That’s why I’m totally pumped that a few days ago I received an e-mail invite from Gaiam Yoga Club to try out their 12 week yoga program taught by Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman.  The home practice course includes guided instruction from Rodney and Colleen where they focus on a different category of yoga posture each week.  One week studying standing poses, another week focusing on sun salutations, then a week on backbends, then twists…you get the picture.  I just enjoyed viewing a video blog post from Rodney and Colleen about the importance of maintaining correct posture and ways to mindfully improve this crucial, but oft-neglected aspect of our daily lives.  As I watched the video and poked around some of the resources on the site, I felt excited to get involved in the community and get started with the program. I now have a plan. I’m starting tomorrow.  I’ll let you know how it goes. Filed under: yoga

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Yoga Challenge Day 10 ~ Commitment

July 7, 2010

I think I pushed the limits today for what constitutes the bare minimum for a yoga practice. I had a hard track workout this morning, so I don’t feel exercised-deprived. I’m mainly concerned that I’m not prioritizing my time well enough to allow for a solid effort on the mat. That’s probably where class attendance makes a difference in terms of demanding an honest effort. Day 10 is usually that time during the yoga challenge when it’s useful to recommit to the spirit and intent of the challenge. Honestly, I’ve been obsessed with creating a (hopefully) cool and useful new yoga website: www.yogahack.com. I had this idea pop into my head the other day about a website concept revolving around #yogahacks, i.e, tips for efficient use of technology and media resources in a yoga practice. The hashtag idea came to mind tonight while tinkering on the Internet. All right, it’s time to recommit to a respectable practice effort. Namaste! Filed under: yoga , yoga challenge

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Roll out the mat 30 day challenge – day 2

June 29, 2010

Today ended up being one of those challenging days where I normally would have never unrolled my mat. Busy from start to finish. However, when 10:30 rolled around tonight and I finally slowed down from the business of the day, I reminded myself to turn off my electronic gadgets and lay out my yoga blanket. Of course the mere act of laying out the blanket resulted in 30 minutes of mind calming restorative yoga poses. Luckily, right now I don’t feel like my yoga practice has to be a workout all the time since I get lots of fitness benefits from consistent running. Sometimes it just feels really nice to move and breathe slowly through a few simple poses. I also discovered that there should be plenty of yoga class options on Okinawa. I spent a slow part of my afternoon combing through the YogaFit website since that’s where a number of teachers I’ve found received training.  YogaFit seems to have the corner on fitness center yoga teacher training.  I haven’t really looked at a lot of other teacher training programs, but I guess I felt mildly shocked at how much it costs to receive a 200 hour RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) certification. Filed under: yoga , yoga challenge

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Roll out the mat 30 day challenge – day 1

June 28, 2010

About this same time last year I was living in a Middle Eastern country when I decided to start up a 30 day yoga challenge . It worked really well and I think I did yoga basically every single day for nearly three months. There must be something about this time of year because I just officially made today day 1 of a new 30 day “roll out the mat” yoga challenge. So I won’t exactly be rolling out the yoga mat every day over the next couple of weeks since I shipped all mine to Japan. However, I did pack my Manduka eQua yoga towel, which worked great for throwing out on the carpet tonight for an hour of slow yoga, hip openers mainly. Once I got a little sweat on my hands and feet the towel worked great. I have a lot more unknowns in my schedule this year so this new venture may quickly find itself at the mercy of external demands and timelines, but for now I’m completely committed to the challenge of unfolding my yoga towel everyday, which most certainly will guarantee steady, consistent practice. I’m definitely in a transition period right now, but I figure this may be a time when I need a physical yoga practice the most. I’m also thinking about attempting some sort of fasting or cleanse diet. Yoga blogger/teacher, Kyle Miller, recently wrote about the benefits of a juice cleanse and I think it sounds like a great challenge. Anyhow, hopefully I’ll also have time to update the blog on how things progress. I’m at a beautiful location right now with an amazing view. If a private dock on the sound doesn’t inspire me to roll out my mat and practice then I must not have a heartbeat. Have great week!! Namaste, Brian Filed under: yoga

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