Back in the Saddle

Yoga Update (5/9-5/15/11)

Matt loves to use ranching metaphors, even though he corrals words more often than hooved creatures, and I have to say, it’s kind of addictive.  I may have been raised in the Midwest and get a little nervous if a horse starts moving faster than a slow saunter, but still, the American dream of moving West, of working with my hands and making a living off the land runs deep in my psyche.  I’m sure that my choice of reading, a book about rural Utah, a land that was settled by ranchers and Mormons (among others), is influencing me, but still, I find the ranching metaphors charming.

So: back in the saddle I am!  And by saddle, I mean yoga mat.  And by yoga mat, I mean no disrespect to any real ranchers out there.  I’m just having fun with words.

I’m getting really, really close to the end of this project, which started on March 18, almost two months ago.  During the course of the project, I’ve learned a thing or two about myself, namely that doing more yoga is not going to make me feel more balanced.  However, sitting in front of the pool while sipping something cool and reading a book can help restore an otherwise awful day.  Yoga does improve my sleep quality, and that reason alone is good enough for me.

As these last few days of the project wind down, I wanted to finish up strong, so I did more yoga than last week, and I chose to do some formal classes, not just my DIY pajama yoga before bed.

Here’s my yoga week, in anally-retentive list form:

Monday (5/9): I do some pajama yoga before bed.  It was a super-busy weekend with tons of biking, and my legs are aching for some stretching, so this yoga feels terrific.

Tuesday (5/10): Tonight I fire up Morning Flow #1 on the ole laptop and enjoy backbending my way to a peaceful mind.

Wednesday (5/11): I don’t do yoga tonight.  I did ride the bike to and from work, but for some reason, I’m not in the mood for yoga.  Instead, I cook dinner and enjoy the sounds of our much-needed rainfall outside.

Thursday (5/12): Tonight I do another class, Gentle Hatha #1, which I realize is sort of the opposite of Morning Flow.  Where Morning Flow focuses on doing tons of backbends (and wheel pose!), Gentle Hatha #1 focuses on doing lots of forward bends.  After doing both classes in one week, I’m feeling very physically balanced!  Now, if only I didn’t have a habitual hunch, I’d have perfect posture.

Friday (5/13): Ooh, spooky!  Friday the 13th.  I play it safe by doing more pajama yoga.  Luckily, despite my klutziness, I manage to not injure myself.  Whew!

Saturday (5/14): The weekend bike commutes resume, and today I am feeling too lazy to do any yoga.  I seem to be fighting an infection, and today I wouldn’t have even gone into work except that I’ve got experiments going NOW that need my attention.  So I nudge myself to work, but otherwise I try to take it easy.

Sunday (5/15): Knowing how much better my sleep is after I do yoga, I do some pajama yoga before bed, trying to mentally ease myself into the work week.  The weekend has flown by, and I’m a little sad that Monday looms so close already.  This is what happens when you work every day of the week, dear reader: your already short weekend feels even shorter.  Oh well.  At least things are going well at work, science-wise.

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Just four more days of my yoga project!  I’m so excited I could lay down in savasana right now.  Ahhh….have a groovy week, kind readers!