After months of doing almost nothing, I'm riding my post SAD high to try to get back to exercising again. Recognizing my tendency to be lazy in the mornings, I have acquired a DeskCycle, and have been toodling along about two hours a day, at higher and lower tensions, about 10-15 mph. I can do that while I'm working or reading or whatever. I did the last 10 minutes today on the highest setting - so I might feel that tomorrow, we'll see. I have been doing some situps and pushups to go with the cycling so to balance with some upper body. Tonight, I was in the mood for some yoga, so I pulled out Shiva Rea Core, and did the Agni Namaskar. Supposedly, it would be 108 pushups, but I totally did about 60, I think. Plus back bends and Utkatasana and variations on Virabadhransa I. Twist variations thrown in for funsies. I also did Water Core, which I'm sure I will feel in my abs as much as I'll feel the pushups in my shoulders. Should be a funny day tomorrow.

Because I should have thought of posting a picture the first time.

( Mediation beads )

So, this morning, I decided to use the yoga matrix on Yoga Shakti and do a custom routine with as much of my current favorite stuff as I can cram into an hour (or so) before I had to shower and wake up the kids.

I use my computer for this. The yoga matrix is much easier when you can point and click with a mouse.

However, my computer has developed some kind of Yoga Shakti hiccup, so the matrix didn't really take all the way. I didn't get everything I programmed in.

Om 2 (didn't take) - for a short pranayama

Surya A&B (didn't take) - for the warmup component

Dancing Warrior 1 - as additional warmup and light cardio

Dancing Warrior 4 - because it is so powerful and graceful, plus more light cardio

Ha Kriya - for the buns-of-steel aspect of squats. Plus, excellent for flexibility in the groin. But mostly, exposing my inner masochist. Two and a half mintues of torture, but I love how energizing it is.

Standing Pose Flow 2 - at the end she says to bask in your own radiance, and you SO do. Excellent for upper body strength. The one with all the arm balances, my current obsession. I actually achieved Bakasana this morning. Promptly fell down. :D No other arm balance progress to report.

Twists and Forward Bends - for the hip openers. Hurts so good. So soothing.

Inversions (ran out of time) - because you need to be upside down in life.

Savasana (ran out of time) - because you're supposed to take time to absorb your practice, not just run off and get on with your day like I have a horrible tendency to do, and did today.

The big lack in this routine was backbending, obviously. The only backbends are the one zillion repetitions of Upward Facing Dog in the vinyasas, and a few Reverse Warriors.

Also, I think for the amount of time I had, I would change out the Dancing Warriors for Surya A and B. They are better warmups. This routine felt like it started too abruptly, without enought time for my hamstrings to get with the program.

Still, I've got that loose swagger of a really good yoga workout. A good start to the day, even if possibly not the ideally balanced workout.

I put this DVD on my Christmas list last year because I was looking for some variety in my yoga practice and Mr. Kest's DVD was way cheap.

I've commented on this DVD in other places after trying each segment, so I am modifying my first two blurbs and adding a section for the third level.

Level 1: Energize. This is a very basic beginner routine, but Mr. Kest has you hold the poses for a long time, and I was sweating hard. There were couple of poses that were new to me, including a (probably fairly simple) bind somehow related to Side Angle Pose that I had never tried before and MAN was it hard. He's got a kind of interesting teaching style. The only instructor in my (small) repertoire that spends a lot of time emphasizing the importance of ease and relaxation v. "achieving" better postures. It's good to be reminded.

In a side note, this might be a really, really pretty DVD to just watch. The class is incredibly attractive and all dressed in skimpy white outfits. Mixed group of male and female. Alas, I was, as usual, doing not watching, but that was the impression I got the times I WAS looking at the screen.

The DVD seems to be a bit of an ego trip for Mr. Kest, who seems to think he is hot stuff. *rolls eyes* If he's your type, you'll squee like crazy, though.

Also, he has a weird accent. Much heavier when he's lecturing at the beginning than when he's instructing during the exercise.

Level 2: Tone. I like Brian Kest's teaching style a lot. He spends a lot of time encouraging you to be calm and maintain a smooth flow of breath. He reminds you how important it is to only do what you can do, and yet also to challenge yourself. He walks that line much more explicitly and much better, I believe, than any instructor that I have listened to so far.

That said, the second routine is killer. He starts by making you hold Side Plank *forever* and it just gets worse from there. He's going for sweat, and of course the way to get that is to push the big muscles, and man, he does. I swear I was in a lunge for, like, A YEAR, then we switched legs and started all over again! The backbending was all Locust and Upward Bow. Argh! Another year!

Not enough forward bending in this routine for me, but I will definitely do it again because it hurt and it was challenging and I know I can develop by trying again.

Level 3: Sweat. And you will sweat. And this third section is going straight to the top of my list of favorites. Again with the holding poses for challenging lengths of time. (Again with the forever on the side plank!) He only does one iteration of Upward Bow, but I think that's because he keeps you in the pose a ridiculously long period of time. What I liked on this one is that his teaching style got me into and out of difficult poses a lot better than other teachers. Bakasana seems achievable now that he has introduced me to what he calls Elbow Balance. And somehow the way he moves into and out of Rotated Triangle made it much more doable for me. Though referring back to my thoughts after doing Level 2 (I wrote "I. Hate. Rotated Triangle."), maybe I was just balanced today. There is a very nice sequence of seated forward bends and hip openers in this one.

All three of these routines left me sweaty, shaky and wrung out (and yes, to me that's a good thing).

So, in summary, aside from thinking he's a little too hot for his own good, which you won't notice that much while doing the yoga because you won't be watching the screen anyway, Mr. Kest seems like a really excellent instructor. His constant emphasis on doing what is attainable for you, what makes you "feel something," while only going as far as you can go while feeling serene and maintaining calm, deep breathing, his reminders that yoga is not about ego, but it is about balancing strength and flexibility and calm, make this possibly one of the best discs I have done.

PS, he tries to make you do a push up between Up Dog and Down Dog in the vinyasa. OMG killer.

Rodney Yee: Power Yoga Total Body yesterday morning.

I got my act together to take my sunrise yoga outside for the sunrise yesterday (for the very first time!) and I'm now completely spoiled. Of course yesterday's weather was possibly perfect. Rain was coming in, the breeze was up, the humidity was down, and it was just short of being too cool to be comfortable. I started out in a sweatshirt that I shed after about ten minutes.

It was wonderful! I can see now that I will want to be outside as often as weather permits. The back deck was great. I did the Yee disc because I know it so well. I put my little tv by the outdoor outlet, but I didn't need to *watch* the TV, just get the instrutor prompts. (I have started to adventure into practicing on my own, but when I do I tend to rush. I find it very relaxing just to do what someone else tells me to do, plus I know I am much better about staying in poses and breathing correctly for the vinyasa.)

I solved my problem with the hard surface by putting a large folded beach towel under the back third of my mat. The deck was rough enough that I didn't have problems with slipping. That let me roll over my toes and also jump back without much discomfort.

Biggest problems - the deck planking is not exactly 100% even. So it was weird to have that surface under my feet on some of the poses. Also, the one beach towel wasn't the solution for discomfort in my heels for the seated postures. But I have already started thinking about the way I would use other folded towels as pads. It should work fine once I find the right spots for them.

It was so wonderful, with slowly rising light, the wind, the birds singing, the sursurration of leaves, the smell of the approaching rain. During reclined leg stretch, I could see the clouds scudding across the sky and the birds flying overhead.

I will never want to do my practice in the basement again.

More thoughts about how postures, and yoga, make me feel.

( Balance Poses, Sweat and Ujjayi Pranayama )

Monday and Tuesday - about five minutes of yoga each - shoulder openers and Down Dog at work to wake up and make my back feel better.

Wednesday:

30 Day Shred: Level 1
Brian Kest, Power Yoga: Level 2: Tone (Intermediate) (approx 45 minutes)
Yoga Shakti: Twists and Forward Bends (approx 15 minutes)

I like Brian Kest's teaching style a lot. ( Further discussion of the Brian Kest DVD and my blooming love/hate relationship with it. )

And coming out from behind the cut to just say, because I haven't in a while, I. Hate. Revolved. Triangle.

Yes. It had to be said.

Also, since I'm here. I have lost ten pounds since Feb. 16 or whatever day that was, and this morning I squished into my skinniest pair of skinny work pants and they zipped! Not yet ready to wear them to work, but I was very excited to be in them again, even for a few minutes. Also, rummaged through the closet and found my little black jacket, which looks great, despite what The Barbarian said. *glares at offspring*

Tuesday: Brian Kest: Power Yoga One
Yoga Trance Dance: All Trance Dance Segment

OK. You all know me here. The one thing I don't talk masses about is religion. While doing Trance Dance today, I had something like a religious experience. Very odd. I suddenly got very emotional and weepy during the Dance for Transition, or whichever one it was, and it took me a minute not to just break down and sob. This is an experience I often have when talking about religion. It is NOT an experience I have, say, while doing step aerobics.

Huh.

On the Brian Kest DVD. I put it on my Christmas List because I was looking for some variety in my yoga practice and his DVD was way cheap.

As I was saying to zats_clear, I did the beginner routine. Very basic, but he has you hold the poses for a long time, and I was sweating hard. There were couple of poses that were new to me, including a (probably fairly simple) bind somehow related to Side Angle Pose that I had never tried before and MAN was it hard. He's got a kind of interesting teaching style. The only instructor in my (small) repertroire that spends a lot of time emphasizing the importance of ease and relaxation v. "achieving" better postures. It's good to be reminded.

In a side note, this might be a really, really pretty DVD to just watch. The class is incredibly attractive and all dressed in skimpy white outfits. Mixed group of male and female. Alas, I was, as usual, doing not watching, but that was the impression I got the times I WAS looking at the screen.

The DVD seems to be a bit of an ego trip for Mr. Kest, who seems to think he is hot stuff. *rolls eyes* If he's your type, you'll squee like crazy, though.

Also, he has a weird accent. Much heavier when he's lecturing at the beginning than when he's instructing during the exercise.

Yoga Shakti: Yoga Matrix - 1 hour.

I had a brainwave and instead of playing the disc on the little TV, I put it on the downstairs computer. I had just enough space to do all the postures, and using the computer makes the Yoga Matrix much more usable and less clunky.

I got Shiva Rea's Yoga Trance Dance DVD for Christmas, mostly because I really liked the piece I could see on You Tube, and it is a totally different kind of thing for me.

Shiva recites from The Radiance Yoga Sutras (Vijnana Bhairava Tantra) during Sivasana, and in particular, the last line of her selection struck me as being very much what I have been taking away from yoga during my early exploration of it:

Contemplate the constituents of your body: muscles and blood, breath and bones, is made out of radiantly dancing emptiness. Attend to the skin as a subtle boundary containing vastness. Enter that shimmering and pulsing vastness. Discover that you are not separate from anything there, and there is no "other;" no object to meditate on that is not you.

There is a place in the heart where everything meets. Enter the bowl of vastness that is the heart. Give yourself to it with total abandon. Quiet ecstasy is there, and a steady regal sense of resting in a perfect spot. Contemplate the entire universe and your entire body is filled with inexpressible happiness.

Drink the ambrosia of that all-pervading joy from the radiant cup that is this very body.

So. Not like me. I'm not seeking any particular enlightenment. But still.

Drink from the radiant cup. There's definitely something there for me.