Amusement Park Yoga :)

Hi All! Just a quick pic from my fabulous week of vacation awesomeness :)) Yay!!! (Can you tell I'm loving my week off?)

PS: This is me in Camel Pose in front of one of my fave rides at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.

Vacation!!!

After eight months of work, I finally have a week off :))) And you can all take a wild guess about where I went on DAY 1......

Gosh, I love South Haven, MI <3

More South Haven...

Cravings.

I have been thinking about cravings a lot lately. In the past, I have mainly known food cravings... I have learned to understand what my body needs when I crave certain things. Cravings chips or french fries? I'm lacking salt. Craving fruity candy, gummy bears? My body is longing for vitamins and fruit will do the trick. Sour candies? Lacking vitamin C of course! Chocolate? Oh-oh, better eat something and quick!! Salmon? My body wants protein...

So yeah, food-wise I'm pretty "in tune" with my body's needs. But recently I have had cravings for yoga postures, particularly these:

Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Paschimotthasana or Separate Leg Stretching Pose (picture from Bikram's official page)

Pada-Hastasana or Hands-to-Feet Pose (amazing picture from here)


These new cravings pose a question of course... what do they mean? I'm assuming I don't crave the posture for the posture's sake. I've never particularly enjoyed these postures. Actually, now that I think about them some more... they are both postures in which I am slowly "making progress", by which I do not mean that I look like the pictures above. But I feel like I have finally "understood" the postures... where I have to release, where I have to engage... and yes, I guess I am slowly moving towards the full expression (forehead on the floor or locked knees). More importantly though, I know how to work into the posture correctly, to get all the benefits it can provide for me... (even if it doesn't look picture-perfect.)

Aha! -- What are these postures' benefits then? They both strengthen the lower body, the legs, and stretch the spine.... aaaaah, stretching the spine... something most of us can benefit from, huh? In addition, the first posture massages the abdominal organs and improves flexibility of the hips, pelvis... Sounds good to my office chair-bound body!

So my guess regarding these cravings is: my body is longing for more stretches for the spine and the hips as I am sitting in my office chair for most of the work day. Either way, I'm really enjoying these postures during my classes now! :)

Have you had yoga posture cravings? Which one? And can you tie these cravings to something your body needed at the time?

I'm walking...

This song has been on my mind a lot this week. Remember the Jetta vs. Pick-up truck story? I'm finally getting the body damage fixed and it was more extensive than it looks... which means I have been without a car since Monday and will get it back next Monday at the earliest... Luckily I live close to work, sooo... I'm walking :)

7 a.m. Bikram Yoga

I've got a new habit. About three times a week I take a Bikram Yoga class at 7 a.m. before I go to work. This might not sound super exciting except for if you know me, and know that I usually don't get up before the clock has a big fat eight (or at least a seven) where the hour is noted. So yeah, it's a pretty big deal for me to get up at 6:15 to make it to 7 a.m. yoga.

What makes me get up this early, you ask? A fresh, non-smelly yoga room. Quiet, focused fellow yogis and an amazingly calm vibe. Relatively empty classes. Having my evenings free for my LIFE outside the yoga room. Coming out of the studio into a fresh new day/world. Reeeaallly improving my flexibility in the morning classes! The opportunity to see dawn... :)

Who would have thought that even I can make it out of bed early for something that is important to me? ;)