Yoga Interruptus

This post was originally published at Get Fit Chicks. It may refer to posts on Get Fit Chicks that no longer exist. Please email me if you run into any of those and I will break the links. More information about the reposting is available here

I’ve only mentioned it a gazillion times, but for the last year I’ve been going to yoga at lunch time twice a week (ideally). Through the Health office at work, we can take advantage of a bunch of subsidized exercise and healthy living programs and yoga is one of them.

I HATED yoga when I started. Downward dog was the bane of my existence. Now, I love yoga. I can tell when I haven’t been able to go twice a week. My body complains when it misses yoga, not just when I go to yoga after too long away.
But I’m not going to yoga this month. Or next month.

Since the beginning of January I’ve paid for more yoga classes that I haven’t gone to than yoga classes that I have gone to. Unfortunately the program doesn’t have a drop-in option available – based on my calendar I sign up for how ever many classes I want in a two month block. Usually this isn’t a problem. I just enter the yoga classes into my calendar as I go. Both of my bosses have been respectful of that time in my week, even though it means I usually take a 75 minute lunch instead of a 60 minute lunch twice a week. I make that up by either staying a bit later or taking slightly shorter lunches the rest of the week.

But we’ve been busy lately. And J and I were both sick a lot in the first three months of the year. So instead of going to yoga, I’ve often had to work at lunch to get caught up and meet our deadlines.

So, I had to take a break. May and June were supposed to be jam packed busy and so far, I wouldn’t have been able to make yoga at all this month, so I’m not regretting it. Even though it’s subsidized, the fee is still a lot to pay for nothing!

But I’m stuck. I miss my yoga class and I don’t know what to do instead. I’ve been trying to do some yoga at home, but that can be hard. I’ve been trying to walk at lunch time, but with Mother Nature getting confuse about the order of the seasons and winter returning a bit prematurely, I haven’t really wanted to go out in the downpours...

Any suggestions? Lunch time or post-toddler-bedtime is the best time for me to exercise. My husband works nights so I’m home alone with the kidlet and can’t exactly go for a walk or to the gym when she’s in bed....

Yoga for a year

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I’ve been doing yoga twice a week (in theory) for an entire year now. I can’t believe how much I enjoy it. When I started, I hate downward dog. Poses where I had to hang my head upside down were not something I enjoyed…at all. Now I can hang out in downward dog for ages!

My goal a year ago was to try to do yoga twice a week and to hold a plank for at least 30 seconds. Most weeks I meet my goal…as long as my kid isn’t sick. And I can hold a high plank for 60 seconds.

I can’t believe the difference yoga makes! I missed a few weeks of yoga because of my sick kid and when I went back, I immediately noticed a difference in my attitude and how I felt about everything. My patience grew. I felt more relaxed and more productive. I have finally found a video I like so that I can do yoga at home but I find when my week gets busy with a sick kid and/or catching up at work because of the sick days, I don’t manage to get it done on my own either.

I’m very glad my colleague talked me into joining yoga last year. My boss is hugely supportive of me running off to yoga twice a week – I have missed the occasional class to catch up either on some work or meetings, but most days she encourages me to go. Amazing what happens when you try something new…you might actually enjoy it!

Awesome Yoga Practice

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I went to yoga yesterday for the first time in a week and a half. And the time before that was the first time in three weeks. And, ugh, I was really not looking forward to going yesterday. I was happy to sit cocooned in my little office and sip soup all day.

But I am so glad I went!

The last time I went to yoga, it had been three weeks because of work meetings and a lung infection...and my lung weren't quite ready to be doing anything. Anytime I squished my lungs, I ended up having to drop out of a pose so that I could breathe properly. When we did a reclining pigeon at the end, I couldn't even support myself – the instructor had to assist me. I felt so weak afterward too...oh lungs, you are important.

So, yesterday I was still a bit hesitant...my lungs should be fully healed. I'm not coughing anymore, but my body had just gone through a brutal healing crisis. I figured it would be another weak day.

Boy was I wrong. I couldn’t believe how strong I was. I was holding poses for ages without any shaking!

Oh GAPS diet, is this your handiwork? Because if it is, I might be able to forgive you the evil healing crisis. MIGHT.

And, to top it off, I'd been having a hard time with Tuesday classes. We have a new instructor for Tuesdays and I just wasn't enjoying it. The practice wasn't too hard or too easy, it just wasn't doing it for me. But I really enjoyed the whole class yesterday, so hopefully that means I'm over my dislike of Tuesday class! Yay!

Not liking the healing crisis

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So, the first part of the GAPS diet is basically a liver cleanse and a way to get you ready to see if your body is intolerant to certain foods and, with a cleanse, typically that means a healing crisis.

I hate the healing crisis. It's pure evil.

My naturopath told me I'd have some discomfort – headache, migraine, maybe nausea or vomiting or other stomach issue – for a couple of days around the second or third day of the diet. I'm on day five of the diet and day four of the healing crisis.

And I almost quit sixty-two times before lunch time today. But a desire to get better, encouragement from Alex, and the memory of exactly how much money I paid the naturopath have convinced me to keep going.

I feel like I have the worst hangover ever (minus the nausea). I'm hot, then cold. I have a searing headache (that oddly, has just let up now). I've had two hot showers. I've had two naps. I've had lots of soup. Hopefully today is the last day.

There have been good signs – yesterday when I first got up and after I had a rest late yesterday afternoon, I felt great! Initially my fingers were so swollen my ring was tight…now it's loose. I'm hoping that by Christmas I'll be wearing my *real* wedding rings again!

The naturopath told me to take it easy for a few days and I’m really hoping that my body will be ready for yoga on Tuesday...because my brain sure is.

Bedtime!

The difference an hour makes...

Just over an hour ago I left my office in a grey, cool, drizzle and wandered over to the building where I used to work for my yoga class.

I love yoga. It's twice a week and I love it. Oh, I already said that. It's been three weeks since my last yoga class though - we were away (well, I was at home painting) and then last week was gradual entry daycare week, so what precious time I had at the office, I needed to spend at my desk, not doing yoga.

And my body loves me a little bit more now that class is over. The knot that would not go away in my right shoulder is looser. My legs and abs are going to be painfully sore tomorrow, but that's okay. I can handle that. I got to do yoga.

Oh, and when I left the basement dungeon room where yoga class is held (that sounds bad...it's actually a nice, cool dark room for yoga) it was warm and sunny and all blue sky-y outside.

An hour. That's all it took!

Changing it up

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(written Tuesday)

Changing it up in two ways…

I bought a kick boxing DVD to try. I did a kick boxing boot camp last summer with my sister and I loved it. Since I’m stuck at home at night, I thought I’d try to do something other than yoga.

The DVD I bought has a warm up and cool down and then six or seven intervals that have two sets of four exercises each. I decided I better take it slow and just did the warm up, two sets of intervals and the cool down. Good thing I decided to go slow. My legs were very very sore today! But tonight I’m going to try to do three intervals and the warm up and cool down.

The other change was yoga today. I was really looking forward to it. Because of this, that, and the other thing, I ended up working at home last week so there was no yoga, so it’s been a week and a half since I’d been to a yoga class (which is many times better than a video) and my body wanted yoga. And I was sore.

Our usual Tuesday instructor was away, but the sub was amazing! I’d love to have her all the time and I like the Tuesday instructor. The sub taught a more flow style of yoga and it was challenging in new ways. My arms will be sore tomorrow. I loved her style and her voice and everything about this class. I know it was one of the best yoga classes I’ve been to in a while.

Change is a good thing.

Really!

Woohoo – private yoga class!

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My yoga instructor was a bit late for yoga today. Only two of us showed up and the other woman decided she’d go for lunch instead of sticking around for the class. So I had the instructor all to myself!

And I think I’m going to feel it tomorrow. We did a lot of abdominal work – something I need since I really don’t think that part of my body has recovered completely yet from the c-section I had almost two years ago! I have muscle tone there again, but my tummy is lopsided and certainly a little worse for the wear from the incision.

I was a bit apprehensive about having the instructor all to myself. I’ve only ever had a private yoga class once before and it was because no one else showed up and happened to be a day that our instructor was away so I ended up with a sub. It was okay, but I decided I preferred a group setting.

But after today’s class, I would love love love to do private yoga more often – I still really like the group setting because sometimes I feel like I push myself harder because there are others in the room, but today I really felt like the instructor pushed me harder than she normally would.

And that was totally great!

She got me to hold things longer and because it was just me, I knew she watching and when I started to shake or grimace, she’d make me hold just that little bit longer. And I could do it. I didn’t give in to gravity; I had to prove to her that if she pushed me, I could do it!

Since there’s no way I could afford to take private yoga classes regularly, I’m just to have to hope I can tell myself that I did this time, so the next time I should have no problem holding the plank 15 seconds longer or staying in a high lunge for a few more seconds without dropping my knee.

And I feel awesome too! My day had been kind of blah, but that was exactly what I needed to make it way better!

Struggling with yoga

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(written on Friday)

Last Thursday I had the hardest yoga class I’ve ever had. And it wasn’t hard because of the sequence of poses the instructor chose. It was hard because I think my body had already checked out for the weekend.

Seriously I had no balance. I fell out of mountain pose (this is not difficult, check it out here if you don’t know what it is. Yes. I did. I fell out of that!), a high plank and side plank. I even fell out of downward dog. I think I probably would have even fallen out of child’s pose if I hadn’t already been pretty much all on the floor.

The instructor checked on me a few times because it was definitely obvious that something was up. Except I had no idea what.

I didn’t think I got much of a workout because I felt like I spent most of the hour picking myself up off the floor, but the next day my legs and abs were SORE!

I missed my first yoga class this week, but managed to make it yesterday. And I was very apprehensive. I did not want another class like last Thursday.

And thank goodness it wasn’t. But I still felt somewhat off balance and like some of the strength in my legs and arms was gone. But I managed to hold every plank. I even managed a modified eagle pose like this one except to make it harder you lean your torso forward until it’s parallel with the floor and the extend your arms. And it’s all on one foot. And I didn’t fall over.

And you know, that felt really good after last week’s frustrations. I don’t have any sore parts today, but my brain is definitely in a much happier place that it was last Friday!

Bitten by the yoga bug…and why that makes me grumpy

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(written yesterday).

It’s settled…the yoga bug got me.

I take a yoga class twice a week at lunch time. Since I started, other than days when I wasn’t actually at work, I’ve missed one class. And that was because I had a sinus infection that made my head spin like a top if I glanced down at the keyboard. It might have sent me spinning into space to try something like a downward dog in that condition. Savasana (aka corpse pose), that I could have handled. But only savasana and nothing else.

So the bug bit me today. And now I’m grumpy. It bit me because I had to miss my class. They’re finishing up right now. Unfortunately I have a big meeting this afternoon. At 2:30. And I’m ready for it. But the chair of the meeting. Yup. Waited until 11:30 to prep for it, so I just spent the better part of the last hour on the phone with her, walking her through the same numbers over and over and over again. She’s had the numbers for TWO WEEKS. Sorry. Rant over.

So now instead of being happy and relaxed and yoga-y during my meeting, well, I’m working on it so hopefully it won’t happen, but there’s a really good chance I’m going to be grumpy.

And I was thinking about that…and well, it’s probably the first time since I played field hockey that I’ve been grumpy because I missed a work out. And I think that’s a really really really good thing. And now, because I’ve missed yoga but I still have just over an hour until my meeting I’m going for a walk!

Still shaking

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(written yesterday)

So, if anyone ever tries to tell you that yoga is just for stretching and relaxing and isn’t a “real” work out, well, they’ve never had either of my yoga instructors.

Yoga finished almost two hours ago and my legs are still shaking.

I’m exhausted today. I haven’t been this tired at work since I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. I even had a quick cat nap before yoga. I know the exhaustion is mostly caused by someone (that would be me) not eating very well this week and a drastic change in our daily routine that has me going to work an hour earlier in the morning. Need to work on the eating well thing – because, yoga kicked my butt today.

Yes, my legs are still shaking. And while it’s partly to do with a more intense workout (for the third time in the last two weeks, someone fell asleep during savasana, so it’s not just me, plus I could see the grimaces on other people’s faces) I know it’s a lot to do with what I did or didn’t eat in the last few days. So today I’ve been concentrating on more water and more vegetables and fruit and avoiding what’s on the avoid list of the crazy diet. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have more energy.

(Oh yeah, having a teething toddler doesn’t help the rested feeling much either!)

Stretchy-Bendy

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Two months ago I started taking a yoga class twice a week at lunch time. I know that my ideal exercise situation is a class environment, particularly one that I have to register and pay for and let me tell you, yoga is paying off! (So is the registering and paying for it – I’ve only missed two classes – one because I was sick and one because I had tickets to the Canada vs Japan semi-final sledge hockey game)

I am not flexible. I have never been flexible. I don’t ever expect to be really flexible. But, yoga, or stretchy-bendy as my co-workers call it, has made me more flexible. I’m still less flexible than the average person, but I can almost put my heels down in downward dog now! Maybe one day I’ll be able to touch my toes without bending my knees. I think I was about eight the last time I could do that!

Besides the increased flexibility, I LOVE my lunch time yoga. It makes the rest of the day so much more pleasant and calm and wonderful…I wish I’d discovered there was lunch time yoga (right in my building) a long long time ago! Oh, and the increasing muscle tone in my arms and stomach is great too! Yay! I’m getting somewhere!