I just completed my second round of Yoga with Adriene’s 30 Days of Yoga Camp. The program is tough, with lots of slow flows and breath control (I was seriously breathing through the poses), but the gains are amazing. The mantras as wonderfully self-affirming and send me to a happy place, and the moves really target all my muscles. It’s a workout for the body and mind (because you will sweat, especially in a hot, Miami apartment), I completed this round over the course of two months, mixing in some running, more walks, and weightlifting (I’ve gone up a set!), but I feel that the effort I put in has led to some real progress. Once upon a time, I could not touch my toes. Just putting that out there.
It might sound kind of hokey, but yoga has really helped me find a better sense of self, peace with my body (tenuous on certain days, but better than it was before), and has done wonders for my back issues. I prefer a home practice, but have taken a couple of public classes as well. It’s important to find an instructor that “clicks” and Adriene definitely clicks for me. It’s a long story, but I started practicing after borrowing a video from my old library (if you don’t know, I’m a librarian). It looked interesting and I was just starting to find alternative methods to workout as part of my post-weight loss toning journey (so many journeys!). I loved it. It felt so good, even when it seemed like I would never be able to achieve the full pose (even something as simple as forward fold was difficult to me). I’ve been practicing 2 or 3 times a week for about 5 years now, but it wasn’t until I discovered Adriene’s original 30 Days of Yoga in 2015 that I started building a daily practice. It’s a challenge, but well worth it.
I’m scaling back to 4-5 days a week for now, as I focus on adding a bit more cardio and lifting to my life, but I hope to be able to go a little further and stretch a little deeper with time—-Downward Dog, I’m looking at you.
On the blog front, I’ve challenged myself to stick to a regular blogging schedule. I used to be good at this when I was in grad school and building my now retired book blog (archived at things she read). I would like to add some vlogging as well, but the time commitment for editing is a concern. I’ll give it a shot, but the blog is my first home and I would like to have some real updates, rather than rare appearances. I’m looking forward to regular Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday posts… maybe a vlog or two a month, if time permits. Prepare for more book love, writing updates, lifeblogs, and kitty cats!
marginalia and such 