30 Days of Yoga was from September 7 – October 6. (2010)
I’m doing 30 days of yoga – this means I do 20 minutes (or more) of yoga each day for 30 days. My go-to routines will be from YogaDownload.com (click here for my favorite routines) but I also like to do my own routines. I will post my daily yogic activities here! Comment below and update on yours too 🙂
Yoga things:
Comment below if you’re in, and comment with whatever yoga activity you did for the day! Make sure to link back to your blog if you have a blog 😉 (And link to any good yoga sites too.)
September 7: I just did yogadownload’s Hatha Yoga #3 (20 minutes). Wow. Those hip openers were majorly intense. I hold stress/anxiety in my hips and I actually felt emotional when I was holding those poses! The routine was not a power yoga intense routine, but it was still intense in a more mental way. I’m writing this immediately after doing it and I feel so relieved that I did it. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s!
I want to do this!! But can I start today? I just saw this today and I can’t go back and do yoga yesterday :\ Although maybe my 3 yoga classes monday can count towards yesterday….hmm. Well, I do love yoga challenges. I did this last summer and felt amazing. I not only had ripped abs, but when I did it in the morning I felt so mentally centered, even if I just did some meditation and stretching for 20 minutes. It’s a great way to start the day on a happy note!
Oh and ps. I get to NY on the 14th, just in time for Maggie Bday celebrating!!!! woohoo!!! I’ll have to get in touch with you via email or messenger so we can exchange numbers and no forth.
@Gaby: You can start whenever! And you don’t have to do it every day. Just update when you do 🙂
September 8: I did Tara Stiles’ yoga routine from this month’s Women’s Health + a few moves of my own. It totaled about 15 minutes. It was not as intense as yesterday’s class! Tara’s routine was easy and she’s very thin in the pictures. I think I like my own routines better. Like this one. That is my favorite yoga flow sequence!
http://www.youtube.com/user/sadienardini#p/u/85/kjDDUJRksU4 I tid this plus a few stretches before bed last night.
She came to houston to do a workshop a while back and I love her!
Today will be a vinyasa class at the studio 🙂
@Gaby: love Sadie 🙂
September 9: Today I did 10 minutes of Yoga for Health: Depression & Gastro-Intestinal Disorders (the gastro part) (via Netflix free streaming). It was nice and relaxing. Then I did 10 minutes in my room right before I went to bed. (My bro and his friend are over; Bobby is away on a business trip.)
I am loving this yoga every day thing. It makes me so much more calm 🙂 And mindful. Which is even better than calm.
20 minutes of yogatoday’s finding inner balance. This was a series of balancing poses which was very much needed because I was sadly very “off” in class yesterday :\ It was upsetting, I normally don’t feel like I’m going to fall over all the time, but it wasn’t the best of classes. I think I’m getting my stability back a little today.
I also did a couple of demo poses during training today but I”m not sure that counts lol.
30 minutes yogatoday’s Karmic Kundalini. It was cool. Really different from my usual flows, but it was a series of movement with strong breathing that left me really tired!
I also taught a short yoga class to a bunch of kids at a health fair this morning. They were too cute!
A double update!
September 10: I did Sadie’s awesome power yoga routine in the AM (30 mins). Had a really bad night that might have been avoided had I taken another 10 minutes after dinner to do some yoga. Will remember for next time!
September 11: Almost didn’t do yoga. I did 10 minutes at night right before I went to sleep. It made me feel better 😉 (I’d been feeling off all day, from the night before.) Would have done more, but was exhausted and plopped right into bed afterwards!
Another double update 🙂
September 12 (a very rough day/night): Did 10 minutes of yoga before bed. Just on my own.
September 13: Finally an amazing day. I did this routine that Gaby recommended. It took about 10 minutes.
I need to make sure to do my 20 minutes instead of the 10 I have been doing. I don’t want to slack on this challenge! I’m going to try to find some new 20 minute options, so stay tuned.
September 15 (bday!): I did 2 routines this AM because I did not do yoga yesterday (the 14th). Yesterday I did do some mindfulness exercises though 🙂
1. Tom Morley’s Hips, Buns, and Thighs Yoga
2. Meaghan Townsend’s Cardio Yoga
Both were 20 minutes. These are my 2 favorite videos. (Aside from Tom’s other video, “Cardio Yoga”, which is no longer online anywhere.)
big update! So Sunday I did a 1 hr free class at Lululemon with one of my favorite vinyasa teachers. Monday I just did that Sadie flow for arms, only 10 minutes, but hey, I was listening to my body! And it wanted rest…and Michelle Obama’s arms :p
Yesterday I went to a wonderful class here in NY at Mang O’s on 39th. I really recommend it if you get the Prana pass, I loved it!
September 16th: This AM I did Meaghan Townsend’s Cardio Yoga again. It’s great. I’m also in an awesome mood because something is making me not snack at night. Woo hoo 😀 I am waking up hungry!
Breakfast is magical!! I have to admit I had my scone after Good Health the other night, but I really just wanted dessert and that’s ok.
So I didn’t do yoga again after my cardio fusion class but I think I can count all my walking as the exercise portion of yoga, and the important lessons I’m working on learning as the mental/ emotional yoga. I was really able to see this week how much yoga is helping me in everything I do and in finding peace with myself, because everything I’ve been reading for my training emphasizes just how much yoga is more than asana, yoga is a lifestyle. It’s about taking the simple lessons learned on the mat and being able to implement them in life’s more complicated day to day issues.
But I’m still going to get back to my asana practice tonight because my body needs it! Probably going to try that Tom Morley video 🙂
I had dessert later that night too! And we went back the day after for brunch 🙂 I took dessert to go – the banana cream pie (tofu cream). It was awesome. I did not end up doing yoga this weekend either, but lots of walking.
Big update:
Sept 17th (friday): I am counting my lots of walking as yoga. For some of it I tried to meditate and let my mind completely clear. So freakin hard.
Sept 18th (saturday): I did some yoga poses at night to try to ease my bloated tummy. Don’t know what happened to it, but I have never felt that awful! (And I didn’t even overeat.) It wasn’t 20 minutes, but I will count some of the walking towards it since I did a lot of walking Saturday too.
Sept 19th (sunday): More yoga poses, this time to ease my neck! I slept on it wrong. More walking too.
Sept 20th (monday, today): just finished Tom Morley’s Hips Buns and Thighs again – man that is a great video. I was sore for a few days last week from it. In fact, still a little sore and it’s been like 5 days.
I ended up not doing anything Sunday night, but I passed out a little after 10 pm and slept over 9 hours!!! Oh my gosh, first time in over a year and a half that I’ve gotten that much sleep and it was wonderful and rejuvenating and such a good change from my usual insomnia. Unfortunately it didn’t last past that one night, but it was what my body needed.
Yesterday I did some free weight exercises and stretching afterwards. Not yoga, but it was good to be physical again. And today I was back in the studio for a 90 min vinyasa flow. All the mental/ emotional yoga was really good for me, but I was desperately in need of a real class and a good stretch.
@Gaby: Awesome! I actually saw some sleep tips at Mimi’s blog and thought of you (http://damnthefreshman15.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/catching-those-zs/).
September 21 (tues): I did not do yoga! I had choir practice at night and I was hanging out with a friend before that (we went to Chelsea Market which was cool). By the time I got dinner with Bobby (whole foods) and got home it was 10:45 and I just wanted to sit in front of the TV and watch Hoarders 😉 So I did. I probably should have made myself to a few poses before bed, but oh well.
(Note: the night of Sept 20th was not a very good night =/ But it was the only kind of bad night in the last 8 days and of that I am so proud! The reason it was bad is because it was completely unstructured and unplanned, and I got very very bored.)
Sept 22 (weds): I don’t remember! Whoops 🙁
Sept 23 (thurs): Yoga 1hour (7pm).
Sept 24 (fri): Took a morning yoga class. Gotta be honest, I don’t like this instructor that much. Apparently I did like him back in January. Maybe I was just in a weird mood. I spent a lot of the class in child’s pose because I was getting sick.
Sept 25 (sat): had my choir retreat. I don’t think I did yoga in particular but we did do breathing exercises, which I am going to count 😀
Sept 26 (sun): took “nia” which totally counts as yoga. It’s “medicine for body & soul”. It’s a crazy cool dance/movement class set to tribal/pagan music (my mom used to call this “woman music” for some reason). AWESOME. They only offer it once a week that I can go to though 🙁 So sad.
Sept 27 (mon): took a yoga class on my lunch break. It was ok. Too easy though.
Whew!
Sept 28 (tues): did ER yoga this AM. Love this class! 7:30-8:30am. Lots of balancing and mudras.
I did yoga today. All kinds of sun salutations!
I’m just beginning Yoga, so this blog is awesome to read for tips! sammiejanL40 at aol dot com
Another massive update!
Sept 29 (weds): Lunch yoga. 1 hour.
Sept 30 (thurs): Cardio Sculpt – I think this had some yoga stretching. 45 minute class.
Oct 1 (fri): Energy Sculpt class which had a lot of yoga in the routine. Very enjoyable 🙂 (With Coco) 1 hour class.
Oct 2 (sat): Lots of walking. No true yoga, but I am ok with that.
Oct 3 (sun): Nia! Love this class. I count it as yogic. 1 hour. Also did Zumba. 45 mins.
Oct 4 (mon): took “INKA”! kind of like a yoga/pilates class.
Oct 5 (tues): went to a yoga class in the morning but got there 2 minutes late and felt guilty about barging in since it had already started. did elliptical instead.
Oct 6 (weds): some elliptical and took zumba…
Oct 7 (thurs): walking slow (speed 2.8 mph) for 40 minutes in the am. Was going to do a class tonight but decided to chill out and watch “Obsessed”.
This challenge is officially over!