yoga – Page 3

Yin Yoga Training Weekend #1 and Workouts

July 17, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey there and happy Monday!! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a busy one, so this post is a bit long. I left the office at 4 on Friday and decided to swing by the park to eat the dinner I packed. Brian was texting me about the storms coming, but I was looking at blue skies.

blue skies before the storm — can you believe a storm happened an hour after this photo?

At 5pm, my first night of yin yoga training began. I signed up at a studio nearby but I had yet to go there yet so it was my first time there and got a little tour and met everyone. After introductions, we dived right into training with the question, What is Yin Yoga? Though I have taken a few different yin classes in the last couple years, I already feel like I got a better understanding of the practice of yin on the first day of training. It’s nice to continue to learn something new.

We had about 2 hours of going through slides and doing a few exercises before taking a break and doing an hour and a half yin practice to wrap up the evening. Oh and during this time it did pour buckets outside as the radar predicted. I was happy to be inside during the time and the rain cleared by the end of training at 9pm.

Since I was down the street from Wegmans and Wegmans is open 24 hours, I decided to just do my grocery shopping before heading home. It turned out to be a great decision so I didn’t have to shop Saturday morning.

I got home around 10pm. Here is where you may laugh at me. I was all set to take a shower but saw a daddy longlegs hanging out by the bathtub and he was moving right along and I was not comfortable. So instead, washed my feet in the sink and then crawled into bed with my journal to do my yin homework reflecting on the practice. I may love writing and it’s great to have questions for prompts, but answering the emotion question was still challenging. I think I was fairly zoned out in practice which was good as I was in the present moment for the bulk of it, but did talk about how there is always fear of the unknown of what’s next in the back of my mind. I am improving on that though especially after traveling and all that unknown.

Finally at 11 it was time to sleep and I slept great until the birds were wide awake around 6:30. I stayed in bed until my alarm at 7:10 and then got up to make protein pancakes.

Saturday, training began at noon, so in the morning I was able to go do my weight lifting session at the gym, shower (daddy longlegs disappeared and I am pretending I never saw him), do laundry and make lentils for an early lunch.

I arrived at training and we started with sharing our journals with a partner. I actually really enjoyed this as it is always great to hear that someone else had similar emotions through practice and knows what you are talking about. Saturday’s training we really dug into our hips. We went over specific poses and then taught them to a partner and gave feedback. I know I still need to work on my words through a pose, but one thing I like about yin is that you need to allow space. In other words, silence is sometimes OK and you need that silence in order to allow the person to move at their own pace to go deeper.

The 4 hours really flew by and I think it is the perfect amount of time for a training as you still have part of the day left. We ended with a 15 minute Nidra (a longer savasana) and at the end I felt we were all blissed out.

When I got home, I was hungry. I had some food I could make, but Brian’s brother made some pulled pork so I had a bit of that and some broccoli slaw. It was perfectly filling. I enjoyed a bit of youtube and Netflix and then started some yin yoga reading for a while. I ended the evening with a salt bath to relax and help my sore muscles and then headed to bed earlier to catch up on some sleep.

Sunday morning I headed to a gentle yoga class, which was actually chair yoga. As a yoga teacher, I think it is great to take different types of yoga classes to learn how someone teaches. With chair yoga, you have to be more creative and it inspires me.

After a bit of work at the studio, I headed home and ate an early lunch as I just felt like cooking in the kitchen and preparing my food for work Monday. Since I was home by myself, it was nice and peaceful and I worked on cleaning up for Sunday dinner.

With Friday and Saturday being so busy, it was nice to just relax Sunday afternoon. The weather was absolutely beautiful with a light breeze flowing through the house. I worked on packing for Vegas (leaving Wednesday for Blogfest and so excited!!) and worked on my Yin homework.

snack prep — packing all the snacks and oats for breakfast

I was so relaxed laying in bed reading that I actually took a half hour nap. If you know me, I never take naps, unless I am sick. Well my body was just really worn out as I haven’t taken a full rest day in like 10 days (I know completely my fault). The temperature in the room was a perfect 75 degrees for me and I just fell asleep. I woke up feeling a bit more refreshed and then got the idea to quickly whip up a batch of cookies to go with dinner. I substituted the white sugar for a zero calorie sweetener I found in the cupboard, but the cookies turned out delicious.

Last week I shared my workouts from the week and they were a little different due to the holiday so I wanted to share this past week as well. This week I realize I didn’t have a rest day, but I will have 2 rest days this coming week since I am heading to Blogfest Wednesday evening. I had to do a little switching around just due to yin yoga training, so here is a look at my week.

Sunday 7/9: squat day at the gym

Monday 7/10: Bench day at the gym

Tuesday 7/11: Aerial yoga – I learned a new hip key pose!!

aerial yoga hip key — the look when you finally get into a new pose

Wednesday 7/12: Deadlifts at the gym

Thursday 7/13: Accessory day at the gym (morning), yin yoga (evening)

Friday 7/14: yin yoga session during training – we did INTENSE hip openers for 7 long minutes on one side before doing 7 long minutes on the other side.

Saturday 7/15: squat day at the gym (usually this is Sunday, but switched my yoga and squat day due to yin yoga training) I have to say I love how I can finally go deeper in my squats. Before I could hardly go deep in a body weight squat so I have really improved and strengthened the glutes. I think the yin yoga also left me looser in my hips and helped.

While at first I think I was feeling overwhelmed by the commitment of another teacher training, I was glad to have Sunday to relax. I am also happy to be learning a lot about yin yoga. In just the first weekend, I learned so much, so I am really excited to see what the next 3 weekends of training bring.

Anyone else heading to Blogfest this week?

If you are a yoga person, what is your favorite type of yoga?

Aerial Yoga Benefits and Why I Like it

June 28, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Since I discovered an Aerial yoga class after moving, I have been going each week. I love the class, not only to meet people in the area, but also because it’s so much fun! Not only is it fun, but it’s challenging at times. We warm up with some lunges, arm pulls and planks using the silks. Each week I learn some new movement and then re discover how weak or strong I am. Sometimes it takes me multiple tries to get into something and other times, it’s a piece of cake. Sometimes I am scared to do one of the flips and that’s ok too. No matter what class you are in, it’s important to know your limits and only go where you are comfortable. I have noticed that one week, I may learn the move but not quite get it and then the next week, it comes easily. Everything takes time to learn and get comfortable with.

I find there are many benefits to aerial yoga and just want to share a few of them with you. If you are into yoga and acrobatics, you may want to try it out sometime. If you don’t have a studio near you that offers aerial, maybe check out studios while you are on a trip in a city and take a class. I am always up for trying a new workout and this class can definitely be a great one to add to your workout variety. aerial yoga flip

Benefits

Strength building – Aerial yoga challenges your muscles in a new way on the silks. It helps to build core strength and arm strength and can really be a full body workout. I somewhat compare aerial yoga to pole dancing. I have a friend who competes as a pole dancer and her strength is seriously amazing. I have taken a few pole classes myself as well, but it can be tough on my shoulder. I find the silks to be a better choice for me and I know where my limits are.
Improves flexibility – Just like regular yoga can improve your flexibility, so can aerial but in a bit of a different way. The suspension from the silks helps to get a deeper stretch in poses. The silks definitely take some getting used to as they wrap tightly around your body.
goddess pose
Playful/improves mood – one of the things I love about aerial is that it reminds me of being a kid, swinging on a swing and then hiding into a cocoon in the end for savasana. Also all the flips and tricks are just so fun. How can it not improve your mood when you are having so much fun?!
Improves balance – one of the moves that we start class with is putting one foot in the silks and then stepping into a lunge. While the silk is holding your back foot, you would think this would be easier, but it makes it more challenging since the silks can swing side to side. I have definitely noticed a bit of improvement in my balancing since starting to take the class.
floating buddha

These are just some of the benefits I have experienced with Aerial yoga. You might have a different experience and that’s ok. Remember to be safe and have fun with your workouts. Workouts you look forward to doing are the best ones.

Have you ever done Aerial yoga?

What’s your favorite workout?

Acro, Goat yoga and Sunshine: MIMM 111

June 5, 2017 by Alicia 2 Comments

I was brainstorming the title for this post and noticed that this is my 111^th MIMM. That is a lot of MIMM. My blog is coming up on its 3 year birthday in August. The first two years, I didn’t write that many posts, but I am happy that I have been consistent lately. Anyway 111 is special to me ever since learning about Angel numbers. There are certain times in my life when I am considering a change, usually a big change, like changing jobs, moving or traveling the world (just a few recent examples) and I often find I catch 11:11 or 1:11 on my phone or computer or I see 11 somewhere. I have noticed it comes in waves and shortly after moving to Binghamton, I continued to see 1’s. In some ways, it comforts me and makes me smile when I see them. It also makes me feel like I am going in the right direction. It may sound crazy but I definitely caught them nearly every day leading up to getting calls for my interviews. It’s only fitting that today is MIMM 111 as I start my new job today. I know I will be busier and it is going to be a challenge to get up early and workout either in the early morning or in the evening now, but in the moment I am looking forward to it.

Back to my weekend, Friday was my last “weekday of freedom” as I called it. I spent my morning at the yoga studio, doing a flow class and then some acro play. Acro yoga with people you have never met means you have to build trust with them quickly. Something I realized after class was how it is hard for me to trust people at times. Did you ever do trust falls with your friends growing up? I remember I had to do one in a tap dance class and even though it was one of my best friends at the time, I still struggled to totally let go. In the last couple years, I have really been good at being independent and I think trusting people is still an issue I have. I won’t make this whole post about this, but maybe someday I will write more about it. It was just an observation of mine and shows you how yoga, in any form, is more than just the poses.

After yoga, I came home and Brian and I cooked up some lunch. I know a lot of couples enjoy eating out, but I really enjoy going to the grocery store and making a meal with Brian at home. I think because I am picky due to limiting dairy products and such and just know I will feel better in the end if I cook my own food. I also like how we both enjoy cooking. Usually he handles the meat and I handle the veggies, but this time he threw both the meat and some Brussel sprouts on the smoker outside for a bit. I made some homemade hummus which I haven’t done in a while and LOVED! We topped the chicken with hummus and enjoyed the brussels on the side. Perfect and simple meal. I will take a picture next time.

In the afternoon, Brian and I worked on some cleaning up around the house before he headed back to work in the evening. I then heated up some leftovers for dinner and discovered that Jane the Virgin Season 3 was on Netflix, so I was hooked for a few episodes before calling it a night.

Saturday morning I headed to the yoga studio and did a class and a bit of work for them. I then came home and Brian and his brother were working on making beer (yes this is what I come home to…). The weather was beautiful outside and I enjoyed just standing in the sun for a bit and relaxed for a few hours before heading to Goat yoga. The farmers market in the area was having 2 sessions of Goat yoga as the first sold out quickly. I went to the second session and it was a little chaotic. There was no peaceful savasana in class, but I did enjoy the more vinyasa like flow of the class as I have been going to a lot of more restorative flow type classes. One goat decided to sit on my mat and we did boat pose and I used him/her to cushion my back as we did boat crunches. The goat didn’t mind and just relaxed there for a bit until we had to lay down and it took some shoving from me and a helper to get him up again. I guess he was quite comfy.

goat yoga binghamton NY — just enjoying sitting on my mat

goat yoga binghamton ny 2 — holding a goat after practicing with them

I would say Goat yoga was quite an experience. The goats were probably overwhelmed with the amount of people. I don’t think the second session was totally sold out as each session was supposed to have 100 people. They had 20 goats and so many helpers when the goats peed and pooped on and near mats. Luckily my mat remained clear of that, but I did buy a cheap mat at Target for the event and to use outside. I currently can’t get to my storage boxes where I have my cheaper spare mats, so just bought another.

Once I came home, I was able to unwind, write and eventually heat up some dinner. I turned off Netflix early and decided to read for an hour and a bit before getting tired and heading to sleep.

I seemed to sleep really well Saturday night so I was wide awake at 6:30am. I decided to get up and make breakfast. Then I headed out to the gym at 7:30am. I love having a 24/7 gym so I can go whenever I want. I also love having the gym nearly all to myself because no one else really goes at 7:30am on Sunday. I worked on my squats and realized I needed to tone down the weight a bit to work on my form. My left knee tends to lean in and has been aching and I know it has to relate to form. My last set went better and then I moved on to the rest of my workout. After the gym I headed to the grocery store to stock up on food for the week. I didn’t do much meal prep on Sunday though as the first day’s lunch is on the company and I plan to have today as a rest day so I will have time to cook some dinner.

The day was rainy so I read, finishing my book and buying the next in the series. Anyone else understand the dangers of having a kindle and one click payments?! I then baked some cookies and watched some Netflix.

Nothing too much went on in the afternoon. Brian came home and then it was the usual Sunday night dinner. Now to get back into the working world. Hopefully it goes well.

Thanks Katie for the link up.

Would you do Goat Yoga?

Yoga on the Steps 2017: MIMM 109

May 22, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey there and happy Monday!! I am coming at you from Philadelphia today. I will be heading back to Binghamton this afternoon, but enjoyed a weekend in Philadelphia to attend the Yoga on the Steps event, staying at my friend, Rachael’s new house and walking A LOT. My steps were kind of slacking on Wednesday through Friday due to the heat and already doing yoga or weightlifting during the day, but I definitely made up for it this weekend.

On Saturday morning I drove down to Philadelphia for the weekend so I could participate in Yoga on the Steps Reach and Raise event on Sunday. I drove to the King of Prussia area and stopped in Wegmans for a small salad for lunch. Then I headed to the King of Prussia mall to walk around a bit and check out some stores before heading to Rachael’s house for the weekend. Of course I ran into a parade and event near her house and spent 20 minutes circling to find parking, but it was great once I arrived. We walked around the festival. I even got to weld a bit which I haven’t done since my high school welding class. Let’s just say it wasn’t a nice weld, but the guy said the piece would definitely stay together so there’s that.

From there, we ended up grabbing an early dinner of chips and guac and a burrito for me. It was only 5pm when we FINISHED dinner so we decided to walk down by the river all the way to Penn’s landing and a bit beyond.

We grabbed dessert along the way and I got an iced tea as well.

waterfront snack time — sugar cookie and iced tea

I think we walked about 4 miles from Rachael’s house which then meant it was a long walk back. We didn’t get back until 9:30. Basically, constant walking for 4 hours.

We got back and relaxed a bit and then it was time to head to bed.

Sunday morning I got up at 6:45 so I could eat breakfast and start heading into center city at 7:15. I found my way to the train and took it down to 15^th street and then walked to the art museum. There was so much new construction and the walk to the art museum seemed to take longer as I zig zagged my way to open sidewalks.

I got there shortly after 8 which was perfect to check in and then meet up with my friends from last year. The event started at 9:30, so we took some pictures and enjoyed the sunshine beforehand.

We were then led through a short meditation of mindfulness, heard from a few speakers and then did our yoga practice. The event had around 2,000 people and I just feel like it is so powerful to practice yoga with that many people. Plus the money raised goes to Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a great non profit organization to help women and men diagnosed with breast cancer.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather on Sunday. It was absolutely beautiful!! Afterwards, I enjoyed chatting with my friends and eating snacks provided.

yoga on the steps 2017 2 — gauc salad and granola bar and pretzels

In the afternoon, I enjoyed my second lunch at Rachael’s house and then we went for another walk, but only for about 2 hours. We ended with some vegan ice cream made from coconut milk and then got pizza next door because the smell was too good to pass up.

coconut milk ice cream — lemon lavender ice cream made with coconut milk

Finally in the evening, Rachael and her husband made some veggies, because we didn’t eat enough food apparently. I enjoyed a bit of down time doing some writing and then it was time to wind down for the evening.

I’m so happy I got to come down for Yoga on the Steps. The drive from Binghamton isn’t too bad so I think I will plan to attend next year as well. It’s also nice now to visit Philly, a city I got to know over the 2.5 years I lived there.

Linking up with Katie for MIMM.

What’s one fun thing you did this weekend?

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