Day 1 of Yogacation

Ohhhhhh boy oh boy oh boy! First day of yogacation was great. I did Lunchtime Mixed Level Kripalu with Joel. It was athletic and yet calming, in that great way that yoga is. Joel explained during the class that Hatha means sun and moon, and I guess it was like exercising both the mind and the body so that they become one -- that's what yoga means, "union". Joel came around to the people in class a lot and helped deepen our poses, making sure that we were in the right position. He encouraged us to wiggle around a little in each posture, to explore the motions of what our bodies could do.

We did a hip lifting exercise that Joel says you start to crave after a while, because there're really not many other ways of exercising those particular muscles. I don't know what it's called, but here's what it's like: In a sitting position, you stretch your legs out in front of you. Then swing the left leg around behind you, and crook both legs at the knee. Put your hands on the floor and pulse your front hip up. I haven't become addicted yet, but it's a pose I've only encountered at Greenbelt Om. I think I've done it in Kripalu with Carol too.

I thought I could only be addicted to forward bends. I love that pose. By bending over forward and reaching for the floor, your spine gets stretched, your gluteous maxiumus gets stretched, the backs of your legs get stretched and blood comes into your head. A great pose for serious desk jockeys like me.

Disclaimer: I am not an instructor! please don't try these poses if you don't know them. Go to Greenbelt Om and get them to teach you.

The other thing that Joel said was that there are two ways of relaxing your mind. One of these ways I'd never heard of before. The one that I had already heard of was, when thoughts enter your mind and distract you from thinking about your breathing, acknowledge them and then let them go. This is a really good technique because it's easy for my mind to wander and get engaged in all sorts of conversations with myself and then I forget to think about breathing. However, it sometimes takes a while for me to realize that I'm thinking about other stuff because that other stuff is in my head all day, and I barely notice that it's going on. So the new technique that Joel mentioned was kind of the opposite of the usual advice: when noises and feelings and stuff are surrounding you (I'm paraphrasing his words wildly here) let them build up, concentrate on them... and eventually so much noise mixes all together and becomes white noise. Then your breathing is till there and you can concentrate on it. I tried that as he was speaking about it, and it worked. It could be especially helpful when life is really stressful and there's a lot of "noise" already. I plan to try it at Christmas.

I missed the Monday evening class, Mixed Level Kripalu with Laura, because I am in a group therapy session. That's one reason I have been planning to make my vacation filled with yoga, to keep up with exercise and to calm my mental state because group therapy is so intense. I'm glad to be on vacation because we've been understaffed by two senior-level employees over the past couple of months. We've filled both those positions now, and I planned this vacation so that it would start as soon as the new people came on board. So whew! Work's getting done -- without me -- and I'm sooo enjoying the time off. I went to a local restaurant that I hadn't been to yet, and brought home takeout. My boyfriend and I watched a movie and ate our Thai food. Maybe that doesn't sound particularly exciting, but it sure was stressfree. Also, today, I took a nap on the hammock. Life is good.