My New Year Yang Resolution :)

One of my rules after marriage is don't get too friendly with anyone related to your in laws. It always works , you keep safe distance from them, don't share a lot about your life, just wish on festivals , talk about food health and bam keep the phone.

Even the experts get caught up some time and that was what fortunately landed me in yang class. Mystery mode is now on for forever. No matter what, I will not fall in these traps again.

Here goes the story.  So got up some morning, while my husband was feeling bad for not attending a more richer wedding ( better food drinks) I saw some cousin's picture in a yoga setup with some kind of certificates and americans. Well, it was all to pool me in. Inquisitive me asked where the picture was from, she told me she did a  one month yoga training. Bam, more questions popping up in my mind. What did they teach you? How was the session? What poses blah blah?

Before any of my questions left my brain, to make her more comfortable and open to sharing , I started saying how good yoga is how it improves your flexibility strength. All of a sudden, she flipped, are you drunk? Yeah, this is what you get for breaking in law rule. Never over estimate the intelligence maturity of a small town girl.

Well, I am not drunk so ease her off with a joke i said it was 8am in morning. She fired do you know yoga? To be honest, the real me knows whatever I think I know is just 0.5% of the knowledge pool. So just mentioned my 6 month practice again trying to not flaunt so her ego didn't suffer.

It was done, she caught bikram word then the whole sexual assault and even if I met him came up. So if this guy does something wrong, whole bikram is at fault. Fine, relative go easy go easy. I tried to end up conversation and this is how she did.

I can do all poses in bikram
I am a certified one month teacher
Do you know head stand
Shoulder stand
.....
.....
Plow pose

So yeah keeping aside her arrogance, yogi me decided it was time to leap in and learn the yang of yoga too. Not to please her or show off, it just fueled a challenge to kick off and go deeper into the strength aspect. Motivation is all around you even in people who underestimate or diss you.

Thanks to her I am gonna improve. Love your life, take only the good parts and forget the bad moments by venting out in the blog.

Haha #vindictiveyogi


Don't be an arrogant yogi. Vindictiveness I don't know its cool if it pushes you in the right direction. Just there is no grudge against her, she made my life better.

Thanks,
NAMASTE

Yoga break is good :)

Every one who hates planning knows how much troublesome it can be to be on a vacation especially if it involves missing your favorite yoga time. I know it was with a super heavy heart I accepted to miss 6 days of my practice.

Turned out that was the best investment on my strength and flexibility. See when you make it a routine for months, your body gets used to the pattern of it. What it expects is a little burn everyday but never gets time for fast healing if you push more. Also, stagnancy comes in poses. You are not pushing enough and doing the same level of stretches everyday. 

When we returned from our portland vacation, my 45 days challenge was on. To make up for lost days, I decided to plunge into it with 2 classes every day which is difficult for someone like me who loses all the energy in that one hour.  Guess what, it worked. In fact, more determination rolled in. In my first two day yoga  second class, I literally fell in forward fold haha silly me was like fuck you weak body. As you tell your brain you are not going to back off, brain prepares body to put up with more :) Thats how you win.

Break helped me in kind of resetting my body brain to prepare for war ahead. I slept all the 5 days, ruined my vacation a bit which is a different post all together. 

As a new trying yogi, my advice would always be to take at least a week break after 5 months and then jump into yoga with thousand times more energy and enthusiasm. It will kick off your practice, trust me. 

NAMASTE

There's a thing called "yoga injury"

Yep my first yoga injury is here, it stares and pokes whenever I lean in for those lunges. It feels like a betrayal my body has been put through. I mean come on yoga the slow moving careful relaxing practice why why. They call it runners knee sadly enveloping 2 weeks of my power yoga.

The point here is don't underestimate the risk of pain in yoga practice. Now your instructor might not be able to pay attention all the time. So how do you avoid it?

First of all, while doing lunges warriors, don't over extend, the weight of body should not be just on the forward knee. That is what gave me left knee inflammation. Even when you are in warrior 3, the base should be firm, again not your body weight. Your energy is distributed to hands legs all around so instead of putting pressure on the single leg, feel like you are bound like an aerial performer and feel strength everywhere. There is a whole pdf on where to put pressure in which asan.

Secondly, take breaks frequently. We are all competitive we all want to do it from start to end but rest rest when you do need it. It would be better if you do 4 poses with ease and strength rather than dying fish face.

Thirdly, use foam roller. My husband uses it to get rid of knots in back and thighs. Its super useful. My knee healed a lot faster because of this. Its available on amazon.

Fourthly, switch classes. If you feel like your knee is sore or you feel low on energy, go for bikram yoga. I have been doing it for 2 weeks thanks to my knee pain. Its less intense and uses more basic poses instead of all the power yoga craziness.

Listen to your instructor when she tells you which body part is working here. In bikram for example when you do supta vajrasana your chest is lifted. So sometimes, why not see instructor doing it or perhaps an expert in class. Observe and then follow. Our version of doing it fully and actuality might be far off.

Last one would be unplug for a while. Give your body the rest. We don't feel but our knees our back our balance is all being tested, our rusty body is getting a makeover so take it slow.

Good night yogi :) NAMASTE