The Zen of Ultra Running

Day 6 of 30 days of yoga with Adriene featured "6 pack abs". The poses today focused on core and strength. I did yoga bicycle (see the picture) and other abs work.  The session was only 16+ minutes. It's not too long or too short so I just did it during lunch break from work. Some yoga teachers like to do abs/core exercise at the beginning or the end of class but I also met some teachers that don't like those exercises (they claimed it's not "yoga"). Personally, I like it as I like to sync these workouts with my breath. Maybe it's time to give Pilates another try? 

Today yoga with Yoga with Adriene was a short session (about 16 minutes) but the poses were more flowing and energizing. Starting with a couple of rounds of half sun salutation and the warrior poses. Then, we came to the pose that I like the most - Triangle. Lately, my shoulder has been very tight so this pose created more space in my body.  I never thought I would feel energetic after a short yoga session but this one really brightened my day (well, I've had a series of bad days). Thanks, yoga!! and thanks, Adriene!!

I feel good... I feel better... I feel best... After stop doing yoga for one week because I hurt my left wrist, I felt good to be able to be able to practice yoga again. Today was Day 4 of 30 days of yoga with Adriene. My body craved yoga, especially after the triathlon on Saturday. The "best" pose of this session was the Thread the Needle pose. I've had pain in the shoulder and upper back because I guess I did not stretch enough before paddling. So, this pose was the savior. I can't wait for Day 5!!!

Forget what you know. Forget your "hindsight bias" from previous practices. This yoga session focused on what you know at the moment, not what your past experience had taught you. This session was shorter than the previous two sessions and was "beginner friendly". The session stressed on the core strength and balance.  I feel that sessions that are beginner friendly is good to develop your basics and foundations. I'm glad that Adriene included this session in her 30 days of yoga series. However, I guess that she must really like the "boat pose" because she has been doing it in every session since the first one. In my yoga classes, I don't usually do the boat pose so this is good to help me develop the core strength.  Then, back to my triathlon training. After skipping a day of workout, today I ran 4.5 miles outside in a windy/hot weather. The sky was so clear as if someone has painted it. Now I realized why I rarely see running races i...

Second day of the 30 days of yoga with Adriene. Today, the class focuses on stretching and cultivating the energy from within. When I started practicing today, I felt sluggish from sitting in front of the computer all morning feeling demotivated. After the yoga session, I felt more energetic and warmed up. Glad I made the right decision to take a break and do yoga. I found that, for my home practice, 30 minutes works best for me as it's not too long to be boring and I still gets the benefits of yoga. I even felt ready and had a chance to practice my headstand away from the wall. First attempt = success but too bad I did not take pictures :(  

This is not a kind of challenge that you see other people are doing online. I have seen some people do the "30 day challenge" series that are not only for yoga but for other things in life such as thankfulness, gratitude, weight loss, exercise, etc. I was googling (is that a word?) some sort of free yoga videos that I can do for a short amount of time everyday and found the "30 days of yoga" by Yoga with Adriene and thought it would be fun to try a video a day for 30 days. I don't aim for 30 consecutive days but hope that I can practice as frequently as I can. Day 1 of the 30 days of yoga series titled "Ease into it!". Adriene only goes through easy yoga poses focusing on stretching and increasing flexibility. The video is good for beginners and advanced students alike. It's only 30 minutes so I was able to do it during my lunch break (at home).