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Yoga Vacation- And How To Come Back

Monday, May 11, 2020, (Part I,
Janusirsasana/Head to Knee Pose


Tuesday of last week, I posted a real lofty goal of "getting up every morning at the same time".....what a dweeb...

With absolutely zero apologies, I took an impromptu Spring-time vacation down to Southern Missouri the following morning.  It was a vacation with all the trimmings of good food, family and friends, and a completely unscheduled pattern to each day.  

Today is the first day I'm on my mat since last Tuesday.  My body is a bit out of whack from jumping on a trampoline, and my digestion is a bit out of whack from the marvelous vacation/road-trip foods, so I'm going to let today's practice be what it wants to be. 

Something to be proud of is that I set, and responded to, my 6:00AM alarm (as a former early riser who set the alarm for 4:15AM, getting up early usually makes me feel better about myself).  I had my hour of coffee and contemplation (#strangerthings), and then showered before getting onto my mat. 

Janusirsasana/Head to Knee Pose
I'm right handed, so my right leg
is my dominant leg; it's stronger,
but less flexible.  Whatever your dominant
side is tends to be stronger, but has less
flexibility (most of the time). 
My intention for today is to focus on my breathing; I cut my yoga-teeth on Ujjayi breath, a form of Pranayama/breathing technique, and I'm going to go back to my roots this morning and control my breath first; my body already knows what to do....

Time to sweat it out....

Monday, May 11, 2020, (Part II), 
I'm writing this Part II on my mat, having just come out of Savasana.

Having not hit my mat since last Tuesday, today's practice was perfectly routine, house-keeping, maintenance; and that's ok. 

After my prayer/meditation/Pratyahara routine (which always precedes my physical Asana/postures), I allowed a prolonged warm-up on my mat before going into my sequence.  This warm-up (which includes any number of physical mini-stretches, etc.), is a physical "litmus test" for the condition my body is in that morning.  I use this warm-up to measure what sort of physical strain will be appropriate for a practice.  Sometimes I surprise myself, and I exceed what I thought my body was going to allow on any given day but, most times, and today, I can accurately gauge how deep I'll be able to go into my sequence.

Utthan Pristhasana/Lizard Pose

Some phantom back-stiffness was lingering around in my mid/lower spine....possible due to sitting in a car for long periods for my impromptu vacation, and possible due to doing absolutely nothing of merit yesterday/Sunday except binge watching garbage on Hulu and resting on the couch.  #yogagoals. 

Tomorrow will bring another practice.  

Namaste

Yoga Smiles









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