Woohoo 🙌 🙌🙌🙌 We‘re coming up to the midway point! And boy did the last week accelerate our various flows! In my case, even my props did not help in keeping up, but surprisingly I’m getting better, downward dogs are not the stuff of my nightmares anymore, my new collection of nightmares being camels, pigeons and yes, still, right up there is child’s pose... even extended child’s pose ... even amended, extended child’s pose....
So, still some way to go. Onwards we go on our 30-day journey of BREATH.
Day 13 - 18: Here we come!
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I'm really enjoying some if the things I've not come across before.. the alternate nostril breath and Fire breath all new to me...Loving having the session each day to give me some dedicated me time ..
Feels like got company even just for the short while...which is so nice...
So chuffed to bits with my balance in yesterday's session held the one leg tree poses longer than I ever managed before.
Had my fur Baby join me on mat tonight which thought was cute bless him..
We rearranged our livingroom earlier in the year to have a workout corner, and I love that space now! There is a wicker basket with all my yoga props, the mats have their place. Blankets on top of the basket. And the TV screen can be connected to my iPhone for playing videos. And it’s all in front of large window providing natural light or gorgeous pre-dawn curtains. Love it!
You're doing a fantastic job of making it work for you CBDB! Eleven out of ten!!!Loving today's email - 'The most important aspect to focus on .... is not that of perfect timing, ideal energy levels, orfancy gear. ' I knew it! PJs are best. FWFG!!!
There are 4 out of 5 of us in our family doing Breath! Both of our yogi daughters as well as Mr Cheeky! We all practice separately and at different times, and Mr C is a few days behind (think he’s doing Day 6 Burn today) but we all compare notes. He’s a plank aficionado (3 minute forearm plank is nothing to him 😳), but we’re looking forward to when he gets a crow to try! Now to get our 25 year old son at it. Fat chance!
So, as I already posted on last week’s page by mistake, news in brief... Loved it but my body and brain needed a lot of persuading to redo frog pose so soon! 😆 Plus, my table pose was not hovering or levitating in any direction! Ended up “observing” for a while today but loved the choose your own aspect and so it was cobra and wrist twists with circular hips for me. Enjoy the day yoga friends! 💗😊🙏🏻
😂 Yeh, the days do kind of blur together in that way sometimes. Human nature. It’s like seeing a comedian and saying they were really funny but then you realise that can’t remember any of their jokes!
CBDBAdministratorGraduate Gold• in reply toGannet1
Yeah... but I remember now - how could I forget the squat pose!!! Still working with a low stool behind me.... someday.... 🤣👏👍🏽🧘🏽
I loved the beginning of today session where we could free style. But I thought it was funny that we were told to rest several times while doing boat, which I now find not too bad to do (I use to hate it), but hovering table no rest stops... Well I took my own 😊Great session though. 👍
Feel! I loved this one!!!! Those twists on the knees with thread-the-needle were JUST what I needed today. Did some good 'boating' too, and deep squats always feel good - although the shins have been feeling it a bit today and yesterday in that pose! I kept feeling that I was about to fall backwards, so I guess something was a bit out of line. Still, we try 😊😊😊
CBDBAdministratorGraduate Gold• in reply toroseabi
Nice!!! Yes, you get to know your imbalances pretty well with doing yoga every day. And for me, in Yoga it doesn’t feel as if I am progressing very rapidly, but it made an immediate difference to how my upper legs felt when running! ☺️🧘🏽
Day 14 SPACE Wow! My favourite so far. Loved making Space. Needed my trusty stool for the squatty pose, and used yoga blocks to lift the earth to my head, but hey! Nice!
Haha 😆 I did it the other way around. First Yoga and now have just returned from a quick run (quick is relative here 🐌) but that felt great with all my limbs already warmed up! My bounce started to arrive much earlier than usual! Awesome 😎 indeed! 🤩👏👍🏽🧘🏽🏃♀️
I really liked this one too! I'm all about shoulder stretches at the moment, and those were fab. Enjoyed getting dizzy, and I was really pleased and surprised not to get hamstring cramp during the reaching back and holding foot pose!!! I was naughty though. When I saw that there was a wide legged forward fold I decided I was jolly well going to get my head on the floor, and I did - but it was hard and I had to bend my knees a bit. Pushed a bit too far, luckily I don't seem to be feeling any after-effects today 🙄
Day 14, not my favourite! 😊 Thought those swift cross legged twists, with the breath, were never going to end this morning! Was so glad when we moved on! 😄 Find most of the twists show me how stiff I am, but love the thought that I must be slowly improving! Still feel amazing afterwards though! Enjoy your day everyone! 💗🧘♀️
CBDBAdministratorGraduate Gold• in reply toGannet1
Yes, we must be improving... I don’t notice it as much in Yoga as I notice how much better my legs feel when running!
Yeh, yoga and running are such a great combination! 💕Miss running so much! Just trying to think how all this yoga will benefit me when they say I can start again. 😊🤞🏃♀️
CBDBAdministratorGraduate Gold• in reply toGannet1
You’ll be hitting the ground running! Literally! Yes, sometimes our health journeys require us to be very patient with our bodies. So hope you recuperate quickly and wishing you the patience you need. 👏🙏 And Yoga is such a great choice! See you on the mat!
Same here, I didn't care too much for those short, quick breaths. But I enjoyed the rest of the practice. I feel my balancing poses are slowly getting less wobbly 🙃
Funny. I do like getting into a rhythm, so the rhythmic breathing is something I like (but possibly because I found the sounds of two yogis breathing fascinating and want to constantly stop and record! 😅)
Me too! Also made my shoulders ache, Adriene clearly has never suffered with the after effects of a Frozen shoulder. I have had it in both and they are a little stiff. Still hopefully the Yoga will help loosen then up.
Ywa is slowly loosening my right shoulder. I pulled it about 12 months ago ... dropping down to my belly doing ywa!!! Has taken forever to begin to heal, but on a more positive note my arms and shoulders are now strong enough for me to slowly lower to my belly with total control 😅
Wonders will never cease - with the help of a bit of necessary padding for my dislocated coccyx, even I managed boat pose yesterday!! Unbelievable!
I’m really enjoying this week and the yoga flows. I’ve yet to do today’s - that’s this evening’s postrun treat before bed 🧘🏼♀️😊
Space 🧘♀️: not one of my favourite sessions but that might be me just not being really in the right frame of mind.I did like the wide legged forward fold and the warrior sequence.
Does any one else get cramp on their feet when doing yoga?
I've always found that occasionally I'll get it several times during a practice. Today when in positions where I needed to push down the back of the foot on the mat... Cramp!
Thankyou for finding this. I suspect the thing for me is simply getting my feet in positions they don't often go in. When I started yoga 10+ years ago I used to get it a lot more than now. With YWA she obviously incorporates poses that are new for my feet 👣
Huh 🤔! But that is so great, in some way, isn’t it? Even after 10 years, there are still ways to explore the body and what it can do and which limits to push. It’s fascinating in some way, although of course I hope you manage to avoid cramps in the future. 👏👏🧘🏽
Hi All 👋 I am still getting on my mat each day....just a few days behind in the Breath practises. I twinged my back doing some one legged banded squats so took a few days to recover (still doing YWA but a practice for lower back pain).Feeling all better and back to it. Day 8 for me today was snuggle. Not too much snuggling, plenty of hip stretching 😁🧘♀️
Looking forward to Balance tomorrow, hope there is tree 🌴
Glad to see everyone enjoying their mat time as much as I do. Namaste 🙏xxx
Did day 14 after a 10k evening run and it definitely felt long today, but just took it easy with the breath and really appreciated the relaxation at the end! Halfway tomorrow, how did that happen?
I know, halfway! Can’t believe I’m now also doing yoga every day (besides running 3x per week)! Love the new me.
Definitely a full day for me too, 10k and all those wonderful big stretchy moves, absolutely loved it. Yoga was at the end of my day yesterday and I nearly nodded off at the end so perfect timing to fall into bed.I’m not even thinking half way point, this is something I’m choosing to have for the rest of the year, a perfect balance and strengthening for all those runs. Yay, I’m in love my sweet friends.🤸♀️🏃♀️ 🤗
Wow! What a beautiful commitment to yourself! Or rather, it’s not a commitment, is it? Rather a luxurious indulgence that happens to be so good for our bodies and minds! 👏👏👍🏽
Day 15 - ENTER We’re halfway point!!! 🥳 Wohoo! 👏👏👏🙌🙌🙌🙌 What a fabulous achievement for everyone who’s joined us on the mat!
I’m getting nifty with my props and amendments. So it flowed really well today. Replaced cobra with cat-cow, which allows me to keep pace during the transition into downward dog.
Got a bit mixed up with my left and right a bit later on, though.
On one transition, my weight was more on one leg than the other and my knee reminded me to still be careful, but no biggie. I got this!!
Hope everyone got theirs as well! On to the second half!
Also, coincidentally I chatted to a friend yesterday who had discovered breath work (and winter outdoor swimming) with Wim Hoff and Adriene mentioned him today! 🤔
Day 15 ✅That seemed really quick after yesterdays practice. No foot cramps today so that was good.🧘♀️ But I did have to pause her once, trying to work out which hand was on which leg. It would be great if she could wear clothes where the right and left side were different colours or patterns 😃
😂 She does tend to get mixed up with her right and left sometimes and then I confuse myself by trying to mirror her, which is the opposite of what she’s saying anyway! 😆
Yep, no chance of getting that foot in the crook of my arm! I found that balancing was more challenging today than previous days not sure why but I kept falling over during the warrior poses. Does anyone else have days when you just can't do what you've managed fine before?
Yeah, I think for me just tiny differences of where the feet are placed, and where my body is angled, makes a huge difference to my center of gravity and thus to my balance. So when I transition too fast into a pose like this, I don’t take the time to “feel” what is a balanced stance.
I really enjoyed Discipline today CBDB. We do loads of breathing exercises in our choir, so I found it straightforward and I was able to concentrate on sitting up tall etc. 🙏🏻🥰
Yeah, I think your right. I used to play wind /brass instruments and breathing is a big thing there as well. So controlling your breathing is probably something that musicians and singers have already learned from different contexts.
Well that was a different one. I did find her constant counting a bit annoying to start with but realise without it the practice would have been rather silent. 😂These types of breathing practice always seems to make me sleepy so an ideal bedtime session.
But I'm also worried that she was secretly watching me as she quickly said "don't fidget" as I was having a bit of a stretch 🤣🧘♀️😂
So it was you 👈 who fidgeted? 🤣🤣 yes, she does have an uncanny sense of what’s going on out there in the real world. I wonder if she tries this out live with her paying subscribers and then makes thorough notes for recording it for the YouTube channel.
Day 16. 🥰 Loved the ratio breath and staying low, felt really relaxing. As a few of you have said, in a lot of yoga or mindfulness type practices, I often want to really enjoy breathing out for longer too. I never realised it might be from swimming or choir when I was younger. Really enjoyed it. 😊
CBDBAdministratorGraduate Gold• in reply toGannet1
Yes, I can imagine that swimming also trains you to control your breath. 🏊♀️✔️
I’m a bit behind you all because I haven’t been able to do it every day so I’ve just finished day 12. Really enjoying it so far, especially as I can’t go to Pilates classes at the moment.
I’d have found it a lot harder without that background.
One move I am finding almost impossible is when you are on knees and hands and you turn hands the opposite way and then rotate. Does this get easier?
Hi Dexy, glad you’re enjoying Adriene! 😀Actually that’s a pose I’d never encountered before in my 3 years of practising with her, so I’m a newbie at it. But as with all poses, patience is a virtue and one day it’ll click. Practise really does make perfect. 🙏🏻
Day 17 EXPLORE yup, this was a for me quite intensive one. I had had a feeling it would ramp up again, and it did. I peeled of my thin sweater after halfway, and by the end I was quite warm.
I could do most poses (rather badly, feet not quite in the right position and with bricks and blankets) so the flow was ok, and I’m getting used to some of the patterns, although I still have to peek at the screen.
The thing i loved the most about this morning’s practice was holding one pose (e.g. cat-cow) and then exploring all sorts of alternatives around that pose. That feels just great.
Well I enjoyed Explore. 😀 It felt right today and I have to admit I love the fire hydrant pose! My goal is to nail chaturanga. My shoulders are wimpy so I usually plump for belly to cobra or upward dog. She makes it look effortless. 🙄
Chaturanga... <look up frantically on web> ahh, I missed that. I was probably still transitioning my props and myself out of cobra into downward dog.... or I have a chaturanga blind spot. 🤣🤣
It’s when she says “belly to cobra or chaturanga to upward dog” ...... needs arm and shoulder strength which I don’t have, except as linda9389 pointed out, if I can do crow (an arm balancing pose), they can’t be that weak! 🙄😅
Just finished Exploring and I loved that one. Weirdly one of the first poses - all 4s lifting opposite arm and legs we were doing this morning in my Zoom yoga class and I just couldn't balance, but tonight it was fine ✅With chaturanga I feel I need a mirror next to me, so I can see what shape I'm actually in 🤣 I feel like my upper body isn't low enough, but it is better than it was so there's hope 😉
Just finished day 17 and I have to share... I was doing the bridge pose, eyes closed not watching the video, lifted my right foot off the ground, explored how that felt, replaced it, lifted my left foot off the ground, hard work but ok. Then Adriene said, "you know what' I'm going to say next, lift both off the ground...." at which point I was mentally trying to work out how to do a bridge supported on arms and shoulders only with both feet in the air (I was thinking sort of like a horizontal shoulder stand...) before I looked at the video and realised she only meant lift the heels. Phew.
Day 17, Explore. Not one of my favourites due to my wonky foot, but did enjoy exploring with wrist twists and hip circles, cobras and the bridges. Loved imagining us all doing levitating shoulder stands Blackberrypie! 😄 And the best bit is, one day we might actually be able to do that too! 😊🧘♀️👍
Crow is 100% doable but it takes patience and practise. I could never fly for more than a second or two prior to me getting serious about nailing it. Then by practising it a little each day, one day it made sense and I haven’t looked back. It’s my favourite pose! I still use a pillow just in case I face plant (which hurts!), but I haven’t fallen off my perch for ages now.
Just exactly what cheekychipmunks says. A tiny practice evey day until it just clicks and the seemingly impossible becomes gloeiously possible! I find really compressing/locking your shoulders into place just before the lift really helped - so much of the strength of this move can be found in firmly locked shoulders. I wish could explain it better 😊
For me, it’s something for the future. My knees can’t even bend enough at the moment to transition into it. They are already much better since starting Pilates, Yoga and running but I still have some way to go. So I think I have to be patient with myself on this one and not push it.
But wow! Loved reading about others doing the crows! And I watched my very unbendy husband almost doing it! (He says, he did for a second but I missed it so hmm ...🤔 🧐🤣🤣)
I'm with you CBDB it's not for me at the moment I can feel it's stressing my knee, so no Crow for me today. But it is a pose I'd love to be able to do one day.I can see that practice everyday without a dodgy knee would be the way to go. Doing Planks everyday has made a huge difference to how long I can hold them and with the transitioning between poses.
CBDBAdministratorGraduate Gold• in reply tolinda9389
🤣🤣🤣having also lived in the US and the UK , I tend to be quite language confused.... autumn or fall? Pissed? Chips or crisps? Marmelade or jam? Center or centre? 😅
Let me help you there. It's centre. That's centre with an r and an e at the end. Centre. Centre. Centre. Got that?Good, glad to have been able to help 🙏
😍
CBDBAdministratorGraduate Gold• in reply tolinda9389
Absolutely loved day 18! 💗💕🥰 Never seen or attempted a crow before. Very briefly managed to lift alternate feet and loved trying to get my legs under my armpits? 😆 Nowhere near flying, but so enjoyed trying! Just loved the whole practice today and I was so tired beforehand I nearly wavered... So glad I didn’t. 😊💗🙏🏻
CBDBAdministratorGraduate Gold• in reply toGannet1
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