What Is It You Choose Today?

After a tough CrossFit workout Saturday with CrossFit Low Oxygen, I so needed a yoga session yesterday.  Plus I'm super stressed with a lot to do and not enjoy time.  Let's just say the tension in my neck is well a pain in the neck!  The 2pm class at Core Power Yoga Highlands location is a CorePower 1.  It's in a warm room and a little slower than the CorePower 2.  I enjoy it because it is a great chance for me to really focus on form and connecting moves to breath.

As today's class started, the instructor Cara said "What is it you choose today?"  Here we go I thought, that's my keyed in phrase of the class.  Then she said if you choose compassion for yourself at in point in class, feel free to go into Child's Pose.  That would be the first pose starting with a "C" that would stand out to me in class.

Starting the class in Child's Pose, gave me a moment to let it all go and realize I was right where I needed to be.  Spiritually, emotionally, physically, and stress level wise I needed to be in that class.

Child's Pose
Photo courtesy Core Power Yoga

The next "C" pose was Crow.  This is a tough one and extremely challenging for me.  Today was the first time since I started going to Core Power Yoga at least once a week since early May that I could hold the pose.  It wasn't for long but I got it.  Everything just clicked for me and I challenged myself to get Crow Pose.

Crow Pose
Photo courtesy Core Power Yoga

The third "C" pose was Camel.  I can actually do this pose, but because it opens up your heart, I'm often flooded with emotions and sometimes a little dizzy coming out of this pose.  But the clarity that suddenly replaces that overwhelming emotional floodgate is simply cool to me.

Camel Pose
Photo courtesy VeganBodyBuilding.com

So what did I choose today?  I chose compassion, challenge and clarity all wrapped up in a 60 minute yoga class.

Race To The Mat...To Let It Go

Apparently yoga is therapy, or at least for me it is.  I went to a different Core Power Yoga location today. I was going to take a noon class but wasn't able to get out of work in time.  When I checked the CPY website I found a 3:30pm Core Power 1 class.  Perfect for me today!

As we started class, the instructor Jessi was talking about racing to the mat as a metaphor to life.  That's definitely me.  Yes I race to yoga so I can have a moment to breathe, relax, recharge, and renew.  Kind of ironic but that's the way it works for me.

A few minutes later she said breathe in and then as you breathe out, let it go.  As I put the two simple lines together in my head and focused on those during the class I found the heart of why I enjoy Core Power Yoga.  Yes I race to the mat just so I can let it go.  

I'd originally started going to increase flexibility and use it as a supplemental workout to my other cardio and strength workouts.  What I've found is that no classes are the same and that the classes are not just a physical workout for me but also an emotional and in a sense spiritual moment for me as I ponder over thoughts and ideas.

In a couple of the classes and in the mine today, instructors have said when we're in an inverted position about how those positions can give you a different perspective.  It's so true.  As I walk out of each class I have a different perspective on something going on in my life.

So like today, I go to yoga to get a new perspective and challenge myself through the postures in a hot room. It really is detoxing and yet renewing at the same time as you sweat through the postures.  In the 60 minutes of class, something changes and there's some sort of different perspective at the end.

Yes, I race to the mat....to let it go. 

  

What's Your Intention?

What's your intention? That was the question my Core Power Yoga instructor Heather started class with yesterday.  My initial intention was to just to try to keep up with the flowing moves (I'm still a yoga newbie), sweat, focus on my breathing, and stretch.

It is funny to me how my mind wanders in a yoga class as I think about a sentence or a few words an instructor says in the beginning.  Maybe I do it so I don't focus on the heat or the fact that so many others in the class are so much better at yoga than me.

This class was packed.  There were literally a couple of inches between each mat.  Deep in thought over the word intention, flowing from one posture to the next in the heated, crowded room, somewhere out of no where the old-fashioned stereotypical small town idea of the father standing at the door with a shotgun with his daughter's suitor trembling on the door steps as the father ask, "What are your intentions with my daughter?" popped into to my head like it was a scene in a movie.....then SMACK!

The girl next to me had just kicked the guy behind her in the head as she was going up in a handstand. Rule #1 I thought, don't try a handstand in a crowded yoga class, especially when you are in the middle row.  His head snapped back.  He sat back without saying a word but just put his arm out for her to stay away as she turn around and moved toward him to make sure he was ok.  From his reaction I'm going to guess it really hurt and he might of had some sort of neck issue.  She sat shaken on her mat for a few minutes and slowly rejoined the posture series.

Just like the smack to the head, I suddenly realized that the intention of this class just turned in to me analyzing and pondering my dating life. Well that hit me like a ton of bricks.  Really? Yoga correlates to dating?  Ah heck, I really just have to go with this right?  Just go with the flow I thought, since I'm in a hot yoga class....although I did wonder for a sec if the heat was getting to me.

Okay here's the deal, I apparently stink at dating.  I'm blessed to have a ton of friends, but Mr. Right? Well he's certainly hasn't made his presence known....yet (at least I hope there's a yet in there).  As far as intention, working in television, I do wonder at least for a split second when a guy ask me out if he's asking me out because I'm a chick on tv or because he's asking me out for me.  I've gone out with both and the first type I realize in a hurry.  Those are road blocks, but you have to run in to those to appreciate the joy of spending time with those who want to spend time with you, because of you.  It's just like in yoga, you have to put in the effort of trying a pose, fail, or not quite be able to do it, to relish in the joy when you can.  Wow, I am correlating yoga to dating I thought.  My closest friends say I'm perceived as a strong woman.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but apparently it's not such a great thing when dating.  Struggling through postures and poses in yoga while watching others bend and twist in ways I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do, I know I have many weaknesses and weak moments, but I'm willing to at least try and search for a strength inside of me to get through.  In a roundabout way I figured out my intention in that class:  weaknesses and struggles can lead you to a new joy.  Mr. Right?  He'll come along but it's probably going to take me getting smacked in the head to realize it.  It's ok to laugh, because I am.

I did smile when Heather said near the end of class to think about the intention you started the class with....and then how the intention changed over the 60 minutes of class.  Wonder what my intention is going to be for my next yoga class.  

Let Go

I needed a yoga class after my Mt. Yale 14er climb Saturday.  So my friend Heather and her friend Logan said they were taking the 2pm Core Power Yoga class at the Highland studio yesterday.  It was an intro to hot yoga class, which meant the room was a little cooler than the other Core Power classes I'd taken and was perfect for me to stretch, re-center, realign, and find balance.

Sitting in child's pose to start class, the instructor Holly said on the inhale think "let"....and on the exhale think "go."  Two simple words that have significant meaning.  Think about it.  How many times in your life have you just had to let go?  Lord knows I've had to do it over and over and over again.  From letting go of some doozies of boyfriends (good ones too) to letting go of the security of a place you call home to tackle the next adventure in a new town, to saying good-bye and letting go to someone for the last time as they pass on to Heaven, those five simple letters carry so much emotion.

Sometimes it's simple, but more often than not, it's a tough journey.  Workouts are journeys.  Some are fast and furious, some short and sweet, some are attaining a goal, while others are flowing and stir something in your soul. That's what this yoga class did to me.

Ironically, I had let go moments on Saturday during the hike.  As I was hiking Mt Yale and was on the rocky terrain above treeline, slowly working my way to the top, with the changing weather I had a moment of maybe today isn't my day to make 14,000' and I should just let it go. But as soon as I thought that, I saw a friend running back to me who wasn't going to let me hike it alone.  I had to let go and give him my pack - something that was very difficult for this...yes I'll admit....sometimes very stubborn person. Above 14,000' as we were less than 150 feet from the highest point on the summit, I had to let go again.  In a moment of panic and being extremely cold in a snow squall I had to let go and admit my vulnerability, something I'm not exactly the best at doing...okay I'm horrible at it.  I had to admit to myself that I wasn't as tough as I thought I was and rely on the emotional and physical strength of several friends stronger than me in the moment to get me out of a dangerous situation.  You can't reach success if you don't try.  Sometimes you'll fail, sometimes the path and dream changes, and sometime you succeed with flying colors.  Although I was less than 150 feet from my goal of 14,196' I had to change the path because the weather forced me to.  Ironic isn't?

During the class my mind wandered to other moments of letting go - dancing in the rain, singing like no one is around (my Good Day Colorado co-workers will tell you I do that on a very regular basis), to laughing and giggling as my friend Heather and I did during one moment in the class.  Life is full of let go moments.  This class was 60 minutes to let go of whatever was weighing heavy on your mind and heart, sadness, and anything that might be holding you back.  Funny that today when I was running through Whole Foods after my Kinesis and Pilates workout, that I saw a card with this Zen saying: "Leap and the net will appear."

Yes I'm taking note of the signs as I did when my brother and I let go of our dad almost two years ago spreading his ashes out into the wind at Pretty Place, right on the South Carolina-North Carolina line.  As we did, the ashes floated and sailed carried by the wind.  A small change in the breeze brought a little of the ashes back to my brother and I as we stood on the cliff.    My mom said as she watched it - it was my dad giving us one last hug and kiss as we let him go to soar in the beauty of mountains in a place that is like a Heaven on Earth.  There truly is beauty, peace and strength as you let go.

What If Your Someday Is Now

What if your someday is now?  You're probably wondering what does that have to do with fitness.  Well, a lot for me today.

I took my fifth yoga class in 5 days at CorePower Yoga.  My friend Heather met me at the Highlands location to take CorePower Yoga 2 - Heated Power Yoga.  Here's the description of the class from CorePower Yoga website:  "Ready to sweat? CorePower Yoga 2 (C2) is a rigorous yoga class with demanding strength postures that will have you moving, breathing and sweating! True to its name, a C2 class focuses on building and engaging your core strength to support you in more advanced postures. Set to energizing music in a heated, climate-controlled room, CorePower Yoga 2 strengthens, balances, detoxifies and exhilarates the body and mind. "This class torches calories" – Shape Magazine"

Tiffany taught the class.  Right off the bat she said, "This hour is for you."  That came full circle near the end of class with her statement, "You gave yourself this gift."

Being a meteorologist, journalist, writer, and blogger I like story-telling with a beginning, middle, and end so these two simple lines or thoughts resonated so much with me.  I often look at my workouts as something I do for myself, a priority for my sanity, and a chance to check out for an hour.  Guess I'd never really thought of it as a gift to myself, but during the class it became so obvious to me that yes it is a gift to me.  Flowing through the postures and movements, I realized I gave myself the gift to sweat, detox, stretch out muscles, better align myself, re-center physically and emotionally.  I also realized later that I gave the gift of fitness, health and well-being to my friend Heather, as she did to me today.  Both of us said if the other one would have bailed then we would have too.  So glad neither of us bailed.

Not long into the class, when we were holding a pose, Tiffany also shared with us that she moved this week.  Yesterday she was unpacking and pulled out a magnet that said something like, "What if your someday is now."  I couldn't get that out of my head for the rest of class.....what if...my someday is now.  Someday I'll meet Mr. Right, someday I'll travel around the world, someday I'll reach my goal to travel to all 50 states (7 to go), someday my Swept Away will be a huge success, someday I'll climb Kilimanjaro....someday, someday, someday.  Trust me I've got a lot of somedays.

There was one moment in the class, when we were in chair position with right arm wrapped under left, hands touching in front of face and right leg lifted up, over and wrapped around the left leg, that I saw in the mirror a steady drip of sweat falling from my right elbow.  Same thing happened with the left elbow when we switched to the other side.  Totally zoning out on those sweat droplets that looked like rain droplets (fitting for a gloomy foggy and misty Sunday morning), I realized my someday that is now is pretty darn good.  I see that in the moments captured in pictures and video and on live tv of laughter, smiles and happiness.  It's great to have dreams and goals, but I'm one lucky girl....who's doing her best to be a yogi-in-training in her someday that is now.

Smallest Efforts Have Biggest Impact

Three days in a row I've done yoga....that might be a record for me!  With the dreary weather yesterday I didn't feel like running or hiking, so off I went to take Hot Power Fusion at the Highlands location of Core Power Yoga.  It's smaller than the Broadway location I've been going to but I like the cozy feel.

I walk into the yoga studio and it's packed with women.  This was the first class I'd taken that was all women.  There was one spot all the way across the room by the window.  So I trudged through the sea of mats, water bottles, towels, and women stretching, relaxing, and chatting to that window spot.  Somehow three more ladies squeezed in the room after me.

In a room full of women, in walks Anders, our yoga guide for the next 60 minutes.  Being a person who loves to laugh and smile, I was hooked on his class as soon as he said to do this class you must start with a smile.  Then he quickly moved us through an hour of postures and holds.  I really enjoyed how the class went from doing 30 to 45 second holds to movements that flowed with your breath of one movement with one breath.  For example, inhale as you extend arms overhead, exhale as you bend forward, inhale as you come halfway up, exhale as you extend hands back to ground (yes I still have a ways to go to get my hands flat on the ground but I'll get there!).

I wish I could remember a quote that Anders said in class.  It had to do with the smallest efforts have the biggest impact.  Even in the stillness of moments like when you are in savasana (corpse pose) you are reaping big benefits.  A moment of total relaxation allows your body, mind, and soul a chance to regroup, rebuild, and recharge.  For my crazy, stressful life those moments are invaluable!

"Rock Your Hot Pink Yoga Pants"

"Rock your hot pink yoga pants."  That's what my Yoga Sculpt instructor told us at the beginning of class.  This was my second Yoga Sculpt - Heated Power Yoga with weights at Core Power Yoga.  Morgan was subbing for the regular instructor.  Morgan used to teach at the Broadway location but left to go to law school in Arizona and is back for a couple of months.  She started class with a story of her first day at law school.  She had been teaching yoga for a year and went to class in her hot pink yoga pants.  Everyone else was dressed in suits with notepads in hand.  She quickly learned she wasn't a "suit" but was able to make it work for her.  The moral of her story is even if everyone else is rockin' a suit, or in class the positions or doing exercises with heavy weight, rock your hot pink yoga pants.  Stay true to yourself, listen to your body, and go for it.

This class is tough.  Have you ever done a yoga class that also has burpees, football runs, jumping jacks, and other plyometric moves?  Combine those with going into yoga positions using weights in between cardio sets and you've got yoga sculpt.  Add in the fact that the class is in a heated room and you are seriously torching calories along with detoxing and working hard for better vitality, strength, cardio, and balance.

It was fast-paced, fun and tough.  In the last 15 minutes of class we majorly worked glutes.  At one point, in the glutes series, my friend Joana asked "How's your butt feeling?"  Both of us laugh - it was such a tough glutes series of leg lifts with weighs that all we could do was laugh....and breathe to get through it.  After that series we went straight in to bridge lifts, which was more glutes work along with abs, inner thighs, quads and hamstrings.

For at least 45 minutes of the class I was dripping sweat.  That's part of the class - sweat out any toxins in your system since you are working out in a heated room.

I loved when I walked outside after class and it was raining.  As I walked in Mother Nature's liquid sunshine, I felt revitalized and renewed.  I tweeted out that it was refreshing.  It truly was!

Hot Yoga

Yesterday I took Hot Yoga.  Core Power Yoga offers a free week and I wanted to get in at least one more class during my first week.  I used to do Bikram Yoga on a regular basis but hadn't done it in at least 2 years.  So I was pretty excited about the Hot Yoga class.  It's a 60 minute class in a room heated to 105 degrees.  My instructor, Mary Beth, is very slim and fit.  I loved her calming tone of voice and that she corrected me with my hand positions.  I was separating my thumbs and fingers on a foot hold and she said I should keep thumbs with fingers.  It made the position a little tougher but it's suppose to be better for stability.  I'm a newbie yogi so definitely want the instruction and correction if I'm doing something wrong.

In the class we did a series of 26 postures.  I really liked how the class flowed from position to position.  I was a full out sweaty mess.  It's a different kind of sweat than sweating from cardio like running or biking.    You truly feel like you are sweating out toxins and opening yourself to a restored, renewed you.

Sweating It Out In Yoga Sculpt

Friday I headed out to take a yoga class with my friend Joana at Core Power Yoga.  After two days of hard workouts, I was looking forward to take my first yoga class in ages.  I used to do Bikram Yoga on a regular basis.

Shortly before the class I found out it was yoga with weights...in a heated room.  So it wasn't the relax, rejuvenate kind of stretch yoga class I was expected.  Well here with go with hard workout for 3 days in a row.

The Yoga Sculpt class was a fast paced class of stretches, yoga poses, and cardio like mountain climbers with weights incorporated into many of the poses and exercises.  The noon class was packed.  I love the variety of people in the class.  They guy in front of me was one of those that can wear the short spandex shorts and get away with it because he was that fit.  One of the instructors was pregnant.  There were all shapes, sizes, and different fitness levels in the class.

Within 10 minutes of the class starting I was dripping sweat and continued to do so for the duration of workout.  I told Joana I want to join her on Fridays when I'm not traveling.  I loved the workout and the feeling of toxins out, happiness and strength in.  When I woke up Saturday morning, I hit the ground running after a better night's sleep than I'd had in a long time.  I'm chalking it up to the yoga.  Definitely getting more into my fitness routine!