30 Days of Yoga Reflection

     So I'm a little late posting this, but last Wednesday, February 13th, was the last day of my 30 day yoga challenge. Now I have to admit, I did not successfully do 30 days of yoga, but I did manage 27 out of 30, which I think is still pretty good. Throughout the 30 days, I tried out yoga classes with a couple different teachers and learned more about yoga poses and posture. I also believe that all the yoga made my core stronger and my arms a bit stronger. If you are a fellow yogi, you probably know how hard those chaturangas can get. I was trying to work on my form more with these poses, so that I would not hurt myself. It can be difficult when you are not taught the correct form from the first day you do yoga, so you then develop a bad habit. So I tried to work on the chaturangas, but about half way through a 1 hour class and doing all those sun salutations, my shoulders usually do not like the chaturangas anymore, so it is hard.
      Another pose that I realized I have not been able to do correctly is warrior 1. I have worked on my warrior 2 and believe that I have the correct form for that pose, but I have always found that warrior 1 is harder with having to get your hips to face forward. I finally learned the other day that my feet were not aligned correctly. I then watched some youtube videos to better understand where the feet should be placed in this position and hopefully I can work on correcting it. Sometimes a pose can look so easy when a teacher does it, but then when you try it yourself and do not have the same flexibility, it can be really challenging. I love the challenging aspect that yoga has though. Right now, I'm going to take a little break from yoga, but still do yoga at least once a week at my typical Friday class, which still remains my favorite, and I'm going to try to put together more weight lifting routines. I really missed my weight lifting as I did this 30 day yoga challenge. I just didn't have the time to do as much weight lifting as I wanted to.
      I do think that doing yoga helps me relax more, because you focus on your breath and just forget about everything else going on. Yoga also has helped me improve my balance. I really do love yoga and I love my new lululemon mat that I purchased, because I finally don't have my hands sliding from underneath me as I hold the downward dog position. The mat also provides more padding for my hands and knees, which is especially great for low lunges and tabletop position.
     Overall, I'm really glad I did this challenge, even if I missed 3 days, I still learned a lot and I'm still thinking about becoming a yoga teacher as a second job one day.

Jonny Kest And Some Tea

    Tonight I went to a special yoga class at my gym with Jonny Kest. They closed the entire gym from 4-10pm tonight and cancelled all other wednesday night classes for this yoga event, needless to say, the yoga event was amazing! I got there at 6pm for the yoga class and there were candles lining the whole gym and as I came in, I was able to pick a scent to spray on me to help calm me. Rows and rows of yoga mats and people were in the gym ready to practice yoga together.
    We started with a very long warm up. At first I thought the class was going to be a full 2 hours, but it ended up being around an hour and a half. We did some breathing exercises to start and then a few vinyasas to warm us up. About 40 minutes in and many vinyasas and up and down dogs, Jonny says "alright we should probably start the class now, that was just the warm up." The warm up? What do you mean that was just the warm up? I was thinking to myself, as I was already sweating.
   So for the actual class as Jonny referred to it, we did another flowing series of poses. Starting in chair pose then twisting to the right, then forward fold, monkey, forward fold, vinyasa to downward dog, high lunge, warrior 1, warrior 2, turn around, warrior 3, half squat, sit down and twist, then stand back up and standing splits and repeat on left side. We did a few rounds of this and it was quite the challenge. I loved it though! I love learning different flow series to do on my own!
   After that, we relaxed...ok not really, we went into boat pose and holding that for a long time is quite the ab workout! Eventually, we got to relaxing, or really more stretching, in the splits position. We then went to frog pose for a while and finally moved onto our backs and relaxed.
    Class ended and it was time for tea. I picked a chocolate mint tea, which was very delicious. It was nice to also have something warm in my hands as I walked to my car. What a perfect Wednesday evening! I absolutely love this 30 day yoga challenge!! If I wasn't in love with yoga before, I am now. :)

Are you ready to WERQ?!

      Today I went to the gym twice! Yes I love the gym, in case you didn't already know. I went for yoga this morning as I continue my 30 days of yoga challenge. So far it is going well and I think I am more in love with yoga than ever before. My arms really get a great workout from vinyasas and asanas (poses). I used to stare at the clock sometimes in yoga, wondering when the class would be over, because I was tired already, but now I'm like "wow that hour went by quickly."
      After yoga, I went home and ate some lunch before heading back to the gym around noon for a WERQ class. Werq is a dance fitness class, different from zumba though as it is more pop and rock music. I also thought the dance moves were easier to follow than some zumba moves. I was sweating so much after just a few songs. It was tons of fun though. I also had no idea this was a regular weekly class at my gym. I signed up online for this special Werq class taught by Haley Stone who is one of the founders of Werq fitness. There were also quite a few instructors there who were planning to attend a workshop after the class to become Werq instructors. That would be really cool to have more instructors and more classes available. Right now the only class I could attend is on Sunday, but it's at the same time as yoga, so until I'm done with my 30 days of yoga, I won't be able to attend, but hopefully afterwards I can go to a few of the classes for some dancing fun. I also bought a WERQ tank top, because I wanted one and I thought it would be a good workout shirt. I always need more of those with how much I go to the gym :)

     Once I returned from the gym after round 2, it was time to shower and just relax for the rest of the afternoon. I also got a bit of studying done for the GMAT I'm planning to take in a few months. I've actually been so excited about studying for the GMAT until I do the practice questions and see how many I got wrong and over thought about...but I think I'm learning the strategies and hopefully I'll do well when I take it at the end of April.

30 Day Yoga Challenge

       To start off the new year right, my gym is doing a 30 day yoga challenge. Since I enjoy yoga and go to a couple classes a week already, I thought I'd try the challenge. It has given me the opportunity to experience other yoga classes and different teachers. Of course I have my favorite teachers already, but sometimes it's nice to mix it up a bit. Today is day 6 of the challenge and so far I've been successful. Yesterday, I invested in a new yoga mat from Lululemon. My first purchase I've ever made there actually, though I've been in the store so many times, often for their free yoga classes on Sundays. As expensive as this mat is, I actually think it was a really good purchase for me, especially since I'll be using it for the next 24 days and probably at least twice a week after that. This mat is great because I don't slip as easily as I did on my other thin worn yoga mat. I used to not like downward dog, a main pose in yoga, mostly because my hands and feet would slip from beneath me and I helped that a bit by keeping a towel under my hands, but with this mat, it is thicker and I seem to stick to it better, so no more slipping!

      Since starting this 30 day challenge, despite being a bit sore constantly, I also feel a bit more relaxed and I feel like my arms and core are getting stronger. It must be all those planks and downward dogs. I have enjoyed my 1 hr of yoga a day at the gym to relax after work. Though I have also been happier since starting a new position in the accounting department at work. I still have a lot to learn, but so far it has been pretty good. I also changed my work hours so that I get out at 4:30 instead of 5pm. That half hour difference saves me a half hour of driving in 5 o'clock traffic. It now only takes me 40 minutes to get home instead of the hour and 15 minutes in traffic (hence the reason I would usually go to the gym down the road after work to try to save time driving as well).
    So I will be continuing with this yoga challenge until Feb 14. I know this challenge will also really help me decide if I want to train to be a yoga teacher someday.

Bowling and Dinner

     Yesterday night I went to Pinstripes, which is a really cool bowling, bocce and dinner place. I went with some family friends as a late graduation celebration dinner. We played two games, I improved in my second game, but unfortunately got a gutter ball on the last frame which wasn't good or I could have scored over 100 points, I was so close. We talked about my job and everything and enjoyed bowling and none of us were that good, but it was fun. I wish there was a bowling place closer to my house, but it's really not too far, only like a 20 minute drive at least. For dinner, I ordered a chicken avacado flatbread, which is like a pizza. It was delicious! Actually all of their food was really good, so I highly recommend the place.

this was actually taken before I bowled one of my few strikes

bowling a strike

my dad bowling

my sister bowling, she makes weird faces

    So I told my family friends about my blog and how I started doing bridges everywhere, so they wanted me to do one on the bowling lanes. So I now have a new addition to my bridge photo collection :)

bridge with a bowling ball underneath me...rolling away

most of us, missing Stephanie who is taking the photo

Commitment Day 2013

         2012 was quite a year, graduating college, finding my first full time job, celebrating 3 years with my amazing boyfriend and meeting people at work.
         Last night I had a wonderful New Year's Eve hanging out with my friend at my house and watching netflix and playing games. I then woke up early this morning for a 5K. I know I'm crazy! I only walked the 5K though, because I have not run/prepared enough to actually run a 5K. I can't even run a full mile. Walking fast has always been better than running for me. I do hope I can change that this year. I hope to do more 5Ks in the spring/summer months, as it is a bit warmer then. It was a cold morning in Chicago, but at least the sun was out and it's always good to get some fresh air. So my dad and I went for a 5K walk and it took us 47 minutes. Along the walk, I took a few pictures of the lake. It was not a race by any means, the walk was not even timed, it was really just to have people get out and make a commitment to a healthy lifestyle this year.

getting ready at home

all bundled up (almost at the 2 mile mark)

        So Happy New Years! Here's to a healthy, happy year!!

Day 23:Plans

I can't believe there are only 2 days until Christmas. For this Christmas, I'm spending it with my boyfriend Brian and his family and friends. I arrived yesterday afternoon to a very white New York State. The train was running late so I spent about 16 hours on the train, as I predicted because it usually falls an hour behind at least.
Once I was finally off the train, I couldn't wait to go to Tim Horton's. It's my favorite bagel, donut, iced tea place. Brian and I went to Tim Horton's and our friend Marc met up with us there. I had been trying to get a hold of Marc for the last month and he disappeared...finally he responded when I was on the train yesterday morning and I was so happy to see him. It was a perfect addition to my Christmas weekend to catch up with him and hang out for a bit.
The roads cleared up and the snow slowed down, so as me and Brian drove to his friend's house it was much faster than his long drive to come pick me up. We had a nice night with some family friends and then cuddling on the couch watching some tv before finally going to bed. Sleeping in a bed was soooo much nicer than sleeping on the train the other night with people snoring everywhere around me.