Daily Practice - January 2025

[Poisonwood]

Started the Sarah Beth 30 day challenge in the morning, then did an hour of power yoga in the evening. Meditation in bed.

Hello. I'm back into yoga (after many years) and loving it.
I live fairly close to a Hotpod Yoga so I am doing a class most days.

Looking to build a self practice on the other days.

Really enjoying getting yoga fit again.

Off to a 60 min class now.

Thanks for the new thread @Poisonwood . Hi @RobinEllacotStrike , enjoy your hot yoga, would love to try buy nearest is a 12 mile drive each way, have to find and pay for parking on top of I think £18 per class. Too time consuming & expensive for me sadly
Started with Prana with Adriene after a break so back to #1

I'm really lucky to have one a few minutes drive from home & free parking. It's £80pcm for unlimited classes so working out to be really great value for me.

If it was a huge faff I wouldn't do it. I like to keep life fairly compact so it fits in well for me.

Lovely flow class this morning, then had my first sea swim in a couple of weeks - which was very cold. Warmed up nicely in the sea sauna I am a member of - all within a few minutes of home. I'm blessed. And I'm loving being back at a regular yoga practice- starting to feel strong again.

I thought on my off day from hot yoga it might be nice to workshop something on my own - like stepping forward from DD. I'm still struggling with that.

Happy New Year! I did YWA Prana yesterday, then Day 2 of that today. Felt good but a tad annoying the Prana ones don't go live until 9am, if I don't get up and do yoga straight after my morning cuppa it likely won't happen at all.
I see Charlie Follows has a 30 day yoga for beginners which started yesterday, I may follow that after the 7 days of Prana is over as I think I need the discipline of following a programme. Left to my own devices I chose easy/short ones and avoid anything that says "core" or looks like it will include poses I don't favour.
Hotpod yoga sounds lovely for a cold morning. Or the sauna. @RobinEllacotStrike well done on the sea swimming. There's a very popular swimming spot near me, with a sauna too now, but I just watch them all in wonder as it's not my thing at all!

Hello yogis and thank you @Poisonwood for the new thread.

Prana days 1 and 2 in the books here.

@RobinEllacotStrike that sounds divine!

Prana Day 2 for me,had to come in and out of the first lot of planks even on my knees🙄lovely breath centric practice. The email mentioning feeling good and vibes really resonated for me,I’m going to keep it as I strongly believe that. I’m a much nicer person when I have a regular yoga practice

@RobinEllacotStrike how lovely having so many classes! My nearest (once a week only) is a forty mile round trip, so enjoy them for me too 😂.

I’m glad the prana practice is being enjoyed. I did SB 30 day challenge plus an hour of power yoga. I found today’s challenge more of an all-rounder than yesterday and am going to add to my favourites actually.

I did Day 2 of Prana this morning before work. I'm not at home and don't have my yoga mat. Downward dogs are virtually impossible without a yoga mat as I just slide on the carpet. Overall it still felt great though.

I had a frosty run this morning followed by day 3 of Prana. I was a bit distracted with something else so might need to to back to it another time.

Day 3 of Prana. I can never be left to my own devices or I’ll do the same @Jumbojem & I know that’s not the best path for me.
Im wondering if I can get fit and strong with just yoga and an hours brisk dog walk a day🤷‍♀️

@Yogachick I’m so much fitter since starting yoga, and considering I find planks relaxing poses nowadays I think I’ve gained a fair bit of strength with it too! Could you incorporate more power yoga maybe?
The 10 min SB video today was about your back and I’ve added this one to favourites as well. Then did a 30 min Sun C practice then a 30 min hip focused one.

@Yogachick I'm definitely stronger after a year of almost daily practice. I can hold planks, and push up and down in and out of them using my arms and my core. Still working on stepping through from down dog to lunge, although that is partly technique and making space on the way through.

Just back from parkrun and working up with a coffee before day 4 of Prana.

Prana Day 4. Managed a smooth transition from half plank to belly a couple of times,as opposed to the belly flops I’ve been doing🤩.
How often do you run @OhOneOhTwoOhThree ?
Am in awe of relaxing planks @Poisonwood ,I definitely need more power yoga. Think I need to work up to an actual consistent asana practice.
Have found new yoga person ,Yoga Flow Queen, might give her a try after Prana

@Yogachick I do my bet to get to parkrun every Saturday, and then run another couple of times during the week. It depends if I'm training for something.

Found a podcast about yoga, The Funny Thing About Yoga, so will give that a listen in the bath later.

Lovely asana practice today, the SB 30 day video was a great start to the day then just jumped on the mat at various times to do some deep stretching and some power work. Also worked on Iyengar-style downward dog which has the crown of your head on the floor, that’s a work in progress but was fun, and finished this evening with 10 Sun A, 10 B and 10 C.

@yogachick can you toe roll? Took me so long to work out how to do this but it made chaturanga sequences far easier (so more fun) and I think that improved my strength enormously.

@Poisonwood can you explain the toe roll? I'm intrigued!
I am upper body weak so planks and cobra and so on aren't my faves. I love a yogi squat or wide legged forward fold though, and my DD to lunge has improved with practice (I am not graceful but good momentum in the leg coming forward works for me).
No yoga yesterday but planning to catch up with Prana when my lunch has gone down a bit!

@Jumbojem I love a good bit of momentum for lunges, so useful!

So, toe-rolls - going from chaturanga to upward dog you roll your weight over your toes and going from upward dog to downward dog you roll your weight back over your toes. I noticed it in in-person classes first where the transitions for others seemed so much smoother than mine, asked teacher about them, tried and couldn’t understand how on earth it’s possible (😂), but I’ve been doing a lot of Sun As and slowly worked it out. You can see it on videos to get an idea. It doesn’t put strain on my back in the same way the stepping from one pose to other does, so I now voluntarily do more chaturangas.

SB live and SB tension relief videos today. Nice gentle ones. Tomorrow I have my 1.5hr in-person class which is definitely not!

@Poisonwood thank you for the toe roll tips, I just had a quick go on my way to bed (as you do). I found it easier going from up dog to down dog than from chaturanga to up dog. I will try again tomorrow.

Enjoy your in person class tomorrow. I will be doing Prana day 6.

Have googled toe rolls for visual thanks @Poisonwood
Day 6 today. Yup ,it was 😩

Ahh @Yogachick I'm only on Day 4, I did wonder if her Day 6 would still be an abs one! She does love a plank too, I swear there are more planks in YWA than most of the other YT yogi's I've tried.

Prana day 6 done. Ouch!

No planks @Jumbojem , I agree she does love a plank -and a 3 legged dog. Not for this day 6 though

@OhOneOhTwoOhThree love that you gave it a quick try on the way to bed… I do that sort of thing all the time lol.

Did an hour of SB power yoga.
Saw physiotherapist who said that if only everyone did yoga he’d be out of a job! He also said I can’t do too much yoga, and that bridge and warrior are particularly strengthening 💪.

@Poisonwood good to hear a physiotherapist say that! SB power yoga is super strong you must be mega fit!
Prana Day 7, I’ve actually completed a series, never done before!

on toe rolling.
I learnt this when doing a 2 week Ashtanga yoga holiday late 90's - it can hurt at first but your toes do toughen up. Once you can do it it really improves vinyasas.

I'm relearning how to do it.