A Week in the Life of a Budget Yogi- Tuesday

Today was a super blah day at work. Kind of soul sucking. So today's yoga needed to be mellow. In some ways I wanted to do some real calorie burnin' yoga, because I ate too much today :) but my body said no no, you need some Mellow Out And Heal From Your Day Yoga. So I listened. Sometimes I'm a good listener. not always, but sometimes.

I can pretty much do Rodney Yee's AM Yoga by heart now, so to get out of my messy and decidedly non-mellow house, I took my yoga to a very special place:

My balcony.

I recently fixed this thing all up- I regret that I didn't use it adequately sooner, but it is what it is and now I am. I got some fun colored chairs, painted a rock with the word NAMASTE and brought my plants out. And can I tell you...I LOVE IT. Its my tiny little oasis. I read out here, the little one and I eat lunch out here, and tonight, I did my yoga out here.

Namaste, indeed! :)

A Week in the Practice of a Budget Yogi- Monday*

This post is the first of a short series of posts that documents a week in the life of my Year of Yoga. I call myself a Budget Yogi because I mostly do DVD's at home. DVD's are fine for the most part; I really enjoy the collection I have. Would I like to practice more in a real live studio? Sure, but but it really depends on my bank account on any given day, as well as child care, so mostly it ends up being just me, my cluttered living room, a two year old, a dog or two, a cat, and an onscreen Rodney Yee. Rock on!

Today I came home at lunch to do my yoga for the day. I only work 5 minutes or so away from my house, so sometimes this is a nice option- especially if I know the evening is going to be busy. It's also a nice break from everything to come home to an empty house and to light a candle and mellow out for a half hour in the middle of the day.

The DVD selection for today's practice was Yoga for Stamina- a nice 20 minute flow that includes my favorite Tree Pose. :) My mood for today's practice was half way between 'Totally Distracted Lets Just Do This So I Can Check It Off the List' and 'Totally Blissed Out'. My mind wasn't completely on task, but I wasn't completely unfocused either.

What I have found during this year is that I'm not going to be Totally Blissed Out everyday. Some days it will just be a check off the list- but that's ok. I'm there, I made the effort to pull the mat out and practice, and my body will get the benefit. When I'm conscious of a mindset like that, I try to focus more and be present, but sometimes it just doesn't stick. On days like those, I concentrate on the fact that I made good choices in getting on the mat, even if I wasn't totally present. What matters on those days is that I showed up.

I think life is often like that, no?


*This post is also cross posted on my other blog Yoga for Kaylee