Happy Friday!!
Are you feeling excited for the weekend? You could say that I’m a bit overly excited because my hubby and I are going on a weekend getaway! We’re taking a road trip up to the Santa Barbara Wine Country area, and I’ve been looking forward to it all week long. Have I ever mentioned that I love wine country?!
In Napa, circa 2011
A photo I took in Livermore Valley, circa 2013
At my favorite nearby winery when we lived in Morgan Hill, CA, called Clos LaChance
….oh, probably only about 2,700 times! I’m sure I’ll be sharing all of the details of my weekend with you guys later, but for today, let’s get a little zen & talk about yoga. February has flown by in what feels like the blink of an eye, but my month has had no shortage of yoga practice!
As I talked about in my last post about my yoga practice, this month I’ve partnered up with prAna & Fit Approach for the Take the Leap yoga challenge as one of their challenge leaders. Every day this month I’ve posted a yoga pose photo on social media, and I’m thoroughly enjoying being part of the challenge community, as well as the fact that I’ve made yoga a daily ritual of mine in 2015 thus far.
Side Crow Pose
Sometimes it’s just a few poses, sometimes I practice for an hour, and sometimes I do a few minutes of yoga at the end of my higher impact workouts, but each and every day I’ve been doing yoga in some way. I’m loving it! I’ve also been taking a few moments to connect more with the spiritual aspects of yoga, because after all, yoga isn’t just a physical practice. It’s about good energy, positive light, being mindful in the moment, connecting with the earth, taking the time to breathe, and so much more.
Last weekend a friend of mine and I took a Saturday morning beach yoga class. It reminded me how much I love a good yoga session on the beach. It’s just so relaxing and nice, and now I want to try to do yoga on the beach more often! For most of the beach yoga pictures you see of me, I’m just at the dog beach exercising my pup, and then I strike a few poses for picture’s sake… but, what I want to do more of is long yoga sessions on the beach – as in, going to the beach with the intention to do yoga. So, we’ll see if I can make that happen more!
Wild Thing pose
In the spirit of my yoga practice being just that – a practice – here are three yoga poses that I’ve been working towards improving this month:
Bird of Paradise – This pose is no joke, and I’ve been working towards straightening my leg and my torso more while in it. I’ve found the best way to transition into it is from a Bound Warrior pose….
….then by inching my leg up to standing, then extending it out while still having my arms bound behind my back.
Jumping Back – I find it tough to jump back from a pose like Crow to Chaturanga. I think it takes a lot of strength and balance, and I’ve been trying to work on it a bit:
Revolved Hand to Big Toe Pose – This pose is very new to me, and it’s tougher than it looks!
Tell me… What yoga poses have you been practicing? What are your current fitness and health goals?
LOVE these!! Yoga is so magical and you make it look elegant. Have a blast in wine country!
Thanks so much, Brittany! I’m certainly not always graceful, but I try!
I’ve loved following you this month for Take the Leap challenge! You did some really challenging poses!! You are looking really good in those yoga poses! Way to go.
Thanks Britt! And THANK YOU for participating – I loved checking out all of your scenic yoga pics!
Your yoga poses are amazing!!
Have a super time with your husband this weekend!! I love wine country.
Thank you, Kim! I’m amazed at the thought of running 50 miles – you ultra marathoners are quite impressive!
Oh my goodness the bird of paradise pose IS no joke!! Good for you… I really can’t imagine being able to do that. I think I get cramps in my back just looking at it! And that jumping back movement looks legit too. Keep it up!
It definitely is a tough sequence!! I was reading an article on form for Birds of Paradise, and it said something like, “This pose is simple for experience yogis, but may be challenging for beginners” and I was like is that serious?! It’s challenging for me for sure, even though I’ve been doing yoga for awhile!
Look at you!! Way to be girl! 🙂 You can do this!! Very impressive!
Thanks, Cailee!
I am so jealous of your wine trip. I have just given up wine and it is already so hard!
I’m interested to hear how you’ve been doing without any alcohol — I’m going to guess that you miss it but are feeling great without it!
Ahh I’m just dying to go to Napa – soo gorgeous! And youre doing awesome with those poses! Side crow is my arch nemesis .. took me forever to get crow .. someday! haha. Nice work :))
Yup, just keep working at it! Side crow is a little awkward to master. Right now I’m trying to work towards a tripod headstand transitioning right into regular Crow… but just this morning I got into headstand and was like, “WHAT? No way I can float this into Crow!!” Haha. It’s a journey right! One day maybe it’ll happen..
Bird of Paradise looks SO COOL! You look like such a badass!! haha I’m loving it. I love that you reminded us that yoga can be an hour a day or just a few minutes at the end of the day. Definitely an important reminder 🙂 Congrats on sticking to this goal — it clearly paid off!!
Thanks girl!! I appreciate the love.
You look great! Way to go on the Bird of Paradise – it is so tough. My yoga practice has fallen by the wayside recently, but I always make sure to get good stretching in between all the miles. Right now I’m working on strengthening my hips and glutes as much as possible – lots of pigeons and bridges!
I LOVE doing pigeon stretches – always feels so good!