A wise person wrote on my birthday card recently "the "9s" are harder than the "0s." It is as if I wear my anxiety ridden mind on my sleeve, because turning 29 has been stressful. It is entirely my fault too. I mean what was I thinking at 22 setting career and life goals without knowing what I was in store for? Note to everyone out there, wait a few years before you do that. No matter how Type A you are. As you get older you will certainly learn more about being an adult, what is expected of you, and what your priorities might be. Having that information will let you make better bucket lists, I promise.
So it was pretty fortuitous that I had a very yogi birthday. (I should mention that this theme was applied by at least three separate groups of people, without discussion)
Josh was somehow able to remember that I wanted The Ultimate Yogi program. I don't know how, but I know it involved searching my Twitter stream for mention of it. (thanks social media addiction!) It is essentially the P90x of yoga, a 108 day program that utilizes different yoga flows to help you become slim and trim.
Six days later and I am loving the program. I have always enjoyed working yoga into my routine, but usually viewed it as an "active rest day" or "after a long run" activity. I never really thought of it as the core to my routine. This program has absolutely changed that.
Each practice has its benefits (again I haven't done all of them yet) and aside from your standard down dog, up dog flow offer something different. I never expected to sweat the way I did in Cadio Yoga--that was usually reserved for hot yoga. Strength really tested my upper body, Hardcore is one of the best ab routines I have ever done, and Yin Yoga is everything I love about restorative yoga right in my living room.
The best part though has been the shift in my mind. I'm alert in the morning after yoga (exercising in the AM usually does this for me, but lately all my heavy weight lifting sucked more energy than anything else) and I'm sleeping!
I do think I am going to work in some of my regular workouts going into this second week (e.g., spinning, running, maybe a heavy weight routine), but I do think I will continue making this program my priority at least through the end of the month.