Day 45: And Now For Something Completely Different!

During this challenge, I've mostly been doing the same kind of yoga: slow stretching, spending a lot of time in each pose, doing the same few over and over. Which is fine and most of the time, I like doing that. It helps me ease out some of the kinks in my body and I like to really get in for a deep stretch. But since this is my year of yoga challenge, I don't necessarily want to always do the same thing. I want to mix it up, get fancy.

Unfortunately, my top hat tends to fall of during downward facing dog.

Today, I decided to do a practice from yogaglo.com (and before 11pm!) YogaGlo is a paid website but luckily my mother-in-law has a subscription and she was kind enough to give me her login info so I can use it.

I am also without shame.

Tonight I did a 30 minute vinyasa flow video ("Dancy Flow" by Kathryn Budig for those of you on YogaGlo). In theory, this one is supposed to be good for shoulders because screw you, Edelman, that's why. It's also a pretty quick flow sequence that really got my heart rate up and made me really regret eating a grilled cheese sandwich four hours before doing this practice.

There were some close calls.

There was a lot of plank pose, upward facing dog, downward facing dog, and wild thing. The last one was one I hadn't done in ages but it actually felt really phenomenal. Here's an awesome explanatory photo from yogabycandace.com:

I can guarantee I didn't look this elegant.
It must be because I wasn't on a beach.

The routine was quick and had a dance-type flow to it (hence the video name "Dancy Flow") and even though my arms and legs nearly collapsed by the end of it, I really enjoyed it. My downward facing dog was way better than it normally is and I'm assuming it's because my muscles were properly warmed up.

I know. Shocker, right?

The one part that really made me want to cry was the flow included a LOT of was the half one-legged squat. Here's a demonstration picture from endureyoga.com:

When I did it, pretty much all of my weight was on my hands.

The video had a lot of this pose and quickly switching sides which, if you have a knee injury, just isn't going to happen. I've had a brace on my right knee all day and at some point, I apparently re-aggravated my left knee as well. I used to have two knee braces but now I can't find the other one so I get to play the "which knee hurts worse game."

It's not a fun game.

Aside from that, I feel like my practice went really well. I'm exhausted and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to move in the morning, but right now it feels totally worth it.

Now to go find my other knee brace . . .