Wednesday, April 05, 2017

Yoga with the hubby

It was fun to have WW with me in yoga class today! Apart from the yoga course we attended 10 years ago, he has not been practising yoga. So you can imagine how strenuous a workout he had today! I'm guessing he must had been super relieved to move into corpse pose towards the end of the class..enjoying his favourite resting pose.

There is bound to be a pose (or two) that one can't execute confidently in a class. Today, mine was the Wheel Pose. This pose is also known as Chakrasana or Upward-Facing Bow pose.

 

The Wheel Pose is an advanced backward bending pose that strengthens the arms, shoulders, wrists, legs, buttock, abdomen and spine. I find this pose hard to get into, as it requires some arm strength which I do not quite have. (Inclined flexed arm hang used to be my weakest item in the physical activity test during college times.) Just can't seem to get the strength to execute the final push to straighten my arms and to lift my body and head off the floor. Even after assuming the full pose with the teacher's assistance, I couldn't hold onto the pose for more than five seconds. Yet, I'd like to challenge myself to master this pose and to execute it with ease. Hope that I can share a photo of myself doing this pose (effortlessly) in the near future. A word of caution though - do not try this pose in case of back injury, heart problems, headache, diarrhoea or high/low blood pressure. Preparatory poses such as Cobra pose and bridge pose should be done before trying the Wheel pose.

Now that I've attended two Hatha yoga classes, should I move on to Hatha flow next week? Am I ready for what I think would be the more demanding yoga with those dynamic sequencing poses? Hmm..


Wednesday, March 29, 2017

I am BACK!

It's been a while. Not only a while actually. A good seven years!

The past seven years have been great, and greatly occupied with taking care of my two girls, now 3.5 and 6.5 years old. Now that the younger girl has started kindergarten, I've at last gotten some free time to myself. With that newfound freedom and time, I can start devoting time to pursue my interests again. What best than going back to practise yoga - an endeavour more than just an interest. Exercise, mental and physical balance and wellness, personal challenge, social circle - all rolled into one.

And so, I went for a trial Hatha Yoga class at Art of Yoga today.

Happy me preparing to go for my first yoga in 3 years

The studio offers a variety of yoga classes, ranging from restorative yoga to Ashtanga and advanced Vinyasa flow. I am looking to join Hatha yoga, Hatha flow and Vinyasa flow, having practised these yoga styles before. I thought Hatha yoga would be an easy, relaxing style compared to the others. But boy was I wrong. After the session today, my muscles are aching and sore. Could it be I have been out of action for too long? Or that age is catching up? Nevertheless, I'm more motivated to explore styles of yoga I have not tried before.

My initial thoughts are to populate this blog with my yoga journey. I'm planning to introduce yoga to my girls as well, not sure how receptive they are but wouldn't it be interesting to see cute little girls striking warrior poses or have a baby (my 3.5yo is still like a baby..) do a Happy Baby pose?

We'll see how the future updates go. Till then!