(no subject)

[alexseanchai]

I am...back to square one with yoga. Again. New Year's resolution: fix this. I'm looking for an achievable-soonish goal, an achievable-mediumish goal, and an achievable-longish goal. Thoughts?

Thanks!

Comments

[dragonfly]

Oh, me too. I don't know what to suggest for you; everyone starts at different places and has different goals.

For myself, if I can just do a daily practice, for, say, a month, I'll feel I met a serious goal.

[alexseanchai]

I have had HabitForge bugging me every morning for months and it hasn't accomplished shit, but I hear you.

[0jack]

Would working on mastering one pose at a time help? Warm up with a basic Sun Salutation and then work on a pose until you can do it fully?

[alexseanchai]

I do not know. I do not know. Worth a try, I guess. I don't suppose there are instructional manuals to this somewhere on the interwebs?

[0jack]

Yes, there's... let me find it. http://www.yogajournal.com/ It has some excellent features including steps toward doing the more difficult poses. You can also build your own sequences of poses for your own practice.

[alexseanchai]

Thank you!

YMMV, IANA yoga teacher, etc.

[rydra_wong]

Seconding daily practice as a great achievable-soonish goal.

My experience has been that even if it's very brief and gentle some days, practicing every day (or almost every day -- sometimes life interferes, and that's fine) causes a sort of sea change in your yoga -- things start happening that never happened in years of on-off, sometimes intense but intermittent practice.

For a long-term goal, you could pick a "big", impressive pose that you'd really really love to do someday but that seems impossibly daunting right now. Obviously it depends what appeals to you and what's challenging for you, but it could be something like handstand or full lotus, where there's a long progression of steps you can use to work gradually towards the full pose. Even if you never get there completely, it can be a very interesting journey.

Re: YMMV, IANA yoga teacher, etc.

[alexseanchai]

*nods* Thanks!

[wrenlet]

I fell out a couple months ago, as well. Ugh. What I need to do is start a home-practice habit so all the, "The traffic is bad, the weather is bad, I don't have time for a full class" excuses no longer operate.

Also I'm moving soon, so I need to head off the "I haven't found a studio yet" excuse at the pass.

[julad]

Thanks for asking this question. I've been sitting on square 1.01 for quite a while (one weekly class that I regularly attend, but nothing else) and not moving beyond that, so the answers you've got are useful for me too. :)

[kimboo_york]

Gah, you too? I love starting my morning with yoga until the alarm goes off and my bed is all warm and cozy and I don't HAVE to be anywhere until 8 and...yeah. *sigh*

I think for me a real key is to not over commit, which is what I usually do with grandiose expectations that I simply cannot keep to. My plan this year to just get in 30 minutes every morning, which I guess would be my achievable-soonish goal, and also a great triumph. LOL.

Are you looking a goals oriented towards achieving certain poses, or doing a certain set, or hitting a length of time?

[alexseanchai]

My problem is less 'warm cozy bed' and more 'tempting internets'. I keep the alarm on until I'm out of bed, set to the local country station, and my tolerance for country has long since expired, so I tend to get out of bed fairly quickly. But then I tumble straight down the stairs to the computer and disappear into it.

I do not know. I was hoping the comm would tell me what a reasonable goal is so I could work towards it. Daily practice for a month seems like a good soonish goal.

[kimboo_york]

That's definitely my starting point. What I'd really like to work towards is doing 50 sun salutations - I prefer the "power yoga" kind of workout, but seriously, I'm lucky to burn through ten right now. :( I figure if I can bag 50 regularly (maybe not every day, but a few times a week) then I'll be ready to move on to more involved flows.

I do understand the internet thing though -- that's pretty much the black hole where my weekends go. :(

[alexseanchai]

Ten? I can hardly manage two.

[rydra_wong]

In that case, one possible mediumish goal might be working up to five, using a version of sun salutations that works for you (lunge salutations, chaturanga on your knees, whatever makes it manageable).

Sun salutations are great for getting everything warmed up before you do other poses, and they can get deeper and deeper the more you learn.

[alexseanchai]

Awesome. Thanks!

[rydra_wong]

There is a reason why my yoga mat lives next to my computer ...

My rule of thumb is that I'm allowed to check my usual online haunts while having breakfast and caffeinating, but then yoga has to happen.

You might find yoga podcasts helpful -- there's something about the yoga being on the computer that heps motivate me sometimes.

[alexseanchai]

I thought yoga was supposed to happen on an empty stomach?

Podcasts. Had not considereed podcasts.

[rydra_wong]

That's a common rec, and I wouldn't want to do yoga after a heavy meal, but after breakfast doesn't seem to be a problem for me (and it's easier motivation-wise than before; the caffeine's kicked in by then ...). YMMV, etc..

Podcasts!

And there's lots of stuff on YouTube, too.

[alexseanchai]

Shiny!