chipped nails & all

hey peeps.

A few things from my blogroll lovelies that made me super-duper happy today:

a. Polly made a ridiculously cute video.  I would love to have her in my life every day….but I’ll settle for reading her inspiring and witty blog!

b. The trendy and beautiful Jessica got engaged this weekend! Congrats Jessica!

c. I just got a reply e-mail from Angela of Oh She Glows…call me self-centered, but this totally made my day!  Give me a chance to meet some  random celebrity and I’d probably pass (I’m just not that kind of person…), but offer me a chance to meet one of my fave food bloggers?  Done and done!

d.  Yoga totally kicked my butt this morning….and I loved every minute of it! Me and power vinyasa…we’re gonna be BFF’s.

Yea…that’s “rugburn” from said yoga.

I told you it totally kicked my butt

So you wanna know what made this yoga class so special, you say?

Well, since yoga doesn’t discriminate, all of the poses can be modified to fit your flexibility and knowledge of yoga….plus the class flowed pretty fast but was still challenging enough where I was dripping with sweat at the end

-Start off with a few Vinyasa’s…particularly these poses in this order:

Mountain pose

Forward Bend

Standing Half Forward Bend

Plank pose

Four-Limbed Staff pose a.k.a. crocodile

Upward Facing Dog

Downward Facing Dog

now go through that a few times til you start to sweat glisten…

and now comes the hard/awesome part…Do you remember that get-to-know-you game where you go in a circle and repeat everyone’s name, then say yours….and then the next person in the circle has to repeat everyone’s name + yours + theirs??

This flow is kind of like that….with each new pose added, you stay in that pose for 5 long, deep breaths then go back to the vinyasa flow mentioned above and start over!  The flow part between each pose is pretty quick but when you first add the pose, be sure to stay in it for a little while til you feel that burn!

Ready to feel the burn?

Here we go! Let’s start off with the right leg first, go through the series, then switch to the left leg.

From downward dog, kick that right leg up in the air behind you and swing it through to between your hands…ta da! you’re in a lunge so far, so good.

rise up to Warrior 1

remember to hold for 5 deep, slow breaths!

now repeat the Vinyasa flow + Warrior 1 and add on Warrior 2

remember to hold for a few!

Vinyasa + Warrior 1 + Warrior 2 + Reverse Warrior

(borrowed from here)

I’m assuming you didn’t forget to hold for a few

moving on…..Vinyasa + Warrior 1 + Warrior 2 + Reverse Warrior + Extended Side Angle pose

Vinyasa + Warrior 1 + Warrior 2 + Reverse Warrior + Extended Side Angle pose + Extended Triangle

Vinyasa + Warrior 1 + Warrior 2 + Reverse Warrior + Extended Side Angle pose + Extended Triangle + Half Moon

Vinyasa + Warrior 1 + Warrior 2 + Reverse Warrior + Extended Side Angle pose + Extended Triangle + Half Moon + Warrior 3 with arms out to side a.k.a. airplane

Vinyasa + Warrior 1 + Warrior 2 + Reverse Warrior + Extended Side Angle pose + Extended Triangle + Half Moon + Warrior 3 with arms out to side a.k.a. airplane + Revolved Half Moon

(image borrowed from here)

Vinyasa + Warrior 1 + Warrior 2 + Reverse Warrior + Extended Side Angle pose + Extended Triangle + Half Moon + Warrior 3 with arms out to side a.k.a. airplane + Revolved Half Moon + Revolved Triangle

Vinyasa + Warrior 1 + Warrior 2 + Reverse Warrior + Extended Side Angle pose + Extended Triangle + Half Moon + Warrior 3 with arms out to side a.k.a. airplane + Revolved Half Moon + Revolved Triangle + Standing Split

Whew! now Vinyasa it out and relax in Child’s pose!

ahhh….wasn’t that great?! That should have taken about 18 minutes or so, but now it’s time to work out the left side! Just repeat the sequence the same way with the left leg now!

Remember, fast through the flow but hold each pose the first time round for a few breaths :Try it out and let me know how it goes!

And now, cause I’m tired and going to bed, here’s a little shot of my blogging buddy, Jinx

peace and love,

Crystal