Round 4: Day 18: Yoga / Ab Ripper X

Yoga

A brief aside before getting into yoga: I had the opportunity to attend a real, live yoga class on Monday evening. My daughter attends a weekly class and had to skip a week and was unable to attend a make-up class; I was fortunate to be considered a stand-in for her. The instructor grilled me over the phone for about 10 minutes, inquiring into my yoga background, concerned that I had insufficient training to participate in the advanced class and might suffer an injury or hold up the class, or both. I advised her that I've been doing yoga for about 10 months, and reluctantly revealed to her that I've been practising using P90X. She had heard of it! When I advised her that I could complete the entire 90 minutes of Yoga X, she told me that I would have no problem with her class.

I really enjoyed the yoga class. The practise is Iyengar yoga, which is markedly different from the Astanga yoga demonstrated in Yoga X. Iyengar focuses more on holding a pose and breathing through it, rather than the constant flow of vinyasas. It was a really pleasant change for me, and I found it was much easier to clear my mind and maintain focus, because there was no constant changing of positions. Just you, with your leg in some strange position, and your mind. Some of the poses were initially difficult, but suddenly balance would come and I felt a strange sense of inner peace. No shaking, no movement, just perfect balance of the body and a clear mind. What a wonderful moment. I was also introduced to the yoga belt, which was employed on a number of moves to get a greater stretch. By the end of the class, I was really relaxed and mellow.

The other participants in the class were not in very good shape, and I was surprised how relatively inflexible they were, considering the class was advanced. Yoga X was very reasonable preparation for this class. I might consider taking the class in the future. I enjoyed the lengthy relaxation prior to the start of the class, lying with a bolster under my spine to open my chest, followed by ohms in a seated meditation pose. It was the mind trip that I enjoyed the most.

Yoga this morning was a bit of a contrast. I found Tony to be unusually chatty (more than normal!). The moves were quick, and I found myself thinking that perhaps a live yoga class would be better. On the other hand, I was able to focus more on my form, having received some tips from the class instructor this week, and was able to Bring It more effectively. The session flew by, and I realized in retrospect that I did actually manage to clear my mind. It's all positive.

Namaste.

Ab Ripper X

Well, another day of ARX. Today, I tried something new: I made an ARX playlist and played tunes at random from iTunes (yes, I'm a Mac fanboy). Nice variations, from Baba O'Reily to Tammy Wynette. I was starting to get a bit tired of listening to Tony count and the music drone on. I've done this workout over 60 times and have pretty much memorized every single nuance there could possibly be. Time for a change.

The music worked. I was pleasantly distracted while I cranked out the exercises, didn't miss Tony counting, didn't miss the canned muzac, didn't miss the joking, and occasionally watched the TV to make sure I was in sync on the key exercises, such as Fifer Scissors. I actually felt as though I had more energy than usual, especially in Mason Twists, which were rendered to a heartfelt Phil Collins tune (You'll Be In My Heart, the theme song from the animated movie, Tarzan). The workout was so successful, I may just have to do this again.