Since my last fitness related post, I am happy to report that I have started taking some yoga classes at Dhyana Yoga (They have locations in Olde City, Center City and West Philly). Much to my own surprise I am really loving the classes. I’ve taken a couple different ones: All Levels Vinyasa, Vinyasa 101, All Levels Kundalini and am taking a 3 week workshop for Abs & Core strengthening. Its funny I think the All Levels Vinyasa was much easier than the Vinyasa 101 class. I still wanna try out their Yin Yoga classes and their Jivamukti ones. The Jivamukti classes are at odd hours that don’t really work well with my schedule, one is on Sunday mornings and one is during the week, but fairly late in the evening.

I’ve also picked up a couple new DVD’s and a book as well. I am so totally loving Shiva Rea’s Yoga Trance Dance DVD. Its so much fun, as it combines free form dance, some kundalini yoga exercises and some more fluid dance like yoga asanas. I always laugh when I’m doing dance workouts because I turn everything into variations of good ole’ goth dances, either swishy or stompy. I guess old habits do really die hard. The segments are much shorter than the Liquid Flow DVD I have of hers and much more suitable for beginners. I really like her DVDs alot. I got an Abs & Core one in the mail from Netflix that I am looking forwards to checking out.

I’ve been exploring the Jivamukti Yoga method created by David Life and Sharon Gannon. I picked up the book and their DVD Transform Yourself with Jivamukti Yoga. The workout is challenging as it includes some amount of backbends, shoulder stands and headstands. I can do backbends pretty well, but my lower/middle back has been hurting for the past couple of weeks so I can’t sustain it too long. It only really hurts when I do things like wheel, cobra or upward facing dog, so I have to modify them a little bit. I’m not a fan of shoulder stands for two reasons, one I end up drowning in my own boobs and two I have a lot of loose skin on my abdomen from losing weight (hence the abs & core focusing lately). I did learn a modification at one of the vinyasa classes I took recently, which helps immensely, by putting a yoga block under the base of your spine. When it comes to headstands, I have to get over the fear of breaking my neck and also the same issues from the shoulder stands apply. There are a couple modifications that I am comfortable doing in the mean time. In any case, I really like Jivamukti Yoga. I’m still reading the book, so far its been focusing on some historic yoga information as well as spiritual, karmic and ethical focuses in ones path towards enlightenment.

Luckily, a few years ago we picked up an Elliptical Machine on Craigslist really cheap. They retail new around $1000, I think we got this one for $100 or so. I started out doing 10 minutes a day and honestly I find the use of most gym equipment of that variety to be ungodly boring and tedious. I haven’t stuck with doing the elliptical over the past couple months, but it was a good starting point for me. In addition to using the elliptical, I also have a set of 2lb and 5lb weights, again I started out doing about 10 minutes a day to build upper body and arm strength, which is fairly important for yoga and pilates.

I also try to get in as much walking as I can while I’m at work. Whether its taking a quick jaunt at lunch or the combined efforts of walking a couple blocks from where Tim drops me off in the morning, then walking to the subway to meet up with him at work and also walking from that subway station to where he picks me up. Minus the lunch jaunts I get about 30-45 minutes a day of brisk walking. Also, since I work on the 3rd floor I almost always take the stairs, which throws in some extra exercise while I am at work.

I started exploring Yoga and other types of fitness in February or March. I’ve been practicing at home. Someday I plan on venturing out and taking a weekly class somewhere, but I’m rather broke at the moment because of the house selling drama that has been the past 7-8 months of my life. Also, I can’t find classes downtown that work out with my commute and work schedule. I’ve been trying different types of yoga. I really like Kundalini Yoga and the Vinyasa Flow styles. I’m working on learning the Ashtanga series, but to be honest Sun Salutations kind of bore me after awhile. I sometimes work out on my own, but I find I have greater focus if I work out to a dvd. All you need at home is a decent yoga mat (which you can also use for pilates) and if you so desire a yoga block (its helpful for beginners if you aren’t flexible and are doing modified poses) and a yoga strap. To be honest, I don’t use either all that much, but they aren’t that expensive.

In any case, if you have Netflix, they have an amazing selection of fitness DVDs. I suggest renting a selection to see what you like and what you don’t like. That way you don’t waste a lot of money on DVDs you don’t like or will never use. I have some quirks and preferences I’ve developed over time. For some reason, I have yet to explore any Yoga DVDs done by male instructors. I also cannot and will not tolerate unitards of any kind. I honestly don’t care what the instructors are wearing, but I draw the line at full body unitards. It helps if the instructors have decent voices that are serene and calming. As far as the settings go I can deal with outdoor settings or studio settings although if it looks like it was filmed for some crappy local public access television station I won’t watch it.

Here are some recommendations for DVDs I like:

Jennifer Kries – Yin Yoga
This is the first dvd I started with. Its a compilation of three yin yoga workouts from her Hot Body, Cool Mind Series. Yin Yoga is somewhat different from other yoga varieties, the focus is on the deep tissue and fascia and organ function as opposed to building muscle, tone, flexibility etc. The poses are much longer and all are either sitting or laying poses. The minimum time for a pose is at least 10 breaths, the maximum can go up to 15 minutes. Its a great workout before bed. Most of the poses are fairly easy at all levels, though there are a couple I have trouble with because my boobs get in the way. In the Hot Body, Cool Mind Series, she closes out each work out with a Yin Yoga & Meditation Segment. Its a great transition from the yang (heating) workouts into a yin (cooling) restorative workout.

Jennifer Kries – Hot Body, Cool Mind Level 1
This DVD has a little bit of everything and its broken up into segments so you don’t have to do the whole workout from start to finish everytime. The first two segment are Qigong, one sitting and one standing. Honestly, I don’t know enough about Qigong to really have a grasp at what I am doing, but it seems like a decent, although somewhat long, series of light warm up exercises. The next segment is a relatively short segment, under 10 minutes, called the 5 Tibetans, which are a series of yoga exercises that open up your chakras. I really like them. They are fast paced and get the heart pumping. She has a basic yoga segment covering Sun Salutations and Warrior Sequences, which are very helpful for learning the basics of yoga. The Pilates segment is really good, but it totally kicks my ass every time. While I’ve toned the majority of my body through yoga, I really need to work on pilates for my abdomen. I need to find the right time of day to do pilates because I always seem to end up nauseous afterwards. In addition to all that there are two dance segments: Jazz and Ballet. I really enjoy the Jazz one a lot. Ballett kicks my ass, but I need to give it a try again. I really like the dance aerobic workouts. She closes out the workout with the Yin Yoga and Meditation practice.

Kundalini Yoga with Gurumkh
I love Kundalini Yoga. I feel absolutely amazing after I do either part of all of the workout. Kundalini yoga is quite different from the other forms of yoga I have seen or tried. Its challenging and rewarding. I particularly like this DVD, I find the instructors voice to be quite serene. The Kundalini practice requires you to do the majority of the workout with your eyes closed, with the exception of a few standing sequences. The movements are very fast and fluid each one is done for a couple minutes. There are some breathing exercised throughout. The breath of fire, I hate it and love it. Its kind of like forcing yourself to pant very fast and very hard through the open mouth and then through the nose. I think the best thing to come out of the Kundalini experience is learning how much I absolutely love gong meditations. The peace and serenity, its like I popped a valium. Its clean and euphoric and absolutely amazing.

Shiva Rea – Fluid Power Vinyasa Flow Yoga
Admittedly I picked this up on a whim at REI about a month ago and have done various workouts every day since then. I highly recommend her DVDs because they have a customizable workout that you can create from over 3 hours of various segments that run anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. I still haven’t gotten through all of the segments and some of them are quite advanced like handstands and backbends. Otherwise, I highly recommend her work and am anxiously awaiting checking out some of her other fitness dvds. Next on my list is Yoga Trance Dance… if its anything like the free form flowing meditations I am so there! There are a variety of segments some are really fast and challenging, others are slower, heavy on the counterposes, and dreamy floating off into outer space stuff.

Yoga in Bed
Honestly, skip the DVD and pick up the book. If you have trouble sleeping and/or getting up in the morning this book has a series of poses you can do, while in bed to either relax and wind down before you go to sleep or to get yourself up in the morning.

On occasion when not focusing totally on yoga, which has been a little on the rare side lately, I dabble with using a Resistance Cord for various exercises. I haven’t done it recently, the workout dvd is really challenging. I probably should’ve started with the light cord instead of the medium. So this may be one I return to more regularly once my upper body strength develops further. I also have one of the smaller handheld pilates balls, which adds a different dimension to the workouts. At some point in time, I plan on picking up one of the larger balance balls for pilates.

These days, I work out just about every day. If I am super busy, I still try to squeeze in at least 20 minutes of yoga. I was always one of those people who balked at the concept of exercise. I always had a reason not to do it. I was too busy… blah blah blah. Now, I can’t live without it. My body craves it and I feel awful (not just guilt wise) if I don’t exercise every day. I’m working on a fitness calendar so I can balance out my workout schedule.

One of the biggest changes I have noticed is that I’ve boosted my normally sluggish metabolism and built up a lot of muscle tone overall. Every week I notice something new or slightly different about my body. Its neat to see the change. Part of me wishes I could go back and make a photodocument of all these things.

As I mentioned before I had switched my Weight Watcher’s plan over to maintenance to hold steady at 169, since I had entered a healthy weight range and BMI for my height. I held steady at 169 for a few weeks and then noticed that I had been splurging more and feeling like I was overeating. Since then, I dropped 2-3 more pounds. I’ve been fluctuating between 166-167. I couldn’t figure it out at first, but then someone pointed out to me that the more muscular you are, the more you can eat because your muscles burn fat/calories etc. fairly quickly. Now I don’t want to end up falling into old patterns, but I’ve been playing around with my food intake to test out where I should be as far as my daily points go to hold steady at my current weight.

Of course, I eventually want to lose another 10-15 pounds, but I am more concerned with handling the array of stretch marks that have developed since I dropped 33-34 pounds since January. Like all things I am trying to find a healthy balance between how much I eat, how much I exercise and everything else.

Recommended Reading:
- Yoga For Women by Shakta Kaur Khalsa
- Ashtanga Yoga for Beginners by Michaela Clarke
- Yoga in Bed by Edward Vilga
- The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga: A Practical Guide to Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit by Deepak Chopra and David Simon
- Yoga Journal Magazine

I’m still working out  a ton… mostly doing various yoga stuff. I picked up a DVD I really like by Shiva Rea recently. Parts of it I can do really well and then there is just a ton of epic fail segments and the I am so not doing that segments. Luckily the DVD is broken down by segment so I can customize my work out with what I can do versus trying to kill myself with a handstand workout that would probably result in death and destruction. I’ve gotten a lot stronger and have built up my upper body and arm muscles significantly. I can finally do chaturanga without epic fails. Now Side Plank is my new enemy. I need to learn the modified version because doing half-chaturanga (knees on the floor) helped me figure out how to do it in full.

I’m at a weird point in my weight loss and fitness. I want to lose another 10-15 pounds, but I am worried about my stretch marks getting worse and feel like I should focus on that and tightening my abdomen and building muscle mass and toning my body. I realized that when I lean forward, my belly hollows inward on the sides and I have this hideous pouch of loose skin. I like saggy kitteh tummy that flails back and forth when they run. I always called it “mummy tummy” because Apocalypse had it pretty significantly.  In any case, I really need to focus my workouts, which gets hard when  I am busier and whatnot. I really need to do Pilates every day in addition to my yoga workouts. I haven’t done much weight training lately and have been ignoring my poor elliptical machine again.

I discovered ala the Kundalini Yoga DVD that I picked up a few weeks ago that I absolutely love gong music/meditation. Its so weird, my body actually craves it like I would crave a cigarette.