Let’s Talk Yoga

Hey there!

It’s late and I’ve just finished my day. Good news is, I won’t be up until 3 AM like I was last Wednesday night (working on a school project). Anything is better than that!

Let’s Talk Yoga

I had an incredible class this morning at my friendly neighborhood yoga studio. One of the owners, Calvin, was our teacher for the morning and I always half-dread having Calvin. It’s not because he’s a bad yoga teacher. Quite the opposite actually. He’s very attentive to each student and is fully aware of who needs help, when. So what’s my issue? He pushes me and I almost always hit my wall in his classes. I know that when Calvin walks in the studio to teach, I’m going to be sore (and sometimes frustrated) afterward.

I think I reached a positive middle ground between my resistance to Calvin’s classes and a need I’ve been feeling lately for more growth in my practice. Today, Calvin’s class pushed me beyond my comfort zone, forced me to focus (particularly on my breathing), and gave me an overwhelming sense of confidence when I left. I went into many poses that I did not believe I could do with relative ease! That feeling has stayed with me the entire day and I’ve continued to feel centered, relaxed and strong. I’m amazed what pushing through my personal level of comfort did for my attitude today.

Furthermore, today’s class really helped me realize how much my body has grown and changed in the last two months. Poses that were extremely difficult for me then (touching my toes!) are getting easier and easier. Two months ago I couldn’t get into a backbend because my arms and shoulders weren’t strong enough to push me up and into one. Now, I can move into a backbend and feel very strong and stable. After some warming up, I can reach my toes. My previously dreaded downward dog is becoming the relaxation pose it’s meant to be. I can do a supported shoulder stand without my legs shaking all over the place and my lower back collapsing into the floor. Oh and I have some mean biceps popping up as well. Seriously though, the list goes on and on and on. I couldn’t be more thankful!

I feel like yoga is the perfect supplement to my vegan diet. It makes me feel clean, rejuvenated and liberated, just as my diet does. Really, anything to further any one of those things is fabulous in my eyes. I highly recommend it.

Have you ever done yoga? What experiences can you share? Is there another exercise that pushes you past your comfort zone?

Lunch

I’ll share my lunch today since breakfast and dinner with pretty lackluster. I had an hour and a half to kill after yoga before I had to be at work this afternoon. Luckily, my new favorite restaurant is just a couple streets down from the studio, as well as 2 minutes away from work. Can you guess what it is? Oh yeah, Infusion Tea!

Since my first visit to Infusion Tea, I’ve been trying to order their vegan tamales. They’ve either been out of the homemade tamales or I’ve not been in the mood for the heavier meal. I was completely starved after yoga and thought today would be a good day to try them.

Their beans that normally come on the side were still cooking so they gave me some vegan tempeh chili instead! Perfect substitute with so much flavor!

I also ordered the same Citrus Sunset Iced Tea I had at VegFest.

Now I’m curled up with this goofball…

He makes me laugh

I hope you all had a wonderful Tuesday and are looking forward to the middle of the week.

Goodnight,

Tagged as: Harvey, Infusion Tea, yoga