Oh, Yoga...Why Did I Forsake You?

This morning Drew and I did something that we haven't done in months ... yoga! His sister is visiting us for a long weekend and she practices yoga several times a week. This was a good reason for us to pull out our Yoga Passbooks and find a studio where all three of us could go and use a coupon.

I thought that we should try Laughing Lotus. We went to the Sun Celebrations class that was taught by Deborah. She had a fantastic accent that none of us could quite place, but from her bio, it turns out that she's South African. It definitely made it easier to listen to her for an hour and a half.

She spent the very first part of class talking to us about how we are mirrors for the people around us and we reflect back the good qualities and they do the same for us. And when our friends are struggling to find their purpose in life, we can help remind them of their good qualities. Sometimes I think all of this stuff is a little too new-agey for me, but this was actually presented in a way that seemed really practical.

Once we actually started the class, it was a really quick pace that she had us moving to. It was a vinyasa class and I thought I was going to die in some of the vinyasas - particularly those that were downward dog, plank, cobra/upward facing dog, downward dog. Every time she said "plank position" I think that my stomach quietly revolted a little bit from the stress on my abs. It's now been a week since I did whatever I did to them and they're still quite tired. But, I fought through it and was able to do most of the vinyasas, although sometimes I just had to stay in downward dog.

I definitely got in quite a good workout during the class if sweating is any indication. I've definitely lost a lot of flexibility in the last year, but I'm hoping that I can figure out a way to work yoga back into my workout routine. Even if it's just one night a week. Clearly, from my HR stats below, at some point I was working really hard for my heart rate to be 205! I am 99% certain that is my highest (recorded) heart rate ever. And it was quite surprising to see at the end of class. I only recorded the time where we were actually doing poses. I stopped timing for the shavasana.

Time: 1:17:36
Calories: 396
Maximum HR: 205
Average HR: 109