Awwww…yoga.  People do yoga for all sorts of reasons.  Exercise, stress relief, anxiety, physical therapy – there are a lot of reasons people turn to yoga.  I started practicing yoga about five years ago because a friend was doing it and I wanted to try it out.  And like most people who try yoga, I was hooked from the first sun salutation. 

Over the years, my practice has ebbed and flowed and sometimes even stopped altogether.  I’ved tried Iyengar, Hatha, Vinyasa, Anusara and most recently Ashtanga.  I have to say Ashtanga is my favorite and defintitely a style of yoga that feels very natural to me.  I can see myself practicing Ashtanga for the rest of my life.  It’s called “flow yoga” because the sequence of poses that you do, never stop.  You flow from one asana to another all the while building heat in your body.  The heat helps you to sweat and when you sweat you release toxins from your body.  It’s very detoxifying and energizing!  And it’s not easy.  Which I think is probably what I like the most.  I feel challenged and strong during the class and when I’m in my Warrior I pose I really do feel like a warrior! 

Cleansing the body of toxins is an ongoing process.  But let’s face it – we will never be toxin free…not unless we’re transported back to the womb and get the chance to do it all over again.  (Which if you’re a Buddhist, you’ll get that chance as many times as you need!) But anything we can do to help our bodies to release toxins and function better will ultimately help us fight disease and illness.  Yoga, of course,  is also good for the mind and spirit.  I feel much more centered and able to deal with the day to day stresses of life (other than the knock-down-drag-out bitch fest from the other day which I completely blame on the full moon).  I sleep better and find myself focusing on my breath whenever I’m feeling wonky.  All around yoga is something that I feel benefits me as a whole..body, mind and spirit.  OOOHH OOHH OOHH – I want to mention that yoga also played a HUGE part in our pregnancy journey.  HUGE!  I’ll be sure to touch on this when I started blogging about our journey to having Kiki.

So back to Ashtanga and detoxifying your body - remember anytime you can work up a good sweat doing anything you’re helping your body release toxins from your organs and your tissue.  And when we cleanse our organs and tissue, they function better and do not have to work as hard.  Ashtanga yoga is a great way to do this if you’re feeling like trying something new!  I’m currently studying Ashtanga Yoga at Ashtanga Yoga Richmond  and this is by far the best studio I’ve belonged to.  The instructor is knowledgable, friendly and tough.  But not too tough..I stayed after class last night to get some help on my Up Dog pose and she was attentive, open and didn’t make me feel like an idiot (which I’ve had some yoga teachers try to do). 

If you’re new to yoga, Ashtanga may be worth trying if you’re up for a challenge.  Be ready to work hard, sweat and detoxify your body!

Naturally yours, Dallas

I hate going to the gym. I hate having to drive there. I hate having to workout in there. I hate being inside and I hate even more the thought of taking Kiki to the gym only to leave him in the care of someone that I don’t know. But I really needed to get rid of some of this left over pregnancy weight that I just can not seem to walk off! No matter how hard I try! (And NO I’m not finishing off a container of Edy’s while I’m typing this post!)

I heard about Stroller Strides from a few other Moms and I had even seen a group of them working out at the JCC. So I thought I’d give it a shot and see what was the deal! My “free class” was last Thursday and let me tell you..today is Saturday and my ass is still killing me! I thought maybe we would just run around the park pushing our strollers, talking and gossiping away about the trials and tribulations of being a Mom. But oooohhhh noooooo! We were greated by Stacy, who was our instructor and almost immediately she got down to business! We started out with a warm up and then moved through various “stations” set up over the park. By stations I mean; using the curb to do lunges, using the park benches to do MORE lunges, weight work, ab work, butt work, quad stuff, triceps, biceps, glutes OH MY! Twenty minutes into our workout – I thought I was going to have a heart attack! And I also felt incredible! Invirgorated and empowered! And then as I was summitting Mt Everest (cue classic summitting-Mt-Everest-soundtrack)….I heard – the giggles. Ah yes. The giggles. My very own Kiki was laughing his little butt off at me as I did cardio work on the curb. Obviously I had my backside to him and obviously something was terribly funny to that little man. As I turned around to face him to see what exactly all the ruckus was about…”it” hit me like a ton of bricks. How flippin’ awesome it was to have him there with me..enjoying the outdoors, making new friends, working out like crazy and just being together. You know how hard it is as a SAHM to find time to exercise alone? It’s impossible. Or do anything alone for that matter because your job as a SAHM is to care for your kid, right? So Kiki is with me all the time. Which I completely love. I really do. But it’s so ironic to me that the best time we had together that day…was when I was trying to exercise. Something you would think I’d be doing alone. And I know having him there made it that much more enjoyable. I want Kiki to have a healthy relationship with food, his body and exercise. I know he is only 9 months old..but I hope that if he can see how much I enjoy it and how rewarding it can be, he will want to find some sort of outlet for himself. Anywayy – I’m derailing here. Sorry! Ok – back to Stroller Strides.

Hands down – the coolest exercise class I’ve ever gone to. It’s outside, entertaining, a great workout and I feel like I’ve just added one more bonding experience to the list with my son. Plus, it’s not all like, strict and focused. I mean, we’re FOCUSED on what we’re doing but you know, kids are crying sometimes, sippys are being dropped or pretzel rods that need to be passed around or whatever. You can still attend to your little one if you need too and people are not all, like staring at you like your kid has suddenly sprouted horns. And Stacy even hopped in to help with a dropped cup or passed around a toy! Which I thought was super cool. Anyways – we had a blast and I can’t wait to go back this Thursday! If you’re looking for something exercise-y like to do with your wee ones…give Stroller Strides a chance. Here is the like so you can find a location/time that works best!

www.strollerstrides.com

Naturally yours, Dallas