60 Days of Yoga: day 2

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So, day 2 of my 60-day challenge was exactly that – challenging. Yesterday was pretty easy in comparison. I’d gone to my usual Sunday morning class at The Life Centre in Kensington. The class itself was quite intense – lots of utkatasana (chair pose), so I was definitely feeling some burning in the thighs! But actually getting myself to do the yoga was easier, as I had a set time and it was also a morning session. I’m definitely someone who works best with clear deadlines.

I work freelance, so my weekly schedule varies a lot, and I had today off work. I find that even if I get up early, I can easily waste a lot of time and get very little achieved. Today was one of those days. Before I knew it, it was time to head into town to meet my friend for lunch and I hadn’t done any yoga, but I figured I’d have plenty of time afterwards. However, when I got home I had a headache and just generally didn’t feel that well. I took some aspirin, had a lie-down, and when that didn’t work I went to my default feel-better technique of eating. Except I wasn’t actually hungry and of course the food didn’t actually make my headache any better at all.

This all resulted in me really not feeling like doing any yoga, and if it wasn’t for that silly little post that I put up last night, proclaiming that this 60-day challenging was starting then and there, there was no way I would have done any. But I felt it would have been so pathetic to fail on my second day that I forced myself, at 8.00pm, to do a class at home on yogaglo.com. I chose Christina Sell’s ‘Goodnight Sweetheart,’ class, which is a great hour-long evening class that I had done once before. It’s not a class that builds a lot of heat, but there’s a lot of great hip openers and you repeat each pose so you can go a bit deeper the second time. Christina also has some really great techniques to get you into a pose, and it was through her instruction that I managed to do agnistambhasana (fire log pose) properly for the first time.

Anyway, about 10 minutes into the class, I already felt so much better than I had for most of the afternoon and evening. My headache went and I was left feeling both calm and rested, but also more energised than I had for most of the day. I was able to stay up and do the really important things in life, like watch Made In Chelsea, instead of going to bed at 9.00pm hoping that sleep would cure my headache. So it’s only the second day in and I’ve already realised that showing some commitment to this little project can make me feel a whole lot better.