Today in my 6am Mountain practice, I mastered Astavakrasana- also known as eight angle pose in normal speak. Waking up at 5:30 is never an easy task, but it pays off to start the day as the sun rises. My foggy brain progressively clarifies throughout the practice and bring peace to my day. There are many times where I am not focused- thinking about school, where I’m going to get food after, or how I’m going to handle a problem with a friend. Today was not one of those days. I think it’s because it is the first thing I did today, making it a clean slate to set my daily intention. I have been disciplining myself to wake up for these early classes, and after today I can say it makes a huge difference! 

Oh yeah! This is what eight angle pose looks like-

That’s not me of course, but I want to get a picture of me doing it next time! The word Astavakrasana is rooted from the word “asta”, meaning eight, and “vakra”, meaning bent. The teacher challenged us in the pose to exit by undoing your bottom foot, then bringing it back behind you and balancing in Running Man pose. I didn’t think that I could do that, but I had enough hope to try and mastered that too-although I did plop onto my stomach shortly after-but I still did it! 

This is a perfect example of why I love yoga so much. It challenges the body and the mind, and I can only learn more by going deeper and trying new things. I can already tell you that today is going to be a good day, and it’s only 8:30am!

P.S.  I’m going to remake this picture when I go abroad to Australia next fall! 🙂

We all know that leafy greens are a very important aspect to our diet. I love big salads for lunch-especially the Kale Salad at Origin. Sometimes I have to try to make my own and it’s just not the same-I’m not a chef when it comes to salads! That’s why I love making green smoothies some mornings for breakfast. It’s very easy to blend some kale and/or spinach into your favorite smoothie mixture and hide the taste. Green smoothies don’t look very appetizing, especially when they mix with blueberries, but I promise they taste great! Here is one of my favorite morning go-to recipes:

Green Smoothie:

Two handfuls of spinach or baby kale

1 frozen banana

1 cup of frozen peaches (you can use mango or pineapple-or mix them all!)

1-2 cups of almond milk or coconut water (depending on desired consistency)

1 tablespoon of flaxseeds, chia seeds, coconut oil and/or maca powder 

Optional: almond buter, raw honey, agave, or pitted dates for sweetness 

Blend the ingredients until smooth. I also like to sprinkle some goji berries on top. If this is too filling, you can seal any extra in a mason jar and snack that day. Enjoy! 

This past week, I completed my own personal yoga challenge at Gaia Flow Yoga in Uptown. My challenge was to discipline myself and to slow down with the more gentle practices. I used to only attend the power-based classes: Ocean, Mountain, and Weekend Warrior. I enjoy these three because they are challenging and leave me feeling like I got a great workout. 

My first new class was the Gentle Waves practice. It is described as more beginner-based, with all levels welcome. I found myself frustrated most of the time, trying to go into deeper and more advanced poses. I could tell that the instructor wanted me to take it down a few notches, and that bothered me. After the class, however, I realized the purpose of my challenge was to take a step (or four!) back and make it more of a restorative practice. I will definitely be trying the class again for this purpose!

Still Water Yin was another challenge on the mind. I used to loathe stretching-based classes because I would find myself starting at the clock every second with my mind wandering aimlessly. In this particular class, during the many hip opening poses along with long stretches between, I felt a release of emotions and stress. I never really believed that stretching had the potential to do that, but I felt amazing during and after the practice!

Desert is the final piece to the three main practices at Gaia Flow (Ocean and Mountain being the other two). I never tried it before because the * next to the title implied “gentle” and “beginner”, which I believed was not made for me. In this class, we held poses longer and did many heart opening poses. This meditative practice is definitely worth going again!

G-Ashtanga is only offered two times a week, so it was more difficult for me to try it in the past. The only one I can take this semester is the 7:15 a.m. class on Saturday. I think the bigger challenge was rolling out of bed…The intermediate/advanced class brought me back to the beginning of my yoga journey. I started with Ashtanga classes as a middle-schooler, and forgot how much I enjoy the change from Vinyasa. I would definitely wake up early for that again!

I encourage you to challenge yourself! It doesn’t have to involve yoga or exercise, but something that takes you out of your comfort zone and into a new way of being. This was a great idea for me, making me look forward to the next challenge idea soon! 🙂