Yogi in the Making and Lord of Dance Pose (Natarajasana)

My hips have been acting up lately and they usually feel a lot better after yoga. I didn’t feel like paying for classes so I did Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown Sunday and P90x YogaX on last night.

Yoga Meltdown is nice because it has a lot of dynamic moves. I think it’s a good intro for some people who may think yoga is too slow for them. Or if they really think yoga is too slow-they can get their butts kicked by the P90x YogaX. The first half of the DVD is pretty killer and has a lot of vinyasa flows. I am counting down the time and wondering when the second half will kick in which have some static moves which allow me to kind of “rest” a bit in a stretch.  But it was late so I had to stop halfway so that Dave and I could eat dinner before 9 PM!

I was able to get to a few of the static poses in such as the Lord of Dance Pose (Natarajasana) which felt amazing last night.  Learn how to do it on YogaJournal.com!  (PS I’m wearing the first version of the shirt that I was going to wear for Boston Marathon)

I suggested that my friend who is also working through and injury to try yoga but she said she was too impatient. I told her I used to think that way too and didn’t really give yoga a chance. But if you go to the right classes and actually force yourself to relax in yoga-you are so much less stressed and you get an amazing workout. Running will simply never help me get as flexible or as much upper body and core strength as yoga can. Plus, when you are more flexible, you are less prone to injury! It’s really a win-win situation!

If you practice yoga, did it take a while for it to grow on you?