Day 24-28: Christmas

On Christmas eve, we drove down to Shropshire to spend Christmas in a hotel for the first time in my life.  We checked in and I did Strength before we went to visit my gran.  In the evening, my sister arrived and we had a family chat over a few drinks.  I even convinced my mum to go on a wander with me through the little strip of woodland in the hotel grounds and we tripped over branches in the dark and our footsteps mulched into the soft muddy leaf litter.

Christmas day was family breakfast then my sister and I did HardCore and Yin together whilst my parents went to collect my gran.  My sister was pretty good at the HardCore and enjoyed the Yin once she stopped slagging off Travis and settled into it.  It was really nice to do it together.  Christmas was different from usual and the vegan lunch was less than inspiring, but we had a really lovely day together eating, chatting and opening presents.

On boxing day we had a lie in after a late night's chat the night before, had breakfast and packed up.  Then we sat for ages in the lounge and played games and talked before we had to part ways.  My sister drove back to Leeds and my parents drove me back to London with them.  I stayed a night in their flat before going home, so me and mum did Detox together that evening.

On the 27th, I did Vitality with my mum before I went home.  She has clearly been converted to the ways of yoga and Travis because she bought the dvd set yesterday!  She's almost 60 but it's never too late to start.  In some directions, she's more flexible than me too!

Today I did HardCore but skipped Mountain Pose and Pranayama.  Bad, I know, but it could have been worse at this time of year!  I have been cheating a bit with the food programme and had some chocolate and mince pies, etc. but again, could have been a lot worse!! 

Dave and I are going camping tomorrow for 3 nights... yoga in the tent should be interesting...

Day 23: Sunny Scotland

Today I did HardCore in the morning because I neglected it yesterday.  My Mum did it with me, so we spent a lot of time giggling at how different we looked compared to Travis!

I met up with a friend for a walk up a hill in the beautiful low golden sunshine and when we got to the top, she told me she's pregnant!  So exciting!  The first of my friends to have a baby :)  The walk was lovely and we went for lunch in the village after.

This evening I did Cardio with my Mum and for the first time I did the whole class (except plough and shoulder stand, which I am getting closer to but still elude me because of my sciatica).  I'm so pleased that in just the 4 times that I've done that class, I've come on so much!

The only problem with doing the dvd with my Mum was that it was pretty much impossible to "get into that yogic zone", but it was more fun that doing it alone.

Day 20-22: Off work

Saturday (day 20) was lovely!  I went out walking with a friend in the Chiltern Hills and it was a gorgeous winter day.  We walked through the woods, the low sun bringing life to the rusty orange carpet of fallen beech leaves.  That evening, I did Vitality and enjoyed it as much as ever - it's such a nice one, I always look forward to Saturday.

On Sunday, Dave and I had a lazy day in and I forgot about doing Mountain Pose until it was pretty late and by then I couldn't be bothered.  It's the first one I've skived off completely but I really didn't fancy it.

Then on Monday I travelled up to Scotland to see my parents before Christmas.  I did CrossTrain in the living room before dinner and really enjoyed that too - it's a really good one for measuring progress at the start of each week.  I can definitely tell I'm making progress.

Day 17-19: Christmas is coming

The last few days have been tiring and lazy - it's a strange time of year.  You're exhausted and looking forward to two weeks off, but you're also aware that it's not going to be a very relaxing two weeks off!  And at the end of it all, you have to go back to work ready to face another year.

I am completely knackered, physically and emotionally.  I don't want any of my responsibilities!  I just want to veg out in front of the fire with some mince pies for two weeks and emerge with a renewed desire to plan 2015.  Christmas was so much easier when we were kids.

So I think it goes without saying that I haven't been totally dedicated to the yoga this week.  On Wednesday I wasn't feeling up to Strength and spent a large portion of the class sitting watching the pros do it.  It was fascinating actually and nice to see that they are actually human, although they are amazing at everything!  Thursday Yin was alright actually, I got through it despite it being very difficult.  Tonight, I did about half of Detox but again my heart wasn't really in it.

I'm looking forward to being off work from tomorrow but I still have a lot to do over the holidays.  Hopefully I will be able to use yoga as an escape from the excess food and Christmas TV whilst I'm not working!...

Day 16: Improvements

After work I travelled across London to go for a sports massage and had my shoulders, neck and back loosened up, which felt great (and a little bit painful).  Then I came home and did Cardio whilst Dave was cooking up a late dinner.

Cardio was really good today - I only had to sit out one set of the crescent / chair pose series, compared to at least 5 last week and about half of them the week before!  And I found a way of getting myself into pigeon pose (finally!) using two blocks.  I still found it super awkward but could at least relax into it that way.

Still no meditation.  Damn.  But I am sticking to the vegan sugar-free diet and haven't been drinking, so I'm pretty pleased with myself on the whole.  Baby steps!

Day 15: Third week begins

I was pretty tired but got home at a decent time and did my CrossTrain class before having a nice evening in with Dave just sitting reading our books - haven't had time for that in ages!

The yoga was nice, I like the CrossTrain dvd and I can feel that I'm better at it every time.

Still never got around to mediatation...

Day 14: Lazy Sunday

We had a little lie in, a tasty brunch and then cycled to the climbing wall for a few hours of bouldering this afternoon.  It was another lovely sunny winter's day and it was great to get out and about.  In the evening, I did Mountain Pose.  I'm still not sure about it - it's so slow and you don't move your feet or legs throughout the whole class.  At least it's only half an hour.

It was better than last week in that I was more focused, but I wasn't able to keep my arms in the air the whole time like last week - maybe the climbing tired me out!

Well that's another week down.  It's been a trickier journey that the first week but I have enjoyed it.  I haven't done meditation any day except Monday, so that's something for me to improve on next week.  I also cheated a bit on the food programme, had a few things with sugar in and one alcoholic drink.  But given my sweet tooth and the festive time of year, that could be going a lot worse!!