Update: Saturday, November 11, 2023, 4:32:14AM EST
Started my daily Ashtanga practice again. It’s heavily modified half with some bicycle crunches and pushups added for now. Since that last entry a month ago I had not done much at all but the darkness and cold outside has been the boost I needed to get me back into a daily practice since I have been motivated to shave about an hour from my bike rides in the evening before it gets too dark. It just worked out that I went to bed really early yesterday and got up at 3:45 as if the Universe was reminding me about the most sacred time of the day (again). There is nothing like the hours between 3:00 and sunrise. In fact, I’ve made watching the sunrise my new normal in addition to sunset, so sunrise walk, sunset bike.
Saturday, October 7, 2023**
I stopped doing yoga because it was just too hard to recover from it. I was just doing sun salutations but the pressure from my extra weight on my wrists made it really unbearable. I know as a yoga professional that painful wrists during sun salutations is no excuse not to do yoga (there are easy mods to any practice to make it approachable). But it was enough to take me off the course.
Instead, I turned to Zwift and cycling. Getting (back) outdoors is the single greatest improvement to my quality of life in the last five years. I really don’t want to lose it.
Now that my weight is much more manageable and my wrists can take downward-dog better than before I’m seriously feeling a desire to start doing yoga daily again. I would only to do 30 minute practice just as I get up to start the day out right. I figure I could stream it just for the music and motivation (both for me and hopefully others). With 60 kilometers of daily cycling I don’t think doing more than 30 minutes of mostly sun salutations each day is very practical. It is, however, a great way to open up my hamstrings and back. I’m so glad that I am not carrying around that pack anymore when I bike. (I cannot imagine how screwed up the bodies of bike messengers must be carrying those things around all the time.)