Struggling with the “Easiest” Yoga Pose

Hey guys! I hope you’ve had a nice weekend. It’s been lovely here – today it was 66 degrees and I took Maizey on a walk wearing a short-sleeved shirt. It was felt great to soak up some warm rays!

It was a weekend of intense workouts, but lots of fun! I started Friday morning at 6 AM at Pure Barre (if you’re unfamiliar with the class, you can read my Pure Barre review) with a friend for her first class. It kicked my booty, per usual. Friday evening, after an absolutely crazy day at work, I rushed out of the office to get to Paz Studios. I ran in right at 6:15 and luckily was able to still get into class.

I could definitely tell that my body was tired from the morning’s Pure Barre workout, but I needed the class more from an emotional/destressing session rather than a workout so I didn’t worry too much about taking it a little easy in some poses. After class, I got takeout from Thai Sawatdee – yellow curry with chicken – and settled in with a glass of wine to catch up on Nashville and The Mindy Project. (Re: The Mindy Project, for those caught up – the plane scene!!!!) 

On Saturday, I slept in until 8 (after tossing and turning all night – ugh) and then had a slow start to the morning with some coffee and granola. I finally made it to the gym around 9:20 for a treadmill tempo run. (More details on how I did my tempo run tomorrow.)

And then today, I headed back to the yoga studio. I was sore and my legs and glutes were pretty tired but I still had a strong practice. I talked to my yoga instructor, Elliott, after class Friday night about focusing on just one inversion type. I’ve been practicing regularly for two years and still can’t do inversions without the wall (and even then, I can’t hold it very long without relying on the wall). He recommended focusing just on forearm stand, rather than switching back and forth between that and headstand, and showed me some adjustments to make with my hands so that it’s more comfortable for me. (Forearm stand bothers my wrists – he said it’s just the way my body is made and it’s hard for my hands to lay flat without some adjustments.) So, today, I focused on forearm stand before settling into savasana at the end. 

Savasana is physically the easiest pose – you just lay on your back! But it’s the hardest pose mentally because you need to quiet your mind. It’s much easier for me to quiet my mind when I’m trying to balance in a pose, like half moon or side crow. But when I don’t have the physical aspect to focus on, it’s hard to quiet my thoughts. I go through phases where savasana is really difficult for me and I’m in one right now. Today, it was hard even to keep my eyes closed. But, I think when I’m having the hardest time with savasana is really when my mind and spirit need it most.

So I’m going to try to practice yoga more often this month, even on days when I can’t make it to the studio and even if it’s a short time, just to get my head back in a better place. And, to practice forearm stand. 🙂

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Do you struggle in savasana? If you’re not a yogi, how do you quiet your mind? Meditation? Tuning out while running? Something else?