CCYOGA was invited to another family fitness night to teach the kids a little mini yoga lesson. This time at McGlone Elementary in Denver, Colorado! These kids are so enthusiastic and fantastic about yoga. We were delighted to have the opportunity to share yoga with them!!!!
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Saturday, April 25th was the first of what will become many more Mountair Farm Volunteer Saturdays! It’s a really cool little community farm at the corner of 13th and Depew in Lakewood Colorado where we were able to spend the morning digging trenches, planting potatoes and weeding the rows of carrots that are already in the ground. We met and made some really great new friends that are regulars at the farm and quickly decided that this is something we are stoked about continuing to do as a community! One Saturday a month we will head over as a community to do some planting, weeding, and harvesting!
Stay tuned for the next time we go! I completed my second go at 40 days of Yoga in the best way possible, with a Tripod Training workshop! I could not have asked for a better way for the second time to officially ‘end’. It was a good transition to the next phase, the phase of constant practice in my life. I learned the first time to allow myself to relax into it. I may not have checked off all the boxes like I had the first time, but what I did was commit again to myself, to my purpose, to what I wanted out of this second try. I allowed myself and forgave myself when a meditation was missed, or the daily journaling was forgotten, or even when I neglected to record my food for a day (or 3). This time wasn’t about just completing, it was about opening up to the possibilities that were present. This time was still my choice, I was the one holding myself up to accountability. I scaled back on the meditation, picked up fresh fruit and vegetables to go with dinner, and even had ice cream for dessert, without adding a negative judgement to what I was doing. I answered all of the journaling questions and even went beyond. I wrote about my life, sometimes the impact of this yoga journey and sometimes just about my girls, like when they played hair stylist with real scissors. I can’t lie, it upset me. I let in the feeling, and then I let it go. That was a new thing for me, I tend to let thing fester and sit with me and hardly ever let anything go. In the 40 Days book, Baron talks about how if you can laugh about something in the future, you should be able to laugh about it now. And I did. It was an eye opener. It is ok to feel emotions and it is equally ok to let them go. My practices have gotten easier to attend. The last few weeks I have been able to go 5 to 6 times a week to an actual class, but I know that even if I hadn’t, my feet would be finding my mat at home. I would be practicing with the book, with one of Brittany’s podcasts or Youtube videos. I am not going to lie, there have been times partway through a practice when the thought “Why are you doing this to yourself?” has passed in my head. Within a minute of that question, I do something I haven’t been able to do before, like touch my forward to my shin in forward fold, or hold crow pose for 3 whole seconds. I am able to not only see my improvements, but to tell that voice, I am doing it because I want to. At the end of every practice, I feel so much better than I had even an hour before. I feel much more alive and open to what comes my way. That is why I am doing it. That is why I will continue.
I’m a nearly 50-year old oft-injured runner. I love to run. It’s my sanity, my therapy, my time for myself. I’m just not copasetic with the world unless I’m running regularly. My partner believes there is a strong link between the fact that I love to run and that I’m often injured. I hate to stop and a little further is just a little further, can’t hurt, right? However, from the number of times I’ve been sidelined with Achilles tendon issues, IT-band issues, strained muscles and other related ailments, perhaps she has a point (not that I will admit that to her). So I spend a fair amount of time trying to stay uninjured. Foam rolling, massage therapy, buying and using various accoutrements intended to keep my on my feet, anything but take time off of running. Rest days are only recently making their way into my training regime. I’ve tried a couple of cross training activities, including biking and pilates, both of which had their advantages but neither seemed to have a lasting effect on the nagging injury issues. I’ve long thought that yoga would be a great cross training activity, but hadn’t found the right opportunity to try it out. About two months ago, I read about an interesting new business in Lakewood, Container Collective Yoga owned by Brittany Hopkins. I liked her business plan and her approach to teaching yoga, so I signed up. I go at least twice a week and enjoy the classes very much. I had no specific expectation about how yoga would affect my running and I tried just to appreciate the classes and the experience. I’m currently in training for a 25-mile trail race in May and I have been pushing the envelope on a calf injury since January. It hasn’t been enough that I’ve had to stop running, which means it hasn’t pulled or torn, but it has been ‘talking’ to me most every step of the way. Again, stretching, massage, foam rolling but none seemed to help much. In steps yoga. I started the classes and I continued to run and slowly it dawned on me that the chatter from my calf had lessened. It continued to lessen and I kept running. I logged16+ miles today and while I heard a bit of chatter about mile 5, it stopped shortly thereafter and I cruised through the remaining miles. I can’t definitely say that yoga is the difference, but I can say it is the only thing that has changed in my routine. My running is feeling easier and stronger than it has for a long time. I will continue to enjoy my yoga practice with Brittany and while I don’t think it will guarantee that I will never be injured again, I do think it hedges my bet.
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