May has easily been one of my busiest months thus far.  I have been beyond swamped with work these days and it’s been taking a bit of a toll on me.  That stress coupled with these impossible allergies that I just cannot kick is creating the perfect storm of death for me right now.  Thank god for yoga and exercise.

I started Yoga with Adriene‘s 30 Days of Yoga Challenge on youtube about 20 some odd days ago.  Adriene is my kind of instructor; really light hearted, fun to listen to, and moves at a reasonable pace.  I’m not a yogi by any means.  I need to gogogo when I’m working out and I actually have a hard time slowing it down.

But that’s why I’m enjoying this challenge so much.  I usually do the yoga practice (which last between 15 and 30 minutes) in the evening after dinner to just settle my mind.  I can’t explain how great it is to not think for these mini-intervals especially after being bogged down with proposals and spreadsheets all day.  It’s just as important to rest your mind as it is to rest your body.  It needs to rejuvenate and yoga is just the way to do it.  Now, I don’t think I will ever put yoga into my routine in place of my blood-pumping jaunts, but I am definitely going to continue adding these stretches and indulging in some me time.

To contrast this all, I’ll give a little recap of my first week back at the BBG.  I had initially planned on taking the week off and keeping it cool, but something about those darn circuits was calling to me.  I’ve actually taken my workouts to the gym this time around vs. doing them at home and it’s a very strange shift.

I like the energy of the gym, but I always feel kind of silly jumping all around and probably looking like a spaz.  But, I feel like the lights motivate me and being surrounded by like minded people helps too.  It has also been really fun to redo the earlier weeks.  I am doing more sets than before, but when I see only 10 regular Burpees and 15 regular push-ups in a circuit, a rush of relief overcomes me.  I also am seeing a lot of improvement ie. I no longer have to do any push-ups on my knees and my once week abs are actually working successfully on some of these moves.  It all just goes to show that if you continually work hard and listen to your body and mind, you can do incredible things.

-sj