One year ago and now About this date last year, I went to my first yoga class at TranqulSpace. A lot has happened since then. I am in the process of assessing what it all means and I may put it up here for public consumption. I have decided that I want to step my home practice up to the next level, so I have begun using a video, Pure Sweat with Rainbeau Mars, a Vinyasa flow that really stretches me to my limits in 30 minutes. Although it does not have any really demanding poses, its pace is what really tests me. It would not be a beginner's routine.

My yoga home practices has tended to be static, with stretches held a long time and poses for strengthening my lower back. I do put in 20 minutes on pranayama and 20-40 minutes of meditation. I really haven't pushed myself very hard. I was exploring poses, matching my breath and just trying to be comfortable in my body. I've started to feel that I was stuck in a rut and I needed to pick up my physical stamina and core strength. My body has definitely lagged behind my mind and spirit in picking up yoga. And I am only going to improve steadily if I practice everyday. For the past 10 days, I've been doing the Pure Sweat routine or my classes. I can't say that I kept up through the whole routine (What are pause buttons for?), but I have made a commitment to a more energetic and complete practice.

I picked Rainbeau Mars because I was going through the options on MagRack's Yoga Retreat and liked her video the best out of nine videos online in February. And yes, she's nice to look at, too. Only a few videos ever inspire me to actually do the yoga.

Watch out who you're talking about online: A funny thing happened over at a Yoga.com fourm -- the participants were cheerfully commenting about R. Mars and her weird name and other comments that boarded on being rude when Rainbeau herself dropped in on the discussion, clarified the misunderstandings and generally carried it off very well. She scored some points with me.

  ¶ 9:41 PM