wearying of Ultimate Yogi...day 89

[Vintage VFer]

Originally Posted by laurajhawk

On video and in person, Travis is a *much* more relaxed guy than Bryan, who seems to me to have a chip on his shoulder most of the time.

Probably because he got so much flack for cutting his long hair!

[Tracyso2]

I always feel like I have to defend Bryan Kest, for some reason, so here I go again! I don't know him at all but I did take an intensive weekend workshop at Kripalu with him several years ago. The workshop was hilariously difficult for me --not at all a yoga teacher, in a room of almost nothing but-- but even so I found him to be very encouraging, kind, and real...a person who "walks his talk." I've had other experiences with other yoga teachers (Baron Baptiste comes to mind), so wanted to stick up for Bryan. Yes, he swears and is irreverent as heck, but he means what he says and seems to live according to his principles. I'm hard to offend, also, after 22 years in Brooklyn...maybe that's why?

[mommyofjoeyp]

Originally Posted by Tracyso2

Wow, Day 96...I'm jealous, since you're about a week ahead. Hmmm...well, I can tell you that without question, my LEAST favorite is the one I have on the docket today: Balance. I suck at it, and I don't seem to be improving in the slightest. Damn you, weak ankles!! Oh, wait, I also kind of hate Mountain Pose, although slightly less than I did at the beginning. My favorites are probably CrossTrain (because I think it's thorough & also maybe easiest), Cardio (surprising; I hated it the first time I did it but now find it invigorating and relaxing after the half-hour mark), and Detox (except the "under-the-fence vinyasa"...I could absolutely give that a miss). I'm also getting to like Yin. What about you? Anyone else have favorites or anti-favorites?

I'm on day 77 and also starting to have some slight dread (although once I start each day I love it!). I really love this program but I'm just starting to feel like I miss doing some of my other workouts. My favourites are also CrossTrain and Cardio and my least favourite Balance (and possibly Yin since it seems to go on forever for me). I keep reminding myself that I only have 4 more weeks so only 4 more times to do each workout. There's no way I'm giving up now!

[Tracyso2]

I just wanted to update everyone: thanks to all of your support, I soldiered on and just wrapped up Day 92. And an interesting thing happened a couple of days ago: I think I had a breakthrough during Yin Yoga. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but suddenly I was bone-deep in those poses, getting my head to the floor in the straddle split (!), actually absorbed in what I was doing, and it felt like energy was moving in my body the way he says it will. I was completely surprised, and it kind of galvanized me. Did anyone else have this kind of experience with Yin?

[newellcr]

Tracy,

That's great about the Yin breakthru. I have a terrible time with Yin. I'm looking forward to trying Yin closer to bedtime in a quiet environment.

[mommyofjoeyp]

Originally Posted by Tracyso2

I just wanted to update everyone: thanks to all of your support, I soldiered on and just wrapped up Day 92. And an interesting thing happened a couple of days ago: I think I had a breakthrough during Yin Yoga. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but suddenly I was bone-deep in those poses, getting my head to the floor in the straddle split (!), actually absorbed in what I was doing, and it felt like energy was moving in my body the way he says it will. I was completely surprised, and it kind of galvanized me. Did anyone else have this kind of experience with Yin?

I hope this happens to me because so far I watch the clock through most of Yin! I just did day 81 today and actually enjoyed Strength more than I have the past few weeks. I think what's wearing me down with these workouts is the full hour plus 17 min of HardCore. I'm really busy right now and would love to have some days where my workout is just 40 min! Thinking of doing a JNL Fusion rotation when UY is done.

[Tracyso2]

I'm not sure I'd have made it if I were doing HardCore...I really, really didn't like it and bailed on it early. I think I'm going to do an Ultimate Yogi rotation every year starting on January 1, and next year I'm going to add a 20-minute Pilates routine, to make up for the fact that I'll probably never put HardCore back in the DVD player. Congratulations to you for sticking with the program as written!

[Loleen]

I have been hit or miss on Hardcore. I weren't from maybe three hours a week of exercise to 7 hours a week of yoga - adding on hardcore or meditation was NOT a priority for me.

Love the idea of an annual UY 108 program - great way to start the year.