VF Sadhana, 2021 3rd quarter

[hch]

There were recent posts in the last sadhana thread about starting a "summer sadhana," and inspired by that talk and other threads, I'm starting one.

What is this? The VF sadhana habit over the years has been based on the idea of 40 days of some sort of "practice." It began mainly as yoga, possibly with some sort of reading or other study, but we can do other things too. This discussion will have no requirements about, for example,

- number of days or consecutive days intended or done
- starting or ending dates
- the type of activity done, which here need not be clearly "yoga"-ish
- posting (such as "commitment," number of posts, frequency, length, extent of replying to others...)

Welcome!

[toaster]

Hi Henry! Knowing you, I'm guessing there are no "rules" about start dates, haha.

I might try to join in starting this weekend or next week. If I do, my sadhana will probably be a mix of asana and readings - although I have been wanting to get back to a more regular meditation practice, so that's an option too.

[Vantreesta]

Thanks, Henry! This is perfect timing bc I have been really needing the calming and grounding effects of yoga but haven't made it a priority. I've also fallen out of the habit of making my daily gratitude list. This should help!

Good to see you, Beth!


Vannie's Summer Sadhana: Yoga, Gratitude and Meditation

Mindfulness. Planning. Commitment. Discipline. Consistency.


Day 1 July 22: Yoga: Kassandra Evening Yoga Movement day 9 Evening Yoga Flow Hips & Hamstrings Stretch, YT Gratitude:

Day 2 July 23 Yoga: M. Giordano Athletic Yoga: Yoga for Runners post-run practice from memory Gratitude: air conditioning, friends

Day 3 July 24 Yoga: Kassandra Evening Yoga Movement day 10 Evening Yoga for Beginners Yin for Sleep, YT Gratitude: hubby, Cyric, sunsets

Day 4 July 25 Yoga: none today Gratitude: relaxing day with friends, summer nights

Day 5 July 26 Yoga: Kassandra Evening Yoga Movement day 11 Evening Yoga Stretches Full Body Flexibility, YT; M. Giordano Athletic Yoga: Yoga for Runners post-run practice from memory + extra Gratitude: restful sleep, checking things off to do list

Day 6 July 27 Yoga: none Gratitude: ability to rest when I'm injured/hurting

Day 7 July 28 Yoga: none Gratitude: my chiropractor, calf is feeling much better than yesterday, baking

Day 8 July 29 Yoga: none Gratitude:
Day 9 July 30 Yoga: none Gratitude:
Day 10 July 31 Yoga: none Gratitude: spending the day with hubby, Ren Fests, clouds

Day 11 Aug 1 Yoga: none Gratitude: spending the day with my friend and her kids, take out food, weather cooler than 80s and 90s

Day 12 Aug 2 Yoga: Kassandra Evening Yoga Movement day 12 Yoga for Hips & Lower Back Stretch & Relax, YT Gratitude: foam rollers and other self massage tools, yoga, candles

Day 13 Aug 3 Yoga: Kassandra Evening Yoga Movement day 13 Yoga for Flexibility, YT Gratitude: friends, summer nights, baseball

Day 14 Aug 4 Yoga: M. Giordano Athletic Yoga: Yoga for Runners post-run practice Gratitude: walks with Cyric, all my exercise equipment and the options that provides

Day 15 Aug 5 Yoga: none Gratitude:

Day 16 Aug 6 Yoga: none Gratitude:

Day 17 Aug 7 Yoga: none Gratitude:
Day 18 Aug 8 Yoga: none Gratitude:
Day 19 Aug 9 Yoga: none Gratitude:

Day 20 Aug 10 Yoga: M. Giordano Athletic Yoga: Yoga for Runners post-run practice from memory, skipped hamstring stretches Gratitude:

Day 21 Aug 11 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 22 Aug 12 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 23 Aug 13 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 24 Aug 14 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 25 Aug 15 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 26 Aug 16 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 27 Aug 17 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 28 Aug 18 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 29 Aug 19 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 30 Aug 20 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 31 Aug 21 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 32 Aug 22 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 33 Aug 23 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 34 Aug 24 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 35 Aug 25 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 36 Aug 26 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 37 Aug 27 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 38 Aug 28 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 39 Aug 29 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 40 Aug 30 Yoga: Gratitude:
Day 41 Aug 31 (just to round out the month...OCD much??)

[Izzy]

I will join.

My goal is to post here and to do some form of yoga (mostly) and some meditation on consecutive days. I will start today (July 23).

As you know, I am not much of a contributor to conversations. But I will chime in occasionally if I have something to share.

July 23-BBY/1
July 24-BBY/2
July 25-BBY/3
July 26-BBY/4
July 27-BBY/5
July 28-BBY/1
July 29-Meditation
July 30-BBY/2
July 31-Meditation
August 1-BBY/3
August 2- BBY4
August 3-BBY5
August 4-meditation
August 5-meditation
August 6-1 hour meditation
August 7-1 hour meditation
August 8-nothing
August 9-nothing
August 10-BBY1
August 11-BBY/Sweat
August 12-BBY/Strength
August 13-Meditation
August 14-
August 15-Yoga in the Park (at my daughters in Chicago). Very nice. A beautiful morning and the instructor was really good.
August 16-Daily reading from yoga book
August 17-BBY/1
August 18-BBY/2
August 19-Meditation
August 20-Read yoga book
August 21-Stretch and meditation
August 22-Stretch and meditation
August 23-Stretch and Meditation
August 24-BBY/2
August 25-Stretch and meditation
August 26-BBY/3
August 27-BBY/4
August 28-Nothing
August 29-Stretch and prayer
August 30-Stretch and meditation
August 31-BBY/4
September 1-

[Mell]

.

[Pam61]

I'm interested and *would* join, but I'm going to be traveling for a few days in August. I might not get anything in (yoga) when I'm on the road. But, I could shoot for 30 days and make-up the missed days. If we're not being rigid with the "consecutive days."

I'm also wanting to make yoga more of a part of my life, as I get older, especially. I've done pretty well the last 90 days, but it was a type of exercise that I habitually neglected when I was a new (consistent) exerciser.

My Daily readings will be from Joyce Meyer, but I'd like to do a bit more. Maybe actually learning some of the Sanskrit names of some of the yoga poses could be my goal for this Summer Sadhana?

[Vantreesta]

Originally Posted by Mell

I'm in - trying to get in more daily movement

30 DAY MOVEMENT CHALLENGE | Mobility Training & Injury Prevention


July 24 - MOVEMENT CHALLENGE - Day 1 arm circles, trunk circles & basic squats

July 25 - MOVEMENT CHALLENGE - Day 2 swimmers, side bends & hip circles

July 26 - MOVEMENT CHALLENGE - Day 3 cuban rotations; windmills & standing hydrants

July 27 - MOVEMENT CHALLENGE - Day 4 egyptian, jefferson curl & squat to pike

July 28 - MOVEMENT CHALLENGE - Day 5 infinity swimmers, wolf stretches & ninja squats

July 29 - MOVEMENT CHALLENGE - Day 6 squat rotations, single leg rdl & wrist push ups

July 30 - MOVEMENT CHALLENGE - Day 7 90/90 hip stretch, bird dog & twisting bear

Mell, is this is a series on YouTube or is it a paper challenge or what? Thanks!


I didn't get my yoga in yesterday. I hurt my calf while jumping rope to the point where I couldn't push through to finish the workout. I did a standing arms workout after that and my calf still hurt so I just called it a day. Of course, the rest of my body didn't appreciate the lack of stretch after the workouts! I took it easy the rest of the evening/night with my leg elevated and didn't even walk Cyric. Considering the horrible heat and humidity, though, we wouldn't have walked far anyway.

Today is really goofy bc we didn't get a morning walk before the heat bc of thunderstorms then I had a chiropractor appt and the baseball game is an afternoon game so I've done pretty much nothing today but unload and reload the dishwasher!

Oh, Beth, I bought a 35 lb kettlebell today!

[hch]

Hi, everyone! Because I'd like to write at least a few lines about what I've done when I have the opportunity to write, I expect to post both

(1) my next post, a summary list, which will be linked to
(2) later posts with specific notes, which will prevent trying to fit maybe 40 days' worth of such material into a single post

I've made no grand plans for the next period, especially because I'll probably become busier again in August than I am now, but I'll be reclaiming my mat space (it's a long story), and I've already thought about options. (I also have something to read.)

- I've registered with Joyn because I like the philosophy there ("body-inclusive") and because their instructors have offerings (including many under "yoga") that interest me; in fact, my first few days so far have come from them. (My usual mat space has someone else's things in it; I've tried both of Joyn's current yoga nidra videos in bed, a chair set, and another video using the wall from my bed. I've actually never watched a chair yoga video before.)

- I actually haven't tried the YogiBethC channel yet but will probably do so soon!

- At least three asana sets from "paper" (two are short sequences from a library book, Yoga for Busy People by Dawn Groves, and the third was from a magazine website and maybe was published in printed form too) preferably done from memory.

- Sun salutations: I find them engaging and non-annoying when done at a comfortable speed, and when I use my mat again (sun salutations are the thing on this list that I would least want to do without a mat) I may experiment with doing them for a session. (I'm very hard to bore with mindful movement, for some reason, and I don't mind being hard to bore.)

- Yin yoga from online resources, perhaps incorporating some video options.

- Yoga nidra, following a number of possible procedures. (As mentioned, my first two sadhana days were yoga nidra from Joyn.)

- Meditation, various possible formats.

[hch]

Summary list, with links to more specific posts about practices as I write them. (In other words, the links from this post will not be directly to online resources, but I'll try to link to "freely available" videos from these detailed posts. Joyn currently requires registration.)

Day
01 * 7/22, Thursday .. Joyn: "Meditation: Yoga Nidra Intention" (Anna Chapman) (detail post #1)
02 * 7/23, Friday ...... Joyn: "Meditation: Yoga Nidra for Destressing" (Anna Chapman) (detail post #1)
03 * 7/24, Saturday .. Joyn: "Have a Seat & Breathe" (Jessica Rihal) (detail post #2)
04 * 7/25, Sunday .... Joyn: "Rest as Resistance: A Restorative Snack" (Kate Mosher) (detail post #3)
05 * 7/26, Monday .... Joyn: "Ease the Burnout: Chair Flow for ALL" (Kate Mosher) (detail post #3)
06 * 7/27, Tuesday ... YogiBethC: YOGA CLASS FOR LAZY DAYS | Slow Gentle Floor Yoga | Gray Day Yoga || (detail post #4)
[updates soon]
07 * 7/28, Wednesday . YogiBethC: Mindfulness Meditation, Square (Box) Breathing with Visualization | YogiBethC - Learn to Meditate || (detail post later); all three poses from Joyn: "Rest as Resistance: A Restorative Snack" but without video, 5 minutes each
08 * 7/29, Thursday .. 15 minutes savasana
09 * 7/30, Friday ...... 15 minutes square breathing without video
10 * 8/01, Saturday .. yoga nidra (detail post later)
11 * 8/02, Sunday .... yoga nidra
etc.
40 * 08/30, Monday .... yoga nidra

[hch]

Day
1 * 7/22 Thursday .. Joyn: "Meditation: Yoga Nidra Intention" (Anna Chapman)
2 * 7/23 Friday ....... Joyn: "Meditation: Yoga Nidra for Destressing" (Anna Chapman)

Both practices were just over 10 minutes, but despite a little doubt caused by the shorter times (I've done previous yoga nidra sessions of at least 15-20 minutes), I found both very relaxing, yet without falling asleep. They may be done sitting or lying (I did both while lying in bed--hence my note about falling asleep). The first concentrates on the breath, the second on moving the attention to body parts, with secondary elements too. I'll probably be revisiting them in the future and using bits as part of a mental toolbox for yoga nidra and related activities.

(There is what I consider quiet, unobtrusive electronic music. Anna is probably sitting there for most of the videos--I didn't preview them, obviously I didn't watch while doing the yoga nidra , and I haven't yet reviewed them just for the sake of telling you what happens on screen. )