therunnerwithin

I am an ambassador for the Girls Gone Sporty crew and for 2015 our mantra is “Push Your Boundaries, Challenge Your Expectations” (#PYBCYE) I am pushing my boundaries and challenging my expectations by getting more into yoga. Some of the benefits of yoga include increased flexibility, muscle strength and respiration which is why I have begun to implement a session per week.

After my 10k last Saturday, my friend Montana over at Pretty Lil’ Mudder and I took an aerial yoga class. Aerial yoga is a form of yoga I’ve been wanting to try for quiet some time but didn’t want to go by myself. Montana is a new yogi and visits a yoga studio frequently so we took the class at her studio, CircuSoul. When I’ve done yoga in the past, it’s always been at home with online or on-demand videos, so taking an actual class with a live instructor and a room full of people was a whole new experience for me.

It was a packed class but everyone was really welcoming and the instructor was super helpful in going at a steady pace and explaining modifications for certain poses if you couldn’t do them. Many of the poses I was already familiar with from runners lunge to warrior. It wasn’t until we moved into the inversions part of the class that I really had to pay attention.

The inversions part of the class was actually really fun. It really taught me a lot about what my body is capable of doing, not to mention it can definitely work your core getting in and out of the poses at times. Though the inversions part was cut short for me when I started to feel nauseous from being upside down for too long. I came out of the pose I was currently in and sat out (in my silk hammock) for the next one. The instructor even offered to put some peppermint oil on my neck if I needed it. Once the nausea subsided I jumped right back into it.

Flying dragon was such a fun pose! I definitely felt like I was flying. From flying dragon came bat pose. Bat pose was a little scary from me, not the actual pose itself but the transition from one pose to another. Yet I overcame my concern and pushed my boundaries and challenged my expectations 🙂

I had such a great time and can’t wait to take my next class. CircuSoul is about an hour from me so I won’t be a frequent there but I have begun to research other aerial yoga studios in my area and hope to test out some classes in the upcoming weeks.

Have you tried anything new this year? If not, what is something you hope to attempt in the upcoming months?