Insanity kicked my asana

Four weeks ago I started the Insanity workouts. During those four weeks I never missed a workout, and followed the six-day-a-week workout calendar exactly. I'll be taking my measurements next week, at the end of "recovery week" (also known as "the week in which the daily workout makes my thighs long for the good old cardio recovery days"), but I am starting to notice the changes in my body.

I have to confess that I haven't kept up my yoga practice during the last month. With a 30-40 minute workout to squeeze in, my mornings are pretty tight. I take a class when I can, but my meditative morning practice has been replaced with lots of jumping around. I was feeling a bit guilty about that, until I made an interesting discovery:

Insanity pushed my asana practice up a notch.

Shaun T is pretty serious about stretching, so I'm not surprised that, after four weeks of daily hamstring stretches, I'm more open than I was. The Insanity workouts are also very core-focused, so, despite the lack of an obvious six-pack, I might be stronger after the first month. It turns out the two ganged up on me.

Navasana is an excellent core-strengthening pose, and I can hold it comfortably as long as I keep my knees bent. My hamstrings are too tight to achieve the straight-legged version, and I never even imagined experiencing the beautiful variation where you draw your legs and upper body closer together. It turns out I might have been a bit hasty in accepting my limitations.

Last Saturday I spent a couple of hours bellydancing with some ladies from the yoga studio. Later that evening I unrolled my mat to stretch a bit. I don't know why I thought to try it, but I ended up here:

This picture was taken today, which means I can still do it, two days later. It wasn't just one of those freak yoga things.

Thank you, Shaun T, for the yoga breakthrough. I'll forgive you for all those mornings when your workouts kicked my asana.

What does Insanity look like?

Insanity looks like this...

It's day 24 and I haven't missed a workout. Yesterday I made it all the way through the Cardio Power and Resistance workout. Well, there was that brief rest when my butt hit the floor during triceps dips and stayed there for 20 seconds. But I got going again. And my push-ups are slower than Shaun T's. I'd play the girl card, but Tanya is on the video putting the rest of my gender to shame.

Next week is "recovery week." I'm kind of excited to hit that milestone, but, if the workouts are anything like like the current Cardio Recovery workout, I'm not sure I'm going to have a fun week. My thighs are getting very worried.

A shower, my thighs and Ahimsa #365Yoga

A guy rocking Scorpion Pose (Photo credit: FabulousTerrah)

Yesterday, after I finished Insanity Cardio Recovery (a.k.a. the "slow, painful death of my thighs" workout), I was thinking about whether or not a painful workout went against the "nonharming" principle of yoga. I was standing in the shower at the time, and I was also wondering how a non-cardio workout could have made me sweat so much, so don't expect anything too deep and philosophical here.

Ahimsa, usually translated as nonharming or nonviolence, is the first of the Yamas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The Yamas teach us how to control our personal conduct when dealing with others. In its simplest terms, the principle of Ahimsa asks us to not hurt anyone. But, if it's part of the code of ethics for dealing with others, does it allow us to hurt ourselves?

I've heard yoga teachers point out Ahimsa as the reason we shouldn't push too hard during an asana practice. "Show compassion for yourself!" "There's no pain in yoga!" "Stay within your edge!" I've said these things myself. They are yoga teacher language for "Please don't get hurt in my class." I have to wonder, however, how the guy rocking Vrischikasana never pushed past his edge while learning how to get there. And if he was sore for awhile, like I was when I was regularly working on scorpion pose, did he feel un-yogi-like because he wasn't gentle with his body?

My thighs disagree, but I think using Ahimsa as an excuse not to take reasonable risks with my body takes something away from the Yamas, which are supposed to remind me that it's not, in fact, all about me. The violence we're supposed to be avoiding isn't muscle aches from a good workout, it's the harm we do when we think we're separate from everyone else. It's the pain that we cause whenever we allow differences in race, gender, nationality, religion, living conditions, etc., to create an "otherness" in our thinking. It's the rips in the web of existence that we create every time we come from a place of fear rather than openness.

I'm not advocating recklessness in yoga classes or home practices. We should always practice safely and with intention and awareness, to avoid injuries. I just think we do a disservice to Patanjali when we claim Ahimsa while we're dropping into child's pose but forget to talk about the much deeper commitment nonviolence requires when we step off our mats. After all, Patanjali probably never saw a forearm balance. I know he never checked out Insanity.

Yes, there are awesome yoga teachers out there digging into the Yamas in their classes, but they weren't in the shower with me. It was just me and my thighs, and, Ahimsa or not, we've got another workout tomorrow.

I'm not dead (I don't want to go in the cart)

Sometimes I think that Shaun T, creator of the Insanity workout from Beachbody, is trying to put me in the cart. I'm not dead, though. Not yet, anyway. While the workouts are hard, I'm hanging in there. I haven't missed a day and, I have to say, I think I'm getting better.

What I appreciate the most about the workouts is the stretching that is included every time. I haven't even had to yell at the television because Shaun does a good job with the alignment of the yoga stretches. He's even given me some ideas for Body Shop, a vinyasa-based yoga class I created to include hand weights, resistance bands and some Pilates-inspired core exercises. I enjoy planning and teaching the fusion class and it gives me the opportunity to put my personal trainer credentials to use.

All I have to do is survive the next workout. I think I'll go for a walk.

And, Rest... #365Yoga

yoga (Photo credit: GO INTERACTIVE WELLNESS)

After six days of Insanity workouts, there is a rest day, if we can call a day that starts with teaching a 7:00 am yoga class followed by eight hours of teacher training and ends with a 7:00 pm meeting with my Bona Fide Butterflies partner Annie to work on our January women's retreat a rest day.

My body was awake and ready to go ridiculously early. It apparently doesn't see the point of rest days. I was very surprised at how good I felt. There was some minor muscle soreness, noticeable only when I moved in certain ways. My yoga practice felt strong and I was pretty together most of the day.

Of course, it was very uplifting to spend the weekend with the group of incredible people who started their teacher training journey. They are all very different, and collectively different from the last group; each one is unique expression of the divine oneness. Seeing that inner light makes me want to work very hard on their behalf, yet I know the real work is theirs. My work, really, is to show up and unlock the studio door.

And to tackle another Insanity workout. The rest day is over.