#75 minute

[thedaily-beer]

Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA (Thanks, Michael!). A 3 of 4. Tasty and interesting and while it's definitely between 60 minute and 90 minute in terms of ABV and heft, the maple syrup addition adds an interesting sweetness alongside the expected citrus/pine hop profile. A bit on the traditional/maltier side of things, but still relatively easy-drinking.

[tedsyogajournal]

70 Minutes to hanumanasana

Hanumanasana is a mouthful.  It’s also “monkey pose”, or for the layman, “the splits”.  I have never been able to do full splits.  I have a vivid memory of playing with other children when I was very young, and watching one of the girls do the splits almost effortlessly.  I tried, and failed.  I asked her what her secret was.  She said, “Boys have a kickstand.  Girls don’t.”  I didn’t get it, but in my adulthood I’m fairly certain that I get it now.  I think.

    I was feeling sluggish and tired today, but I knew I would feel refreshed once I dragged out the mat.  This is my third yoga practice this week, and I’m feeling into the routine.  This is a vinyasa practice with hip focus and flows.  My body is slightly fatigued from the regimen of exercise I’ve put it through this week, and my shoulders were burning at the beginning.  Those longer exhales really do help calm your mind, and after my body warmed up my shoulders stopped whining.

    We did a little bit of Utkatasana (Chair Pose).  I know this pose VERY well.  I used to go to Yoga to the People on St. Marks in New York regularly, and those yogis LOVE making you sit in chair pose for a long, long time.  You’d hear people whimper or grunt all around you in the packed room while the very fit yoga teacher would cheer us on.  Sarah’s way kinder.  We sat down in our chairs, breathed deeper into the pose, then moved on.  

The splits were coming, and I was putting my mind on that pose.  We had some Warrior 3 variations; my balance is not very good so they were wobbly.  Then came standing splits.  All this hip work was just warming us up for that big bad monkey pose.  I placed a towel in front of my mat, and set my right heel on top of it to begin sliding forward to my upper limit of flexibility.  I felt kind of like James Brown, but not as flexible.  I was still fairly impressed with how far I could deepen into the pose.  This is one practice I’ll do again, because I think it would be a great party trick to be able to do a full split.

    When final savasana came, I just meditated a little bit and slept a lotta bit.  Came out of meditation feeling refreshed.  Yoga’s the best, isn’t it?  You can find the link here.

[tedsyogajournal]

75 Minute Intermediate Practice

I haven’t had a drink since Sunday, and haven’t had a cup of coffee since Wednesday.  I’m trying to displace my dependency on caffeine and alcohol with a dependency on yoga.  I will say this: I’m sleeping better than ever.  Tonight I had dinner with friends, called my parents, made some tea then put on this 75 minute Intermediate Class.

This practice made me nostalgic for the days of 2007 when I still lived in the Twin Cities.  Tuesday night was my yoga night, where my friend Carey and I would go to Sarah’s class at the Carleton Artist Lofts, take her practice then sometimes make dinner afterwards.  It was in that studio that she opened my mind to the idea of bringing a towel to yoga.  I sweat profusely and would complain about slipping around on my mat.  Honestly, I have no idea why I didn’t think of it before, but at the time it was quite the revelation.  

This is an intermediate level vinyasa class.  Opens with some meditation, then sun salutations.  We flowed into some Warrior 2 poses, working our way into Half Arc Pose.  It is a challenging practice, but my body is adapting quickly.  Downward facing dog isn’t as hard as it used to be, Chattaranga pushups are going slower and more controlled, etc.  I had a nice moment toward the end in bridge pose where I really deepened into a pose and achieved a calm mind.  My palms were face up under my heels and I felt alive with energy.  

I feel like most yoga practices are good to do before bed, because I’m usually so wiped afterwards.  This one did give me some energy, though I still slept like a happy baby.  This podcast was dated 2009, so it’s a little bit of a deep cut.  This is vintage Sarah B yoga.  

[beerminimum]

Dogfish Head 75 Minute, Really great IPA, really hit the spot today.

[indeepwaters]

Matt sent me a text saying he spent over a cool hundo on beer this past Friday.

Excessive? Absolutely not. The man knows what he likes.