Been awhile...

Well, I'm at least happy to say that although I have been neglecting to keep good on my word, and post about my "8 weeks with Rodney", I have NOT been neglecting to follow through with the actual practice!

I've been really enjoying following Rodney's suggested program, and working to be as disciplined as "summerly" possible to follow his explicit instructions. This has come with its challenges however. Such as, at the end of the second week, Day 5 to be specific, I hurt my back. Let me rephrase: I didn't hurt my back, but I upset and old memory of back pain and injury. Thanks to my training with Neil Pearson (which I'm looking forward to doing more of in November), I recognized this was most likely a case of 'competitive plasticity', which basically means that, although the body does not experience any tissue damage, it (as in me, my body) remembers having once been hurt in a similar fashion, and so responds in a similar protective, painful way. Long story short. I took it easy for the 3-5 days following, breathed deeply, watched "When Harry Met Sally", watched everyone else do everything else for me and gently encouraged normal range of motion activity, such as walking and lots of cat-cow yoga exercises.

So, considering the two-week set back due to camping in the Okanagan (I'm not complaining!) and the 5-day set back with my testy back, I'm now just finishing up week 3; the week of back bends. The upshot of my week of back bending is: my back feels GREAT! Backbends are awesome, and Rodney delivers a good program to follow. However, I must say, without some reasonable guidance to help figure out other ways to adjust some of these poses, many of them are advanced and a tall order for a beginner yogi to do on their own. Nonetheless, a great week of heart and lung opening poses and hip flexor releasing. The weather has also been very supportive and inspiring to backbends...well to yoga in general. It is formidable to practice with a bit of heat and humidity, it brings me back to my whale-watching practice on the beaches in Byron Bay area...

Specifically, I haven't felt a lot of extra opening in my chest/thoracic region, but more in my hips and low back. These areas usually have me shying away from over-doing it in back bending. The way in which Rodney's program has pushed me is through his sequencing. Being disciplined, and actually doing Setu Bandha for 1-2mins for the three suggested rounds, has helped push me past and over a few of my own road blocks. With my low back feeling longer and stronger, I will fold this new plan into my merry yogic ways and carry on.

If you are following along with the program at home, I would strongly recommend you journal about your experiences. It's a great self-study resource to reflect back on over time. Especially if you repeat this program later in your yoga career.

Happy House Yogaing,
Jenelle