Sunday Funday

This article shows six yogis in their 90s being amazing!

ANANDA

Yoga- without the philosophy we are just stretching.  

Yoga is a self-study; a practice in body and mind awareness.  Yoga takes dedication, time, and openness.  Therefore, in practicing we will always have an intention or a reason for bringing ourselves to the mat.  We dedicate that time to our personal  intention and think about it often as it's weaved in every movement.

Thus... "Word of the Week" has begun!  Sanskrit is the classical Indian language that yoga is derived from.  Sanskrit words are the original names for asana (posture) and philosophy in our yoga practice.  This week's Word of the Week is ananda.  Ananda is finding bliss in everything.  It's the happiest form of yourself.  Sometimes it's easy to dwell on the hard stuff or negative emotions, but ananda offers an opportunity to find the light in the situation.  Bad things happen (I like stating the obvious), but you can choose your reaction:  negativity or happiness.  It's your decision... and your energy is contagious.  So choose ananda and spread your bliss.

week #3- Hips +vinyasa

We've worked on sun salutations, we've worked on heart openers to recover our traps, triceps, and biceps, next up... HIPS HIPS HIPS.  We are going to give our hips a lot of much needed attention this week.  The lunges and squats of our past will definitely appreciate it!  Your balance will be tested on hands and feet this week as we push our boundaries even more.  We'll continue to work on what we've been practicing with some more concentrated hip variations.  I'll have print-outs this week of the survey I have on this blog.  Feel free to leave feedback on paper or through the site of things you love from the class and also things you'd like to see more of/change.  Feedback is how we develop the program to best fit your needs.  It's optional and anonymous, so please give your unfiltered input!

We had a lot of "firsts" this week in class that I want to incorporate in the blog posts at the end of the week.  Please enjoy the initiation of our first of many weekly shout-outs:

We got up close and personal at #crossfitstapleton this week in yogaRX. 😝

A photo posted by Amanda•YT200 (@outdooryogaflow) on Jan 22, 2016 at 3:16pm PST

-Coach Matt's first yoga class!
-Doug's wife, Ann, trying out her first class at CF Stapleton in 5am yogaRX
-Charity's first yoga class!
-Our first max capacity class Wednesday night with 9 yogis
-Paula completing her first tripod headstand
-First week of 5am classes
-First SNAFU on Spotify (Sat AM peeps know what I'm talking about...  Oops!)

I look forward to meeting more of you and introducing you to yogaRX if you haven't had a chance to come to class yet.

Namaste,
Amanda


PS- I'll just leave this last food for thought...

Going on a diet? This is food for the soul. You're welcome. pic.twitter.com/ePVkPLW5fv

— Outdoor Yoga Flow (@outdooryogaflow) January 23, 2016

Happy Martin Luther King JR Day

Week #2 - Shoulders +vinyasa

This week will be the first +vinyasa series.  Every week we will be targeting areas of the body.  What you learn in my class can be transferred to home practice or post-workout recovery so you can continue to mobilize.  We will build on these skills in the following weeks.

The focus for the week will be shoulders.  CrossFit is very shoulder intensive.  Lack of mobility in the shoulders can hold you back from even the most basic CrossFit functions.  If you can't make class this week, here are some poses to try at home.







I'll leave you with this quote from Sage Rountree with the Yoga Journal:

Weightlifting and CrossFit can be a great way to develop full-body strength. While CrossFit pays attention to mobility, it’s still easy to incur imbalances in the body—especially when you head to a desk and sit for eight hours or more right afterward. A strong but tight front body puts you at risk for both overuse injuries that come from chronic imbalance between muscle groups and acute injuries, especially to the back, as you lift or go through other daily movements.

yogaRX - CrossFit Stapleton

Crossfit Stapleton has given me a gift.  I get to do what I love in a place that I love with a community I love.  Doesn't get much better than this.  Week one of yogaRX has officially ended!

Often times in CrossFit we push ourselves to the max, exploring the potential of our bodies in ways we haven't seen.  We set goals because, let's face it, CrossFit is hard- there's always a next level.  Sometimes we focus so much on these goals that we don't realize that we need to prepare our bodies to reach them.  That's where mobility comes in! 

yogaRX is offered at Crossfit Stapleton to set our bodies up for success.  We need to safely execute movements, but sometimes the muscles we're building don't allow us to.  Yoga gives us the opportunity to explore changes in our bodies and also develop healthy habits to recover and help our bodies prepare for what's to come.  

We need a little yin with our yang- balance is key.  

Click here to learn more about how yoga complements crossfit