Journal 9

 

Week 9 I choose to do a quick 10-minute yoga practice because of my busy schedule at the moment. The video is called “Yoga For Neck, Shoulders, Upper Back - 10 Minute Yoga Quickie - Yoga With Adriene”. On the day of my practice, I was feeling tenser around my head and shoulder areas so I thought that this would be a great match. For most of the class, I was sitting on the floor with my legs crossed. The focus was on the head and shoulders, so the legs were not used much. It started with deep inhales and rotating the shoulder inwards with bent arms so the elbows touch. Next, they are rotated backwards with elbows by the ears and at the same time, the upper back muscles are being stretched. Full rotation of the shoulder while fingers are on the shoulders. At first, it hurt to bring my shoulders back but after a few rotations a few muscle knots in my upper back came out. After the shoulder came neck rotations then to the back muscles.  In the video, the instructor performs the movements a couple of times, but I repeated them more until I felt my muscles stretched and relaxed. This practice was more about stretching and the upper body. There were no meditative aspects that I prefer in other types of yoga.

I define my practice space as a space of meditation and a space of relaxation. My practice space is in my back porch, some would call it a sunroom, because of the big open windows surrounding me with a view of the small forest behind my house. Lighting is important to me because on sunnier days I tend to have more concentration. If I were to practice elsewhere, I would not choose a studio but more natural settings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3-gKPNyrTA

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