30 days of Hatha Yoga Happiness – Day 1
My yoga practice has been a little hit and miss lately although I do tend to lay out my mat at the end of the week especially if I’ve ridden my mountain bike as it’s not an exercise that I’m used to doing routinely yet. (Cycling works muscles that I don’t use when I run). Usually it’s a simple case of searching “yoga for cyclists”, “yoga for runners” or more often “yoga for when you are sore all over” lol. It was during one such search that I came upon Lesley Fightmasters’ 30 day long Hatha Yoga Happiness program.
My understanding is that Hatha is a generalistic term that covers “all yoga”
Hatha yoga is a generic term that refers to any type of yoga that teaches physical postures. Nearly every type of yoga class taught in the West is hatha yoga. When a class is marketed as hatha, it generally means that you will get a gentle introduction to the most basic yoga postures. You probably won’t work up a sweat in a hatha yoga class, but you should end up leaving class feeling longer, looser, and more relaxed. (Source).
Unless I’m specifically wanting to rehab a particular area for example my lower back and legs after cycling, I do actually prefer to work up a sweat when I select a yoga class so although Hatha isn’t my “go too” I’m not opposed to increasing my happiness quotient for a month!
So here we go ..
Hatha Yoga Happiness, Day 1 – Gratitude.
As is to be expected on the first day of anything, we start out R E A L L Y slowly. I’d describe this as a long sleeve practice, because you don’t get much of a chance to get warm, for example it’s a full fifteen minutes before we get to stand up! But, I did like Lesley’s demeanor and the way that she explained correct alignment.
HIT – The way Lesley talks, I’m not sure if she’s acting happy because it would be pretty shitty to follow 30 days of yoga for happiness led by a grouch, but her enthusiasm is quite infectious.
MISS – 15 minutes to get up off the floor? ..
TODAY’S TAKEAWAY – It’s hard to be happy if you slouch!
1 day down, 29 more days of happiness to go!
Till next time
