The Law School Transplant - If you don't find me helpful, hopefully you'll find me at least mildly entertaining.

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The holidays proved to be more of an interruption than I had anticipated, and I was disappointed that I didn’t do a better job of scheduling yoga into the hectic mess. After three days of traveling from one end of the state to the other (and back again!) for various family gatherings, I was anxious to get back into my 21-day challenge routine. Lots of riding in the car left me feeling crunched up and tight. It was appropos, therefore, that Day 6 was a hip-opening sequence.

At first, I didn’t feel like the 30-minute Day 6 practice was super helpful in focusing on releasing tension from my hips. It seemed like more of a generalized sequence with a few hip-focused poses like gomukhasana thrown in there. I think I’ve mentioned it like eighty gazillion times, but I have tight freaking hips. So if I’m going to do hip openers, I want poses that really crank them open and make me feel it. On further reflection, though, I have considered that perhaps this sequence was more subtle and deeper than it seemed on the surface. Subtlety is not my strong point (I know, shocker!), which is perhaps one of many reasons why yoga is so good for me: It makes me slow down, look inward and focus on being present.

And, because I was feeling behind and also just wanted some more, I went ahead and did Day 7 as well. This is a 20-minute “relaxing evening sequence” that is comprised of slow, sweeping movements in a seated or laying position. This same practice is also repeated on Days 14 and 21 to close each week. I’m glad I did this at night, because it certainly was relaxing; after I finished, I was ready to hit the sack. I’m excited to finally get into Week 2 tomorrow; the Day 8 (and 15) practice is the same as Day 1. Hopefully I will see some improvement over the last time I did it!

On a side note, I came across this article about poses to help when you’re unwell. I certainly wish I’d found this when I was sick last week.

A little bird must have overheard me blogging about wanting a new yoga mat, because my little brother got me a new one for Christmas! It’s super thick, so the hard floor doesn’t hurt my knees. I think it’s also several inches longer than my old mat. I left it unrolled so it can air out and get rid of that rubbery “new mat” smell.

So tell me, did you get any yoga-related items for Christmas?

Can’t get enough? Check out Day 8!