Personal Challenge - Yoga Week 2

For the past few weeks, I've been working on becoming fluent in a yoga flow. There have been some moments where I am surprised by what my body can do, and also annoyed at what it can not yet do. Me Learning Goal: I will know I have achieved this when I can successfully complete by memory a ten-minute yoga flow without stopping, falling over, losing balance, or laughing. Bolded below are the instructions from my professor for the course forum, blue is my game plan, progress, and thoughts.

**Identify resources to support your learning process.  Resources could be people, organizations, websites, books, etc.
I've continued using Maggie Binkley's workouts from Amazon Prime Video. And I've also been using a variety of video/TikTok/Instagram video clips to learn different moves and stretches. 

**Begin learning your target activity or skill.  As you learn, monitor your progress in our weekly Personal Learning Challenge Forums.  
I'm continuing to monitor my progress in three ways; duration of plank hold (endurance), headstand without assistance (balance), and yoga flow memorization (breathing and focus).  
This week's stats are
     Plank Time: 1 minute 32 seconds (All about the breathing!! And not watching the clock.)
     Headstand: Unsuccessful, but I've gained some strength and learned that it is more about focus than actual muscle. I focus on making all of my muscles work at the same time.  
     Yoga Flow: This has improved. I've decided to write down the flow and keep it on the floor in front of me as a sort of cheat sheet. 

**Use our Forums, AND any social media you would like to connect with a network, share progress, and get both feedback and support from your friends and colleagues.  Please share what (if any) additional social media you are using, and any feedback or support you have gained from using the additional resource.
I posted my progress for last week on my blog, Instagram, and linked my blog to my Facebook. It was fun to let the Facebook world in on my yoga journey. I had a distant cousin comment, "When you are doing yoga exercises, mentally concentrate on strengthening your core. Visualize having a six-pack, and having crazy strong core muscles. When your core gets stronger the handstand will be easy. You will also become accustomed to the blood rushing to your head. I have always been able to stand on my head, since I was a little kid. I could walk on my hands, and got free beers betting people I could drink a beer, standing on my head (after I've already had several beers). Love your blog!". 
I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to solicit help from my friends Cate and Marilyn who are both yoga instructors, their advice is below. 

Cate/@studioyyoga (instagram)
"The term yoga means ‘to yolk’ or to pair together in balance. Do this always with breath and movement. Yoga is skill in action modified for each and every individual body. Learn to breathe (not kidding) and then pair it with movement, when the breath gives, then you have found your area of focus. Come back to your breath and ‘begin again’."

Marilyn/Children's Yoga KC - https://www.facebook.com/Childrens-Yoga-Kansas-City-249305695110987
"So many great classes online now. Find an instructor you love...

Have fun and breath deeply!"

Here are a few other things I came across this week that resonated with me. 

 "Many people think that yoga is just a physical practice, it is a mental practice also. No one is perfect, and no matter how confident they may seem, they are probably fighting a battle that they don't want people to know." - @yogiwithdari

"True yoga is not about the shape of your body, but about the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed, it is to be lived. Yoga doesn't care what you HAVE been, yoga cares about the person you are becoming." Aadil Palkhivala - via @keytoyoga