Happy weekend! I’m in the midst of trying to survive yoga teacher training – weekend 5 of 8. I seriously mean it when I say, “trying to survive.” I really don’t remember the last time I was this sore!

This weekend starts the change in focus of our training from ashtanga to power yoga. We kicked off the weekend on Friday with a hot power yoga class. I went into the class feeling sore from teaching BodyPump on Thursday evening (I went heavy on weight) but it felt really good to flow. I haven’t done a power class in several weeks since I’ve been focusing so much on ashtanga.

After our practice we watched Enlighten Up. Here is the trailer.

Enlighten Up is a documentary about a skeptic’s journey into the world of yoga. I really enjoyed this film and recommend it to my fellow yogis or documentary lovers.

We had leftover Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner when I got home at 9:30 p.m. and I promptly crashed in preparation for today’s early morning. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the best night of sleep. I tossed, turned and woke up frequently. I think it was due to the late yoga practice since my body is so accustomed to practicing early in the morning.

I was up at 6:15 this morning to make a 7:30 super flow. I knew I needed something in my system to make it through the class.

I went with an old favorite that I knew my body would handle well. Peanut butter, honey and banana on whole wheat with black coffee.

Super flow is the most challenging class that my yoga studio offers and we were required to attend this morning as part of teacher training. It’s a 90-minute practice in which you repeat a long flow sequence three times through (in normal classes you repeat the flow twice). Oh and the room is also heated like a normal hot class (100ish degrees) so the heat adds even more intensity. Luckily, Sarah agreed to meet me for class this morning and it was so encouraging to have her practicing next to me.

After class, all of the teacher trainees immediately gathered to start our day with a meditation practice. Let’s be honest here…I don’t meditate so this was new ground for me. We were instructed to focus on our breath, dismiss our thoughts and just feel the breath leaving our nostrils. Eh…that worked for all of two minutes for me. My mind was all over the place. I finally just surrendered and decided that I was just happy that I was able to sit still for 20 minutes! Baby steps, right? 😉

After our meditation practice we had our final Sanskrit lesson. Let’s just say I have lots of practicing to do before I go blurting out the Sanskrit names of the poses when I teach. I think I’ll be sticking with English translations for a while! I am really grateful that our teachers included Sanskrit in our curriculum though.

When we broke for lunch we learned that we wouldn’t be meeting back at the studio that afternoon but at a different studio for an ashtanga second series practice that our teacher was leading. To say that we were surprised is an understatement. No one was expecting to spend the afternoon experiencing the craziness of the ashtanga second series!

I was starving but knew that I couldn’t eat before practice so I came home and made a smoothie.

Green Monster! Crushed ice cubes, spinach, vanilla protein powder, blueberries, banana, chia seeds and almond milk. This did a great job of holding me over.

I’ve been dabbling in second series the past few weeks but haven’t made it very far in. This afternoon was a huuugggeee wake up call. It’s like I’m starting all over again with ashtanga. So many new ways to challenge my body! It’s crazy to imagine that I’ll ever be able to do some of these poses but I know with (lots of) practice, they will come.

Ahem, case in point.

One day!?

I left this afternoon’s workshop completely exhausted after three and a half hours of physically challenging practice in one day. For those of you who are lost on all my yoga speak…let me give you this comparison. It was like getting a really hard speed or tempo run in (super flow) and then finding out I had to do my long run the same day (ashtanga second series).

I had a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar in the car on the drive home.

I AM SO SORE! I spent time on the foam roller when I got home and I’m not going to lie…there were many groans and expletives involved!

I had an awesome dinner to look forward to. Brandon spent all afternoon slow-cooking baby back ribs on his Big Green Egg. I took care of the sides.

My very favorite macaroni and cheese ever! I also made collards.

Southern home cooking at its best!

Off to bed…it is late and I need some serious sleep before I tackle another yoga practice tomorrow morning!