Floor Bow: Mission Accomplished

Just a quick post about an exciting milestone I achieved last night at YogaQuest.  I've been an active participant in YogaQuest for months now, and have noticed definite improvements in my flexibility, balance, and core strength.  Still, there are poses that have eluded me, and continue to do so.  I keep trying to push a little harder, and figure eventually I'll get there.  Last night, I managed one of those elusive poses... Dhanurasana, or floor bow, which resembles an archer's bow when performed correctly.  (See the video for a demonstration of the pose... no, that's not me.)

As a person who plays bow-wielding ranger-types in just about every RPG, I've really wanted to be able to do this pose.  (Yes, I know, I'm a giant nerd.  I'm blogging about my participation in a geek-oriented fitness club, and specifically about a roleplaying yoga class.  Seriously.  This should not come as a surprise.)   It should be my signature pose, man.  But no.  I haven't been able to use it as my signature pose, because I just couldn't freakin' do it. 

Anyway.  Every time we've tried it in the past, I've struggled to reach both my feet, and have ended up either contorting to just grab one foot, or have extended my arms backward in the general direction of my feet, and called it "close enough."  This time, however, I found that when I'd grabbed one foot, I was still able to grasp the other, and achieved the actual pose.  Exhilarating!  I couldn't help but declare, "Holy crap, this is the first time I've been able to do this!"  The group gave a round of "hoot hoots" of approval and congratulations, which was really very cool.  What a supportive, amazing group.  I love my YoGeeks!

Life is Fun.

"When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun." --Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

I'm in another one of those busy stretches of time.  So many things to do, and simply not enough time for it all.  All this activity translated to another good week of weight loss (3.5 lbs!), and continued gains in flexibility, balance, and an overall sense of well-being.  Woot.  Yay me.

Saturday was the Superhero 5k walk for charity.  We had a group of Geek Physiquers out there, all in costume, all walking to raise money to fight child abuse. It was a great day, and a wonderful excuse to spend time with some truly amazing people.  The weather was interesting, to say the least.  When we first arrived, there were clouds approaching, but it was still sunny and a bit muggy and warm.  Shortly after arrival, while some of us were registering for the walk, the clouds gathered, the wind picked up, and torrential rain began to pour down in sheets.  It was crazy.  We all remained under cover for a while, and the start of the walk was delayed by about half an hour, while we waited for the worst of the storm to blow over.  It rained while we walked, and it was a bit breezy, but not quite so... monsoon-like.  It was really kind of nice, and much more pleasant than if it had remained sunny and muggy.  We managed a decent walking pace, despite the inclement weather, and it felt great to be completing another charity walk.

I think this post's mostly filler...

Not really. 

Wednesday night was brilliant.  Simply brilliant.  YogaQuest has been a delight at every turn, but this week's class took us to a whole new level of cleverness and inventive fun.  As a special event, our fearless leader choreographed yoga moves to the Buffy musical episode, "Once More, With Feeling," and after she demonstrated a few poses and sequences for us, we dove right in.  The combinations of specific poses with certain songs was so right, so amusing, so much fun to witness, so delightful to perform.  I laughed so many times at the truly awesome choices in yogi-ography (for instance... the poses best described as "hip openers" were prominently featured during Spike's big song, "Rest in Peace").  Even people who had never watched Buffy before were drawn in and had a fantastic time.  We had several first-time YogaQuest attendees, which was exciting and gratifying.  It's neat seeing other people discover the fun we've been having these last few months with this!

This week's YogaQuest was a great example of something I've observed and enjoyed week after week at these events -- this isn't something I have to force myself to do.  This is exercise, and at times it is challenging -- I feel it the next day, let me tell you-- but it never feels like "bleh, off to workout now."  It's a workout, but it's genuinely fun, and I'm carried along by the story, and the camaraderie, and the ever-changing landscape of yoga poses, so I don't have time to wonder how much time is left.  When the end of the evening's session draws to a close, I'm always surprised that the time flew by so quickly.  I love that.  I love that I'm not even remotely tempted to check a clock while we're doing our quests.  It's that entertaining, and that great an exercise in truly being immersed in the moment. 

I can't wait to see what's next!  So many possibilities!  So many stories to tell, and poses to learn, and geeky things to explore!

"All right, Pooh, you're not Overstuffed. You're Physically Superfluous."

Things have been in a bit of a lull lately with Geek Physique.  We were one of the sponsors/coordinators for the Steampunk Ball and Fete at CONvergence 2011, so there was a lot of work to be done to prepare for that.  Fortunately, we got through that with flying colors, so we're ready to dive back into YogaQuest and other activities again.  Yay!

CONvergence was great.  I had a few goals for the week: stay active, don't eat too much garbage, and maintain my weight.  I managed the first two -- I definitely stayed active, and kept the junk food to a bare minimum.  I didn't maintain my weight this week, though.  I actually dropped 4.6 lbs.  WOOT.  That, my friends, is a successful week for me.  Add to that my participation in the Aikido demo at con (in my Renaissance Festival garb, no less!), which was just plain FUN, and my introduction to a few more members of the dojo, and I have to say, this was a really amazing experience.