How bout this. This past weekend, I went to Nashville, TN (don't ask why- I won't have a good answer). It was a fun experience, up until things started going downhill. So I flew into Nashville Friday afternoon, which means that I was supposed to fly home. But, as karma or something like that would have it, my flight for Sunday night into Philly got cancelled. Not surprised. Bad things always happen when I travel with my grandparents (one time, we were supposed to fly back from Florida, but missed our flight, so we had to drive. Yep, trapped in a little car with my grandparents for two days straight). This time it wasn't as bad; only 15 hours. Still, I am scarred for life. Anyway, as you can imagine, my stress and anxiety levels (as if not already high enough from being away for a whole weekend) were through the roof. How was I going to get home in time to do the hours of homework I had due for Monday? I can't miss school on Monday, I have tryouts. I gotta get home. So, we started our journey late Saturday night. We stopped at a hotel right before leaving Tennessee, as we had been driving for about four hours already. We slept for about six hours, then got in the car and continued driving. After about eight hours, the bad weather started. Snow, sleet, rain, ice, literally anything you could imagine we experienced. Once we got into Delaware, it took us three hours to get back to my house because the roads were so bad. At this point is was already 8:00. So, what was the thing I did right when I got home? Nope, not homework. Nope, didn't watch Netflix. I went right up to my room, turned on my meditation music, and did a little yoga.
It's kind of amazing how much yoga has helped me over the past couple weeks. I feel like it has changed me (for the better, obviously). Normally, in that situation, I would storm upstairs, slam my door in frustration and anger, and lay on my bed trying to figure out how the heck I was going to cram four hours of homework in before I fell asleep that night. But yoga has made me realize that being frustrated at things that are out of your control won't do you any good. Instead, you can exert your frustration and anger into yoga! I did some of the basic moves I explained in my last post for about 15 minutes, and then went back downstairs to start my homework. After taking those 15 minutes for myself and worrying about nothing other than myself and those poses, I was calm. Everything else that had just happened was the past, there was no point in being mad over it. The only thing to do now was to calm down, relax, and get as much homework done as possible.
To document my progress, I am going to take pictures of me performing the poses every couple days and post them. Now, remember I am not a professional, but hopefully these will somewhat resemble the pictures of the professionals in my last post.
For this week, the title of my post means 'reason'. I am strong believer that everything happens for a reason. So, looking back and reflecting on my experience this past weekend, I realize that my misfortune must have happened for a reason. So, overreacting and freaking out about it wouldn't have done me any good, and yoga reminded me of that. Yoga reminded me that sometimes, you have to take a breathe and focus on nothing other than yourself.
Stress before yoga: 7 (I've got a lot of tests/quizzes/long term stuff due this coming week, so my stress has been pretty high. I have tryouts coming up this week, which I'm not too worried about)
Anxiety before yoga: 7 (My anxiety was through the roof right before I did my yoga. I had just gotten home, after fearing that I would be trapped in the middle of nowhere, which would result in me missing another day of school, which means I would have missed tryouts. It just would have been one bad thing after another if things didn't go as surprisingly well as they did)
Stress after yoga: 3 (I was still a little stressed, as I now had hours of homework to complete, but while I was practicing I realized that I should just be happy that I made it home in time to get a little work done as well as a decent amount of sleep)
Anxiety after yoga: 2 (My anxiety decreased immensely after my yoga, as I had time to slow down my breathing, close my eyes for a little, and even stretch a little after being stuck in a car for an entire day)
Namaste.
Comments:
Avery Ryan (Brown)
David Weiss (Red)
Sarah Kollender (Yellow)
It's kind of amazing how much yoga has helped me over the past couple weeks. I feel like it has changed me (for the better, obviously). Normally, in that situation, I would storm upstairs, slam my door in frustration and anger, and lay on my bed trying to figure out how the heck I was going to cram four hours of homework in before I fell asleep that night. But yoga has made me realize that being frustrated at things that are out of your control won't do you any good. Instead, you can exert your frustration and anger into yoga! I did some of the basic moves I explained in my last post for about 15 minutes, and then went back downstairs to start my homework. After taking those 15 minutes for myself and worrying about nothing other than myself and those poses, I was calm. Everything else that had just happened was the past, there was no point in being mad over it. The only thing to do now was to calm down, relax, and get as much homework done as possible.
To document my progress, I am going to take pictures of me performing the poses every couple days and post them. Now, remember I am not a professional, but hopefully these will somewhat resemble the pictures of the professionals in my last post.
Attempt at Tree Pose
Attempt at Pigeon
Attempt at Warrior
Attempt at Upward facing dog
For this week, the title of my post means 'reason'. I am strong believer that everything happens for a reason. So, looking back and reflecting on my experience this past weekend, I realize that my misfortune must have happened for a reason. So, overreacting and freaking out about it wouldn't have done me any good, and yoga reminded me of that. Yoga reminded me that sometimes, you have to take a breathe and focus on nothing other than yourself.
Stress before yoga: 7 (I've got a lot of tests/quizzes/long term stuff due this coming week, so my stress has been pretty high. I have tryouts coming up this week, which I'm not too worried about)
Anxiety before yoga: 7 (My anxiety was through the roof right before I did my yoga. I had just gotten home, after fearing that I would be trapped in the middle of nowhere, which would result in me missing another day of school, which means I would have missed tryouts. It just would have been one bad thing after another if things didn't go as surprisingly well as they did)
Stress after yoga: 3 (I was still a little stressed, as I now had hours of homework to complete, but while I was practicing I realized that I should just be happy that I made it home in time to get a little work done as well as a decent amount of sleep)
Anxiety after yoga: 2 (My anxiety decreased immensely after my yoga, as I had time to slow down my breathing, close my eyes for a little, and even stretch a little after being stuck in a car for an entire day)
Namaste.
Comments:
Avery Ryan (Brown)
David Weiss (Red)
Sarah Kollender (Yellow)
Hey Liz! You look so great doing your yoga! It looks like fun. Along with helping your stress and anxiety levels, do these poses also increase your strength and flexibilty? What physical improvements have you seen so far in your project? These poses look a little tricky, and definitly require some serious balance. As you do them more and more, do you notice improvements in how long you can hold them or how easy it is to hold them? I'm so glad that your genius hour has been helping you with your stress and anxiety. I do yoga occasionally in certain technique classes at dance and notice a huge difference in my mood and anxiety levels after doing it. Good luck with your project!!!
ReplyDeleteOof... sounds like you had a very interesting weekend. It's actually really cool how much yoga seems to help you. I don't really know much about yoga, other than my 8th grade English teacher being obsessed with it. The pictures of you look almost professional!! And I hope you get through this next week without any crazy 15 hour car rides!
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