No real concrete ideas for posting today, but a few random thoughts from the day:
A friend of mine, also in her early/mid-30s, just completed the Chicago Marathon. She trained hard for the event and was so excited to participate. She brought her whole family from Columbus to Chicago to support her and they made a mini-vacation out of it. It is wonderful to create new challenges in our life all the time, to keep us fresh, active and innovative. She is an inspiration to me, and a great role model for fitness and joy for her children as well.
The instructor in my ballet body class today took the group in a contemporary/modern direction today, rocking out with new music and introducing new moves. He emphasized the importance of remembering that our spines and bodies move in three dimensions. This helped me to bring awareness to my body and improve my alignment. By moving in all three planes, we strengthened our muscles and joints and created more functional movement.
In that same class, we spent several minutes doing back leg raises, which the instructor suggested were reminiscent of a modern dance style inspired by Horton (whose work I am unfamiliar with). These were variations of what, in yoga, we would call Warrior III pose. We stood on one leg, raised the other behind us to be parallel with the floor, and lowered our body so that it was level with the leg, forming a "T" shape with our entire body. We did several repetitions, with arms at our sides, out like an airplane, reaching out in front, and alternating sides. Not only was this an exercise in balance and form, it also strengthened our supporting leg and lower back muscles. The class inspired me to focus on balance in my home yoga practice this evening.
Today's workout:
45 min. run + strides (5.52 mi)
60 min. ballet body class
60 min. yoga
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