Nurse on the Run

This week, I’ve been recapping my vacation last week in Malpais, Costa Rica.  If you haven’t been playing along, you can check out the two recaps so far:

Part I:  planes, trains, and automobiles

Part II:  surf’s up!!

Surfing was a runaway winner as the highlight of my trip, but since we surfed every morning, that means we had lots to do for the rest of the day!  Pura Vida Adventures boasts itself as both a surfing and yoga retreat, so the other major component of the week was yoga!  Yoga and surfing are quite related, as you need balance and strength to be a good surfer.  Plus, they share the same mindset of being in the moment.  So, on with the yoga…Many of you may find this more exciting than the surfing part. 

my yoga background

I haven’t really spent too much time doing yoga, although I did start doing it more regularly about three months ago after I got injured during the Boston Marathon.  I figured it could be good for my IT band, and it’s supposed to help relax you as well, and we could all use a little more of that in our lives!  I’ve done enough that I can name a bunch of different poses and not necessarily have to look around to see what to do, but my downward dog still leaves a bit to be desired.  That being said, I’ve very open to learning and I have high hopes that one day I’ll be able to touch my toes.  So, onto yoga!

the yoga studio

You can see the waves from the studio!

The BEST place to practice yoga!!  The yoga studio was outside and you could see the ocean from the studio, which meant you could hear the waves as you’re doing yoga.  Definitely a relaxing experience and better than listening to a CD of the waves!

sunday yoga – intro to pura vida yoga

Our yoga on Sunday was a bit of a mix-up, as our instructor didn’t show up and then they had to call someone else into lead the class.  It ended up being fine, although the camp is very proud of their reputation so they weren’t too pleased with the mix-up, but no one else in my group seemed to mind.  Although I’m not too familiar with the different types of yoga, I believe this was a vinyasa class with lots of movements and downward dogs.  Very much like what I’m used to at my gym yoga classes.

monday yoga – more vinyasa

Today was our first day with the yoga instructor, Cristina, who was AMAZING.  She’s great at reading the group and tailoring the yoga to meeting the needs of the group.  With twelve years of yoga practice under her belt, she had a lot of experience to offer and was the TINIEST person I’ve ever seen.  So little, but so strong!  Since she didn’t have the opportunity to get to know us yesterday, we went through another vinyasa-type class so she could see how the group does with yoga and what kind of level we were at.  The yoga studio was outside, and when laying on our backs, I saw a gecko run across the ceiling.  Welcome to Costa Rica. 

With two days of surfing under our belts, I could feel the relationship between surfing and yoga, and I could tell the muscles that I was using while surfing during different positions.  Next time around, I’ll do more push-ups before coming to surf camp.

tuesday yoga – restorative yoga

The third day of surfing is supposedly the hardest day, and I think my entire group was feeling the soreness associated with fighting the waves and popping up on the surfboard.  Cristina led us through an AMAZING restorative yoga class where we held poses for a long time and got deep stretches where we needed it most…in our backs and shoulders.  My two favorite moves included:

1. We placed a yoga block under our lower backs and just laid on the ground.  Awesome lower back stretch…I’ve been doing this at home too!
2. At one point, we were laying facedown on the ground and crossed our arms underneath us with our arms flat on the ground, palms down.  Laying with your arms crossed underneath your chest was a great shoulder stretch…but it hurt!

We all felt soooo much better after this yoga class!  The stretching was amazingggg and relaxing.

wednesday yoga – partner yoga

Have you ever done partner yoga before?  I’ve never really even heard of it before this day at surf camp!  We were asked to buddy up with one of our fellow surf campers to do partner yoga, which none of us had done before.  It was a little awkward to start, as the first thing we did was stare into each others eyes and then place our hands on each others’ chest while “ohm”ing.  (Romantic, no?)  We got through that with some giggling, but then the real stretching began.  We put our legs on each others’ shoulders, got some mini-back massages, and even sat on top of one another at one point.  (Childs pose on top of childs pose!)  I think we were all a little bit weary of doing some of the poses (you want me to do what??), but everyone was willing to try all the different poses, and it ended up being a lot of fun!  A good stretch too.

The end of the class closed with group yoga, where we were all in a circle doing downward dog, putting our legs on each others backs.  My surf group was awesome, so it was cool to be doing this together because no one was too uncomfortable.

I definitely think that everyone should give partner yoga a try…you can help to stretch each other, and it could be a good way to get a significant other into yoga!

thursday yoga – vinyasa wrap up

Our last day of yoga!  We ended with another vinyasa type yoga, with lots of movement.  This day was tough for me, as I was fending off a bit of a sickness near the end of the week.  My throat was sore and I think I had a little bit of a fever in the evenings, which made changing the level of my head in yoga a little difficult.  I made it through and loved the savasana at the end.

yoga wrap-up

I love the connection between surfing and yoga!  Both activities are about being in the moment and appreciating your body and nature, plus they compliment each other well with strength in your body. Surfing made my muscles sore and tired, and yoga helped to stretch me out and get me ready for the next day of surfing.  Yoga is definitely something I want to try and incorporate more into my life!  My gym offers multiple yoga classes per week, and I hope to attend at least once or twice per week.  I think it will be great for my running, as well as good for my state of mind.  Nursing is also tough on your body, and I think that yoga can help relieve the mental and physical tensions that go along with being a floor nurse.  I actually think it would be great to come home from work and do some yoga.

Do you do yoga?  How has it benefited your life? 

And, since I’m looking to do yoga when I got home from work…

Do you have any recommendations for at home yoga videos?  Perhaps ones that are no more than half an hour long?