Ahh yoga class

Greetings tribe! Time for another update!

Months ago, before the Summer Open, I went on the "Primal Blueprint Challenge" and it was very successful at rearranging some ideas of how I eat and how I feel. At the end of September, I went on the "Yoga Only" (plus bjj) "Challenge" until the end of the year, and holy smokes! It has been very revealing about how I move and recover. Here is a "WTH" effect from doing the yoga... my conditioning has actually improved. I find myself less winded during rolling. I am recovering faster after rolling and there are other benefits (*ahem* that I will not mention here). I am also able to apply less effort during rolling and that is an added bonus as well. Since these "challenges" have been beneficial, I am thinking of doing one every month and tomorrow I will be starting the month of "No-Soda-Vember" in an attempt to drink more water. I only drink diet, but the literature is even saying that diet soda consumption can trigger insulin sensitivity, so at least for a month, I am going to ditch it and see what results come forward. I kinda like doing these monthly challenges as a way to really motivate myself, but also keep track of personal changes. In the future, I can see other challenges coming down the pike like meditation for a month, going vegetarian for a month, tracking portion control for a month etc., etc. Anything to keep it fun and exciting. Speaking of fun and exciting, Gracie Barra Springfield brought in Aasne Daniels of Ahh Yoga to teach a class on this past Saturday and my wife and I were in attendance. My gosh it was so much fun! As a person who primarily does yoga by himself, it gave me a lot of the fundamental mechanical coaching and ideas on structuring a home practice. Aasne was a great teacher and her advice was all on improving positioning, improving mechanics and then some motivational coaching as well, invariably some remark would be made about the spiritual benefits of yoga, and that was really great too. She was wonderful to talk to and it ended up being a fantastic experience. You should do more yoga.

On the training front, things are really improving for me lately. I am rolling with the lightest touch possible and am seeing amazing things happen. Sweeps that used to be impossible for me to pull off are happening effortlessly. People that used to be impossible to pass are being passed with ease and comfort. I love jiujitsu.

Also want to give a shout out to the guys from my academy who are competing this weekend at the No Gi Worlds... Go get 'em boys!

Until then.. stay happy and Oss!