Breath is Life (and other yoga lessons applied to hiking)

I hate to admit it, but it’s been weeks since I’ve practiced yoga. Somewhere between packing, moving, half-way unpacking, moving for real, being in this state of continual unpacking while we slowly accumulate furniture, light fixtures, and basic home needs like silverware, writing for FRWD, writing for boulder.me, working with Lijit, writing for Examiner.com, and doing jumping jacks about how excited I am to start MORE projects, I just haven’t made it to classes like I’d like to.

But there’s something about yoga and my own personal practice, that has completely infiltrated my spirit, even when I’m not physically in classes.  Yoga is, after all, much more than the asana practice, and my yoga is starting to beautifully blanket my life.

The hike

My roommate and I went on our second hike since we both moved here to Boulder, CO within the last month. Our first hike was a stroll, really. It was in the 40′s outside, and we were walking a well-tread trail along the side of a foothill in North Boulder. Easy peezy.

Ash picked up a hiking guide and we sat down last week to plot our next hiking adventure. I’d been on a trail in Chautauqua before, so we tossed that idea around, but eventually settled on what the guide described as an “easy-to-moderate” hike, 7.6 miles, and an altitude gain of 1220 feet (Walker Ranch Loop, 8 miles west of Chautauqua via Baseline Road/Flagstaff, if you’re keeping track).

Keep in mind we’re rookies, and even now I still don’t know if 7.6 miles is impressive (though my exhausted calves will tell you it is), makes us look like wusses, and what exactly that altitude gain actually means. I mean, I get that it’s how much higher up we ended up from where we started, but you’re talking to two girls from sea level who are suddenly learning to breathe again at 5,400 feet – an extra 1,200 feet means absolutely nothing to me at this point.

Kind of when I first moved to the Twin Cities and everyone talked about going “up north” for the weekend. WEREN’T WE ALREADY UP NORTH? To this Tennessee [via Alabama] girl, we were.

And to this “I’m from sea level” girl, when you’re already 5,400 feet above sea level, what’s another 1,220 feet?

I soon found out.

We nailed the first 4-5 miles. There were some steeper climbs, and since the temperature in the mountains was hovering between 30-34 degrees (yes Ma, we wore layers), there were some places where ice and snow hadn’t completely melted.

This was fine for the most part, until just past mile five and were faced with steep, iced-over steps all switch-back-like on one side of the mountain. Down. Then up. Then level. Then an ice-covered dirt road going up again. Then down a little. Then up some more. Then up a LOT more.

Needless to say, this became a bit of a challenge. We’re somewhat fit ladies (or at least we were at sea level), but we’re rookie hikers and we’re absolutely new to this altitude.

Where the yoga came in

I surprised myself at one point, when “you can so do this, just take your time” thoughts were replaced instead by, “Identify where your foot meets the earth. Recognize your center of balance and where your weight is shifted. Decide where your weight should be. Now, move. With intention.”

This was all dialogue that evolved from the time I spent in Yoga Teacher Training this past fall. First, it was about feeling my foundation and shift of balance. Then the fatigued muscles set in, and I started telling myself to “breathe into areas of tension,” which is also something I learned to teach. Breath is life, after all, and recognizing muscle groups that were sore and tight and then consciously taking in deep breaths with those areas in mind… well, it totally worked.  It kept me moving forward, moving up, and when we reached the top?

TOTALLY WORTH IT (see picture above, courtesy of Ashley‘s camera phone).

We just about skipped our way through the last mile we were so excited to have accomplished six miles of mountain and to have seen the views we did – we were over eight miles into the mountains, so when we reached viewpoints, we were SURROUNDED.

Talk about perspective

This just goes right back to my point about the power that we have with our thoughts, be it in the people and situations we attract, seeing the best in challenging situations, and now?  Hiking to the top of a mountain.

And… now I want to do it again.  But maybe not seven miles this time.  Maybe just four or so.

Tagged as: Boulder, Chautauqua, Colorado, hiking, perspective, Walker Ranch Loop, Yoga