Pacing

Long drives for more adventuring have conjured more thoughts & reflection lately. Been driving around with my little doggo in the caro meaning I can’t just send it the whole 14 hours, you gotta stop at a park & smell the roses while he sniffs everything else. But for the last month I have been preaching PACE as the intention/theme in all my yoga sculpt classes. Instructors at CPY are encouraged to have layered themes for the class to keep our yogies motivated. What can be so layered about pace, seems pretty straightforward. So its more of a difference between – “pace yourself” so you don’t get tired, but “pace YOURSELF” so that YOU can get the results you want. This is easy for me to sprinkle in throughout the class and has some serious motivation for when I land it at the end of class. But pace is not just important when working out, but all over the place in life. Let’s dive in.

Gonna tackle the yoga to get it out of the way but the reason my classes aren’t a “go hard” for everyone is because of how diverse the clientele are. Experienced to not, Athletic to non athletic, young to old, healthy to injured, die-hards to beginners. So as the instructor, I want everyone to feel successful at the end of the class. It’s my job to guide everyone through the practice and motivate folks when the class gets hard but I’m not going to make anyone do something they know they’re not up for. I’m often meeting folks for the first time in my class, I want to build trust in them through music, motivation & fun, not force.

Google defines pace as “consistent and continuous speed in walking, running or moving”. So in Yoga Sculpt when I preach for folks to “PACE” themselves, it is to pump up the pace/ intensity of the exercise OR to slow it down a tad, maybe put your weight down & keep moving so you can make it through the class. But I can’t gauge everyone’s peak performance right away, so “pace YOURSELF” lets me see who needs what and I’ll work on the average. It’s also like a disclaimer, if you get tired it’s because you didn’t pace yourself. Now I’m off the hook haha

It is easy to see when this resonates in the class as I see people shift up to that next gear and others taking their time and especially nice when they take a little break – or try something different because they know the current drill does not jive with them. But when they come out gassed and thrilled about their effort, I’m ecstatic and if you know me that means our interaction peaked with a high-five. But the pace theme is not just about the hour in the studio, it goes on!

Pace is tricky… push yourself too hard and you run the risk of hurting yourself. Not push yourself enough and you won’t see any results. This is applicable to many factors in life. I’ve discussed it in a couple ways on this blog – pacing on Adventure Uno would be the obvious one. Pacing your career, don’t go so hard you burn out and don’t keep going slow if it does not take you anywhere. Even in Love pace is relevant – don’t get so caught up catching feelings that aren’t really there, you cant find love if you are looking for it and when you THINK you found it, you cannot rush it. But even then, one can’t wait too long before the moment has passed! Again, pace is very tricky. Finding the balance and identifying the right pace for your space never ends. But I encourage you to test both sides of the scale to see what works for you.

Now with all that said, the Pace theme was more driven at a specific person – the “New-Year-New-Me”. We all have big goals at the beginning of the year and we pile on the goals that were not completed the previous year. It is hard to get started. It is not easy to get going. But if you build some momentum, find a little rhythm and pace yourself admirably – anything is possible.

“Take this hour seriously, have fun, and build on it to have a great day. Turn great days into stellar weeks. Fashion stellar weeks into awesome months and then piece together awesome months for a fabulous year.”

-how i close my classes

So when I preach pace it is, take a step back… is your goal realistic? Do I actually want/think I can get to this? A bland example, I’ve wanted a 6-pack as a new years resolution ever since I knew what a 6-pack was lol yet here I am though, very content with my beer belly. I can see that goal is far out there mostly because I find myself too social to ever commit to the diet that requires a washboard core. More importantly I’m pretty content & grateful my body does all the things it does already. Did you ever stop to consider maybe being a gym rat is not for you? It’s so hard! So before you even try… don’t buy that full new outfit, shoes, gear and a non-refundable gym membership. Start on your own, put in the work, have your friends take you as their guest. You can even come see me at Corepower in the East Bay, your first week is free on me 😉 Then once you’ve got a nice base, build a little routine and know what you need – hit it with everything you got. Again, and again until you can hit it a litter harder, again and again then don’t stop til you get there.

If you told me at the start of 2019 that I’d be a yoga teacher at the start of 2020, I’d be questioning our friendship. Turns out it’s pretty freaking fun & extremely conducive to the lifestyle I have chosen the live for now. It was just the pace I needed for the space I’m living in right now.

More adventures on the books, and more adventures to be published at a slightly higher pace these days. Namaste betches.