ASHTANGA MOON DAY WOD

You see what I did there in the headline? Combined Ashtanga Yoga and Crossfit terminology. I AM ON FIRE RIGHT NOW.

I am taking it for granted no Crossfit people read this site, so I will forego explaining what a Moon Day is, and why Ashtanga people take them as rest days.

Instead, I will explain to you Yoginis that WOD is Crossfit jargon for "workout of the day."

I am posting a moon day 'workout' for you to perform; I have performed it myself. Don't worry, you don't have to put your leg behind your head or lick your coccyx (or your neighbor's) in a backbend.

I have shamelessly cribbed this from Chad Herst's terrific blog.

I met Chad in San Diego in 2000. He taught evening Mysore classes at Uptown Ashtanga in the Hillcrest neighborhood. We met again in Mysore in 2005, and Tara and I practiced with him and Monica in Auroville during a spectacular cyclone. He now splits Mysore duties with Devorah Sacks at Mission Ashtanga in San Francisco.

You should get into his blog.

In the quote below, Chad is referencing Shaun Anchor's book Happiness Advantage.

Practicing Happiness
The good news is that it doesn’t take a whole lot to develop the knack of optimism, positivity, and happiness. Anchor cites research that has found that the brain can be rewired within 21 days doing the following four practices:

3 Gratitudes: Write three things you’re grateful for. This results in the brain “starting to scan the world not for the negative, but for the positive.”

Journal about one positive experience you’ve had over the last 24 hours. “This exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters.” 

Meditation “allows your brain to get over the cultural ADHD that we’ve been creating by trying to do multiple things at once, allowing us to focus on the task at hand.”

Random acts of kindness: Praise someone in your social support network.