I am beginning to have some semblance of routine during days when I do self-yoga.

Something I just found out lately is that even prior to stretching (which I thought was the initial warm-up leading to yoga), one needs to do some walking to get the muscles going. Several minutes of walking can actually loosen up those cold muscles and prevent injuries from trying to stretch wound-up muscles.

So at the gym, I do about 20 minutes of walking (or 2 sets of 10 minutes each). If there is time, I do bench press (20 reps with feet parallel to each other; 20 reps with feet pointing outward). During that time, I also try to hydrate myself by drinking water (definitely no more water when yoga starts).

I time my walking and bench pressing routines about 30-45 minutes before the end of the last class at the gym. That way, I have the room all to myself afterwards for my self-yoga. One last trip to the ladies room to relieve the bladder and I am all set for my yoga routine.

Our intermediate class with Pio oftentimes goes directly to stretches so in the gym, I try to allocate time for meditation. I do some balancing poses, then move into the Chair pose variations, Sun salutations (cobra, upward-downward dogs, warrior poses, triangle poses), locust and bow poses, cow /cat poses, elephant and cobbler poses, forward bends (seated and wide-legged standing ones), spinal twists, shoulderstand variations, bridge, fish, reclining spinal twists, reclining stretches, then ending with savasana .

It is quite a good workout though, at times like that, I miss the energy of my yogini-mates, the inspiration of our yoga teacher, and the chikka that I look forward to after every class . Somehow, there is really nothing like group class to bring out the best in you and to push you a little further beyond your limits.