Weird and lovely victory for me: last night my 60 or so minutes of vinyasa yoga practice were unaided by an audio podcast. In positive terms: to some fantastic music, I moved through a satisfying hour of physical meditation, which did include 2 uninterrupted minutes of headstand (my current project).
Lately, for most of my home yoga practice, I’ve been in robot yogi mode. I have several podcasts that I listen to, usually, to guide me through a session, be it just 20 minutes of stretches or relaxation, or 45-60 minutes of sweaty vinyasa flow. It’s easy: no decisions, just follow the instructor’s cues and ta-da, you’ll be done in an hour, refreshed and ready for bed.
Last night, Husband was playing DJ for a few hours; he’d recently bought several new CDs and wanted to fill the house with the music, and thusly share it with me.
Around 9pm, I rolled out the yoga mat, he absconded to the computer room, and I stuck with the last CD he’d spun, Sigus Ros’ “Heim” Live Acoustic CD. I highly recommend that album, for yoga practice.
Note on the photo, above: Witness the exciting finish of a dragon boat race. The red boat started out way behind, then blew past blue at the finish. The best part of those races (aside from the drum sound throbbing from the front of each boat) is the start. Those beautiful monsters of boats have 20 people on them. It took several minutes of frantic paddling for either boat to even start moving. Then, after a few minutes of forward motion, momentum picked up and then it became a race, rather than mainly a struggle.
Does this relate to my yoga victory? Maybe. The main “struggle” I’ve had with yoga is making it a part of my routine, and that has become easier, lately.
Helen's Loom 
If you’d taken the picture a bit to the left, you might’ve got a shot of my house. The drums interfered with my afternoon nap, but that’s the price I pay for city lakefront.
Aha, so you don’t trek too far, to do those monster hill sets over at the Brickyards (my ‘hood) that I’ve read about. Excellent.