cursingyogini's blog

I think I might be a bad example.

I mean, if there's a new person near me, I usually work really hard to make my poses superlative, which I am pretty sure I don't keep up that assiduously when I don't think someone's watching me.

But today I brought a friend to her first yoga class, so she was trying to model herself on me the whole time, and ... that's not a good idea. Like, we were messing around with shalabhasana, and started from lying on our fronts. Fine, except I am tall enough that I usually put my head in front of my mat so the rest of me is on the mat. I looked over and my poor standard-sized friend was dutifully mimicking, off her mat (with an acre of space at the back). Whoops.

The flexibility thing is a bad thing, too, because I honestly don't know the intermediate steps you take when you're not flexible. I did dutifully model a few intermediate poses for strength things, at least.

Overall my friend claimed to enjoy class, so I guess it was a success (even though I'm not sure I helped).

I was reminded that there's an intermediate teacher training program going on at my studio, which explains why my classes have a bunch of people I've never seen in them. It's also increased the level of class intensity, which I will describe as "Yay/Ow".

However! The thing I was super, duper excited about today is that I managed to do the shoulderstand to setu bandhasana transition. I had tried this a few times year (or two, yikes) ago, and thunked down in a way that really, really bothered my wrists. So ever since I've been nervous and pulled my hands out of the way when I get close to falling.

Yesterday sensei-chan was doing that transition, and said I was about four inches away before I freaked out. Today the teacher didn't call for that dismount, but I did it anyway, and out of nowhere succeeded. (And, of course, there were none of my regular yoga buddies near me to squee too.)

Now, a lot of things in yoga that I struggle with I can do once and then can't do again for ages...but I'm hoping this is magically now in my repertoire. It doesn't hurt to hope, does it?

Oh, *man*. Today's practice felt more like one from my old astanga-flavored studio than the chill Sunday-morning classes I've gotten used to. We did surya namaskara B for I think the first time since I moved up here. I was *dripping* sweat and now, two hours later, my hips are registering their complaints. You know, like they do.

Of course I loved it; my usual complaint is that the classes are too easy, so I can't really say anything now. Beyond, ow, my hips!!

a stretch

Yeah, it was noteworthy.  Something with yoga mats behind our knees and sitting back.  Not only was it a stretch, I had to back out of it...and other people didn't.  Which...was a new experience for me.  I asked what we were stretching, and the answer was, apparently, calf, soleus (a muscle that was new to me), and foot muscles.  Whatever it was, I was amazingly tight there.

Also, and completely unrelated except it also happened yesterday, I realized at some uttanasana that my pants were on backwards.  You'd think I would have noticed that before, but, not so much.  Apparently they fit either way.  Handy, I guess...

Ow

I might never move my legs again.  Ok, I'll move them, but, holy cats they hurt.  And, once again, I'm not 100% sure what we did that caused it.  Ah, well, it's always good to be challenged.

And, otherwise, I found that if you don't get enough sleep, breakfast will slosh around rather more unpleasantly than usual.  But more sleep seems to have helped, whee.

yup, it was just that one time

Vira 3 came up again today, and I was at my usual not-very-good level.  Would have been *nice* had I suddenly been Good At It, but it did seem a bit unlikely.

After my private class last week, there were 4 n00bs (and one other person) in class today.  I don't understand people's yoga habits, I gotta say.  Also, the class didn't feel like much, but my legs are shaking.  Maybe because if there's a lot of beginners I tend to try to do my best textbook poses to set a good example, and otherwise I just do my thing, which is not necessarily 100% effort?

And, this doesn't have much to do with anything, but I totally failed at yoga yesterday.  It's not a normal yoga day for me, but I've been meaning to try it out.  Except, 6 days a week, classes at my studio are at 9:30 or 10.  On Saturday they're apparently at 9 and 10:30.  I didn't realize the first one until I looked it up at like 9:02.  Oh well, I said, I will go to the next class.  But then I completely missed it, because, 10:30??  *sigh*

woo

Yesterday I did some of the best vira 3s of my yoga career.  Not sure why - maybe it's just that we hardly ever do them, so I don't notice changes, but, I was pretty proud. 

Today I proved (again) that I really, really need to stop staying up so late reading, because breakfast immediately before class sucks.  And then the teacher managed something that made some small muscle in my outer hips whimper.  (They're still all wah wah wah abuse!!!, because my body is complainy.)

surprise private lesson!

I was the only person who showed up for class this morning, so it was an unexpected private class.  Of course I had been Up Too Late (darn you, Stieg Larsson, for writing books that I just can't put down!) and so had slammed breakfast about 10 minutes before class.  I really wasn't up for a super-intense class (I seldom am, Sunday mornings), but I didn't want to waste the opportunity to really work on things.  So when Sensei-chan asked me if there was anything particular, I asked that we did inversions.  (Sensei used to end with them all the time, but most of my current slate of teachers doesn't.  The one time I requested them - in a class with three regulars - that teacher spent the whole time building up to handstand, which everyone there could already do.  (Well, I learned not to request inversions from her, that's something, I guess?)

We ended up spending about half the class on inversions.  She showed me a different ... dismount, I guess? for handstand.  We also tried backing off of the wall - and I realized that terrifies me.  (Which seems weird, I was in gymnastics for about decade as a child and don't remember this being an issue then.)  We worked some with pincha mayurasana, and I realized that I always try to go to scorpion, and don't even *try* to balance.  And given my poor overall body cohesion, I can't.  Then we tried a wide-legged headstand variation, which I couldn't get up in.  Again, it'd been so long since I'd done salamba shirshasana I had to do it once the "normal" way to prove I could do it.  Uffda.

At that point my legs were just about done, and I did one urdhva dhanurasana, wherein my legs let me know that they had been sorely abused, and time was up.  (Yes, I did a brief shavansana.)   Two hours later I'm home with aching arms, complaining legs, and lots to work on.  It's absolutely another reason I should start a home practice, but I really lack space.  (Motivation, too, but it's hard to see where I could even manage a sun salutation without thwapping into furniture.)

It's very, very intense to have a private lesson - I am not sure that I liked all the focused attention, but I sure couldn't slack off.  It was good, but hard!  Maybe I shall add that to my fantasy-life list.  (You know, for the alternate universe where I have more money than I know what to do with.  I figure it's good to be prepared for those eventualities!)

seriously, tell us where we're going!

I know I've complained about this before, usually in the context of teachers I don't like.  But, dangit, I think I rather like this new-to-me teacher (she's been subbing while another favorite teacher is off getting hitched).  Except, jeez.  If you just tell me to move body parts and I don't know that we're going to a specific pose/stretch/whatever, I will do my best to follow your instructions, even when they don't make sense.  (This teacher mixed up right and left as often as *I* do, which is quite a bit.)  The problem is, this keeps leading me somewhere ridiculous.  And this is easy to fix!  Communication, teachers!

Grah.

not very relaxing

After spending 5 hours on a bus yesterday and 3 hours on a train today, I thought a restorative class was in order.  Except...I don't go terribly often, (I sometimes do, though), and I had forgotten that she likes to end class with a "laughing practice".  Which, in theory, I'm okay with.  It's just that in practice it makes me uncomfortable.

Listening to people I'm not comfortable with laugh like madwomen/men?  Makes me more think of maenads, who would like to rip my flesh apart and devour me.  Or perhaps inmates escaped from a particularly horror movie-esque asylum.  Which is why my jaw was clenched tight by the time I was out the door.  *sigh*