Ugh, another damn yoga post? Doesn’t this idiot have anything else better to write about?
Today’s answer: no.
This morning I woke up extra-groggy and with a scratchy throat. Knowing that the creeping crud has been taking down friends left and right, I was very determined to find refuge in a nice hot yoga class to help burn out the funk.
In the past month my morning ritual has gone like this: alarm goes off, alarm gets ignored for about five minutes while I listen to NPR news, check email, pet and harass cats, eat breakfast, go to yoga. Sure, this whole mess takes about two and a half hours, but it’s a ritual. The only real difference this morning was that I got my grumble on because I could feel my sinuses revolting on me.
While I have skipped Sunday practice on a couple of different occasions, it was particularly important to me to make it this morning as it was my twenty-fifth class.
Class twenty five: quite the starting milestone. Getting through ten classes relatively quickly is the right way to start your practice. Pushing through to twenty-five is the best way to solidify your practice. I did it in less than a month (twenty-six days to be exact) and boy-howdy how I have changed in that time.
The most immediate change is the fact that I’ve dropped a chunk of weight. Sure, I’ve changed some other aspects of my life that have helped with that as well, but the yoga is definitely a major part of it. With every class I feel more and more like a rotisserie chicken just melting off fat into the fire (yes, I’m also rather tasty). The next major change is that I’m bendy as all hell now compared to where I was a month ago. Sure, all my years of playing soccer and/or doing nothing have really done a job at tensing up my hamstrings, and, as a result, I’m still horrible at attempting to do anything that requires touching my toes or feet whilst keeping a straight leg, but definite progress is being made. My nemesis pose Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose) is still something that humbles me with every Fire class I do, but I’m very slowly beginning to lower my sit bones. Maybe at class one hundred I’ll be in line with everything.
My balance has improved and my stamina has done remarkable. I’ve been mostly doing Fire classes lately, so I’m sure a good Wood or Earth class will humble me a bit more, but I’m digging my roll. I’ve met some incredible instructors who have motivated me to keep with it and provided me with adjustments and encouragement to help get the most effective stretches out of my awkward body.
Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) is no longer the bane of my morning. While I still need a lot of work with it on my left side, I feel great on my right.
If you couldn’t tell, I’m even retaining a lot of the “real” pose names: something I thought would never stick after my first couple of days.
On to class fifty!