It's great to be back on the mat. I've taken a bit of time off the blog, getting my head back on straight, and doing a bunch, a BUNCH, of work - teaching in the studio, I led a great ergonomics workshop at a client (will repeat once more Monday and on a conference call to Arizona later next week) and am writing up a case study on wellness at work. Phew!
I finally got back to taking some Bikram classes. I practiced on Monday, Thursday and Friday (and heading tomorrow and Monday) to classes taught by people!!! No more of this practicing Bikram on my own. Well... not as a mainstay. I've decided that after the end of this week I'm not subbing anymore and am just working on getting my practices in consistently.
I don't know why, I can't even believe it, but I was discounting this practice for a little while. I was thinking I was only making "marginal" gains in my body with Bikram and was looking to add some new stuff in. Well, I am going to add some new stuff in, but am going to get 4-5 Bikram classes in as well. The power of the practice escaped me while I was not getting into the hot room with a teacher for a little while. Classes are actually challenging for me right now, first time since training that's happened.
I'm also pushing it to my limits, which often pushes me off balance. For me, when I'm pushing to my flexibility edge, I often don't have the strength to support it for long. However, I know I've made progress by working out there on the edge. On Friday, I worked half moon to full bend, deep backbend (saw the edge of my towel) and am able to hold my face to the legs (even with my large bosom) for a bit and pull up on the thighs. Man does that feel good. Heart pounding from the get go in class.
I want to do more ashtanga work, but I really have a problem with all that forward bending in room temperature. It's no good. The first day I did it in the morning I was sore at the hamstring attachment point top of the thigh. That's dangerous stuff. However in practicing Bikram, I'm all delightfully sore in the heart of the hamstrings, right where you want to be working. The meat of the muscle.
Next weekend great posture clinic with Lynn Whitlow coming. I'm missing a bunch of it - teaching Friday and Sunday morning prevent me from getting there for more than Saturday day but that's fine. Sunday after I teach then practice on my own I'm going to a restorative 2 hr class. I CANNOT WAIT to bliss out. Big week of work, huge draft due Friday, so not much blogging for a bit. Namaste!
3 comments:
what a beautiful posture and picture! the gaze is so focused i love it. good to hear that you have re-found and revisted the personal practice. it is SO IMPORTANT and you are a better teacher for it. looking forward to hearing about the restorative class. have you ever taken a yin class? yin or parayoga is what i would like to try/explore next.
Thanks YBC! Actually there is yin at my studio every week. I go sometimes, but I've also been working a bit in the book (on the right bar actually) insight yoga by Sarah Powers. It's all yin all the time. Did some supported pidgeon (called swan in yin I think) this morning because my piriformis muscles (across the lower butt) were feeling pretty tight.
Yin is amazing, I am happy to read an expert take on it. I had heard that stuff about stretching the ligaments (what?!?!? those aren't supposed to stretch, not really...) it was great to read through the book and learn more about the meridians in the body and see what it's all about. :)
Thanks for the book recommendation Anna. The ligament stretching thing scares me, as I'm still nursing a sprained SI ligament from over a year ago. I may explore Yin more in study before practice.
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