Today was my first day back to yoga class in two weeks, and for the last six days I haven't gotten my daily 4-mile hike in either because of that nasty head cold. All I can say is, OUCH!!!! All of my muscles were screaming in pain. Our instructor always says, "Now, relax your eyes, your throat, your tongue . . ." I'm thinking, 'how the heck are you supposed to accomplish that when your kidneys are twisted, your collar bones are stretched, your spine is lengthening, your thighs are screaming, your upper arms are turned out, and even your toes hurt?!' The pose shown above, I kid you not, is a new one we learned today and this is exactly how I felt as I tried to get into it. As soon as we got to this step, we then had to lift our arms straight out to our toes and hold it there, while at the same time trying to "pull our lower ribs down, push our upper ribs out, find our sitting bones, push with our heals, spread our toes, and of course . . . relax your eyes, your throat, your tongue" Yeah. Right. I felt like a Weebles Wobble But They Don't Fall Down. Then it was on to our standing poses. God have mercy on us! Try bending over sideways, then lifting one leg at a 90 degree angle out from the other leg into the air so that you are now balancing on just one straight leg and the fingertips of one hand to hold you up with the other hand/arm pointing to the ceiling and the torso/head perpendicular to the standing leg - with a head full of gunk from a bad cold making your balance terrible in the first place! I swear half the women in the room today had the same head cold, there were bodies falling left and right. It humbles one quickly. Our instructor has been teaching/practicing yoga for over 25 years now and she is simply not human. She can manipulate her body into the most difficult poses, quickly, and talk to us calmly while doing them all! She's incredible, she's tiny, she's strong, she's a good friend of mine and truly a wonderful human being, but she challenges us to push ourselves, hard, and there are times I'd like to push her, hard, right out the door and into a snow drift! (I DO LOVE YOU MBG!!) We resemble the Grecian Urn ladies from the Music Man! But give us a few years, we'll be doing those hard poses someday! Until that day, we'll keep weeble wobblin'!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Yoga Ain't for Sissies! So Why Am I Cryin'?
Today was my first day back to yoga class in two weeks, and for the last six days I haven't gotten my daily 4-mile hike in either because of that nasty head cold. All I can say is, OUCH!!!! All of my muscles were screaming in pain. Our instructor always says, "Now, relax your eyes, your throat, your tongue . . ." I'm thinking, 'how the heck are you supposed to accomplish that when your kidneys are twisted, your collar bones are stretched, your spine is lengthening, your thighs are screaming, your upper arms are turned out, and even your toes hurt?!' The pose shown above, I kid you not, is a new one we learned today and this is exactly how I felt as I tried to get into it. As soon as we got to this step, we then had to lift our arms straight out to our toes and hold it there, while at the same time trying to "pull our lower ribs down, push our upper ribs out, find our sitting bones, push with our heals, spread our toes, and of course . . . relax your eyes, your throat, your tongue" Yeah. Right. I felt like a Weebles Wobble But They Don't Fall Down. Then it was on to our standing poses. God have mercy on us! Try bending over sideways, then lifting one leg at a 90 degree angle out from the other leg into the air so that you are now balancing on just one straight leg and the fingertips of one hand to hold you up with the other hand/arm pointing to the ceiling and the torso/head perpendicular to the standing leg - with a head full of gunk from a bad cold making your balance terrible in the first place! I swear half the women in the room today had the same head cold, there were bodies falling left and right. It humbles one quickly. Our instructor has been teaching/practicing yoga for over 25 years now and she is simply not human. She can manipulate her body into the most difficult poses, quickly, and talk to us calmly while doing them all! She's incredible, she's tiny, she's strong, she's a good friend of mine and truly a wonderful human being, but she challenges us to push ourselves, hard, and there are times I'd like to push her, hard, right out the door and into a snow drift! (I DO LOVE YOU MBG!!) We resemble the Grecian Urn ladies from the Music Man! But give us a few years, we'll be doing those hard poses someday! Until that day, we'll keep weeble wobblin'!
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6 comments:
I think that sculptor had me in mind. That sounds like too many instructions to follow while in pain. And yoga/strength training instructors don't seem to realize that my arms and legs are REALLY REALLY SHORT and just don't move like normal human limbs. My wrists hurt after reading your blog. Think I'll have a glass of wine and some cold meds.
Your class sounds very much like the one I'm in - except that my class is full of stumbling beginners - myself included.
A friend sent me the link to this post and I was tickled to be reading a blog written by someone in the fair state of Iowa as I lived there the first 30 years of my life. Then I read in your profile that you spent 4 years in Auburn, where I sit right this very minute! Small world. And as much as Iowa will always be home, you can keep all that snow!
Kathy, I can't access your profile, but I've still got some GREAT friends in Auburn, maybe you know them!
Ouch.
I keep telling myself that one of these days I'm going to take a yoga class. I've been telling myself that for about 12 years now.
Go for it BUBS! You'll love it!
Our admin at work comes back from lunch time yoga with occasional stories of people farting through class. Being a little fiber conscious myself, I fear I would be the dreaded yoga farter. Instead, I've been doing Pilates on the Reformer machines. Lots of ropes and stirrups- somewhere between bondage and a gynocology exam setup- with a lower risk of breaking wind.
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