Can't. Lift. Arms.
The yoga exploration continues. On my day off, I decided to step away from my usual practice of Hatha yoga and try a new studio that focuses on Vinyasa yoga. From everything I'd read about Vinyasa, I knew that it focused on breathing and movement, the flow of movement, and that it generated a lot of heat and sweat, so I was prepared for it to be more challenging than my previous experiences. What didn't connect for me beforehand, and so I was not prepared, was that the studio practices Power Vinyasa and that meant another form of hot yoga! Fortunately, it's only heated to about 90°F, which was quite manageable. None of that crazy 105°F stuff!
Anyway, this morning turned out to be an amazing experience because I ended up being the only student in the class! That meant I paid $16 for what was essentially a private lesson that normally costs $125. Talk about individualized instruction, indeed! I was totally intimidated when I learned I'd be the only student because, hello, all attention focused on me! But I'm glad for it. What a great first lesson to have in the study of Power Vinyasa!
I don't think I've focused on my core, my position, my alignment, or my poses as much as I did today. Not only was the instructor actively correcting and adjusting my positioning, but she was also helping me manage my poses. And by that what I mean is, sometimes, in my usual practice we'll be asked to do a pose and I do it to the extent that I can, i.e., before I tip over from loss of balance. Today, my instructor would sometimes stand behind me and prop me up so that, in not having to worry about losing my balance and fall over, I could really put myself IN a position and stretch and extend like none other. I was twisting and contorting my bodies in ways I didn't know it could!
That also meant I put my body in a rigorous exercise that it hasn't experienced in quite a while! We started off with sun salutation poses before moving on to the warrior poses. The balance poses were supposed to come next but, by that point, I just couldn't do it anymore. My instructor was like, "We'll only do two!" But I could feel myself getting faint and woozy, and I didn't see how I could possibly keep my balance up under those conditions, so she said it was perfectly alright, and we went straight to the mat exercises. Honestly, I was getting double the work-out than a student in a normal-sized class might get because of the individual attention, and even the instructor reminded herself of that.
So yeah, it was an incredible experience. It was rough. Painful. But I learned I could do it. I also feel proud of myself because I was trying so hard to be aware of my position and alignment, and it showed. My instructor even praised me on my natural flexibility and strength. She asked me if I was athletic! Er, I played sports when I was younger? :P
Now I have to make a decision, I think, about where I want to take my yoga practice, because I don't want to keep spreading myself thin, and I want to really get to know a practice. Power Vinyasa is so difficult that I almost want to run for the hills, but in a different way than I felt after Bikram. With Bikram, that was just ridiculous. I was trying so hard just to breathe in that heat, that the practice of yoga itself was completely lost. With Power Vinyasa, the difficulty is that it's challenging, and really, that's not a bad thing. In fact, I kind of like that it makes me work hard, so I think I'll keep going to Hatha for a little while, and then eventually transition over. Won't that be fun then? :)
Meanwhile, can I just say that after I got home, I collapsed. I could barely lift my arms over my head and when I used my arms to push myself up off the ground, they bent over in pain. I ended up having to do this odd roll and body push just to get myself in a sitting position so that I could stand. Talk about being sore! It's only . . . 7 hours later that I'm just starting to regain the use of my arms. I wonder, if I feel this sore right now, what will tomorrow be like? ;)
Anyway, this morning turned out to be an amazing experience because I ended up being the only student in the class! That meant I paid $16 for what was essentially a private lesson that normally costs $125. Talk about individualized instruction, indeed! I was totally intimidated when I learned I'd be the only student because, hello, all attention focused on me! But I'm glad for it. What a great first lesson to have in the study of Power Vinyasa!
I don't think I've focused on my core, my position, my alignment, or my poses as much as I did today. Not only was the instructor actively correcting and adjusting my positioning, but she was also helping me manage my poses. And by that what I mean is, sometimes, in my usual practice we'll be asked to do a pose and I do it to the extent that I can, i.e., before I tip over from loss of balance. Today, my instructor would sometimes stand behind me and prop me up so that, in not having to worry about losing my balance and fall over, I could really put myself IN a position and stretch and extend like none other. I was twisting and contorting my bodies in ways I didn't know it could!
That also meant I put my body in a rigorous exercise that it hasn't experienced in quite a while! We started off with sun salutation poses before moving on to the warrior poses. The balance poses were supposed to come next but, by that point, I just couldn't do it anymore. My instructor was like, "We'll only do two!" But I could feel myself getting faint and woozy, and I didn't see how I could possibly keep my balance up under those conditions, so she said it was perfectly alright, and we went straight to the mat exercises. Honestly, I was getting double the work-out than a student in a normal-sized class might get because of the individual attention, and even the instructor reminded herself of that.
So yeah, it was an incredible experience. It was rough. Painful. But I learned I could do it. I also feel proud of myself because I was trying so hard to be aware of my position and alignment, and it showed. My instructor even praised me on my natural flexibility and strength. She asked me if I was athletic! Er, I played sports when I was younger? :P
Now I have to make a decision, I think, about where I want to take my yoga practice, because I don't want to keep spreading myself thin, and I want to really get to know a practice. Power Vinyasa is so difficult that I almost want to run for the hills, but in a different way than I felt after Bikram. With Bikram, that was just ridiculous. I was trying so hard just to breathe in that heat, that the practice of yoga itself was completely lost. With Power Vinyasa, the difficulty is that it's challenging, and really, that's not a bad thing. In fact, I kind of like that it makes me work hard, so I think I'll keep going to Hatha for a little while, and then eventually transition over. Won't that be fun then? :)
Meanwhile, can I just say that after I got home, I collapsed. I could barely lift my arms over my head and when I used my arms to push myself up off the ground, they bent over in pain. I ended up having to do this odd roll and body push just to get myself in a sitting position so that I could stand. Talk about being sore! It's only . . . 7 hours later that I'm just starting to regain the use of my arms. I wonder, if I feel this sore right now, what will tomorrow be like? ;)