Day 13

“When you come in here, let go of your preconceived ideas of what going to be hard for you. It’s a new day and a new class. Be open and see what you find.”

That was Shelby’s advice today and it coincided with conversations I’ve had with two different friends lately about how hard it is to make major life changes. How it feels like you’re walking off the easy flat road into the dark woods and following a trail that appears to dead end in a giant un-passable hedge. Who would go in there? Take the easy flat road. Seriously.

Ok, it’s possible I read too many fairy tales as a kid.

Point being, I still hate Triangle pose – SO HARD! My feet slide all over the carpet! Look up? Whatever! But I’m trying every class not to dread it. Not to assume I know how hard it will be. Maybe some day in the very very distant future, I’ll come in and it won’t be the hardest pose of the day. How great would that be?

(The other bon mot of the day related to camel pose was “Dizzy is good. Vomiting is bad. Stay on the dizzy side.” I think that’s life advice I can really get behind.)

Day 14

“No babe, you aren’t dying. You’re living! That’s life you feel!”

Those were Jodi’s words of wisdom to a suffering newbie today. Made me laugh even as I sympathized.

I’ve been suffering weird aches and pains that I thought yoga was supposed to cure, particularly in my left knee which has taken an intense dislike to fixed firm pose and tree pose. So, today I thought I’d try something different since yoga wisdom is all about dealing with the body you have today.

I realized that my house is really cold and I spend several hours sitting in front of my computer before class so I think my body is taking longer to warm up. I took it really easy during the first several poses today, instead of muscling through and pushing hard the way I usually do. I also took advantage of the double set of postures and relaxed into the first set and pushed harder in the second.

Result: I held standing bow pose for the entirety of the time without falling out. That might be the first time that’s ever happened.

I think I’m at the point where I need to go deeper into some poses and figure out how to widen others. That probably makes sense only to me.