21 Day Yoga Challenge: Day 4

Nov 01, 13 21 Day Yoga Challenge: Day 4

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I figured out a play-date for my kids and am feeling so excited about being able to do some yoga today before I drive to an event in Stratford for my daughter Sela’s school.  I am excited about having an evening with her.  She called yesterday and said she was free earlier and I could come see her before the event, but I decided to honor my commitment to yoga and myself and keep my yoga date. I get to class right before it starts and find a spot on the floor.  I breathe and lie on my mat and I don’t quite feel like I have enough time before class starts.  I want more time to lie down and breathe.  Class starts in a new way and I realize I don’t know what class I am in.  I keep up through the first poses and I realize I am able to reach my hands behind my thighs in a way I couldn’t even yesterday.  Isn’t that nifty, I think to myself. Then class gets really hard.  I can’t keep up.  I still have no idea what the class is but I am completely intimidated.  I try to do enough to get a work-out but have to spend a fair bit of time on my back on the mat.  The teacher asks me twice if I am okay.  I say yes, and I am, but I am feeling some shame that I can’t keep up.  It is a mild shame–if that makes sense.  The gap between these people and me is so great that it shames me until I get really humble.  I decide I am okay exactly where I am and it is okay that I am on my journey.  I try more poses and actually realize I have done more in this class than in any other class–I am getting better.  Then my shoulders get sore and my knee starts to hurt.  The voice of the teacher from the first day comes...

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21 Day Yoga Challenge: Day 3

Oct 31, 13 21 Day Yoga Challenge: Day 3

Posted by in Fitness

It is my third day of yoga.  I can’t do the 6:30 am class because it is silent yoga and I am sure I am not yet ready for that.  I still have no idea what I am doing or what the sequences are.  I am going to try a 2pm class and will go straight to get the boys afterward.  Not sure if I will have time to shower or not but am glad there is a class that works for me. I get to Moksha  just before class.  “I am running,” I say, as I check in. “You have lots of time,” the woman behind the counter says. “Really?” I ask, surprised “Seven minutes,” she replies. I laugh at my own sense of hurry and how seven minutes can be a lot of time or a little.  I am ready for yoga. The class is full.  I find a place by the door.  I again notice the space under my lower back as I lie down.  I focus on my breathing and after five minutes I feel totally connected to my mat, the floor, the earth.  I do more poses this time and am really enjoying how my body feels outside of yoga.  I am feeling more solid on my legs than I have in a long time.  I wore heels yesterday and felt really comfortable in them.  I am feeling my muscles but am not physically very tired.  Probably because I am mostly still lying on the floor trying to keep from overheating. I am having a dialogue in my head wondering if I am fooling myself by thinking that I am going to yoga, doing a few poses and then lying around on the floor sweating and calling it exercise.  I am trying to still this voice and convince myself that if I want to lie on the floor, it is fine and if I come and continue to show up and  be present, I will be doing more and...

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