8/16/2010

Heat Wave

With the summer heat, I was super hesitant about practicing this morning. Yesterday consisted of me, a fan, and a couch. It was too hot to move. On the plus side, I drank a ton of water and nurtured myself. The past week has not been about well-being. It has been about pushing my personal boundaries to places I didn't want to go. Too much alcohol and to many pills.

The night time brings cooler air so I sucked it up and went to the 10AM.

Whenever Michelle teaches my classes, I have a good one. It is never too hot with her. She doesn't push us too hard to go somewhere new but instead has a true gift of guiding us to look honestly at ourselves and try.

Wise words from Michelle today, "If you get anxiety, imagine someone just walks up to you and slaps you across the face. Let it go." I honestly don't know where that comment came from but the next time my boundaries are being pushed somewhere I don't want them to go. I will visualize the slap!

Janushirasana with Paschimotthanasana is a constant source of adjustment and uncertainty for me. In gymnastics I held a variation of Janushirasana for minutes at at time on each leg every day. I believe that has caused my body to align in such a way that the correct expression of the posture in Yoga is very difficult for my body to re-learn. Therefore when I reach for my left or right foot, my torso twists, and the instructors are constantly correcting me but I feel like a fish out of water not quite sure where my body should be going. I am getting the compression part correctly I think. Flexibility is not the problem but alignment is. I can't seem to get out of my mind/body to see myself in this posture and progress is difficult.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing your Bikram experience! Very cool stuff.

Rachel Koontz said...

I totally know what you mean about the heat -- it definitely intimidates me sometimes. And then there are days where outside feels hotter than the Hot Room itself ha!

Michelle sounds like a cool teacher. I like the ones that are inspiring but forgiving as well. I'll be thinking re-aligning thoughts for you, and keep up the good work! (in the yoga, and on your blog!)

yogeekirsten said...

Thank you for the positive thoughts. Today I was able to touch my elbows to the ground there... so maybe it worked!

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