My intent for this blog is to focus primarily upon reading and yoga, so I figure I should offer up something on yoga. Let me start by saying that I have a hard time talking about myself–specifically positive accomplishments. So, I decided to start my yoga writing with a challenge: by discussing one of my breakthroughs. Freshest in my mind is my most recent accomplishment: I saw my feet in bow pose! Let me set the scene for you: I taught the 4:30 and the 6:30 classes and the only reason I stayed to take the 8:15 was because I was there. Seriously. Teaching a double at the end of the day leaves me wiped, and obligation is the only thing that keeps me going past bedtime.
It was a rougher than usual class, especially since you can always count on the 8:15’s to be slightly more humid. I slogged through the standing series, fell out of everything, tried not to fall asleep when I got to savasana and continued through the spine strengthening series. I kicked up into my usual first set of bow, and since it felt really nice the first set, I kicked a little harder the second set. Then, out of nowhere, I caught sight of something in my peripheral vision. Wait…could it be?! Right when I realized it was possibly my foot – the posture was over.
Quickly I looked up and around the room to see if there was a bird or something new hanging from the ceiling. The rest of class I couldn’t decide if I saw my foot or I hallucinated. After class I immediately tried it again, but wiggle my toe this time – I saw it wiggle! Holy crap, you’d have thought I’d never seen my feet before! Upon entering the lobby, I told teacher friend about my accomplishment and she said, “Why didn’t you stop class – I would have announced it!” The hubby’s response later that evening was slightly less satisfying, “Oh, that’s nice honey.”
I suppose that unless you are practicing yoga on a regular basis it is hard for people to understand the level of accomplishment you feel when achieving a stage of a posture. If you tell someone you ran a 7 minute mile (not that I do), they can understand that, and have a better appreciation of it, than when you tell them you saw your feet. (My Dad’s response was, “Oh, I’m looking at my feet AND I’m on the phone.”)
I have fallen in love with the backbends of Bikram yoga. They are the postures that I love to practice more than any other. These are postures that, for me, I have seen more progress in than others (progress helps with liking, even in yoga!). After about a year and a half of practicing yoga, side-bends are still difficult and my hips are slowly opening and my shoulders are opening up even slower. My balance? Don’t ask. So when I reached what I consider to be a major progress point, I was ready to sing it from the mountain.
Intellectually, I’m also very intrigued by the concept of healing the spine through backbends. This is a concept I have heard so much about through senior teachers, and read a little about (it’s actually kind of hard to find good solid information that isn’t anecdotal). However, I do have the proof of my back, and how good it feels. There is something about seeing someone in a full wheel, and part of me still thinks “that can’t be right,” and the other part thinks “I want to do that!” I’m sure at some point I will do that. Again, after only a year and a half I’m really amazed at how far I’ve come in my practice, by doing just 4 – 5 days a week, plus maintaining other activities like running, biking, etc. I’m feeling very proud of myself in a way that I never have before, and still feel a little uncomfortable about it – hence my apprehension over writing about this. But a big part of yoga is getting out of your comfort zone, and being okay with yourself and appreciating yourself. So, I suppose in writing this, I’m still practicing my yoga!
Backbends and Bookends 