As my official calendar is at home I'm not entirely sure what number class I'm on...but I'm pretty sure it's either 94 or 95. Either way, I'm gonna make it!! Strangely enough, the end of this challenge isn't that important to me, mainly because daily practice is such a habit now that I don't really think much will change when I officially cross into triple digits. Last week was a bit of a challenge as I was out of town one day and well, out to dinner one day (can't miss out on restaurant week, right?) so I had to do doubles twice this weekend to stay on track. It was also a stressful week for a variety of reasons and I just remember feeling this overwhelming sense of peace and freedom during the savasanas in my wednesday class that was remarkable. The 4:30/6:30 double on Friday was a challenge. I may have backed out on the 6:30 class if I had a choice, but seeing as my ride wasn't coming till 8 I really didn't , and I'm glad. It's always humbling to have classes where I struggle and have to sit out a pose or two. The second class really caught up with me around the end of the spine strengthening series. Seriously though...I sweat more during the second class than the first. There was pretty much a stream of sweat dripping from my elbows by the end of eagle pose...oh well, that's what I signed up for!
Saturday morning was a STIFF practice for me after the challenging day on Friday but I was glad to fit one in because I knew this week would be BUSY with volleyball starting after school. It was entertaining talking to an older woman about yoga at a baby shower I went to on Saturday, popular consensus says that Bikram is CRAZY. Sunday was choc-full of yoga because our studio was hosting Esak Garcia, a previous world asana champion, for a posture clinic and class. I can't say enough kind words about this man and his expertise. It was a great experience for me as I'm really getting into this yoga but have had very little education/corrective instruction. What impressed me most about him was that he was humble and down to earth despite being one of the best yogis alive. Lets see...as for specifics that I took away from the clinic- he really emphasized the importance of 80/20 breathing which I have never really payed attention to, engaging abdomen to provide resistance during pranyama, engaging certain leg/foot muscles in standing head to knee and chin position in standing bow and triangle. He would basically talk about a posture then get us all to do it and pick out a few people to correct as examples.
To me, his most interesting point was upper thorastic backbending as opposed to only focusing on your lumbar spine. He taught us about engaging rhomboid muscles and really focusing on driving our arms backwards before our lower spine. He also had dry erase markers and pointed things out on pictures/drew diagrams on the mirrors to help illustrate.
Needless to say, his class was PACKED and humid to the max. All day, there were tons of teachers from the Cville studio obviously, but also from Richmond and Lynchburg. They were amazing and specifically one male/female duo from Richmond had AMAZING practices and he cited them as examples when they were going beyond the basic beginner postures in class. I read online (yogadork....busteddd) that the male recently placed first in VA for the asana competition and the female placed 4th. So inspirational! Despite the abnormal heat/classroom conditions it went by really quickly and his class was excellent. Specifically I liked how he encouraged people to stay in certain balancing poses till they fell out if they were having a good set as opposed to a set end point for everyone. Sometimes it's frustrating to hit your stride right as it's time to change.
The day was inspiring enough that it helped me wake up at 530am to make it to the 615 class before work this morning. It was a really relaxed class and once I got there I really enjoyed it. I was stiff/sore at the beginning of class but completely comfortable by the end. As opposed to prying my eyes open at work on a monday morning, I was bouncing around the hallways when I first got here. Less than a week to go! I'll post again to reflect on some of the changes and HOPEFULLY get my camera back in time to take some "after" posture pics to post the differences.
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