Today was 5:30 with Roberta. And it was brutal. It was HOT, humid and TOUGH. I hit the brick wall physically today. I've been doing so well on that front. Feeling strong, making progress on postures. Today I was just a complete and utter mess. Here is my list of woes: Out of nowhere my left knee hurts like crazy. It hurts to lock my knee, and the first 50 mins you are basically locking your knees the whole time! My upper back hurts. Not all of the time, just when I do situps. It felt like little knives poking my upper back during situps. What? That makes no sense to me! My feet are a mess. They don't hurt, they are just rough as all get out from our floor. Oh, and here is another interesting one: I have little tiny callouses on the palms of my hand, where the hand meets the wrist, from locus posture I think and my cuticles are all thick and jacked up from separate leg stretching. You have to get your hands under your feet, so the cuticles are rubbing on that rough floor. If you can get your weight into your toes (which we are supposed to do) then it's not so hard on your fingers, but I'm working on that one. My weight is shifting toward my toes, but I'm not totally there yet. Sometimes I feel like I'll pitch forward and fall out if I'm totally there with the weight on the toes. The last woe: my hamstrings. They hurt from my ass down. I am making huge progress on the forward stretching postures and really getting into those damn hamstrings. And they hurt!
It may sound like I'm complaining about all of this, but really, I'm just "cataloging" it. For future reference. Tonight I was talking about my progress in the postures, the flexibility and grace that is starting to surface that I never thought I'd achieve and I looked at him after I said that and then said "It's actually fun". And I meant it. This 90 minute hot as hell torture class is just that....fun.
So tomorrow I'll bring my sore ass back into that room, lay my mat down, stand calmly, looking at my own two eyes in the mirror and welcome whatever comes next, whether it be more pain or a strong class. I really don't care, because I am.....having fun.
Ohhh, yes, I know these physical woes!! My fingertips/cuticles/top knuckles are chronically torn up by the studio carpet. I don't really know how you get around that, other than, I guess, building up calluses (which doesn't seem to happen, EVER, in my case!).
ReplyDeleteAlthough clearly we have to work through the discomfort and pain, I also think there's still something to be said for taking a class every now and then and really going easy. Maybe focusing much more on precise form than depth, or focusing more on maintaining calm, steady breathing throughout the full 90 minutes.
I think we can still give our bodies a break in this yoga (and need to!!), but sometimes that takes nearly as much effort as going at 110 percent!
Keep up the beautiful struggle! We are all injured this week I think, yes? Well, only the strong survive. Take care of yourself my friend! I am very proud of you!
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