Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wall Walking

Tonight was 6pm with Frank. There were a ton of new students. Teenagers from a local modeling/talent agency. Greg (Big G from "Another Version of the Truth") showed up to take class because he was running late and couldn't make the 5 at his home studio. I was very happy to see him. Sitting around with my yoga bff's and all of the regulars before class, I found myself wishing Greg could always be a part of our group. His enthusiasm for Bikram is engaging...it reminds me of being in my first year. Now, three years in, my passion is still there, but the intensity of it is not always what it used to be. I guess me and Bikram are settling into a routine, sort of like an old married couple.
Before class, Greg went into the room to do some wall walking. I didn't go in until 5 til. When I arrived in the room he motioned me over to try it. For those of you who don't know what wall walking is, you basically stand in front of a wall, about arms length away and you do a backbend until your hands touch the wall, and then you start walking down the wall until you are in wheel. I'll be honest, this scares the crap out of me. All I can picture is me landing on my head. I guess I don't trust my own body to walk down that wall. I tried it anyway. Of course I wasn't going to attempt to walk down into wheel, but I thought I would at least do the bandbend, touch my hands and see what that felt like. It was scary and exhilarating all at once. I went over to kneel on my mat to wait for class to begin, thinking about wall walking. Imagining that someday I could walk all the way down into wheel. Sort of like "I will touch my forehead to my toes" someday (this is doubtful, but I keep thinking positive!).
Class started and Frank came in, full of his usual energy and spunk. He was awesome with the new kids. Half of them didn't want to be there (it was an assignment they had to do) so he joked around with them and made them feel comfortable. Greg, Mark and I lined up in the front row and fed off each others energy. Greg's dedication is really showing. His postures are strong and he has passed me up in many areas. So even though I've been doing yoga for three years, I see where I could start pushing myself harder. Greg really works at these postures, every day, full force. Me, well, sometimes I know where I can just "hang out" in the posture and cruise through class. Uh Oh! I guess I just called myself out!

5 comments:

  1. Wall Walking! I should try that one day.
    Good for you for calling yourself out. Sometimes that's what you need to push yourself a little bit more.

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  2. Yay for wall walking! I'm telling, just try to go a little bit further each day, you'll get there! It's 90% mental anyways...

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  3. Oooh! Wall walking! So exciting. I used to do that often in Ashtanga. I never got to the point where it was totally anxiety-free, but it does get better. Good for you! Go past the fear.

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  4. wall walking is awesome! it doesn't matter how far you go down, just trying to push yourself a little farther and seeing where you find yourself is exhilaration at its best!
    so much about wall walking comes down to one thing: trust. it's a process... but it feels SO incredible.

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  5. Excuse me while I go google "wall walking"...

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