Yoga class
Friday, February 1st, 2008 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
afunaOfficemates invited me to join them for a yoga class. It is the most exhausting way I have ever tried to get relaxed (alternatively, it is the most relaxing way I have tried to get exhausted).
Four major things involved: breathing, stretching, balancing, and contorting your body into painful yet oddly satisfying positions.
We began by doing several variations on the sun salutation, which I can't really remember now, but it involved, in no particular order, a standing fold, a downward-facing dog (?), a chattarunga (sp/terminology?), a triangle pose, a warrior one pose, a warrior two pose, a cobra, a something-else dog(?), an arching of the back and interlacing of the fingers which had no name, and a raising of the hips which had a name but I've forgotten what it was.
After forty-five minutes of this, I was sweating more profusely than if I'd been running on the treadmill. It was easy at first, but around the third or fourth repetition, my body realized that I was basically putting it through slow-motion push-ups, and it began to rebel.
Then there came the balancing, which sounded easy at first, but I couldn't balance on my left leg, couldn't balance on my right leg, couldn't balance on my stomach. I also failed majorly at reaching various parts of my body, i.e, I could reach back for either foot while I was lying on my stomach, but I couldn't reach both feet at the same time. I also couldn't reach over my shoulder with one hand to grab my other hand behind my back. It looked really easy, but when it came down to it, I just couldn't stretch that far.
The instructor started going a bit too fast for me near the end. She'd say something about tucking our left leg in, and then crossing our right knee over our left thigh, and I'd sit there for a few moments, trying to puzzle out what you'd call a cross between your knee and your thigh: a knigh? A thnee? And then she'd tell us to raise our arm in line with our ear, which would be the signal for me to go "oops" and realize I have no idea which way my limbs should now be tangled.
And in the end, after doing shoulder stands (not as acrobatic as it sounds), bicycles, scissors (PAIN), bridges (over troubled waters~), and wheels (over more troubled waters?), we got to my favorite part: lying on the floor of a darkened room, not quite asleep, just sort of drifting.
I think it was the first time I've ever been completely devoid of guilt, and grief, and even happiness, in a long time.
Four major things involved: breathing, stretching, balancing, and contorting your body into painful yet oddly satisfying positions.
We began by doing several variations on the sun salutation, which I can't really remember now, but it involved, in no particular order, a standing fold, a downward-facing dog (?), a chattarunga (sp/terminology?), a triangle pose, a warrior one pose, a warrior two pose, a cobra, a something-else dog(?), an arching of the back and interlacing of the fingers which had no name, and a raising of the hips which had a name but I've forgotten what it was.
After forty-five minutes of this, I was sweating more profusely than if I'd been running on the treadmill. It was easy at first, but around the third or fourth repetition, my body realized that I was basically putting it through slow-motion push-ups, and it began to rebel.
Then there came the balancing, which sounded easy at first, but I couldn't balance on my left leg, couldn't balance on my right leg, couldn't balance on my stomach. I also failed majorly at reaching various parts of my body, i.e, I could reach back for either foot while I was lying on my stomach, but I couldn't reach both feet at the same time. I also couldn't reach over my shoulder with one hand to grab my other hand behind my back. It looked really easy, but when it came down to it, I just couldn't stretch that far.
The instructor started going a bit too fast for me near the end. She'd say something about tucking our left leg in, and then crossing our right knee over our left thigh, and I'd sit there for a few moments, trying to puzzle out what you'd call a cross between your knee and your thigh: a knigh? A thnee? And then she'd tell us to raise our arm in line with our ear, which would be the signal for me to go "oops" and realize I have no idea which way my limbs should now be tangled.
And in the end, after doing shoulder stands (not as acrobatic as it sounds), bicycles, scissors (PAIN), bridges (over troubled waters~), and wheels (over more troubled waters?), we got to my favorite part: lying on the floor of a darkened room, not quite asleep, just sort of drifting.
I think it was the first time I've ever been completely devoid of guilt, and grief, and even happiness, in a long time.
Thanks!!!
Date: 2008-02-01 02:56 pm (UTC)Re: Thanks!!!
Date: 2008-02-01 06:46 pm (UTC)Re: Thanks!!!
Date: 2008-02-02 03:24 am (UTC)I can't believe I don't have your number on my phonebook! :o
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Date: 2008-02-01 04:45 pm (UTC)Oddly that was always easy for me, though I know most people seem to have trouble with it. Great description by the way; makes me want to do some yoga too. I'm way out of practice though.
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Date: 2008-02-01 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 11:04 am (UTC)Oh, that makes me feel a bit better. Everyone else in the class had no problem doing it; I thought I was the only one who couldn't *g*
Go do yoga! *grin* I wonder whether it was the yoga that gave me so much energy last night? I was up until 6am because I just didn't feel tired.
One odd thing, right now I can feel muscles in my neck. I don't think I've ever felt those before :O
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Date: 2008-02-01 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 11:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 03:40 pm (UTC)I'm not actually sure how much I've told you.
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Date: 2008-02-02 03:24 am (UTC)Yoga sounds great. I wonder how much it cost (and where the sessions were held?)
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Date: 2008-02-02 11:06 am (UTC)I took classes in the Strata building in Ortigas. It's 400 pesos a session; don't know how that compares to other places.
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Date: 2008-02-04 02:29 am (UTC)Enjoy! Haha everyone's taking up a healthier lifestyle. :D
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Date: 2008-02-04 02:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-04 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-04 06:13 am (UTC)