Some days are hard, I know, but don't think too much about it and just go

As I had been sick for a full week I had missed a week's worth of practice.  The following week, Monday, I told myself that I would make it to practice, that Monday I did not make it to practice, the same had happened on Tuesday as well.  

Sometimes, a lot of the time, it can be hard to get back into practice when you had missed such a long period of it.  Finally on Thursday I made it into the studio, it was a gloomy day and it had been raining earlier on, the first rain since Summer, there was a tiredness in the air, a stillness, an uneasiness that I can tell was felt by most, the students were unusually quiet.  I was significantly tired and my usual enthusiasm to be attending practice was not with me this day, it reminded me of my teenage days in high-school, getting up early in the morning to spend all day at an institution that I quite frankly, did not like.

As always, practice started on time and with my first Vinyasa I immediately began to feel better, I remembered why I love Yoga so much, my enthusiasm came back immediately, and I felt... I thought to myself, 'I'm really glad I came today'.

some days are hard, I know, but on these days you just have to go because when you finally get to class and begin your practice you will feel better.

It's Not a Competition!

I love to tell people "I"m always up for a challenge!"  When it's suitable for me to say that is.  And I truly am a person that is always up for a challenge, perhaps it is the competitiveness in me that makes it so or maybe it's the fact that I love the feeling of persevering through something difficult and coming out in the end with the proud feeling that I didn't stand down, which in a sense would make me masochistic- but lets leave that subject for another blog entirely.

I took a Vinyasa Flow class just recently, and found the Yogi's teaching style to be more geared towards toning and balance rather than relaxation or flexibility as some other classes are.  This particular practice proved to be the most difficult yoga practice I've had since starting, and of course "I'm always up for a challenge!"  There were a lot of tiring toning exercises and difficult balancing postures I had to Child Pose my way through but "I'm always up for a challenge!"  So naturally, if there is a pose that I even think I can possibly do- I try.

"Reverse Prayer Pose" the Yogi instructor announced, the students stood in mountain posture and took the  Reverse Prayer Pose, as did I.

In the midst of putting myself into the Reverse Prayer Pose I felt an instant burning and then a blast of pain go through my shoulders which had me doubled over holding my shoulders in an instant.  I quietly walked out of the classroom as best as I could without giving way to the embarrassment that I could not even do a Reverse Prayer.  I sat myself down on the bench in the women's dressing room, my hearing was going out, my vision darkening, nausea took hold of me and still my shoulders were in pain.  I put my head between my legs and breathed it out.

For 5-minutes I sat in the dressing room taking my time to have my shoulders feel better and myself as well.  The thought about not going back to practice crossed my mind, the pain had been excruciating but thankfully it was gone now.  I got up and went back into the practice.

The lesson I learned that day was, it is great to want to overcome a challenge, however one must know their limits.  While some forms of yoga can be easy for others it can very well be hard for some.  I've heard a Yogi say in class once, "don't push yourself too hard, do what you can", I believe that day I pushed myself too hard, in my quest to face a challenge I became competitive with myself and my abilities.  

And so I leave here saying to you what once the wise Yogi said, "don't push yourself too hard, do what you can" after all, it's not a competition.

Mixing it up to my benefit

If you are practicing yoga at the studio 3x or more a week then you probably pay a flat rate and are welcome to any of the classes any of the time, this is also the plan I am currently on.  So I find myself attending all sorts of classes, level 1, level 2, Ashtanga, Restoratives, Iyengar, Viniyoga, all of which I find to be helpful depending on what my situation is for that week.  

The freedom to attend any of the classes at any time has been a great benefit to me, on weeks where relaxation is a must I find myself taking more level 1 and restorative classes, during weeks when I'm full of energy and want to push myself I go for the Ashtanga and level 2 classes.  

The truth of the matter is, no matter how great it feels to Yoga it up one can get bored and burned out by taking the same classes, therefore, mix it up, what does your body and mind tell you it needs today?