Move365

Had an excellent yoga class today. It was with a teacher I’d taken a couple of classes from previously, but today she seemed to be offering more challenging options for those more advanced in their practice. I know that taking classes at a gym rather than a studio means that the classes are generally going to be pretty basic, but I had been a bit bored by many of the instructors that I’d tried lately. Barely even breaking a sweat, not really feeling challenged or growing my practice. I know there are more advanced modifications that you can make to many poses, I tried that on Tuesday and the teacher came by and said I might be more comfortable if I put my back knee down. I was like “…no, I’m good, thanks!” (It was in lizard pose.)

Anyway, this class was good, it made me work, sweat, my muscles shook and burned, and that’s how my practice improves! We did a ton of work flowing through crescent lunge, twists, half moons, warrior 3, etc. She gave us a few free minutes before savasana to practice whatever inversions that we wanted. I drug my mat against the wall and did my “teddy bear” headstand, then practiced toward a forearm balance. I am just to the point where I am testing kicking one leg up at a time and floating down. She saw me and asked if I wanted help. I thought she might be able to spot me so I could do it against the wall. She guided me on kicking up, but after the challenging practice, my muscles were tired and I totally faceplanted. Haha! She was like, yeah, your muscles are spent! And she said that next week she could help me practice inversions before class, before I’m so tired! That was really sweet of her. I might just take her up on it!