Re-Yoga

I have been dancing a lot lately, a little too much, that I neglect my yoga practice. I used to do yoga at least 12 hours a week, but that has been reduced to a pathetic 3 hours. And, out of these, 2 hours is actually Body Balance. That means only 1 hour devoted to yoga entirely. All because of the excitement I get from dancing!

Last night, after my thigh-torturing yoga class, a friend invited me to join 'Hip Hop'. Thanks to the Street Jazz and Hip Hop intro on Saturday, I decided to try – only to confirm that this genre is not for me. In my frustration, I didn't realize that I agreed to join my friend to another yoga class.  The instructor is a nice lady with killer yoga move!  I joined her class before, and I would get out of her class trembling most of the time.  She pushes you out if your comfort zone, with no chance to cheat.  So your muscles and joints really work the way they should.  That’s actually a good thing – you can improve quickly with less risk of injury, but for a slacker like me… oh well…

So I joined that yoga class last night, and I’m glad I did!  It has been so long since I achieved anything, but I managed to get into 2 poses!  I have always wanted to do the Camel pose – where you kneel and reach for your heels, which are waaaaayyyyy at the back.  I have always cheated by putting my palms on my heels first, and then push myself upwards.  The end result is the same, but I always felt this pinching on my back afterwards.  Last night, I got to learn the correct technique, and voila, I managed to reach for my heels without cheating!  Most importantly, no lower back pain - weeeheee!  I was still excited from the achievement when the instructor asked us to do the Open-Legged Forward Fold.  I did, but could only lower my torso halfway towards the floor.  I was fine with that, since that’s how low I always go.  But apparently the instructor thought I could do better so she helped to adjust my legs and spine alignment.  Before I even realized what she was doing, I felt the floor on my chest and cheek!  Okay, it’s actually the other way around, but you get the point.  Point is I got down so low!  So another yeay!

I wonder now, what else I can achieve that I thought I could never do?