One Year Of Yoga

This class went OK. I notice my Vinyasa’s (Upward & Downward Dog Poses) are very strong. I feel that I can do the transition between them correctly now. That means I am getting stronger. It feels good. The instructor was sick today so somebody different led the class. We did the Primary Ashtanga Series.  I’m still scared to do the handstands and headstands.

Before class started, I went to go to the bathroom and experienced an opportunity to practice “being in the moment”.  One of the bathrooms was unlocked and when I opened the door, the woman inside had forgotten to lock it.  Luckily she was just washing her hands.  She said “come in, I’m almost done here”, and I couldn’t think of an excuse to wait outside, so I went in.   She told me about her yoga class that she just finished and how much she liked the teacher.  She was very nice and I was happy to meet her.  The old me would have been hurrying to get back to my mat before class started.  I would not have taken the time to listen and I’d be looking for another bathroom.  Practicing “living in the moment”, I exhaled, cherished the fact that we as humans have the ability to connect with others, and by connecting with this person I would, at most, be a few minutes late to class.  My mat was already in the room, so I could easily sneak in and join class.  As it turned out, I entered just as they were finishing a chant, which I didn’t know anyway.  Good timing!

Great Ashtanga class! Only 5 students, so we each got a lot of individual attention. This doesn’t happen very often. It was great! We attempted some advanced postures that I’ve never done before, which was fun.

Welcome to Mysore-style yoga. This is the real deal, in the Indian city that gave birth to the father of the Ashtanga system of yoga, Pattabhi Jois, who continued to teach into his 90s.

via Attaining yoga bliss in India.

This is a good article about taking yoga classes in India.

Really liked the Ashtanga class. It went and hour and a half and is a great series.  The poses build on each other and you do Vinyasa’s in between each pose.  Took it easy today. I skipped some of the Vinyasa’s.

Ashtanga is what Vinyasa is based on.  The class follows a series of poses.  This is a good class for building upper body strength.  I also noticed my ankles are extremely tight.  Hopefully, I will be able to improve this over the next year!