One Year Of Yoga

I decided that I was done with my month long hietas from yoga. It was definitely not intentional break. I just realized how much easier it is to do a daily yoga practice when there are lots of studios around you to keep you motivated. From now on, I just need to incorporate more home practicing when there is not a class to go to.
Today I practiced at home and did a Bikram series. It was interesting how much my muscles had stiffened up. In bow pose, I felt this really weird sensation in my hip that was like my leg was about to give out. I came out of the pose for a few seconds and then did it again. The feeling passed, but I think it was tension releasing. Besides not doing yoga for a month, last weekend while trying paddle boarding for the first time, a big wave picked up my board and slammed it on my foot. Ouch! It really hurt, and bruised the top of my foot, causing me to limp around for a few days. I’m guessing this could have added tension in the other hip. Anyway, I’m going to continue with my daily yoga journey. I might have to change the end date to a month later now. One year of yoga equivalency!

Good class. The instructor changed the last two poses which is not really what Bikram teaches, but I think it was good to do. She had us do lizard pose, then splits, then pigeon pose, then final spinal twist. These are all good stretches that I like to do to improve my flexibility. It was a nice flow to do them this way.

It was nice to teach again. I have not taught a class in about 2 years, but it came back to me relatively easy. I only felt stuck once when I almost skipped separate leg stretching pose and started to go into triangle. One of the regular students reminded me and I quickly went back to separate leg stretching. The students were very nice. They all appreciated me teaching the class and did not mind that I felt a little rusty. Maui is very laid back. A little different than the mainland. Anyway, I will be happy to sub for the studio again.

Today I went back to the Yoga and Kick-boxing Studio, to get more of a feel of it before I teach on Saturday. Yikes! I’m a little nervous about it since I have not taught in a while. It should be fun though. The class today seemed to move well and I really pushed myself in the poses. It felt good to sweat!

Today I found a new studio in Kihei. This one said it had Bikram classes online, but it was not on the Bikram website, so I went not sure of what I would find. It was only a 15 minute drive which is much better than driving to Kahului. The studio is a Yoga and Kick-boxing studio and apparently the guy who teaches the kick-boxing was a Champion. His partner is a Bikram yoga teacher from Long Island. She had several Bikram studio’s there. The inside was painted blue with dolphins and there’s a Shiva painted on the wall as well. They let yoga music continue to play when they started the class and the kick-boxer James, inserted a couple yoga poses he wanted everyone to do. It was a fun class and after it was done I told the owner I was a certified Bikram teacher and I just moved back. She said, “I had been praying for you this week. I need someone to teach on Saturday.” How could I refuse when someone puts it like that? I will be teaching a class here on Saturday morning.