Aim True - Day 6

Today I practiced this class.

Quick Flow & Go
Vinyasa Flow
Level 2/3
Kathryn Budig


Don't have time? Yes you do! This 20 minute flow leads us through constant movement with balances poses such as eagle, standing splits and tree/half standing lotus. Make the most out of your time and dive in. 

Originally posted on October 15, 2011, never taken before today.

6/84 classes complete.
3/6 I had taken at least once before.

This is a no-joke 20 minutes, and this is truly a level 2/3 class. It goes VERY fast, and I didn't even try to keep up. Maybe I'm little spooked by the NYT article, but I feel like I really need to pay serious attention to my body as I practice right now, and that means slowing down a little bit. I don't have a problem taking a level 2/3 class and skipping a few vinyasas (just staying in downdog, or meeting in the final downdog of the vinyasa because I didn't want to get out of my forward fold that fast) or not taking the advanced cues (no, I will not be jumping back to chaturanga whilst in tree pose today, thank you.)

I'm harping on this right now, in my teaching and my practice, but it's worth harping on: we all have responsibility for our own body. The end. Just because the yoga/pilates/spinning/zumba teacher SAYS to do something doesn't mean you're a failure if you don't do it. That teacher isn't in your body. I learned this the hard way two years ago when I seriously injured myself in a spinning class. We were going up and down really fast while pedaling very quickly on a lower level of resistance. I knew it felt too fast for me, and I knew this was something my other spinning teacher had mentioned in passing NOT to do, but the teacher was right across from me, the room was full of people, and I didn't want to look weak. The next thing I knew I came down hard on the seat with my legs in a strange position because we were being told to pedal as FAST as we could (it felt frantic, and, in yoga terms, pretty mindless) and I felt my right hip and lower back compress. It was AWFUL.

Not wanting to admit defeat, I somehow made it though that class, but it was about two months before I could do any exercise again. I found out almost a year later, during a Positional Therapy appointment at Kripalu, that I had jammed my right hip up with so much force that it was actually almost an inch out of alignment and my left leg was measuring almost an inch LONGER than my right because of it. The positional therapist realigned my hips and all has been well since, but I'm MUCH more brazen about doing what I need to do in any type of fitness class and NOT trying to impress the teacher/other students/myself by pushing past something that I know in my gut is wrong for me to do.

This was a great class for me today, though, because I didn't have time for a full hour, but needed to get at least a little bit of sweat going for my sanity. =) I feel better after taking the class than I did before, and that's what matters most, at least today. Remember, you can do ANY yoga class you want and stay safe as long as you take the modifications that feel right in your body.

Day six is done!