Aim True - Day Two

I just finished THIS class.

Develop an Intelligent Core
Vinyasa Flow 
Level 2
Kathryn Budig
Description: A well rounded class focused on developing an intelligent core. Learn how to move efficiently by using the strength and openness at the center of your body.

This class was first posted on YogaGlo on March 8, 2010, and I've never taken it before today! (I have to laugh because I've taken SO many KB classes, but I always avoid anything that says word one about core work. Bring on hip and hamstring openers, even backbends. But core work makes me want to puke, quite literally. Now the inquiry, right? ;)

First and foremost, I know it doesn't seem like much, but actually completing two consecutive days of this challenge is a BIG accomplishment for me. I feel proud of myself and motivated to keep going. This is good.

I tend to over-think and over-analyze most things. My over-thinking and over-analysis doesn't usually result in any progress, though. In fact, it often results in paralysis. I just get overwhelmed by the sheer number of options or things I should and could choose to do in terms of any situation, and I stop. That's why just getting on the mat without thinking is working well for me. I'm not spending tons of time choosing what class I'm going to do, I'm just going in order from the bottom up (kind of like building a yoga pose from the ground up! Woo!) just  like if I actually lived somewhere that I could just show up at a studio at the same time every day and not have any control over the mood of my teacher that day. =)

Yoga practice is so interesting to me. I got on the mat and was so aware that I was petrified about what was going to happen. Would it be too hard? Would it hurt? Would I fail? Yep, there is the key: WOULD I FAIL? That's what was bothering me. It took me a little bit of time to drop into that place where I told  myself to do the best I could - no more and no less - and actually felt at peace with it. It's so funny that I say these kind of things to MY yoga students ALL of the time: "let go of the need to accomplish or achieve anything, and instead meet your body exactly where it is today and honor that place..." and then find myself struggling with the same fears that I'm trying to ease for my students. I feel like I can say and teach these things SO easily, but it's so much harder to hear it for myself.

I was again pleasantly surprised to find that a level 2 KB class from two years ago is pretty close to the level of class I need right now. I hate to say it's easier or less challenging, because I really feel like that is completely subjective. However, the reality is that I am CAPABLE of performing all of the postures she taught in this class, which isn't always true of her current level 2 or level 2/3 classes.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that I did, indeed, feel just a little bit LESS like cement today. At first I was aware of all the places I was sore from yesterday (mainly my core, actually) but as the class started going, I felt like... warm cement as opposed to rock hard cement!! And that actually felt GOOD! There are two places in my body I'm aware of some kind of nagging issue - that right shoulder thing that I blogged quite a bit about in June, 2011, and then the top part of the back of my right leg. I'm not actually sure it has anything to do with my hamstring, either. I think it might be something deeper in my glutes. Ugh. So I need to stay mindful of those spots as I practice.

I may revisit this blog post later and wrap it up better, but for now I need to eat, shower and get to work in 49 minutes.

JAI!
xo