Day 23

8:30 am class with Zeb.

I felt really tired going into class, and it started off poorly.  The first move from a backbend to deep forward bend has been getting harder and harder for me.  And today I reached new levels of stiffness.  My hands went down and at first they could not even scrape the floor.  After doing the hip shuffle for a while, it loosened up some.  Then for the forward bend, I had trouble even standing on my hands from the side.  Zeb corrected this, and I actually somehow got my hands behind my feet for the first time.  And then, as usual, I actually started to loosen up some in the forward bend.  Second set was much more like normal.

Then on to an unusually hard standing series, especially in the balancing series.  With each pose, I just felt a little more tired, and I suppose, a little more sorry for myself.  So by Triangle, I had pretty much decided that I had to go down.  One knee hit the floor, and Zeb said "Duffy, stay with us."  If he had pushed a little harder, I probably would have pushed back and gone down for my worst class ever.  Instead, something about his tone was perfect, and I decided "What the hell, I can always drop later if I have to." 

I went on to do respectable triangles, and got a burst of energy.  I think mostly this was the result of an attitude readjustment.  From that point on, class was just fine.  Two lessons from this:  First, sometimes you really can do more than you think you are able to.  Or, as some teachers like to put it,  your body is alot stronger than your mind thinks it is.  The second lesson is:  Sometimes your teachers know your capabilities better than you do.  After all, why else would I be going to a teacher in the first place.  

All the soreness that I felt yesterday -- neck, shoulders, lower back -- is gone.  That's another thing that's been really amazing about this Yoga.  The cure for minor ailments and stiffness is more yoga.  And the cure brings with it a whole new batch of sore spots to be worked out the next class.  As a result, I'm always a little sore, always discovering new ways to be aware of stuff rearranging, and the soreness is always a novelty.  Nothing in particular has persisted, so its not really worrisome, and its gotten pretty easy to ignore most of it.