Day 47

4:30 pm with Zeb.

It was a very strong class this afternoon.  Today was one of those days when the hardest thing was just showing up.  In some ways, things would be much simpler if the studio had a regular schedule.  Then I could just decide on a time and go.  But in the end, I think I like the variability better.  It seems to ensure that there will be perpetual surprise.

My soreness, at least temporarily, is not so bad.  Today I only felt a little bit limited in a couple of poses -- most notably the left side of Standing Bow Pulling, and the left side stretch at the end.  And my right arch cramped up a little bit in Camel again, but once my hand went to my foot, I could massage it with my thumb and hold the pose.

Otherwise, I felt loose, strong, and energetic.  I'm not even getting exhausted in Triangle now.  I think something may have opened in my hips, and it makes it easier for me to hold the pose with a full 90 degree bend in my knee.  This has a big effect later.  If Triangle doesn't wipe me out, then it seems that my chances of spitting up in the back strengthening series goes down. 

It's amazing  the interconnections between the different poses.  It's not just a matter of how tired I am at any point.  It seems that how well I concentrate on, say, Seperate Leg Head to Knee will later have an impact on Half Tortoise, Rabbit, and the final Stretches.  I would have thought that the series might become boring doing it every day.  Instead, I'm learning more and more about the individual poses, and how incredibly well thought out the series is.  In some ways, I think concentrating so much energy and attention through the challenge has made the class more interesting.

My guess is that the series would more likely grow boring to the casual participant.  A few times a week only, and the series might start seeming like the same old thing.  And I suspect that boredom would tend to creep up on people who don't throw themselves into the intensity of the exercise.  It's hard for me to imagine anything this intense actually becoming boring.   (Thomas Hardy said something to the effect that there are no dull towns, only dull people.  His point was that dullness, or boredom, is more a predisposition for certain kinds of people, and that interesting people tend to find their surroundings interesting, whatever they are.  This idea fits very nicely with the idea that the world of a happy man is different from the world of an unhappy man.)  I hope I feel the same keenness of interest in this yoga in a few years.