Saturday, September 27, 2008

95/101 Breathing and Pacing

Fri. 4:30pm with Margaux

Like most of the "discoveries" I've been making, its something that was there before me all along.  From the very start we are told to get control of our breathing.  If you need to breathe through the mouth, you start to activate the fight or flight response.  This in turn sends adrenaline rushing through your body, and it will take a while to recover from that.  So, if that happens, just take a knee.

The flip side of this thought is:  if you are capable of breathing normally through your nose, then you are good to go.  There's no midway.  Either you can do things right, or you shouldn't be doing them at all.  At least that's the way I'm thinking about it now.

Class was very good again.  Not as great as yesterday, but still strong.  I made it through both sets of Standing Head to Knee without falling out, and I'm even starting to think about locking out the lifted leg on the right.  Standing Bow was fine, even if I did fall out a couple of times.

I couldn't hold Locust today.  I'm not sure what it is, but Margaux's gentle delivery of the dialogue gets in the way of the amount of sheer energy and will I have to put into the third part of Locust.  I still have to get myself really psyched up to get into this.  And especially if I'm in danger of spitting up.  So, on this pose, the meditative feel of the class does not help me.  (Of course, my balancing poses often seem better in these classes, so its a mixed bag.)  

My knee was better today.  Third part of awkward pose was not quite so lopsided as it has been recently.  Same for Japanese Sitting positions.  And I almost got my hips to the floor in Fixed Firm.  I'm still probably a ways from being completely healed, but it seems like there is some progress.


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