Almost there!
Almost There!
I know I have made improvements - I can do Fish without a block under my head, I can reach the floor with my Supine Twists, I can reach further with banded leg twists and raises and rest both arms on the floor in Dragon. I am able to look up which used to be when I often lost balance. Some poses I just don't have the confidence to even attempt like Wheel - other poses I always seem to take the safe option because I feel a bit silly and I don't want to hurt myself - I do Waterfall rather than Shoulder Stand.
Rach growled one time when I grabbed my block to do Waterfall so I tried a Shoulder Stand. I have continued to practise it but more often than not I do it at the gym where I can look at the mirror to see what I look like. I needed the push!
When Blair stretches my legs at the end of some sessions, he says I am more flexible than a lot of people. When I said I didn't feel like it when I am at a yoga class, he said it was probably the population of the class. I think it would be true!
Having one of my legs longer than the other (I spent my childhood wearing build ups on my left shoe and now wear orthotics), while only a few centimeters, must play a part in my balance and flexibility. My poor old shorter left leg struggles but I did find that it was easier to lift my left leg up for Tree pose! Also yoga classes are done in bare feet so I am always a bit wonky!
Having one of my legs longer than the other (I spent my childhood wearing build ups on my left shoe and now wear orthotics), while only a few centimeters, must play a part in my balance and flexibility. My poor old shorter left leg struggles but I did find that it was easier to lift my left leg up for Tree pose! Also yoga classes are done in bare feet so I am always a bit wonky!
While I can't do a few of the extension poses, I do feel more confident at the classes. I don't get as many call outs to change something from the teacher and actually get some positive comments.
Crow pose frustrated me - I just couldn't do it during class - they would only spend a very short time on it then onto the next. Rach said it was so the people who can do it don't have to stay in it very long. But I would just be setting myself up and attempting it and they would be on to the next! The day I did it, was balancing up in it, sent endorphines through me like I had won a race! The teacher went on to the next pose and I just stayed up in it! No one noticed it but me!!
Tree pose also frustrated me - why could I not keep my right leg up to my thigh?? It is the longer leg but not by much and surely the action is the same?? I was tilting pelvis, engaging core and thigh, shoulders back, gaze up but would end up reverting to holding it against my calf so when I finally achieved it I was super stoked!
Lifting my arm up while in Pigeon pose with a bind was another pose that had stumped me for a long time. People all around me were doing it and I couldn't figure out how they could as I was using my one arm to balance while the other was holding the bind with my leg. How could I stay up if I took my hand away? I knew it must be balance and engaging core, internal rotation of the thigh, pulling shoulder blades onto my back, grishgy gaze, skin to muscle to bone! - because that is everything in yoga! I tried it at the gym, and after falling out of it quite a few times, I did it - there goes those endorphins again!!
It is a challenge for me: when I go to the gym I know I can lift heavier weights and run faster for longer by determination and hard work but changing the flexibility of my body is a long slow process. I know it is so good for me and has definitely kept me relatively injury free expecially during hockey.
Crow pose frustrated me - I just couldn't do it during class - they would only spend a very short time on it then onto the next. Rach said it was so the people who can do it don't have to stay in it very long. But I would just be setting myself up and attempting it and they would be on to the next! The day I did it, was balancing up in it, sent endorphines through me like I had won a race! The teacher went on to the next pose and I just stayed up in it! No one noticed it but me!!
Tree pose also frustrated me - why could I not keep my right leg up to my thigh?? It is the longer leg but not by much and surely the action is the same?? I was tilting pelvis, engaging core and thigh, shoulders back, gaze up but would end up reverting to holding it against my calf so when I finally achieved it I was super stoked!
Lifting my arm up while in Pigeon pose with a bind was another pose that had stumped me for a long time. People all around me were doing it and I couldn't figure out how they could as I was using my one arm to balance while the other was holding the bind with my leg. How could I stay up if I took my hand away? I knew it must be balance and engaging core, internal rotation of the thigh, pulling shoulder blades onto my back, grishgy gaze, skin to muscle to bone! - because that is everything in yoga! I tried it at the gym, and after falling out of it quite a few times, I did it - there goes those endorphins again!!
It is a challenge for me: when I go to the gym I know I can lift heavier weights and run faster for longer by determination and hard work but changing the flexibility of my body is a long slow process. I know it is so good for me and has definitely kept me relatively injury free expecially during hockey.
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