Climbing the Third Stair

Last night I went to a yoga class. I had been taking a yoga class about a year or so ago and mostly enjoyed it but money and time became less plentiful and I dropped it. But recently the co-op I work at made arrangements with the same yoga instructor for employee classes at a reduced fee, so I signed up. Exercise for flexibility is a good thing on general principles, and I've been feeling some tightness and twinges from all the time I spend hunched over a computer, making yoga an even better idea.

About ten minutes into the class I was thinking "This was a really bad idea." After fifteen minutes into the class I was thinking "This was a great idea!" I'm so fickle some days.

This instructor is very good at showing poses and suggesting modifications to meet the limitations of her students. This is very important to me, as I have no spinal flexibility worth talking about. Her biggest drawback, as far as I am concerned, is that like every other yoga instructor I've ever met she's a huge fan of New Age-style stuff. Especially astrology. And since astrology is the non-amusing evil twin of my beloved astronomy, this is extremely painful. Last night she was talking about how the full moon made it difficult to perform poses that demanded balance and I stood there and gritted my teeth. There is no more and no less moon at a full moon than a new one, and that is a fact. And half the moon is always lit up by the sun regardless of whether we see it or not. Astrology is so egotistical it makes my teeth hurt.

On the plus side, this instructor does not attempt to diagnose and prescribe treatment for my respriatory problems (every. single. class.) the way my very first yoga instructor did. I am endlessly grateful for that.

I haven't posted much, because for most of the month I've been occupied with continuous low-grade stress from work or physical pain, and those aren't the kinds of things that send me racing to my journal. But! Something made me happy this evening, so here I am.

This past year I had become worried about the increasing lack of flexibility in my body, so in January I took some of my Christmas money and signed up for a yoga class. Overall I have been enjoying it--the teacher is very low-key and has a way of telling you to do a less-strenuous version of the pose without making you feel like a failure. Which is important, due to my previously mentioned lack of flexibility.

Tonight, however, we did a pose where you bend over and put your hands flat on the floor and I could reach the floor with my fingertips! I was really happy because in the previous weeks I had to use a block to support my hands, because I couldn't bend over enough to reach the floor at all. Later we did the child pose and I was able to lay my forehead on the floor! I would have done something celebratory, but child pose really doesn't allow for things like that. I contented myself with self-congratulations for already having signed up for the next session.

Slow progress is still progress.