Double the Fun!!

Ever felt like you wanted to slap a pregnant woman? No? Clearly you haven't taken Vicki's class lately :P

Let's start at the beginning. Doing yoga every day is really starting to get to me. I thought by now I would be dreading going every day, but the opposite is true. Every day I'm excited about going. I woke this morning thinking about yoga, wondering what Ashley's class was going to be like and how it would be different from Kate's Vinyasa class. Also a little anxious for sneaking over to the studio at lunchtime - I felt like a teenager ditching school.

I'm pretty sure I was one of the people who told Vicki that having an hour long class at noon would be a good idea, so I thought it was time I stepped up and went. Having a little yoga break in the middle of the day seemed like a great idea!

Of course I arrived right at noon, and had to hurry to get into the room. I work off of Maine Street, and it shouldn't have taken me as long as it did to rush over to Stanwood St. I hurriedly changed and got into the room, with a quick introduction to Ashley and assurance that I knew kind of what Vinyasa was about. More or less I was right. I'm pretty sure I had done every pose that we did in class today before.

The hour really flew by! I was sweating plenty and moving fairly quickly through postures. I was not the only one having my first class with Ashley, so I think it was good that she would pause now and then to see how we were all doing, and that she went through everything with us. It was definitely a great core workout if you're looking to make your abs more solid!

The only downside was I had to rush back to work as my lunch hour was up. I planned ahead and took a shortened lunch last Wednesday so I would have 1.5 hours to complete my yoga journey this morning. As I was heading out the door Vicki said, "So will I see you tonight?" I really hadn't planned on doubling up today, but the way she said it made it seem like a good idea.

So after work I again headed over to the studio and geared up for yoga-ing. I thought I had brought 2 changes of clothes with me just in case, but I only had a clean top and had to throw back on my sweaty pants. And pants proved to be a terrible idea as it was a super hot class!

I'm not sure if it was the heat or the warm up I had 4 hours earlier, but I was definitely very bendy today! It was excellent! I even had standing bow going pretty well for a few solid seconds. I'm getting better at holding it steady at the "halfway" point, and then stretching up further bit by bit.

Triangle was super hard today, as I was super sweaty and engaging my inner thighs was making my whole body shake. At that point I wasn't sure if the humidity was making it hazy in the room or if my vision was starting to get blurry. Who really knows. The important thing was that I kept going (albeit a little slower than I was before, perhaps a bit less deep). When we got to tree and toe stand, I knew toe stand just wasn't gonna happen today, and that's ok. As sweat was pouring down my elbow and landing on my thigh, Vicki pointed out my "arm waterfall" and chirped, "Isn't it great?? The humidity is perfect today!" As I struggled to maintain my breath through my nose and not chew the thick air, I kind of wanted to slap her. Especially since it was her happy tone saying, "Will I see you tonight?" that got me into this in the first place. My shirt and pants were clinging to me, my stomach felt like it was suffocating and I had to pull up the bottom of my shirt. Sorry to all the folks that had to see my tummy today, but you're supposed to be only looking at yourself in the mirror anyway :P

When we started the floor series, I really just wanted to give up. But I didn't, and I actually did much better in floor bow, full locust, and the spine twist than I usually do! All of the other floor exercises went just fine too. I've never been so happy to have a class end though. It was consistently hot and steamy the whole way through, there was no cooling down as you laid on the floor.

As I write this, I'm tired, I'm sore, and I'm really happy I did the double dose of yoga today. I was definitely much more limber in the second class. I left the first class super hungry, but after eating my lunch I really wasn't too peckish through the afternoon like I usually am. Perhaps because I was drinking water preparing for class #2.

The evening class was easily one of the hardest classes I've been to yet, and still I left smiling and ready to come back again tomorrow! I know i heard a few groans in the room (and yes, once or twice it was me), but I hope everyone else who was there tonight feels the same way.