Aummm...urrrgh...ow...ow...ow...

The last couple of days I continued on my quest to be a bendy, flexible triathlete. I am LOVING this yoga place!

On Wednesday I did the yoga flow class, which was wonderfully relaxing. The teacher was so peaceful and calm, one couldn't help but feel the peace in the room. There were some challenging moves, but most of it was more for stretching out the old bod. Man, can I ever feel how darned tight my shoulders, back, hips and hammies are! No wonder I can't interlock body parts!

One thing I loved that the teacher would say was 'let your heart shine' when we were to turn our chest towards the wall or something. What a beautiful thought! I was very relaxed in this class, even with a Darth Vader breathing behind me.

Yes, I realize this is the proper technique of breathing...but I find it a wee bit distracting in class. However, I also believe that part of learning yoga is learning to meditate and block out all other distractions going on. So carry on Darth!

Today's class was the opposite of relaxing. Holy hannah banana, talk about tough! The class was called 'Strength and Soul'. As my body participated in the strength part, my soul was screaming for mercy. That said, I LOVED this class! Okay, I so far I have loved every class...but they are just so good. And yes, I'm a sucker for pain.

This one was all about strength. Example - holding a plank position straight armed (good thing we had our wee challenge a while ago) then bending the arms halfway, holding, then going further down till we were one inch off the floor, holding, then back to normal plank, then repeating this session three times. My entire body was shaking. I am so going to have triceps like Desiree Ficker at the end of all this!!

We also did a lot of warrior poses where we were using our core strength to lift our upper bodies off our bent knees. The biggest things I noticed here were that my hip flexors are big time locked up and when they are compressed in that position they complain. A lot. Needless to say I became a Darth Vader as I tried desperately to focus on something other than the pain and shaking. BREATHE SUSE, BREATHE!!! The other thing I noticed was my plantar fascia was tightening as my toes and foot desperately tried to cling to the pose and my little yoga mat.

Oh, then we got into a tree pose where we held that, then brought our leg behind us, then out in front - without putting our foot down. Did I mention our arms were moving around throughout all this?! The foot planted on the mat was once again gripping at the floor. She would mention something about keeping the glutes relaxed. Riiiiight. My arse cheeks felt like they had two hands grabbing at them they were clenched so tight!

My soul started to whimper about now.

Some may think, 'Why the heck are you continuing on with this??' I happen to think, rather, I instinctively know that this is going to help me immensly with my progression in triathlon. These classes are showing me just how tight things are. If I keep them that way, problems are going to start cropping up. So I'm going to stick with it. I will become bendy and flexible dammit! Even if it's the last thing I do! (I'm now picturing myself collapsed on a yoga mat breathing my last Darth breath...)

The teacher today was pretty funny too. There was once I was thinking 'Holy Pete I don't think I can hold this pose any longer...I then went into a whole body shake' That's when she started talking about challenges in life and if you don't keep holding on and facing those challenges, then you won't get stronger. Dang! Well I can't give up now.

I had to admit though, it wasn't a bad philosophy! I think she did have a touch of sadism in her though...which I can appreciate. We were doing some core, leg lifts and as she walked by one quivering fellow she said in a peaceful calm yogi voice, 'Smile, not grimace.' Heh heh. Sucka!!

Things were still quivering on me after class - mainly my hip flexors, arse and core. I accept the challenge of Mondays and Thursdays classes though! Wish me luck!

Peace out my friends!