My Week in Yoga: Beautifully Balanced

This week I struck an unintentionally good balance between classes and properly centered and focused self-practice. And learned a couple of important lessons along the way. Not least of all about how to stop my cats from escaping!

Monday:  

One hour power yoga. Worked hard. Breathed deep. Fell asleep in savasana. P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

Tuesday: 

Rest day.

Wednesday: 

90min level 2 class in the evening. This is the one that goes at a pace quite unlike any other. Seemingly millions of sun salutations at one quick breath per pose, including most of the downward dogs. Wowzers!  Though I did make it on to the standing sequence before wishing for a child’s pose this time around (the first time I went to this class a month ago it was a very different story!). Still didn’t have enough strength to manage the eight angle to EPKII to chinstand sequence that came at the end, and that I can do when I am not totally wiped out.

I love classes like this for reminding me that poses are not permanent: that my abilities change with my focus and my state of rest and the steadiness of my breath. If these things can affect simple (not easy, but simple!) things like how I move my body, imagine how much they impact things like my judgement and my emotions. Things that are incredibly hard and sometimes unfathomably complicated. Ah yoga, so so so many lessons to be taken off the mat.

Thursday: 

45min self-practice in my work gym before going out with clients. As the Christmas silly season approaches, this is my pledge to myself – that I will do a quick practice before I go out. Will be easier said that done, but I am going to try my very best.

Friday: 

Headed to a different 60min rocket class this evening so I could meet up with friends for dinner easily afterwards. The fact that I can walk into a random studio and get taught by a great teacher is one of the many many reasons I love living in London. Even though I was wobbly as jelly after three intense classes in as many days.

Saturday:

A rather dramatic end to the previous night’s festivities (a double cat escape: our neighbours thankfully alerted us and scooped up the escapees before they came to any trouble!) which required a few glasses of very nice wine to show our gratitude meant that my plans for an early morning class did not materialise. Instead, I rolled out of bed around midday, did a lovely lazy 20mins on my mat, and spent the afternoon snuggled up with my better half reading. What a treat!

Though scroll forward and my hamstrings were telling me they needed some warming up before I taught my class so I pottered to the studio early and spent another 20min doing so before my students arrived. And had some fun holding a 3 min bound headstand as well. I used to practice these long holds in Iyengar class so often, but in a world where I can no longer get to many of those, I realise they have disappeared from my practice. Something I am going to remedy I think…

Sunday:

90min self practice. Which is the longest I have had in a long time. I put on one of my playlists from my class and just went, and went, and went.

And it suddenly clicked why I have been struggling to do longer sessions of late.

I have been so caught up with planning my classes and thinking about teaching a perfect arc and elegant sequences that I think I got caught up in thinking my self-practice had to be like that. But it doesn’t! It can stop and start, and be messy, and not in the perfect order. I can stop and cuddle kittens, and check one of my yoga textbooks or a saved video on Instagram. As long as I do these things consciously and not to let myself escape a moment of discomfort.  

Such a freeing revelation to end the week with. Don’t you think?

• Self-Practice: 2hrs 55min
• Classes: 3hrs 30min  
• TOTAL: 6hrs 25min