Yoga Weeks 3 and 4

So my final update from my month of yoga...  Sorry for the lack of notes toward the end. 

Friday, 11-18, class 12, aka:  The BREAKTHROUGH.  Best class yet.  Domenic was the instructor and all of a sudden, it all seemed to click.  There were several postures where I felt like I hadn't even been close and I was staying in step 1 -- and on a vast majority of them on Friday, I went to step 2! 

Saturday, 11-19, class 13.  No notes from this class so can't have been too memorable...

Sunday, 11-20, class 14.  Domenic again, nothing notable. 

Monday, 11-21, class 15, new-to-me instructor Karen.  She was very cheerful and friendly and I liked her.  I had lots of trouble "being present."  Big week at work next week and it was on my mind a lot.  I felt like the class went fairly well in terms of what I could accomplish, but whenever we were supposed to lie still, I found myself making mental lists of the first things I wanted to do the next morning when I got to work.  It was like the instructor could read my mind.  When we moved from the standing series to the floor series (about the halfway point), we lay there calmly for about 2 minutes.  She kept telling us to relax everything, to sink into the floor, to relax even our eyes and our jaws.  She said something like if you're having trouble focusing your mind, focus instead on your breathing.  And I could do that for about 2-3 breaths, then it was remembering something else to do at work.  The good news is though, I asked for some tips afterward about how to fix this AND on Tuesday morning I remembered all that I'd wanted to do and got it done!  Score! 

Tuesday, 11-22, class 16, new-to-me maybe instructor David or Daniel.  I might have had him before.  Crowded class and I walked in right before we started, so I was way at the back.  Not so balanced, and didn't feel very energetic.  I actually considered sitting out a couple postures, but I didn't.  We sang happy birthday during each set of the triangle posture to someone in the class.  That was really funny.

Wed., 11-23, class 17.  No notes, not very full.

Fri., 11-25, class 18.  No notes, again, didn't feel very flexible.

Sat., 11-26, class 19.  No notes, average class.

Sun., 11-27, class 20.  Went to the 8:00 a.m. class -- right after my last group run before the White Rock marathon next weekend.  We had a short taper run, only 9 miles, and it was very cold out.  Crazy cold for Dallas.  Like on par with the lowest temperatures we generally see in a year.  So going to hot yoga afterward sounded perfect.  We had a little post-run party so I ate one mini red velvet cupcake, and I had some fruit -- and yuck.  Not good at yoga.  The strangest thing about this class was my lack of sweat.  I know the sequence of postures well -- first a breathing exercise (two sets), then side stretches to each side, then backward bending, then forward bending, then back to each side, another backward, and another forward.  Usually on the first forward bend, I can see the sweat on my calves and on my feet.  And usually on the second, it is beginning to drip off me.  This time I basically went through the entire first half of class without sweating or feeling warm.  I wonder if I was just too cold from the run?  Either way, it freaked me out a little.  But by the time we were laying down for the floor series, I'd started sweating and that made me feel a little more normal.  I don't think I'll go straight from a weekend distance run (even if it's only 9 miles) directly to yoga again.  Not only was there the lack of sweat, it was also a little nerve-wracking trying to make sure I'd brought everything I needed for both exercise sessions, to make sure I was running the right pace to be done in time, and most of all, it was my least flexible class.  Maybe I just didn't have enough leg strength, but my balance was off and I found myself falling out of almost all the postures I tried, and there were some where I didn't really try.  Disappointing class.

Mon., 11-28, class 21.  No notes, nothing remarkable.

Wed., 11-30, class 22.  New to me instructor Julie.  Who proceeded to cough throughout class.  It was awful.  At one point, we went into the bow pose on the floor.  You lay on your stomach and reach back for your legs.  When you have your legs, the instructor tells you to hold on and kick.  Well, we grabbed our legs, there was no "kick" cue, just a coughing fit, then she said to come out.  So we had to do that posture a total of 3 times instead of the usual 2.  I think I'm lucky to have a job where I can usually go if I'm sick -- I work in my own office, so I can just shut my door and minimize the time I spend at my secretary's desk or in the halls or colleagues' offices.  My husband doesn't have a job where he do a competent job when he's sick, so when he's sick, he stays home.  I think yoga teachers should be in that latter category -- if you're sick, get someone else to teach your class instead of hacking away and making us paranoid about germs thriving in 105 degrees.  It was also the complete opposite of relaxing or calming to listen to her coughing.  And just so you know, I had another reason why I didn't like her -- it was weird, but she almost seemed cliquish.  She kept talking about how she hadn't practiced in a week and someone in the class had watched her cat or something, and asking how mutual acquaintances were, etc.  I'm sure most the instructors know some of the students very well, but no other instructor has every made it seem like such a clique, and so exclusive.  When she said she'd be teaching again tomorrow, that was almost enough for me to decide to skip what I planned to be my final class.

Thurs., Dec. 1, class 23.  Last class of the month.  I went in the morning (no group run because of the taper), and I worried I'd have the only other instructor I don't like too much -- the unsolicited advice one from a couple weeks ago.  Or that I'd have Julie from the night before.  But I didn't.  It was Dave again, and he gave me some good tips, and it was a pretty good class. 

I went ahead and paid for another month, but the good thing is that you have 30 days to activate the month, so I may wait until after I'm back here from Christmas to start the month so that I won't be out of town at all.  I'd hate to activate my month and then miss a week of it for traveling home.  But one of my good friends is starting her month in the next week or so, and it might be fun to go with her. 

In the nearly week since I've stopped, I think I might feel a little more stressed and definitely more bloated.  It was nice feeling like so much sweat poured out of me each day.  I miss it and think doing one more month will be fun.

I don't think I'll continue after that month though.  It's just too time-consuming.  I feel like when I'm doing it, that all I do is workout in the morning, work all day, yoga at night, then sleep.  I was barely seeing my husband at all, and nothing was getting done at home.  That's particularly incompatible with Christmastime, when I need to be wrapping and working on writing cards in the evenings, but it's also incompatible with having a communication-filled marriage, which is kind of necessary I think.  Yoga put us on very different schedules.  I didn't want to give up my morning routine (boot camp with hubby (but we can't really talk there) and running with my buddies).  I have to spend the day at work in order to, you know, pay the mortgage (and pay for yoga and running and the rest of life), and that pretty much leaves the 6:30 p.m. class as the only weekday option for me.  So I'd get home at 8:15ish, and hubby was already heading to bed then, since he gets up so early.  I'd still have to eat dinner and shower. 

Very time-consuming, and certainly worth it to me to do in the short-term, but not something I would like to do long-term because it's just not a high enough priority to displace something else I commit time to.

I feel like I worked a part-time job for the month of November that basically took an extra 15-20 hours every week away from being at home.  Tough!  But like I said, if I had more free time, I loved it and would keep it up.

Now my question is how much fitness and flexibility I will lose by going about a month without doing it??!!  I guess I'll see when I go back next week or, more likely, Dec. 26.