Return to Yoga

So I started back to yoga about 2 weeks ago and figured it was time for an update.

My first class back went surprisingly well. The two times the instructor said my name, it was immediately preceded by "Nice".  That was great.  I was tight in unexpected places.  When we move to the floor, the first exercise involves pulling your knee up to your shoulder.  It used to be one of my favorites, one of the easier postures.  But since my return, it was tougher. M y hamstrings are just so tight.  Anyway, it's finally starting to get easier now after about 2 weeks of almost daily classes.

I think I started class on December 27 or 28.  I missed the class on Thursday of that week as I wrote, because of technical headaches at work.  Then I missed this past Friday because we went to boot camp in the morning and then I worked all day and got ready for our dinner party.  But not bad -- missing about one day per week om average.  That was about what I missed before, though in November I had a class once a week that necessitated missing yoga, and that class doesn't start until later in January, but I'm still averaging the same. 
I'm having the same issues with timing that I had during my November month of yoga -- namely, I'm basically never at home and awake, leaving little time to organize, to relax, and to talk to my husband.

Thus, in some ways today is perfect.  It stormed like crazy here last night.  Enough to wake us both up for a while.  This morning was supposed to be our first group training run for spring marathons and halves.  As a group leader, I was supposed to get to our running store early, at 5:00.  Woke up at 4:30 and I felt like a kid again.

I checked my email on my phone (akin to watching a scrolling list of school districts on the tv) and got the "class canceled" message.  Sadly, just like all those years ago, it made me jump for joy.  That makes no sense because I really like running and I'm ready for this training season to get underway.  But there's just something about seeing any kind of class that I attend being cancelled for weather and I can't help but be excited. 

My first instinct was to go back to bed.  I reset my alarm for 6:45.  That would have been two more hours of sleep!  I got back in bed.  But then my mind was going.  If I got up and got moving, I could go to morning yoga and actually get home in time for dinner tonight!  We could hang out, go to bed at a reasonable hour, I could work a bit later than when I have to go to yoga and get some stuff done.

So I hauled my big butt back out of bed and went to yoga.  My least favorite instructor.  Her name is a color, a shade of blue-green.  Ugh.  Just like Saturday when I came with hubby for his first class and had the only other instructor I don't like.  But the other "least favorite" instructor was so nice to my husband that day, and so friendly afterward, that I've decided I like her.  That left just the blue-green instructor in "least favorite" instructor status.

And while my class this morning was not good when it comes to flexibility (guess I'm really tight in the mornings!) or balance, it was good in that blue-green didn't get under my skin.  I thought she did a great job.  So now there aren't any instructors left that I don't like!

As for yoga in general, I'm enjoying feeling the flexibility, the muscle definition, the craving for healthier foods, the calmness, the focus, but when the month ends, it will also be nice to get back to a regular workout schedule with only one workout per day! Having some free time.