Stone Mushrooms in my garden
I have homework: BREATHING! You guessed it, I went to yoga! I arrived and was directed through a wonderful courtyard to some rooms at the back. "Just head up the stairs" so up I go (looking the novice that I am) and I see men and women of all ages lying there in all sorts of complicated position....just relaxing before the class starts?! I find my inner self.....HELP it's screaming at me, RUN, RUN! Lukily those are the words / actions that come out....."is this the beginners class?"....So I find myself in the right classroom and now let the yoga commence!
"Ohhhhmmmmmmmmm"....breath......"mmmmmm". The second attempt at holding the Ohm for long enough comes out sounding like some poor cat is being strangled. And then just relax in your cross legged sitting position.....I would like to point out at this stage that I cannot, and come to think of it, never have been able to sit "comfortably" crossed legged. Ouch....and here was I under the impression that yoga was low impact / gentle on your joints? Next is the eye yoga...now that was near giggle disaster but luckily my "round the clock" ended up being anticlockwise to everyone's clockwise so I avoided catching a cross eyed glance at a fellow yogi across the room.
It was not any easy hour and a half. All aches and stiff joints, totally exposed and you have to "tune in" to them - I'm used to just ignoring them! The final relax then arrived....really lovely.....relaxing.....the instructors soothing voice gently drifting into your mind..."your toes.......are relaxed; your knees........are relaxed; your back......is relaxed; your liver, kidneys and spleen are relaxed......AAAAARRRGGHHH, quick, concentrate, where are they, can I feel them? Are they relaxed...oh no, I forgot to breath.....breath....ok, fine....calm....just concentrate on the body parts I know the whereabouts of. And then we are there....we have found our most relaxed and inner self which is called total happinnes.....STOP...no, not my inner self....it is NOT totally happy at the moment...the sunshine is clouded by various shades of dark grey....oh no, how do I get myself around this hurdle as yoga is all about the inner self....so a compromise. i need to concentrate on what good this will be doing me and energising all the good vibes, making them strong enough to shoulder all the bad ones out of the way....move over, sunshine and happinness is coming through!
So again, I survived. A different kind of surviving from the other activities I have so far survived! And I did actually feel more awake and "energised" when I got home rather than my groggy "I was up at 5am" feeling....it could also be that it wasn't another cold grey evening weather wise? And now i must practise: The shoulder stand (fine), the plough (not fine, my feet don't reach the floor backwards over the top of my head); fish (not fine, I am lying on my arms so they are aching from my weight on them and then you have to lift your chest off the floor and use the top of your head to support you). Breathing....I can manage that one!
Meanwhile, more jogging which is a bit easier in the warm mornings - only trouble is all the other "dabblers" then come out too.....and you then have to look as if you are having a wonderful morning just gently jogging along the River Thames.......again I find my inner self......I can't repeat what it says!
Saturday was Parkfit and it was tough in the heat, 21 degrees at 9am…..I’m not complaining though……it was great fun, lots of shuttle run and ups and downs….they were the hardest in the heat…..I couldn’t jump up that fast or I just would have fallen over again! The same goes for Cardio Tennis, really tough in the heat but I loved it….and the heat must have had some effect as I did not open my mouth after suggesting a game afterwards?!!! I was a bit frustrated with how I was hitting the balls this week so best to just leave it for the day and start again tomorrow (theoretically speaking for whenever tomorrow comes)?!
So, another 2 weeks to go for me and week 12....is YOUR week. You will be writing the final blog with pictures too…not sure of logistics yet but just giving you the heads up!! I will still be moving more but I want to hear what you are up to, even if it's walking up the stairs when you didn't need to just the once, or for the more energetic, cycling, walking, training for a Race for Life or warming up for the Olympics....whatever it is, happy moving more! Oh, nearly forgot, also keep breathing !!
Posted 27th May
No comments:
Post a Comment