Yoga

I have been noticing lately that I have lost a TON of flexibility. My spirals are lower than they were when I started skating. For the first time since middle school I can't go into right splits. Since I am not going to be doing synchro this year, I decided that I would take up yoga. I really loved the Pilates I did in Dayton, but I have not been able to find Pilates instruction that I like/can afford here in Coralville.

When I first started at ACT, I took an "intro to Yoga" class with a co-worker. I learned basic poses and enjoyed it, but the place was not close to me, and it was a pain to get to. The only yoga studio in Coralville is a hot yoga studio. Although I swear their sign used to say Bikram, it doesn't anymore and this was not a bikram class.

I decided to start with a 1 hour class, the majority of the classes they offer are 90 minutes, and if I go tomorrow it will have to be a 90 minute class. (They have a 1 hour yoga/pilates class, but as stated before I'm enough of a Pilates snob to believe that if you are mixing the two you aren't getting the true benefit of either.)

The class went really well. The instructor fiddled with heaters, humidifiers, and heat laps the whole time, and while I was sweating profusely - (actually dripping with sweat. I have never ever dripped with sweat in my life. The instructor who was mostly talking but did some demonstrating looked like she had just got out of the swimming pool. It must be exhausting to teach, as she would frequently go and stand in the doorway barely cracking it open to cool herself while we held poses.) -oops lost my train of thought. While I was sweating profusesly, I really didn't feel like it was unreasonably warm. I guess all those years of dancing outdoors on blacktop in Texas summers makes 105 seem comfortable (of course I never used to sweat then. I was chronically dehydrated).

The only discomfort I had was coming up from positions like downward facing dog where my head would throb for a moment or so as all the blood rushed from it, as it tends to do on a very hot day when you suddenly move position. And occasionally my legs would twitch uncontrollably. Though I think that was from the stretch and not the heat.

The only pose I did not try was camel- I stayed in the preperation pose with my hands on my back arching upwards. I though I would probably injur myself if I tried to lean back into the backbend like position.

My arm still really hurts today, though it didn't hurt much during the class. At one point it felt like it was burning- on fire burning- while the heat lamps on, which was very weird, as no other point of my body felt like that. I really wish I knew what was wrong with it. The PT did not seem to help more than temporarily. When I have my insurance back again (I do have insurance, I just don't know anything about it.) I will go and see if I can get imaging done.

If my legs can take it, I'm going to try class tomorrow. And skating tonight.