In and Out of My Comfort Zone

I work 4 ten hour days the week after a Monday holiday off.  Yesterday I worked 10 hours and then went home and changed and went to a new to me yoga class.  Well, that is after DH and I cleaned several areas where our older male dog had had...er, difficulties with his daily routine...I had noticed Sunday he was having issues when I walked him couple of times, but did not notice the last time I walked him.  Poor guy.  Hope he is ok today. 

Well, the yoga instructor must be a doctor or physical therapist.  He was really good at vocalizing ways to focus our poses.  It was a great class!  I am feeling it today, but that is a good sign.  When I walked in and put my matt down and was doing a bit of stretching, he asked me if I had done "ashtanga" before.  I just looked at him for a second and said "I am really not sure, not sure I know what that means".  Haha.  A woman I recognized from another class said, she was sure I had, as she had seen me in other classes with her.  Well, if I had, I had not much.  But I can see where Ashtanga should be a part of my normal practice.  Wiki defines it as:  "Ashtanga means eight limbs or branches, of which asana or physical yoga posture is merely one branch, breath or pranayama is another."  Basically, he had us hold each position for several seconds, to really focus on all the aspects of each joint/muscle being used and direct our energy there.  The breathing was so natural, it just came with the poses.  He made us do some unusual poses, like to ball up or really open up the chest and continue to make tiny adjustments to be able to breathe in a long inhalation and thus a long exhalation.  He said part of yoga is finding the breath, even when it seems you are too constricted (i.e. backbent or constricted in a ball) and focus on moving your belly butten toward the backbone to get used to breathing when it is hard.  He kept us for an hour and a half!  Oh, well, it was good!

I think everyone should try yoga on some level.  I wish I had started when I was a kid.  Have a great hump day, everyone!