Ashtanga - Week 5

My yoga series is half over. I kind of can't believe it. We do run through things so much more quickly now. The standing series, which took us about 45 minutes the first time, now takes about 15 minutes. It's great to get the opportunity to do more and progress.

Today was gentle compared to the 9 billion Chaturangas that we did last week. The additions this week were a few sitting and bridge-like poses. We also started a pose that will eventually lead to a shoulder stand. We start on our backs and roll feet onto the wall. (This is a pose in and of itself.) From there, we lower our feet to about knee height and push them off away from the wall while lifting the hips. This moves the weight into the shoulders, which should be kept flat. It felt fine while I was in it, but as soon as I released, my shoulders were angry.

From all of the arabesques that I did in Aerial Arts yesterday, my shoulder blades have hurt since around noon. I tried to use the flamenco grip with my right arm and it did not work and did not do my shoulder and back any favors. This made yoga a bit more difficult, but the stretching probably helped. Except for that modified shoulder stand attempt.

The instructor assistant that has previously gotten on my nerves was in our class again tonight. The instructor also opened class by talking about receiving adjustments from the instructors. He said it was okay to ask not to be touched and no one would take it personally. The assistant of earlier annoyance did approach me a few times. First, she disrupted what I was doing to provide a somewhat lengthy suggestion. I tried to take it in stride. What she told me to do differently was indeed helpful. But I was irritated that she had made me stop my flow to hear her. Then during one of the standing poses, she approached me again and began to adjust an arm that was over my head. I did immediately tell her not to pull on my arm because my shoulders hurt a lot today. She listened and only offered minimal critique after that. It was pointed out that an adjustment doesn't mean you're doing an asana wrong. It's supposed to line you up better. I must also remember ahimsa. =)