Ashtanga - Week 6

We didn't add much to our practice this week. We moved through five of each Sun Salutation, using Chaturanga and Up Dog, which made the room intensely warm. Luckily, only about half of the class was in attendance. I don't even want to imagine how it would have felt it all 30 people had been there.

I was a little grouchy going into class because I had been feeling bloated for days and had just had a sad conversation with a friend. One of the student teachers adjusted my hips on our very first Downward Facing Dog and I was very unhappy about it. She left me alone for about an hour afterward. Then strangely enough, the student teacher that usually drives me nuts was very helpful without being overbearing this week. I'm still working on trying to not be defensive about instruction. I feel like it's pretty stupid to get angry about yoga. My annoyance comes from insecurity. I'm trying to learn and do my best, but once I get anything more than a quick adjustment, I feel like I'm being watched, which puts me on edge and makes me question every move that I make. That said, I felt less bothered by it this week.

After our Sun Salutations, we went through all of the standing poses, which feel much more comfortable now. The new poses that we did were sitting positions, which often felt like the best stretches. 

We finished by trying to do the shoulder stand as we did last week, but this time without starting against a wall. It's essentially the same as one of the warm ups I've done for aerial silks, but I just couldn't seem to get any momentum to move upwards from the position that we were in. (In the warm up move, hands were above the head. In yoga, they were flat from shoulder to elbow along the floor.) Both student teachers were trying to give me direction and I just go overwhelmed and decided to try again later. But they did have me laughing through it, which was appreciated. They really are very sweet.