Good evening my lovelies -- throw your bodies recklessly down on the blanket and listen to the wind. Have some wine, or green tea, or any beverage of your choice. Did you bring some for me? :)
Last night I was beyond exhausted, and couldn't think about what I had learned or experienced during yesterday's yoga session, except the fact that I had experienced extreme heat. As you might know I am on Day 11 of a self imposed 30 day yoga challenge. Yesterday's class was too hot, and I was ready to walk out of there. But I didn't. This morning I realized the lesson from yesterday's class was that we stay when things get tough and breathe through the difficulties (unless it is harmful to our health, of course) in life just as we have to breathe through the difficulties in in the microcosm that is the yoga studio.
The idea is to stay with the group - that bunch of people you don't even know, you just happen to be taking a class together - breathe together, endure together, focus together. You get out of your own headspace and consider the group's energy and you stay with that energy.
It was incredibly hard to do that yesterday, and I was pissed at the heat and the circumstances surrounding the excessive heat. But I stayed.
Today was easier - still super hard, but easier. I felt strong, focused, able to stretch and use my muscles to the best of my ability, working through the heat and the sweat, working consciously and thoroughly with my muscles.
My headaches are gone!! At least for now. Who knows if I am just given a week's respite, or a month? But given the fact that I had had these headaches off and on since November, I feel very hopeful that somehow the energetic work of yoga and its de-stressing capabilities have balanced some of my body's energy pathways. Actually I had no idea if yoga was going to work for the headahces when I started. It seemed counterproductive to do hot yoga when combatting headaches. The heat and the physical exertion is dilating the bloodvessels in the head, which is also what happens when headaches come on. What you want to do is vasoconstrict, not vasodilate (constrict, not dilate the vessels). But, nevertheless, I have been headache free for a week!! I can only smile, and be grateful that my wild and from-the-gut strategy is working at the moment.
I still can't tell if the yoga is doing anything yet for my "adult onset ADHD", a.k.a. hormonal shift and lack of ability to concentrate, but only time will tell.
That's why I keep on keeping on... On to Day 12. My cousins from Japan are coming in to town tomorrow night. They are staying for 4 nights here, and I am very much looking forward to seeing them and my cousin's teenage daughter whom I've never met before! It'll be a challenge to do the yoga sessions during their stay: they came all the way from Japan for 4 days, so I want to spend time with them. I have decided to take it day by day, and I will not be disappointed in myself if for I have to skip a day or two to be a good hostess. In that case, I am expecting to pick up my challenge where I left off - no worries!
Toodles, my friends. Check in again soon. Namaste.
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