Mysore and My Money's Worth

I made it to Mysore! And I got my money's worth! Woohoo! You see I paid $40 for a newbies unlimited 1 month trial. Awesome! But one has to make it worth their wile. And I was scared I wouldn't because I left for a one week vacation just after I paid thinking I'd get one class in before I left and then would have almost 3 weeks left to make up for lost time. Well you see, as luck would have it, my good intentions flew out the window. I was just too poopered to go the one class before leaving, turned out I just wanted to have a do nothing weekend. And off I went on my travels. And of course when I got back I was just too poopered again — the vaca lag — to ramp up that quickly. I did get in a class last week and I finally got there tonight. And have now done 3 classes which would be $60 normally. So not bad. Gotta do better. But I digress ...

I got my money's worth tonight in another way. It was a beautiful sweatfest! And oh boy I sweat! My 2 amazing teachers W-O-R-K-E-D   M-E   O-U-T! They take no guff! lol! They make me do ALL my vinyasa's. I used to skip between sides. Not anymore! And lor it's a workout! By the time I get to janu-B the pickups and pseudu drag backs have all but dissappeared. By the mari's they're gone, never to be seen again. By then I'm planting my hands down and jumping back. But I'm still jumping through. You GO gurl! Mind you I'm still trying to gauge where the teachers are in the room that perchance maybe I can let one slip between sides here and there. They're not having it. Haha!

THE DETAILS:
Utthita hasta padangushthasana: I got a great assist with her holding my leg as I fold over and helping my hip to stay down when to the side.

Ardha baddha padmottanasana: She gave me a great modification for my wonky right knee and stiff hip. To cross my right leg over my thigh just above my knee and then bend the left knee quite a bit so I can feel the stretch in my right hip and then take a forward bend from that position. Interesting and a great beginner's way to get the hip to open.

Bhuja Pidasana: One of my fav poses but my nemisis. Keep forgetting I'm supposed to cross my right foot over my left. Feels so awkward. I like it the other way, feels more comfy and natural. But that ain't ashtanga. lol! Still can't bend all the way forward. It feels like I'm going to break my wrist. So I do have to play careful with that move as my wrists are still wonky and I don't have great flexibility in it. So of course I kept falling out. It wasn't my best presentation! So S. had me do it like three times! Awesome! Then we just worked on the exit but by that time I just couldn't manage the lift one leg to the back while wrapping the other around the arm then lifting the other leg back before jumping to chatarunga. Fell out once again. Argh! However, she was awesome, she let me redeem myself by going into bakasana and jumping back. I can do that! Wee what fun!

Kurmasana and Supta Kurmasana!: Another fav. Now that was awesome! Had S. again adjusting me and man she tied me up good and proper. Yes! My head tucked just so under my feet crossed just so. Loved it. Then I got my hands beautifully wrapped. I was able to hook my fingers. I felt sublime! And then I was able to do a beautiful lift up (by my standards) AND watch this, I did get each foot back and did an almost jump back. Yippee!!

Urdhva Dhanurasana, Chakrasana and Closing: Had the wonderful S. practically as my one-on-one teacher by then talking me through all of closing and giving me great assists (my timing was perfect as people were leaving by then, nice!) : Urdhva, still a bomb! Arms could barely even attempt to straighten, that crazy back of mine! I was just knackered, but she made me do 3 none-the-less even though the last 2 were unrecognizable. Ouch! But she gave me a beautiful paschimottanasana squish. Nice! Then she helped me learn chakrasana — a work in progress. Must learn to really push off both hands in a just PUSH IT! mindset. Yowza! Continued through closing to headstand where I did it in the middle of the room for THE first time! Yeah! Was doing really good but couldn't straight leg raise as I was wonked. But balanced nice for the full breathe count though when it came time to lower to 90° I lost my mojo. Couldn't hold for the life of me and came D-O-w-n! Oh well, my stamina's got a ways to go!

I gotta say Mysore is magic! One day "Is all a-coming" ....

DOMsie DOMsie Day! ... And Cathe!

Well, well, well I am SORE! All over! I'm having a DOMsie day! To all in the dark as to what DOMs is, just in case per chance somebody in the wild blue yonder might be reading this, means delayed onset muscle soreness. Ouch! for short. My upper body is so sore, upper back, underarms, chest, triceps. Muscles I didn't now I had are sore and my legs are just starting to get sore. This all from yesterday's gym weights workout. Now, who told me to do 4 sets per exercise with full weights after being off for nearly 2 months to rest my wrists. I must've had my mind on autopilot. So I'm suffering today. I fear that the soreness in my legs is just the start of a beautiful mess of pain for the next days ahead. Oh well, I'm determined that I WILL get to my Mysore on Tues no matter whether my legs collapse or not! I will set my face as a flint. HaHa! But I digress ...

I had an awesome step aerobic workout today with one of my fav dvd instructors Cathe Friedrich (another fav is Amy Bento but her choreo is way dancey harder but just as athletic and her music is ROCKIN just like Cathe's but in a more hiphop rap way. Freakin amazing!). Plus I try to tack on a light yoga session afterwards as a cool down and stretch. Great combo. I did Cathe's 4 Day Split High Intensity Step which includes intensity blasts (like HIIT-high intensity interval training) at the end of the 3 combos. Man that's one great intensity workout in only 30 min. But I did have to stop once to catch my breathe as I've just started back from a 5 months hiatus for my knees. Her and Amy's cardio dvd's are great to build my aerobic capacity and VO2 max FAST and just plain fun! I love dancey choreography (that's from my ballet background) along with more athletic plyometric blasts and she gets it all in there in just 30 minutes! I skip  her weight work at the end as I do my own at the gym. Not to say she won't work you out HARD. If you want to gain muscle FAST do Cathe's weight dvd's or her circuit dvd's. She will work you heavy or highrep or a combo of both like no other. With her dvd's you really don't have to go to the gym if you have a well stocked weights home gym like me (in the livingroom under my desk. lol!). She's really something to look into (you can see her on her own website www.Cathe.com, and can buy her on www.shop.cathe.com, amazon.com, TotalFitnessdvds.com, Collagevideo.com, etc. Can you tell I just love her!) Then I did Namaste Yoga's Season 1, Episode 11 dvd (they used to be on TV. They were so good I bought both their seasons, perfect for an after cardio stretch). Just the ticket to wind down with. It included forward fold, low lunge, front lunge stretch to parsvatonnasana to standing splits. All in a slow almost dancelike flow. Absolutely divine! And perfect for my legs to get the stretch without going into any warriors or torquey knee stretches to tax my knees after jumpy cardio. I can't overtax my knees. If I do cardio I will not do any other workouts tacked on that could challenge my knees again. So I will never mix up a leg workout with cardio or a leg workout with yoga, etc. unless if I do add a yoga it must NOT have any warriors or torquey knee thingy's in it. I have always relied on my hard earned motto of KISS (keep it simple stupid). And it's kept me moving so far. Shewf!

Can't wait to attend my first ever yoga workshop next weekend. It's called "Finding Your Lift." Exciting stuff! By my understanding I think it will be teaching you how to get lift for the ashtanga vinyasa transitions like jumping to standing, jumping through and back, etc. Those beautiful gymnasticy vinyasa's that help create a smoother and more floaty practice. I would love to see that day as I bet it's so much easier and smoother than the drag thru shuffle back! And the jump thru with matburn toes! lol! And I'm still learning to get over my fear of lifting my butt (or sitbones) when jumping. For some reason I keep feeling like if I lift my butt I'll just fly butt over head. Haha! I just can't get rid of that feeling! Argh! But as the saying goes ... practice and all is coming.

etc. etc. ...