Class# 43 Yin and Flow Yoga with Kimberly

I am so excited about this class. I feel like I had a mini breakthrough. Kimberly really emphasized the breath (as she often does) and I was able to do a much better job of breathing throughout. The poses really do come after the breath and not before it. I tried to just breath and let what was going to happen, happen and I was in a much better place mentally than I usually am. Hmm, I guess I am already in the "Good" so I'm going to drop down there and give some more detail.
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Good: That was my attempt at happy shower drops by the way. So every day and every class is a new opportunity and recently I have been a bit frustrated (as you may have noticed) with how lacking my breath is. I have been coming at the problem from wrong angles though. Beating myself up doesn't really work. Obsessing over how good everyone else's breath is doesn't work. Even fixating over how my breath sounds does not really get at the heart of the matter. I wish there was a non-cliched way to say to say this, but deciding to "Just Breathe" seems to be the key. I took long deep even breaths and when I didn't for whatever reason, I used that opportunity to...
take a long deep breath. I don't know if my poses looked better or worse, but they certainly felt better and less stressful while I did them (yes I get stressed during yoga but not as much as I have before).

Bad: I am not even that upset about the bad, my old nemesis Seated Forward Bend Paschimottanasana http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/477 I don't usually get that far without aid of some sort like a strap or grabbing my legs and trying to wrench myself down. I am pretty sure this is not what the pose is about anyways, but rather gracefully stretching and lowering the torso without crumpling. So when I had hit a wall, Kimberly came over and gently but firmly helped me push through and after she left I was actually able to go even further. It would be great if I could do this unassisted, but I am still really happy with how it wound up and my prospects for the future.

Yummy: So much yum that day... Breathing makes everything better. The adjustments were wonderful. There is really an art to helping people find where they can go without pushing too far. Kimberly, you are a talented artist. The music was also especially cool with some really good songs that fit with the love theme of the class without being sappy (not that there is anything wrong with that. Yum, yum, yum. it was like eating some home made brownies without the guilt!

Okay, so now I just need to keep breathing and not get cocky. Wish me luck!