Round 4: Day 74: Yoga

Am I ever glad today was Yoga day. I felt that my back was a little tense yesterday evening, likely from the Back & Bicep workout from yesterday, and I was looking forward to some yoga to stretch out my back and ease any tension and stress in my shoulders. To top it off, I'm going for a massage in an hour (my wife has terrific health and medical coverage through her office, and I'm planning on taking full advantage of what's available to us) and I'm going to instruct the masseuse to go deep, to release any remaining tightness in my body.

I did yoga in my cramped, low-ceilinged basement this morning, a departure from my usual location of my living room. I don't particularly mind the space, but I have come to resent the low ceiling, which limits a full range of motion. Obviously, any movement where my arms have to be fully raised is out of the question. With yoga, there are several times where my hands have to be raised fully above my head. The best I could do with my restricted ceiling height is fan my arms out in a modified Y-shape. Not ideal, and a little frustrating, but one makes do with what one has available.

I believe that I was rather successful in emptying my mind (no jokes, here, please). As I write this, I can't recall having any particular thoughts running through my mind during the session, other than trying to keep really low in my lunges. That was a requirement, because I can't fully raise my arms over my head during Crescent pose or Warrior 1, unless my front knee was deeply bent. In fact, I believe that I was much lower than Tony was during those poses. I guess that in one respect, there was a benefit to having a low ceiling.

The leg raise during Side Arm Balance is proving to be somewhat difficult for me. I tend to lose my balance a little, not falling over, but just teetering, and I don't extent my leg too high into the air. That's a move I'd like to improve. I'd also like to improve my form during the Half-Moon and Reverse-Half-Moon sequences. I'd like to extend my rear leg higher into the air, to more closely approach parallel to the floor. I don't think I'm too far from that at present, it's just that there's room for improvement. As always, the closer you get to your objective, the more work you seem to have to do.

Namaste.