Hawaii was good. Understatement? Maybe. The weather is perfect: 85 degrees, 75% humidity. Paradise. But food was at issue. I’ve been vegetarian for 20 years, most of what I eat is fresh produce. That was a lot harder to come by than I expected. I mean, I realize most food is imported, but I couldn’t get over how easy it was to get a Wendy’s burger and how damned hard it was to get a fresh mango – something that is actually grown right there! All week, I was jonesing for mango, but no dice. Anyway, loved the weather & the water. I snorkeled! You have to understand, I don’t really swim, so snorkeling is a big whoop.
But, ironically (or not?), I’m back to blogging yoga today. Been back to class for a week, after being out a week, and it took a few days to get back to the groove. But today was wonderful – I took a private class with the studio director, Carrie, and got to spend a whole class just working out my alignment issues. Heaven! We got as far as Triangle (3 postures short of the full Standing Series). To begin with, my stance needed adjustment, which will cascade through the whole series & hopefully relieve the knee and hip pain I’ve been experiencing. The dialogue (and teaching) insists on ‘toes and heels together’ – in my case, I need to keep my toes slightly separated. Because my feet turn outward, if my feet are perfectly straight, my knees turn inward, which is NOT what we want – what’s more important is to have the knees straight in the mirror. Once we’d made that tiny adjustment, I immediately felt more stable, and the locked knees felt almost natural, rather than something I was working very hard at doing. What a revelation. My hips and knees did not feel uncomfortable, for the first time in at least a month, and I was locking my knees without really thinking about it. Very cool!
My nemesis is Half Moon (the first posture!), so we spent almost half an hour on just the four parts of that posture – I think it will be much stronger & less straining for me now. We addressed the tightness in my shoulders, lower back, and hamstrings and how the dialogue is really really really for beginners – that once you’ve made a commitment to the practice, and are truly working hard and trying your best, the exhortations to “pull!” and “stretch!” need to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s funny, because Duffy was making a similar point yesterday. Carrie basically told me to stop trying so hard and just work with my body to do the fullest expression of each posture that I can do right now.
Now, with all the focus I’ve had on strengthening my legs, it was gratifying to be told my Awkward pose was beautiful in the first two parts. And the third part was pretty good, too. Speechless, I was.
I won’t go over every single posture. 
That would be boring. To someone other than me. But, wow, a private class with an experienced teacher is really supportive of one’s practice. I really feel much more comfortable now with basically ignoring the parts of the dialogue that do not apply to me, and modifying the postures when appropriate.
