Sunday, January 3, 2010

Day 3: Samana, Lilly's, Scorpion, Cold Snap and Social Roads

Day 3, baby. Boom. Boom, baby. Yes. That's it.

Today started with a brisk ride to work. The bike is still serving me well, but Raleigh's reputation for a pleasant winter is not serving anyone well. 25 degrees this morning with a wind chill that made me shake like a seizure. Only 1 mile. 5 minutes to work. I have perfected the hands-in-pocket and head-bent-low riding position that provides a perfect balance of wind shield, heat retention and maneuvering capability (as to dodge those shifty early bird drivers).


Class at Open Door was Samana with Renee. This is my 'do everything' class of the week. She flows countless poses together in the heated room with a 'break' being  2-3 breaths in downward dog...followed by another series. The whole class is built off of sun salutations and the pace is great. I really enjoy a serious workout where I can work on killing my self, as they discussed at 101 Bikram Yoga Challenge. I love pushing my body so hard that everything else turns off. There's no room for "when's work tomorrow?" or "dude, check his butt out. wow." My life is a slow drive through the social roads. I wake up, work, eat, sleep, converse, serve, buy, sell and fit so nicely into this cute little package of the young American forging ahead. But every time I push it so hard, to the very edge, all of that leaves; and I find new room. There, I'm not some post-college coffee shop hipster or a student taking some extra classes. I'm not a cog in the system. I'm simply there. Pushing. Opening. Changing. I guess that's why I'm doing the challege.

So scorpion. My favorite pose to watch. And try. After Renee's grueling 'kill your self' flow, we spent 10 minutes practicing arm balance. Watching Renee do scorpion requires a slack jaw and complete respect. She is so fucking graceful in this pose, it's ridiculous. Today, I was no object of grace...but I did kick up and hold forearm stand. And then brought it down into the closest Scorpion of my Sunday Samana's. Boom. BOOM.

Wins: Regular practice. Scorpion. Graceful poses. Lilly's tofu salad! Bringing my sister to yoga. large glasses of water. PINEAPPLE. smiling. strong hugs. humility.

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