I yelped with glee as I floated up.
It was the first time I did it on my own without being spotted.
Without really even thinking about it.
I just did it.
I did a full wheel in yoga class today.
I was so excited I yelled out loud, “I did it!”
Then slightly muffled, “sorry.”
Then.
I laughed, “not sorry! I did it!”
I was super happy.
I was also really grateful to have my favorite instructor for class.
He’s the best and he’s going to school out-of-state, but back and forth frequently enough that he’s still teaching a class here and there at the studio.
When I saw him on the schedule for today I immediately signed up.
It did not matter that it was not an optimum time for me, I did not give a fuck, I wanted to go to his class, see him, give him a hug and have a good session.
Man.
Was it a good session.
His partner was there too, beautiful people, gorgeous, the two of them, one, a yoga instructor the other a Pilates instructor.
Stunning.
But sweet, and so approachable and kind.
I have always felt that it didn’t matter that I was old or not quite as flexible as the lissome 22 years old flocking to the studio, my instructor always gave me great feedback and also humored my profanity.
Like earlier, when I mumbled under my breath, “aw fuck,” as we also did one of my hated posed, broken toe pose, hate it, hurts so bad, but my feet generally do feel better after doing it.
The first time I did the pose, about a year ago, I could hold it for brief seconds and I cried out in pain.
I can probably do the pose now for about a minute, it’s still painful but it doesn’t make me burst into tears when I do it.
The wheel pose though, alluded me for a good year and a half.
I remember doing it when I was a kid, no problem.
It’s mostly just having a flexible back, but it’s also strong core and breathing and maybe, I think now, also a mental thing.
So too is crow pose, which I fell out of trying today and yes, swore under my breath.
I swear a lot in general.
Not in front of my charges at work.
Not in front of my clients in session.
But in general.
Yeah.
I’m a bit profane.
I fell over trying to do Crow pose, lost my balance doing half-moon, on one side, but managed to do it on the right side, my left shoulder has been consistently tight and sore for months now, like an obscene amount of time, since last November, sometimes I think it’s getting better, then it will get stressed again, so my left side tends to be a little off-balance.
Anyway.
When my teacher asked at the beginning of class what the class wanted to work on I piped up, “heart opener” and someone else said, “twists” and for the first time ever, no one said “core.”
Which always annoys me, core work, but it’s needed to be strong in the poses and I get it, but it’s also in every fucking pose, you have to use your core, it seems idiotic to also request more core work on top of the core work, but that’s just my opinion.
I suppose if I was younger and into wearing midriff flashing clothes I’d be hollering for core too.
But what I like to work on is heart openers.
I can access emotions when I do yoga.
Not always.
But.
When I have a good instructor, and my teacher today is the best I have had, I can.
It can unlock emotions in my body, the practice and I felt it was a good idea to have my heart open wide today.
As though I could have closed it down.
My heart is wide open.
Nonetheless I was not expecting to do Wheel, I was expecting Camel pose or something of that ilk.
So when he said we were going to first do a bridge pose I knew we’d be doing Full Wheel.
And there was something in me today, a push to go further and I made up my mind that instead of staying in the half bridge I’d go for the full wheel.
I lay on my back, squared my shoulders, made sure my hands were turned around up by my shoulders, my knees where hips width apart and I breathed in and pushed up with my hands.
And suddenly.
Out of no where.
I was floating.
“I did it!” I said with much excitement.
I was over the moon, I was floating.
And yes, my heart opened.
Even further than it had before and I could feel it.
My breath expanded in my chest, it felt as though I had breathed in and floated up like a balloon, effortless and easy.
It was amazing.
Then.
I came down, rolled out my wrists, rested for a moment.
And.
Yup.
I did it again.
The second time was harder, my arms didn’t want to quite hold me, but I breathed into it again and mustered it up.
A second time.
When I finished I was sweating and joyful and teary.
I lay with my hand on my belly and my other hand on my heart with in a supine butterfly pose with my legs.
I felt joyous and light.
Then we did corpse pose.
And all of it.
My heart, my body, my mind, floated up.
Images and ideas sprung from me and drifted by.
I had love images impressed upon the backs of my eyelids.
I drifted into those images and sent that love out to the world.
I composed poetry.
I felt tears slide down my face.
It was just amazing.
I can’t quite express it without sounding like a complete idiot.
But I was amazed by what came to me.
And I’ll get to do a little more yoga this week too.
The family I nanny for doesn’t come back from vacation until Thursday, I’ll have my first day back with them Friday, so I’ll get in a couple of extra yoga classes.
Not tomorrow.
I have supervision in the morning and a client at night.
But Tuesday for sure.
I want to see if I can replicate the full wheel again.
It’s nice to see progress in my practice and even though it’s always a challenge to get myself to go, my brain resists, not my body, I do tend to go and when I do.
Such surprise.
So much gratitude.
Yoga.
Who the fuck knew?
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Auntiebubba 