Feel the burn

Yay, I made it to class! I didn't think I was going to because I was skiing in a race at Stevens Pass during the day. There is a sauna in my condo building so I was planning on doing yoga in there on my own in the evening. However, I got back to town just in time to make the last class of the day.

The ski race was called the Big Mountain Battle and it basically was a skiing scavenger hunt tracked with GPS. My friend, Kristen, and I did it last year and had a blast so we decided to do it again. They gave all the teams a map of the mountain and a list of various checkpoints you had to reach. Then it was up to you to decide what route you wanted to take to get there. Part of the challenge was having to hike to a few of the checkpoints while carrying your skis. Between the hiking and skiing non-stop for three hours, I was exhausted when we finished!

I then rushed back to town so I could make the last yoga class and I told myself "I've worked hard today already so I can take it easy during class today." Ha ha, just kidding...Jo was teaching again and someone requested that we work hard! I guess they missed my mental memo :)

Then I had a decision to make on whether to take it easy anyway, or to work hard. One of the things that is great about yoga is that every person can work as hard or easy as they choose. I definitely think it's important to listen to my body so I don't end up injuring myself, however I think we are all so much stronger and more capable than we think we are. The only way to really discover new limits is to keep going when we want to give up because right at the time when it gets challenging is where the real work begins. If we always back off when things get hard, we will stay right where we are at. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that - some people love staying in their comfort zone and they have no desire to branch out. That's just not the way I am - I get bored if I'm not continually learning.

I worked hard all through class and I was definitely feeling the burn in my legs! There were lots of times when I wanted to back off, but I managed to make it through. I also practiced my head stand prep again - I am now consistently putting my head to the ground from crow without having to touch my feet down. Now that I am feeling solid, the next step will be to start lifting my legs up.