Amy Guy

Raw Blog

Monday, October 07, 2013

Yoga progress

I haven't blogged about yoga yet, but now seems like as good a time as any to start.

I started yoga-ing towards the end of 2012, with on-and-off classes at the Commonwealth Pool, then joined two beginner classes (with very different teaching styles) in January that ran for a semester as part of Edinburgh Council's Adult Education Programme.  I was hooked, and since the start of this semester I've been doing four classes a week:

Monday is Vinyasa 'power' yoga, one of the classes held by the University's Yoga Society.  It's fast, sweaty and intense, and I'd never have been able to handle it - or enjoy it - as a complete beginner.

Tuesday is a really relaxed beginner class running this term through the University Chaplaincy, mainly for relaxation. Great for the final hour of the 24 hour recovery from Monday's class.

Wednesday and Thursday are post-beginner Adult Education Programme classes, in Cameron House Centre and Nelson Hall respectively, with one of the teachers from my first semester of regular classes before the summer.

But what I really wanted to say, is that today I got myself into a full backbend unassisted (the last two weeks I've had help) and got substantially closer to reaching my toes with a straight back than I ever have before.

Go me.

(I definitely have shorter hamstrings than is normal, and my main aim with yoga is improving on that).