Day 29: My First Double!

Saturday was the day of my first double, two classes in one day and back to back as well. The ladies and I had planned to complete the double together, the goal to go to 8am and 10am class. Well as Saturday morning rolled around, the idea of 8am yoga was much less appealing. Texting the girls at 6:30am, I found Elizabeth was sicker than sick and Megan was up for going to 10am and postponing the double for another time. So I headed to 10am class, debating whether I would brave a double solo and go to the noon class to kill time before my hair appointment. I decided to go for it!

Class 1:
Class 1 was taught by Carrie, upbeat and chipper as usual. Starting out in our first breathing exercise, looking in the mirror I noticed that my body has definitely changed in certain areas. A good way to kick things off! Things moved forward well from there in terms of the postures, until we turned to face the side mirrors during our standing series. Suddenly I found myself staring at two of the "skinny mini" girls in teeny tiny yoga costumes. Not an ounce of fat, perfectly toned. That positive feeling about my body at the beginning of class...gone. Replaced by a feeling of defeat and heaviness. More than anything total distraction. Through the three postures facing the mirror I was removed from my practice, doing exactly what they tell us not to do all the time...comparing myself to other people in the room. Instead of comparing my postures to theirs though, I was comparing my appearance. I wondered how long they had been doing yoga and then ran through a few explanations to make myself feel better...these girls are obviously still in their early 20's, with those tiny hips no way they've had kids, and of course they seem very advanced in their yoga practice...certainly not still within the first 30 days of class. I could not wait to get back to the front mirror and then down to the floor poses, please someone remove this negative distraction! Once we did turn around my practice was definitely back on track. Hotter than hot, I was still contemplating whether I would go to the noon class, so tried not to completely overdo it but also did not want to short myself on this class either. The most notable moment of the floor series was in bow pose (see pic). I have struggled with pose since day one, there has to be a trick. I focused on Carrie's instructions, kick, kick, kick higher, relax your shoulders, look higher up at the ceiling. Feeling like I might have finally found the "magic" trick to the pose, I had to peek in the mirror to see exactly how high my feet were coming up over my head and how high my knees were. I was amazed at just how high my feet and knees were, I had indeed started to understand just how to get my body into this posture...awesome! Towards the end of class I was beat, it was so hot! How was I ever going to go right back into this room when all I could think of was getting out into the cool air again???

The Break
In the break between 10 am and noon class, I walked out and officially decided I would do the double. To further solidify the decision, I walked up to Carrie and told her I was going to stay for noon and grabbed a coconut water. I asked who was teaching noon class...Insel! My first class with Insel and it was going to me my double class and there he was smiling at me asking me if I was going to stay for the 4pm class as well! Gotta love Insel. Nevertheless, I was intimidated. Insel's classes I'm told are tough and in high demand because of it. Well, why not have my first double finish out with a class from the owner of the studio himself?! Bravely, I told Megan as well as she was heading out. She wished me luck and told me to be careful too. A quick change into fresh yoga clothes and a fresh water bottle and I was back in the hot room.

Class 2
Starting class two I felt the most focused and connected than I think I ever have. The breathing exercise was fluid but I could feel my legs were shaky and a bit like jello. Oh no, should I have stayed? I tried to focus on making my legs strong again as well. From there, to be honest, class was almost a blur. I couldn't tell if it was just the fact that I was in my second class in a row or if Insel keeps us in the postures a bit longer than the instructors I've become accustomed too. It has to be Insel, maybe I was finally experiencing an "Insel" class...tough and utterly challenging. I pushed in each posture, but was essentially on auto pilot just following the commands of Insel's voice. I could tell my body was so warmed up allowing me to go farther in most postures, like standing bow pose...my left foot actually visible over my head in the mirror. I peeked again in the floor bow pose, again pulling my knees and feet higher than ever. My two camel poses felt awesome, backward bending my deepest. In the last few postures Insel kept reminding us "don't leave anything in the tank!" I dug deeper to find that last bit of energy left in my body and at the same time felt a complete sense of accomplishment that I was about to finish my first double.

The After
After class I felt totally expended. I was moving at a snail's pace, showering and dressing to go to my hair appointment. A headache slowly started to creep in, all I wanted to do was go to sleep. Then the headache disappeared...no advil required. My hair appointment was relaxing, much needed as I had about zero energy left and need to recoup some. Although I walked in there a hot mess, I walked out feeling great...but starved! I had yet to eat all day and the fuel from my coconut water and regular water was gone. Off to Megan's for girls night and Thai food. Surprisingly, I did not pass out the second I walked in Megan's door and felt tired but awake until we went to sleep after 11pm. A long, but incredible day!