Longing for the king-size

Drew is out of town this week and I have, like zillions of people everywhere, gotten back into the workout scene. I don't like saying workout because I see yoga as more of a life practice but today I'm feeling like it was a workout.

I've been practicing yoga for about eight years now and I'm also a certified instructor. It's my passion and I love all things yoga. However, it's like any other form of physical activity - take time away from it, and you will pay when you come back. Since yoga is just as much a mental practice as it is physical, I'm paying double. Yea.

I went to class on Monday after not having done any sort of physical activity since before Thanksgiving. I went to Katherine's class at Uptown Yoga, smugly thinking that I need to take a more challenging class, being that I'm so advanced and all. Hee-yooge mistake. See, Katherine is hard-core which is fine for someone who has a steady practice and has worked up to her level of teaching. She is not for a first-timer. You'd find yourself frustrated that you can't keep up - which is where I was. We were doing things that I usually do with ease and I couldn't keep up! I began berating myself, frustrated that my body wasn't cooperating. I immediately caught myself, having that internal conversation telling myself that I shouldn't be so judgemental, let the body come back into this rhythm and place of its own accord. Much easier said than done.

Then Tuesday night I taught class in our building. I had been teaching to our friends and some other people in the building because I enjoy it so much and it was a great way to get in a convenient practice while hanging out with friends. Again, we started slow and by Thanksgiving we had progressed to some really fun and challenging poses. That's the best part about teaching - you get to bear witness to your students' progress and it's such a cool thing.

However, after taking Katherine's beat-down class on Monday and teaching (talking while doing the class is not easy - especially after two months off) I am here at my desk longing for the softness of the feather pillows and the king-size bed at home. I feel like I have the flu because my body is sore and I'm so tired.

I'm not doing anything tonight.