Since my weekly schedule has been quite irregular for the past few weeks...or months...I have not been able to attend any yoga classes. I have been missing yoga so when I arrived in Virginia I started looking for places around me. I found a little studio down the street and decided to check it out on Tuesday. I had emailed them to see which class I should take, stating that I had done some yoga before and wanted something challenging. Challenging was what I got!!

I arrived and the class was made up of me, another lady and this intense looking instructor. I knew I was in trouble when she said that to practice Ashtanga properly you are supposed to go to class six times a week. As she began to explain what we would be doing I was thinking "what is Ashtanga, what have I gotten myself into, and would they notice if I left." I told the instructor I had never done Ashtanga before and she said that was fine but I needed to check my pride at the door and know that I would not get it my first time. Awesome.

I also knew I was in trouble when she said that downward facing dog pose (using sanskrit terms by the way, not words like down dog but words like adho mukha svanasana) would be our resting pose and there would be no child's pose for us. Crap!

It seems that the basic move of Ashtanga is what you can see in the video below. I could not even do this basic move so of course I could not do the rest of the poses. Could you? I mean, I can hardly do a push up, how in the WORLD am I supposed to do THIS!!



I stuck it out through the class but when I left I was sweating and my arms and legs were like jello. That was NOT a normal yoga class, more like a body building class. I pretended like I had a good time and that I would come back sometime when in reality I wanted to pull the lady's arms off so she could not inflict pain on anyone else ever again!

Turns out I am not just a wimp and this type of yoga is real and is crazy. I emailed my old yoga instructor to see what kind of class I should be taking. I told her what I went to and she said "Wow! Power to ya!" and then told me what her style is called. I am going to do that next time.

You might think I am exaggerating about how hard this class was but I'm not. I could not even do the poses half way and 4 days later I am still hurting. My lower abs hurt, my upper back and shoulders hurt and my hamstrings are killing me! On a normal day I can bend over and touch my toes no problem. Not today! Not at all since Tuesday! I did not even go for a run yesterday because of my hamstrings. I have been stretching like crazy and am hoping for some relief soon.

I enjoy trying new things so I won't say I regret going but I am looking forward to a doable yoga next week. Hopefully that is what I get!