BOOT CAMP--Day 11- Yoga with a Cat, Cow, & a Windy Tree...

I have really amazed myself with getting through this Boot Camp intact. I've made it 11 out of the 12! Wow! My second round of Yoga in Boot Camp. I will say that I fared a little bit better this time. Part of the reason is that over the last weekend they had replaced the mat where the Boot Camp takes place. The new mat was not as cushy as the old mat. I think the other part of why it did went better this time is that I knew a little more of what to expect. Lesser is the devil you know?

Here it was 5:30AM and there were only three of us; plus the teacher. I was standing alone next to the mat in my sock less feet when the other two filed in at 5:27AM. Where was everyone? Normally there's 6 or 7 at least. I guess I wasn't the only one that had issues during the last time we had Yoga? Or maybe they read my last blog about yoga and ended up getting totally scared off? I wouldn't blame them. It requires quite a bit of balance, flexibility, and you have to think about how to get your body into each pose. And well, at 5:30AM-- I don't think many would be up to this sort of thing. But what really stuck with me after the last yoga was that I just felt SO much more relaxed during the rest of the day. It made for a rather nice day.

So, it begins, with the child's pose. Then, we start, again, with the mimicking of animals and furniture. One question that comes to me... why are there not any food orientated poses? Or are they only for the well advanced? Hmmm... So it goes... Table, Cat, Cow, Table, Cow, Cat... Stretching those back muscles out. We moved on into a downward Dog. Then bringing up a leg through the center, we flowed into the Warrior one pose. Well, some of us flowed. I sort of felt like a drunken sailor stumbling in at the last minute being the ever so graceful person that I am. (ha-ha!) Then, it was Warrior two and reverse Warrior. Here I was starting to have just a bit of my balance issues. But not too bad, and I continue to plug along at it; or should I say I tittered along?

There were a whole series of more poses that we went into. None of which I can really remember the order of, after all it is 5:30AM in the morning. But also, there was the added issue of trying to balance and figure out how to get into these poses.

Among the poses, there was a side split where you face off to the side, spread you legs out as far as you can with you feet straight forward, and reach down with you hands on to the floor. Then, one step more-- try to walk your hands back through your legs at the same time trying to bring your body closer to you legs. Believe me it's not as easy as the teacher made it look.

Then, there was the airplane (or that's what I called it) where you're trying to stand on one leg with one leg out behind you (straight) with your back (straight), and then you could either put your arms (straight) out in front of you or you could put them straight out to the sides to help you balance. I bet you can figure out what I did. I was also tending to have some straight issues, too! I will admit that I managed this one for almost a full 30 seconds before I lost my balance.

Shortly after this came the dancer pose. Another one of those one legged poses where you grab the ankle with the same hand and well you can see what I supposed to do in this photo. I didn't even come close to this one. Just goes to show, grace and me don't arrive at the same destination.( Photo: Dancer pose.)

Another pose was called the open moon, and no this wasn't one of those moons where you pulled your pants down around your ankles. This was like raising both your arm and your leg on the same side while trying to stand on one leg. And for the life of me I'm not sure where the other arm went to or where for sure my body was supposed to be. I was lucky just to manage a quick 15 seconds at having both appendages up in the air at the same time.

Now I am happy to admit I did manage to do the Tree pose. Granted it was a rather an unsteady tree where my arms were flailing everywhere in hopes of maintaining my balance. The teacher was showing that there was all kinds of ways to have the branches on your tree, and I said my tree was experiencing a windy day. (Photo: Tree Pose)

Then again, there was the pigeon pose. I asked the teacher why it was called a pigeon. It certainly doesn't look like the bird. She said maybe it was the way the knee was positioned, and it kind of looks like a wing. I tell you this is one HELL of a stretch through the hips! Owwww! And then we went into the Screaming Pigeon! Well, on one side I did manage to grab my foot and bring up into a some what likeness of the pose. BUT the other side--- FORGIT-A-BOUD-IT! I knew that my foot was back there some where, but darn if I could make my hand connect with my foot.

A new one thrown at us this time was the Crow pose. When the teacher first said the name, I was like what?!?! Crow? I'll probably be eating Crow before I can manage it if its anything like that other bird pose called pigeon. You put your hands on the mat about shoulder width apart, bend you arms at the elbows, and then put your knees on your elbows. Then, you lift your feet off of the mat so that all of your body is on your hands. Well, I got into the beginning of this pose, and could only manage 5 seconds of having one foot off of the mat. (Photo: A properly performed Crow pose.)

Eventually, we worked our way into the Plow pose again. I still think a backhoe is needed to get my butt off of the mat. Try as I might I still couldn't swing my butt up. I was also concerned that if I built up too much momentum to get my butt up there that I would continue to the point where I would go over completely and snap my neck. I didn't want risk a chance of this happening. I do have some semblance of self preservation.

Lastly, we went into the Yoga Ball, as I call it, where you contract every muscle in your body. Squeeze them toes and work all the way up to scrunching the face muscles. Then, from that you lay out flat on your back with your arms out and palms up. You concentrate on relaxing all of you muscles from your toes to your face. I almost could have fallen asleep this was so relaxing, and felt oh so good! And so, now I just have one more day of Boot Camp... Friday Circuits, here we come!