Wow. I'm still floating. I had the good fortune to spend my lunch hour in Therapeutic Yoga at Almaden Valley Athletic Club and completely lost all the tension I've been hauling about for the last week.
The teacher Nanci, greeted us all, gave us a list of props we'd be using (blankets, rollers, blocks...) and then got us arranged in Mountain Brook pose. I've been to a lot of yoga classes in my day, and had not before encountered this delightful position. Laying over some blankets that strategically lifted and lengthened our spine (especially that stress laden lumbar region) while letting our arms fall open to the side.
Just *try* to stay tense in this position... I dare you. And if this wasn't nice enough, she brought small towels to put over our eyes to let us enter complete relaxation.
So.. 10 minutes later, she's gently cuing us into the next pose. Ah well, I figured, couldn't stay that relaxed for the whole class, thought I. But I was wrong, she moved us slowly from one delicious pose to the next, including a relaxing straddle stretch, forward twist pose, with many other lovely spots on the way.
I'll be frank - its hard to let yourself be both that comfortable and let the mind enter into that stillness. Part of "power yoga's" appeal for me is that I can't make a grocery list while making sure I stay balanced in standing splits ;-) But Nanci's lovely imagery, and just enough verbalization of sensation and intention kept me present enough ... resulting in this lovely, continuing relaxed state.
And I have another hour til school lets out ;-)
