I had a vinyasa flow 1 session at Thrive Yoga early this morning, this time with Lisa Johnson. I almost talked myself out of going because I finished the week exhausted and was sore in my shoulders and upper arms. But my wife wanted to go to yoga and threatened to go alone so I could not let her show more discipline than me so I threw on my clothes, threw together my kit, brewed a quick pot of coffee and jumped in the car.

The class was less physically demanding than my previous two sessions; at least it felt that way and did not have to take any breaks. I know that I have to keep the mindset of a beginner, to approach my practice without any preconceived ideas about what I should be doing. In a way, it's an opportunity to relearn my yoga poses and vinyasas, and perhaps even overcoming some of the tightness in key areas of my body (shoulders, spin, hips).

I found that my right (injured and surgically repaired) knee seemed to track better than my left one. When doing a balancing pose, I felt more stable, with less propensity to shift out of equilibrium. The tendency may be due to overcompensation for the past three months in which I've nursed my right knee while relied on my left knee for support.

I also noticed that my shoulders seemed to have loosened up since my injury. When I'm laying in savasana at the end of class, my palms turn upwards more naturally. In the past, my arms tended to turn palms down when lying on my back. This pattern was probably created by years of pounding a keyboard, with my shoulders rotated forward. I actually worked on loosening up my shoulders during the break by combining a few simple stretches with my pranayama routine.

Labels: class, injury, knee, shoulders