So I think I mentioned last week having a cold. Not fun, but it appears to have run its course, although now my allergies are kicking in. Again, not fun. Funny, however, is the fact that I currently sound like I’m ujjayi breathing all the time. Will stop by the store tonight to pick up my allergy meds, so when they kick in after a few days I’ll be able to breathe normally again.
Although I skipped Saturday’s intense yoga class, I did try doing a wee bit of very gentle and restorative yoga at home over the last week. The cold dictated not doing certain things: inversions and forward bends (either seated or standing) were out of the question as they made breathing impossible and triggered sinus headaches as well. But suptabaddhakanasana worked just fine, and that’s a favourite of mine. Seated twists were good, too, as was virasana.
But even though I’ve continued to do a little yoga at home, last night I just wasn’t feeling up to going to class. Having a bit of a cough still was part of it — I hate to disturb the other students — but being self-conscious was also part of it. It’s one thing going into a class knowing, for example, that my right arm will be stiff. It hasn’t been the same since I landed on it during a softball wreck many years ago. But somehow, not knowing whether I’d be able to breathe through the whole class just felt a little scary.
So I did a slow practice at home, including utkatasana and virabhadrasana II (another favourite) with the ones listed above to help build my strength back up a bit before Sunday. By then the allergy meds should have me breathing again and I’ll be able to do a few sun salutations. Yay!
