Glutton that I am, when a new yoga instructor moved to town a while back I just had to start taking her Monday night class. She practices Iyengar yoga and talks quite a bit in class, where my long-time Wednesday night instructor talks less and doesn’t seem to claim a particular school.
It’s been difficult for me to get used to the pace and feel of the Monday class, especially since, after a hiatus over the summer, it was shortened to an hour. Now it feels positively rushed instead of just slightly hectic. My frustration level is mild, really, but it’s to the point where I’m getting frustrated because I’m frustrated. If that makes sense. So I’m trying not to break out the rubber hose and instead think of it like I think of those difficult asanas: something to keep practicing because all that frustration must be there for a reason.
Somehow, though, it’s more difficult with an entire class than it is with a single pose. I enjoy going to yoga class twice a week — and I really do love that aspect of it. And I enjoy hearing different instructions for the asasnas, which often leads me to think of them in new ways or gives me one of those “ah hah!” moments (oh, if i move this foot a little to the inside, it opens one hip and lets me bend a bit further).
But by the end of the hour I feel neither relaxed nor invigorated, as I normally would after practice. Instead I feel off-center (mentally, not physically), and often a bit peevish. What’s up with that?
If you are ending the class each time feeling that way, I would begin to look at if it is worth your investment. I have had my share of “bad yoga” classes, sometimes all because of me and other times, well, because of me too but also because of the energy of the teacher. There are some teachers I just avoid as I have learned that they are not in sync with me and the way I like to practice. Sometimes they move so quickly I can’t get my breath deep enough, sometimes it is too much talking, like a workshop, with little time to turn inward and find that moving meditation, sometimes it is just a personality thing. Anyway, once in awhile any class can feel not so good, but if it consistently is that way…trust your instinct and move on!
[...] than that. I was starting to feel like I wasn’t being a good student. Back in November I mentioned the difficulties I’d been having with the class, but then things started working themselves [...]