Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Triangle to Half-moon

"This is one of my favorite vinyasas because it emphasizes balance, focus, breathing and provides a great lower body stretch."

Several students nodded, but I bet they were thinking "Oh God, I'm going to embarass myself. I can't... do... this."

"Now, legs wide apart, and angle your left foot in, your right foot out... Stretch your arms out... open your heart... Now bring your fingertips to the floor."

"Triangle is the easy part, I can do triangle... it's the half-moon pose... remember, focus and balance... focus, balance... focus... balance..."

And the next time I opened my eyes, my left leg was off of the ground, extended parallel to the floor while my right leg, straight and strong like a tree rooted deep into the soil, supported me. My right arm, with my fingertips just skimming my mat, supported my torso. Reaching for the sky with my left arm, I watched my fingers wiggle in the air.

"I'm doing it... finally."

"Now, bring your left hand back to your hip, and slowly... slowly... lower your left leg back to the mat. Extend your right and return to triangle."

"Done. I did it."

"Now, rise up and let's move to the other side..."

"Oh God... I'm going to embarass myself!"

4 comments:

Olivia said...

Tell me you did it!

I used to be able to do this when I was in yoga! It wqas a huge achievement.
I told my mother that I ought to take up yoga again (since she...well, she sent me some money to tide me over...)

Miss Dallas said...

I can so do it now! At first, I couldn't balance AT ALL! I kept falling to the sides, but now, I can almost get into full moon, which is when you can grasp your foot with your free hand and hold it for four breaths!

Yoga is inspirational! You must get back to it, Liv!

MattJ said...

Is she changing a really difficult to get at light bulb?

Olivia said...

Oh my gosh. I am so out of the habit by now that Tuesday and Thursday (yoga class) pass me by without my noticing!

Now I've mentioned it, maybe next week I will pay attention and go back. To tell you the truth, I am bit worried because the class will have advanced and I think I would like to start back near the beginning.