There's a big difference in my body when I practice in the morning versus in the afternoon or the evening.
It seems the best classes I have are when I practice around 3pm or 4pm. The evening classes, 6pm and on, are fairly strong for me too. In both cases, my body has been awake for a few hours and is stretched out a little more. The only problems I seem to encounter in these classes is that if I've eaten or had something other than water less than three hours before the class begins, I end up getting a feeling like I want to vomit. (Yep, right during Standing Head to Knee, as I am trying to get my hands "bucketed" around the bottom of my foot.) But despite the "vomit" feeling, I feel good in the afternoon and evening. But mornings? Ugh!
By "mornings" I mean the following:
- Wake-up.
- Get out of bed.
- Brush teeth.
- Pull clothes on.
- Head to the studio for class.
When I practice in the mornings, I literally roll out of bed and head to practice. I may have a glass of water before I leave the house... But often I don't. I just don't have time. And I walk into the studio for class with a dehydrated and creaky body.
My bones play their "snap, crackle, pop" melody for everyone standing around me. I can't get my back to arch and "go back, lean back, way back, more back" in the Half Moon series. Even after most of the class goes by, I have trouble with Camel. Then Rabbit pose comes along, and I can't tuck my chin far enough into my chest to get the stretch going down my spine.
"I should be warmed up by this point!" I tell myself. But I am not.
And that is how classes go sometimes. "Lifetime practice," they call it. You can practice for many years, and you're going to have days where you struggle. Today was one of those days for me. But it won't prevent me from taking another morning class next weekend. I just hope that by then, after practicing for over eight days, my body will allow me more freedom in flexibility first thing in the morning.
6 comments:
I share similar morning woes. I find it best to wake up 30 minutes earlier than I need (or want) to and have a cup of tea, some wake-up-body stretches and a nice, big glass of water. That extra time gives me just enough of a window to wipe the sleep from my eyes and circulate some blood. It took me a week to finally start getting up earlier and it made all the difference...though I do miss that extra 30 minutes in the morning of wondrous sleep.
I could probably do that for the weekend classes. Good idea. It would be really hard for the weekday ones though.
I'm totally the same as you. Morning classes are brutal for me. Anything earlier that 1130 am and I'm stiff as a board!
The wonderful thing about morning classes is that you get to focus on precision and alignment, simply because it just is not possible to go too deep before your body is awake. My 6am half moon is murderous. I feel it inside out, bones to skin. But I work on making it look like the most perfect 10 degree curved moon ever! Think of it!
Ohh... Good point Danielle! I never thought about that!
My best classes are always at night. Oddly enough, I do Ok in the mornings too, but afternoon classes are generally the worst for me. I blogged about this point recently. I recently switched my weekend schedule so I can do 11 AM classes on Saturday and Sunday instead of afternoon classes. I still have no idea why afternoons are tough for me!
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