DAY 67: "Good" Class Redefined.

Author: Me /

Not to brag... But the past four or five classes have totally KICKED ASANA for me!


Seriously. I may be jinxing myself here... But screw it. I am gonna brag. I have had so much energy and way more focus in the past few classes than I have in a long time. I've loved every moment of it. And, most importantly, I take none of them for granted.

Because I'm no dummy... I know that tough classes may be coming back soon.

It doesn't matter how long you have been practicing. How young you are. How fit you are. Even if you are a teacher. EVERYONE... Even those with a consistent practice... EVERYONE has bad classes.
  • Classes where you fall out of every pose no matter how hard you try to hold them.
  • Classes where you want to vomit every time you bend forward or backwards.
  • Classes where vertigo sets in and all you can do is breathe, because you know that is the most basic thing you can accomplish at that moment.
But after some time, the "good" classes circle back into the rotation. But are these really the "good" classes? Shouldn't the "good" ones be the ones where you are getting you ass kicked?

Aren't the ones where you are having the worst acid reflux of your life the ones where your body is trying to break through a wall and detox to a new level?

"You're getting something out," as one of my studio owners told me in my last really bad class. "This is good."

Yes. It is. Let's redefine these classes as the "good" ones.

4 comments:

Johan said...

If you are going to use the words good and bad then I think a good class is any class where you make it to the room and stay for 90 minutes. Bad is any day you don't. :-)
As Jenn said a while back, start using more specific words and your attitude to the 'bad' classes change, maybe hot, no energy, stiff or all of the above.
I totally agree about the jinx feeling, seems as soon as I mention an easy class on the blog, the next one wipes me out.

Unknown said...

'The only bad class is the one you didn't go to'

Love that quote. I think we need to banish the phrase 'bad class' from our vocabulary. We gain benefit -strength, determination, mental and physical benefit etc- from each and every class we do, even if we've spent half the class on the floor, even if we've had a subjectively 'bad' class. Some of the 'worst' classes I've had - on the floor before the warm up series is over, in tears by the end of class because it's so hot/I feel so weak/sick etc- have been in many ways the most beneficial. The mental strength and determination needed to stay in the room when you feel like crap and want to run out screaming is presumably far greater than that required when you're having an 'good' (or easy!) class. But even if you do end up needing to leave the room, that does not necessarily make for a 'bad' class either - I'm sure we've all had toilet or other emergencies (vomiting, for instance!) that require us to leave the room on rare occasions. Nothing wrong with that at all, we're only human!

micheloquent said...

Right on! I agree! The only bad class is the one you don't go to!!! After my awful shartasana this weekend I had a super hero double yesterday morning. My complexion stayed in the normal color spectrum, I wasn't out of breath, went deeper than ever in standing bow. I also wasn't my usually burpy burpiton self. What did I do different? Went in with a completely empty stomach (after having my cider vinegar H2O) I didn't drink in class, nor pour water over my head, down my neck and chest as I usually do. I didn't crave it and didn't notice until after class. My eyes were smiling in savasana yesterday.
Oh...and then I woke up today with a strained inner/upper thigh, I can't completely straighten out my leg. F**k it, off to the 9:30am class. One of my favorite teachers is back from Barcelona (I said that with a Castillian lisp in my head) and it will be a GOOD class, because I will be there. ^_^

Unknown said...

Each class is the best class ever. By doing one's best in each class, the best results are realized.

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