Drapes and Gu

Wednesdays are great. Not only are they the middle of the week, but it’s the day I get to teach low aerial yoga. I’ve said before I don’t really like to say “teach” and really think of it ask guiding or leading but for sake of conversation, I teach on Wednesdays. Each class is different. Some are very silly and some are a little more on the serious side. And just because you are less than a foot off the ground most times, doesn’t mean class will be easy. My style is relaxed. I use the English version of names. Talking is fine so long as it’s not too distracting. It’s a safe place where things can be said and know it won’t go any further. The attendees are pretty fantastic themselves with different backgrounds and abilities and goals. I’ve got a few regulars and new ones pop in here and there.

Last night, we used two fabrics. Another teacher did this with me in a regular aerial yoga class and I’ve been wanting to try it. I went in with a few vague ideas of asanas/poses that could be done but decided to explore the dynamics of the fabrics as we lay and stretched in them. Part of the joy in aerial for myself and, I think, the students is the freedom of movement and at the same time the guidance of the fabric. Sure you can force a move, but in reality, it’s just better to go with the flow as much as possible, especially in a class that has “restorative” in its description.  And restore we did. The time flew by as we played in the fabrics. Time was spent stretching joints and twisting out our aches and pains. I did have one pose I wanted to do. I’m not sure it would have a name in regular yoga but I call it draping. There is also a dead lizard or corpse lizard but that one is completely enveloped in the fabric and nearly impossible to get a picture of. I promise it’s not as grisly at it sounds and a great hip opener.

Thursday was a rough morning. I’ve not been getting to bed very early and it’s taking its toll. But I have a schedule and I like to keep my commitments, even to myself. Maybe, most importantly to myself. Not because I’m most important but because I have a habit of forgetting about myself till I don’t know what sort of eggs I like.

 My HRM is on the fritz which makes me sad but I dressed a little warmer on top and a little cooler on the bottom and chose my Gu for the run. Strawberry is good and gummier than the blueberry pomegranate. I found it very palatable with a splash of milk. It was a nice chilly 30 degrees. No rain or snow, with just a bit of wind that I was running into for the first half of the run. Great, tailwind!

I had mentioned in a previous post that I thought I was hitting a good run streak only to be disappointed by a rough run on Tuesday. Maybe Tuesday was a fluke but Thursday felt great. I don’t know if it was the weather, shoes, body, Gu or what, but I just felt good. Running felt right. It felt like something that was natural and natural at an 11:00 pace. The dog, I don’t think, felt the same as me. She started running with me about half way thru. There was some tired legs, there was some gasping, there was some side stitches but that’s just part of running. I ate the other half of Gu when we turned around. I think the Gu works. My time decreased from 1:23:00 to 1:18:00 and I still felt pretty good at the end of the run.

This is a really short post about the run. There wasn’t anything that made it special. I didn’t see any urban wildlife or paintable sunrises. It was just me and my dog challenging ourselves. It’s pretty wonderful. 

I think this should be my theme song.