Okay with all my traveling, I have not been able to attend yoga as much as I would like. The last time I did, Dawn had us in side plank position with our top leg bent in tree position, our foot resting lightly on our firm and taunt thighs. “Raise your hip higher,” she cackled. It was a mean cackle. I don’t even know how that sound escaped from the lips of such a cute little girl named Dawn. But it did.
She had us do some more balancing poses. Michael’s probably the most balanced one of the bunch. And, if you are thinking, mentally, you are probably right. “Bend your right leg, lift it, and pull it slightly into your belly,” she commanded. Yoga instructors use a lot of adverbs. “Now take the right hand on your knee and pull it slightly to the right to open your hip.” Michael on his single leg was tipping back and forth like a tall thin tree in a swoosh of wind. Then like magic, he suddenly came to a halt. “Nice save,” Dawn cackled again.
So here I am thinking cackling is unique to Dawn. When I joined the Pleasanton group of yogis while I trained in that office, I excitedly grabbed a pink mat. Then I looked at Iliana. She smiled at me with a twinkle in her eye. She looked just as kind as Dawn, but I’d seen the twinkle before. I was doomed. Iliana nearly twisted us as a pretzel. She had us doing side planks on steroids, lifting our arm out in front, wobbling while we drew our knee to our nose, bending our elbows and lowering half way down, then up and down in a single bound, raising our leg and bending our knee so our flexed foot touched our rear ends. I didn’t even know some of these moves were humanly possible. I swear I heard, “Now lift both feet slightly off the ground.” Okay, maybe not. I toppled over on the attempt.
And you know what? I heard the same, I swear the same, cackle. “I knew it,” Iliana laughed, as she came over to roll me over. Okay, she might have won this battle, but I hadn’t given up the war. The next week when I attended the Pleasanton class, I stayed up with the best of them.
As we prepared for shavasana, I let out a big sigh. I was as near death as I had ever been. “Yes, Penny,” she consoled with a wide smile across her face, “we are nearly done.” And believe me, I know why they call it corpse pose.
That was two days ago and I’m still walking gingerly. Thank you, devil ladies. I sincerely LOVE YOGA!! Really I do.
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“shavasana” Hindi for “Hit the Showers?”