Stress & yoga

My yoga studio has been closed for about a 2 weeks and hence I hadn't done since then. I suppose even the instructors get a little stressed running the classes and need a well deserved break during the festive season!

When the studio opened for three days, I eagerly looked through the timetable to see what classes were available. Alas, it did not say what type of classes they were going to teach so I picked the most convenient class for me. The class turned out to be a slower paced Hatha (I usually do basic flow classes). I'm not usually a fan of hatha, which is a slow stretchy style of yoga. It requires stamina and patience to hold the poses whereas a flow class is vinyasa style and requires more strength and focus.

Out of desperation I decided to give it my all because I was absent for a couple of weeks and my body started feeling different; stiff and less energetic (and no, it was not because of overeating and binge drinking during the festive season!)

As I was pulling a pose where you lie down on your back, bend your knees and put the bottom of your feet together to open up the hips, I realised how much it had stiffened. It felt uncomfortable to lie down like that. It requires a lot of time to get the hips to open up and I felt rather shitty with the fact that all the months of practice was reverting backwards because of the absence in the practice.

Then I remembered how one instructor who said that we store stress in the hips and therefore we need to get rid of the stressful thoughts as we practice these moves. The only thing is, I haven't been stressed at all. Who gets stressed during the festive season?!

So I'm thinking that all that talk of storing stress there is a whole lot of tosh! Unless I was stressed out without even realising it! I suppose it can be quite stressful deciding what to eat and drink during the holiday period!