Crow for my Birthday

This morning, I couldn't seem to shake off the residual sleepy feeling from a not-so-restful night's sleep and I had some inexplicable aches. I also knew that I had an entire lecture to write because procrastination got the better of me. Actually, it wasn't procrastination. It was my futile search for something interesting to talk about. After much searching, I knew I'd have to write a rather dry lecture about the Constitutional Convention. In other words, I was not a ray of sunshine when I rolled out of bed on this, my 40th birthday.

After about three hours of work, I donned my yoga clothes and headed to the gym. Before this semester started, I made a promise to myself that no matter how crazy life got, I was going to stick to my gym routine. My favorite yoga instructor cancelled her class last Monday so I was looking forward to this morning's class.

We started with some stretching poses that we usually do later in the class, so that threw me off initally. I could just hear my muscles saying, "Umm, don't you want to warm up a bit before downward facing dog?" My shoulders were most vocal. This instructor is very fond of downward facing dog. She thinks it's restful. During a particularly vigorous class, I agree with her. At the beginning of class, I'm not so fond of my downward facing dog. It's more of a downward facing tired mutt. Anyway, we continued on and my muscles stopped complaining. By the 3rd or 4th dog, my shoulders were actually relaxing and enjoying themselves.

As I twisted myself into various positions, I thought, "To hell with being 40. A year ago, I couldn't do half of these things. A year ago, I was in pain every time I left this class. Now, I can easily keep up and I actually feel good when I leave." As I rested my forehead on my shins in a forward bend, I glanced around and took note of all the people who looked younger than me who were groaning and grimacing as they struggled to reach beyond their knees. Yes, I know, yoga is not a competition. I don't care. I kicked ass, decidedly younger ass.

About 45 minutes into the class, the instructor had us sit in a squat, then put our hands on the floor and raise our hips into the air. I knew where she was going with this. She was getting us ready to go into crow pose. Basically, it's a headstand tripod with your head off the floor. She did this in the very first class that I attended and I failed miserably. I can do a headstand tripod without any problem. I couldn't imagine being able to balance my entire body on my upper arms and hands without my head on the floor. I also couldn't imagine why anyone would want to do that.

Over the past year, I've tried to do a crow many times. I can get one foot off the floor, but can't get the balance right to get the other foot off the floor. I know that I need to lean forward, but I feel like I'll topple forward and smash my face on the floor. This is not something that I want to experience. I also find that I don't enjoy the sensation of my bony knees digging into my flabby upper arms.

Today, I was determined. I got into crow prep with my knees on my upper arms and my head off the floor. I inched my feet together and got one foot off the floor. Then, I heard a voice from above. OK, not above, from the front of the room. The instructor said, "Lengthen and flatten your back." That was all I needed. I did as instructed, leaned forward, lifted my foot, and I was up, perfectly balanced on my hands - for all of 15 seconds. But it was 15 glorious seconds! My knees didn't bother my arms as much because, much to my surprise, I have some muscle tone in my upper arms. Who knew?

As I continued on with the class, I thought about my friend who went rock climbing for her 40th birthday. I respected her determination to try something challenging and overcome her fear. I knew that I wasn't going to go rock climbing, but I did overcome my fear of smashing my face into the floor. And if that's not celebrating turning 40, I don't know what is.

(Images from:http://z.about.com/d/yoga/1/0/r/bigdowndog.jpg and http://z.about.com/d/yoga/1/0/J/crow.jpg Maybe for my next trick, I'll figure out how to take pictures of myself in these poses.)