Pshew! Never thought I would survive tonight’s yoga class.

Pio was just on his second day back from a long bout with illness. I did yoga with him yesterday but that class was a regular one (he was still a bit hoarse then). Tonight though was something else. He was back with “a vengeance”! — the sign that yes, he is A LOT BETTER!!! 🙂

I did not know that he no longer had a class after ours (have I been away that long?). Tuesdays were usually quick as he had to run off to his next class. Well, I was wrong. Tonight, we were his last class and sure enough, he made us go through a good 2 hours doing TOUGH YOGA!

The counts were longer, the transitions from plank to upward dog had to be seamless. From plank pose, we bent down into chaturanga, and without sinking to the floor, had to swoop our bodies forward, then up into upward dog before transitioning to downward dog.

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And this repetitive sequence was embedded in almost all our other poses (did I count the number of upward/downward dogs? Are you kidding?). I remember hearing Pio say for the nth time — “Now drag your body into upward dog…” and I was thinking, can I just drag my body into bed??????

Just to give you an idea, here are some of the asanas we did tonight:

(Marichyasana: I did the right side fine; the left side though was another story! Aargh!)

(Wide angle forward bend: Ok. This one i can do…but still working on getting chin to floor)

(Half Lotus Bound, Seated Forward Bend: need I say more?)
(Fish Pose: we did the variation of this with both feet 24 inches from the floor)

(Monkey Pose: was, still is, and probably will forever be my killer asana)

(Supported Shoulderstand: A little more work and I think I can get the perfect, L-shape form)

It was a night of deepening poses, challenges, twists with a twist, and buckets of sweat.

Do I want to do it again? Call me masochist — but yes, I think I will go for another round. Pio, just not THAT soon, ok?