Day 52 Frequency, Intensity, Precision

These are three ways to improve your yoga practice, according to guru Ida Ripley, who nearly killed me last weekend, in her hot-hot-hot Master Class. I can’t really increase my frequency of practice, seeing as how I’m going every day, and I’ve already experienced a double-class day for the first and last time.

Intensity, well, I’m pushing about as hard as I can in my postures. Since I’m feeling pretty strong this week, I’m working into deeper backward bends and I can feel it.

Precision, that’s something I can focus on. When I actually listen to the instructions  and breathe into the postures, making subtle adjustments to align my hips, keep my knees parallel, flex my thigh muscles, everything feels different. My postures are cleaner, I can feel joints releasing and ligaments and tendons lengthening.

But it is really subtle.

“Lock your elbows, Roxanne,” Anthea tells me when we’re doing Half-Moon pose. “Keep them against your ears.”

So I move them up a scant inch, from my temples, up against my ears, and what do you know, I can feel my chest open and my sides lengthen.

“Beautiful!” she says immediately. And hearing that, I can hold it for another second, just barely.

“Forehead down, Roxanne,” Randee told me in Half-Tortoise. And it made a difference.

“Heads up, look forward into the mirror. Heads up. Heads up. Roxanne! Keep your head up!” said Colin, when I was cheating in my seated forward bend, curling down, instead of keeping my back straight for a pure hamstring stretch. And, yes, it made a difference.

Frequency, intensity and precision are important, but there’s one thing that is even more important: good instructors. I wouldn’t have made it this long without their feedback and encouragement.

But some days, I still think they’re going to kill me.