I love to do a little Yoga right after Zumba. Your muscles are warm and it's the best time to stretch and relax. Once a week I go to a wonderful 60 minute Iyengar Yoga class that happens to be right after a Zumba class that I teach and in the same building! Score! I'm in love with the teacher. She relaxes me and constantly makes me aware of my body alignment. Even if I already know the concept, she describes it with such articulate description that I begin to think about it differently. From her, I learn new ways to describe stretches to my students.
I always walk into Iyengar Yoga about 5 minutes early so that I can roll out my legs on the foam roller.
When I first started rolling, the sides of legs pressing down on the roller literally made me scream in pain. My teacher, however, said that the more it hurts, the more you need to roll. So I kept rolling, and now it's not so painful anymore. The t band is something most people don't stretch very well, so it can become quite tense. Rolling is doing wonders for my t band. Rolling is also great for you back. In fact, you can massage your whole body with the roller.
As for Yoga on a regular basis, 20 minutes of Yoga would be ideal for me. But since I teach a 60 minute Zumba class, I make the last 5 minutes all about stretches, including many yoga stretches, such as downward dog, happy baby, cow face pose, bound angle pose, half lord of the fishes pose, lotus pose, child's pose, extended puppy pose, and various forward bends.
Today I went to a 30 minute meditation followed by a 90 minute Vinyasa yoga class. During the 30 minute meditation, the teacher asked us to open our hearts and clear our minds. She told us that if anyone asked us a question at that moment, we would respond with our hearts rather than our minds. We were to be present to the moment.
While I was supposed to be having such honest, tailored thoughts, here is what went through my mind. "I'll open my eyes and see if anyone else is opening theirs. Yes, the girl in the back has her eyes open the whole time. Oh look at this crud between my toe nails. Let's see - clear my mind of any unpleasant thoughts- immediately my worst experiences and nightmares come to mind and I replay them in my head. Why is my brand new yoga mat so sticky? If I move, everyone will hear me unstick. what- is that a new frown mark above my nose? I wonder what I should make for lunch- do I need to buy anything on the way home? Listen to this teacher's Russian accent. Her butt is so perfect.
Yes, I'm a fast moving person, with little patience for meditation. That's why there's Zumba! Still, as a teacher it's important to challenge myself and visit other classes where more serious yoga practitioners are thriving. Their dedication, flexibility, passion and concentration are my motivation. Hopefully, with each yoga class, I can pick up a move or a way to describe a move that I can incorporate into my Zumba stretch. Attending these classes also turns me into a student. I'm no longer the best in the room; I learn to feel silly and humiliated and understand how my students must feel. I go to better myself and challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone.
Find what it is that can enhance your performance and embrace it. Step outside of your comfort zone and learn something new.
