ollieyoga

We finally had some rain in Central Illinois; lots of it.

Injury wise, I had two massages over the past couple of days; the last one was given by a guy who has the strongest hands I've ever felt. He said that my IT band was very tight and that my muscles would sometimes spasm and entrap my sciatic nerve. Also, I have minor swelling on my left knee.

This morning, I managed 3 miles after a so-called yoga class.

The class *did* benefit me physically; we used an exercise ball throughout. In fact, I am convinced enough to buy one for myself and to use one for an office chair. (that is what I like about academia).

But we really didn't do any yoga asanas; then again this teacher is really a "yoga-laties/pilates/exercise class" teacher and she taught what she knows.

Nevertheless, I am grateful that she took time out of her busy schedule to substitute teach; "no teacher" means "no class". We are short of teachers and she is one of those who steped up to teach, even at this low level. And frankly, I lack the patience to teach the types of people that show up for park district classes.

I think that there is a big philosophical difference between me and the average park district yoga student, and here it is: at last night's class (which amounted to "101 uses for a yoga block"), she read a list of all of the stuff that yoga is supposed to do for you. And she exclaimed "that is why you are here."

Wrong, at least for me at this time in my life. Ok, she was right on for most of the rest of the class, and would have been right for me at another time in my life, but not for me at this moment. I don't do yoga for the health benefits; well not mostly. Today, I do it for its own sake; it is just another way for me to challenge my body. I stay healthy so I can swim, run, racewalk, ultrawalk, do yoga and not the other way around. Weight training and cycling are stuff I do strictly for the training/health/cross training benefits.