There Is Nothing On Your Mat

Downward facing dog is a pose that I have trouble getting comfortable with. My hamstrings are tight and my feet never reach the floor even if I walk them in and I feel like DFD also agitates my triceps.


Of course Sharon, my teacher tonight, had us do one of her favorite sequences: downward facing dog to plank back to DFD to plank. For fun, she had us assume DFD again then we shifted the left foot over to the right and went into side plank then to DFD then to side plank.

Is it getting hot or is it just me? One of my classmates wanted to know and we all laughed.

There’s no need for hot yoga; you have your internal combustion, Sharon said.

Yeah, Sharon killed us softly...

At the beginning of class, she usually asks if anyone has requests. Someone wanted to work on spinal rejuvenation so Sharon brought out the yoga wall toys.

We did downward facing dog by getting into a pelvic swing, walking our hands out, placing our feet on the wall and getting on our toes. Once we walked our hands out, Sharon wanted us to get on our forearms and let our heads rest. That was the most amazing downward facing dog that I’ve ever experienced and my back felt properly stretched.

During savasana, Sharon was like there is nothing on your mat. No stresses. No worries. Nothing that is not beneficial to you. She also told us that our mat was a safe space. She said other meaningful stuff but I kind of got lost in my breathing and my internal cheerleading of Talk that talk Sharon...