Before She Lit Us Up

Thought about attending Gloria's 9 a.m. class but the rain lulled me back to sleep. I managed to let go of the bed and get myself together for the 11 a.m. class though.

Gloria read this Elizabeth Kubler-Ross quote to start things off:

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.

I hope that yoga helps you find the light, Gloria said before she lit us up.

Plank...Chinese Fire Drill...Plank...Crocodile...Plank...Plank

I should have known that things were going to get heated when, inspired by a Rodney Yee video, Gloria had us jog to warm-up. Then, we did a breathing exercise that Gloria calls java breath -- it will wake you up, she said. It's a pretty cool sequence where you move your arms up, out and down rapidly and breathe audibly on the last arm movement. We did this about 10 times and it looked like there was a classroom full of symphony conductors. Stay down, Gloria told us on the final one and we let it all hang for a moment.

After java breath, it totally felt like I was in a hot yoga class. At one point we did a situation that Gloria said is sometimes referred to as the ax splitter to which one of my classmates said Are you sure they said ax?

On another note, I continue to live under a partial rock. I don't remember hearing about a Chinese Fire Drill and only found one yoga-related mention of it...