Oof! Today’s gonna be a busy one, and with no time to practise before lunchtime or early afternoon, it had to be early morning yoga. Yeah I know, early morning yoga and early morning clubbing are at different ends of the spectrum, but I reckon they overlap in more than just the time slot, so bear with me on this one.
I can normally motivate myself to fall out of bed onto the bike and cycle over to an early yoga class – I even teach a few – but when the mat is literally four feet from the warmth of the duvet I find it kind of hard to weigh the scales in favour of the mat. But because my girlfriend can’t make it to my class this evening, she pushed me out of bed early because she wanted to do yoga, suggesting we practise together side by side.
Luckily, I found an old Fabric mix CD in my house a while ago by Berlin duo M.A.N.D.Y, which is strangely perfect for sweeping through yoga to. So I put that on, warmed up the old airways with a couple of enormous breaths and rolled through a lengthy warm up. My lower back always feels super tight in the mornings, so I chose some ab curls (sort of half bridges, I guess), lots of hugging the knees, and a few slow sun salutes to get warmed up. Being right next to the radiator made all the difference. I could feel the inner cat purring away in the Ujai breath. Then a couple of standing poses – I’ve only recently remembered humble warrior, so I did a couple of those (Warrior 1, hands clasped behind back, diving forwards ear to ankle). I used to do a lot of these but haven’t for ages, which is a shame because it feels so good on the shoulders.
A few balances, then to seated. Pigeons and double pigeons and twisted pigeons all over the place. Working deeper and deeper into the hips, then a good twist and into the closing sequence.
The whole thing was completely different with someone there doing the same thing next to me. I found it much easier to focus the mind, to hold back from letting it wander off to breakfast etc, to properly feel the release and expanse of each new stretch. Oh and the M.A.N.D.Y. CD helps loads, which got me thinking that maybe going to Fabric to dance wildly and going to the mat for a flowing yoga practice aren’t too dissimilar. What I mean is, for both experiences you’re taking your body to a place that’s completely different to regular life, you’re moving and finding those limits of movement, you’re focusing the mind into the sensations of the body, letting everything drop into darkness as you home in on the present moment. Nice way to start a Wednesday – so why not find your Fabric on the mat?
Put that vodka red bull down, joker.
YOGALEN 