I overheard our yoga instructor after the class state she was having a very"energetic" winter. Translation - she's gonna keep torturing us all.
You know it's bad when you can hear the ladies behind you on their mats, grunting. I've never heard grunting in yoga before. Chattaranga after chattaranga. Push-up after push-up. I kept repeating to myself "this is good for the shoulders and back". I looked over to my sister during a brief respite. We were both collapsed, face-first on our mats. Sweaty. Rolling our eyes.
Why do I bother with yoga if I swim? I'm an off-again, on-again yogina. Currently I'm on. There is a benefit in terms of strength training and flexibility (those things are obvious), but I am finding that above all I am really enjoying the aspect of precision in the practice. Every body bit has a place to be including your gaze. This attention to detail about body placement has really helped me while swimming. Where is my hand during the recovery phase? what about while its pulling water? Is my elbow high enough? What are my legs doing? Yoga allows me the chance to slow things down and focus on the movement beyond times speed, and distance such as my focus in swimming.
But the torture....
