One Week of Yoga

It's time for an update on what the yoga retreat does to me. I'll stick to what's closely related to the body for now.

First of all, I must say that I'm amazed how quickly the winter stiffness disappeared. Whether it's due to the yoga practice or to the climate is hard to tell. Probably a little bit of both.

Second, worries over different injuries in my body have almost vanished. The hip that was tweaked when I ran to the bus on an icy street in Lund is as good as new. My left knee that always makes itself heard without actually aching, feels strong. My right ankle, that has been aching in postures such as the table pose or the crow pose over the past year, hasn't been aching for the last two days, although I still feel that the binding tissues are too short and I'm working on that. On the downside is the little neck-tweak that I got after some head- and shoulderstands a couple of days ago, but I've had this problem before (sometimes just from sleeping with the head at a bad angle) and its getting better again.

Third, I feel strong in my body. I could do the seven wheel poses (full backbends) in a row at the final session, and I like to work more with my muscles throughout the practice. On this picture, I'm assisted into a wheel pose, which is good for anyone who is not very flexible.

 

Fourth – and this is the really amazing part – it feels like my face is opening up! It feels like I've had tension in my eyebrow that is now releasing. My face might become yogi's face!