Day 2 (122)-February 2nd (Tuesday)

Instructor- Joseph-4pm
First off, I would like to give thanks to my girl Tricia, who was a row in front of me tonight who gave me the motivation to keep going through this class, hats off to you dear.
Secondly, it is great to get new energy flowing through the studio, different teachers gives students, old and new, new insight and a varying perspective of how this yoga is taught elsewhere. I saw Joseph a couple years back when he competed in the Western Hatha Yoga competition and was inspired by his flexibility and strength; he was one of the competitors who stuck out in my mind and I just wish I had the opportunity sooner to take one of his classes, I suppose I have to get my butt out to Vancouver more often lol.
Two things that stuck out in this class: his flow of dialogue was flawless in the respect that he had a beat going and nothing was going to stop it, including adding frequent assurances that we would survive and how our bodies are like engines..but I will explain that further in a minute.
Second thing was the heat, yes, it was a scorcher with almost a full class and the humidifier running non-stop I could see some people unable to keep up. I even had to skip out one set of floor bow, half tortoise and stretching, but for me, it wasn't necessarily the heat that overwhelmed me it was the pinched nerve I had in my back. I think, possibly, I might be fighting a battle with the humidity that may end up with me in the winning circle, as long as I focus on breath and stillness, the feeling passes, just like any need: hunger pangs, nicotine fits, this too shall pass.
Back to the engine theory, I have a book on Ashtanga Yoga that proclaims this theory: "care needs to be taken not to overheat if one is engaging in strenuous practise in a hot environment. As with any type of engine, so also with the human body". It goes on to say this "heating the room to above 77 degrees may produce more flexibility, but it decreases strength, stamina, and concentration". (Ashtanga Yoga, Maehle, G. (2006)How many times have I felt more energy even with the cool breeze of the fans, it may be mind over matter but it never fails me every time. By the time this class was over the temperature had reached 110degrees.
I told Joseph after "You killed me in there, I don't know whether to slap you or hug you".