I started writing this on July 13th but never finished. I'm not sure where I was going with it so I'm just going to leave it as is. I want to include it here since I'm trying to document progress and I was writing about one of my struggles.. heart rate & breath. I have figured out since then that I think my heart rate has A LOT to do with how hot the room is. Today I was reading a little bit of my Ashtanga Yoga book by Gregor Maehle and he actually has a section titled Temperature. He mentions that a hotter room helps with flexibility but decreases strength, stamina & concentration. A cooler room helps with strength, awareness & attention to detail. He says "We have to study the posture more deeply to get to the same point in a cold room." So we learn more than if we just sink into an asana because the heat has made us loose and flexible.
Here is my incomplete post from that day..
Today I decided to have a breathing practice. I’ve been struggling with my breath lately. My heart rate is fast and forceful before I reach the seated sequence. Saturday as I sat on my mat letting my heart rate calm between each asana I started to get depressed that this was happening to me. It makes me feel lazy when I need to take a full minute between asanas since no one else knows that I can feel my heart beating all the way to the top of my head and that’s why I’m not moving forward. It’s weird because I can get through a led class which moves at a much faster pace and I don’t feel as out of breath as I do in my mysore practice. I also don’t get that way in my practice at home. In the mysore room the instructor has the expectation of me to go my edge every time and getting to my edge takes a LOT of work. I use a lot more physical force and that’s when my heart rate starts going up and staying up.
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