I always rolled my eyes at the earth loving, hippie yogis who would say stupid shit and be all zen-like about life in general. Yes. In fact, I still roll my eyes, (on the inside now, of course..) and try not to be so obvious about my feelings, but yeah. Come on, really?? WAKE UP.
Then tonight I took Eddie’s Big Fish Deep class. One hour and 15 minutes of sheer Heaven. As it states on the Big Fish site.
In this 75 minute slow, deep, long-holding stretch class, you will receive a powerful deep release for all areas of the body. You’ll leave feeling looser and lighter, taller and easier. The practice is done primarily on the floor in a moderately warm room. This is a powerful class to practice patience, move slow, and breathe deeply. This class is for any student at any level of practice.
Eddie is awesome, as is Mat, Anna, Mary Lyn, TF, Katie, Quinn, Kaye.. I just love all the instructors at Big Fish! But Eddie’s class tonight was something special.
I had initially planned to double up and do Crossfit AND Yoga.. and then I was like, mm.. I’ll just do one.. but which one do I do?? Oh god.. maybe I’ll just do both. And as I sat around at home, relaxing after work, I started getting lazy and thinking, well, maybe I won’t go at all.
NO YOU HAVE TO GO. At least do SOMEthing! Good god.. I had waited all day for one or both of these classes, I couldn’t just give up on them, and for what? Sitting at the computer? Psh.. I do that all day, all night as it is. I don’t need more of it. Hell, I’m doing it right now wishing I wasn’t.
So.. the WOD was squat cleans, and I’m afraid of a heavy, loaded barbell right now with my wrists so I opted for Big Fish Deep instead. 7p, here we come!
Now, Big Fish Deep is not Power Yoga. It’s not even heated. You don’t sweat, you don’t move quickly, you.. just.. stretch….. for long, extended periods of time! Way more than what I’m used to! At one point, Eddie even called me out in the middle of class and called me his overachiever, since I was doing more than I was supposed to, trying to get more of a ‘workout’ in. I think he liked it though, that I was pushing myself! I liked the challenge.
But.. I found myself smiling.. a LOT. Blissfully happy. Just laying there, stretching, smiling, and enjoying it. Enjoying my abilities, my moments, my stretches, and smiling! What is this?? Where did this contentedness and peacefulness come from?? WTF. I even was quietly laughing a few times, and Eddie was making faces at me. Encouraging my playfulness but trying to keep me quiet too, hah.
I stretched tonight more than I ever have. I was more flexible tonight than I’ve ever been. In my entire life, I was able to do more tonight than ever before. I was able to sit on the floor, with my legs stretched wide open, and reach my arms all the way out, almost so far that my head was touching the floor (not quite there, but SO CLOSE.) Seriously, I’ve NEVER been able to do that before!! It was incredible, and I felt so proud and accomplished, stretched, warm, good, relaxed. Just amazing.
And finally, during Shavasana, I took it all in and I let it all go. I was truly relaxed and happy, still smiling, in awe at how good I felt tonight. A big change from the last few days, for sure. What an amazing experience. And when I got into my car, I sat there and thought.. I’m totally Blissed Out right now. THIS is what being blissed out feels like! (no drugs required.) It was exhilarating, and I can’t wait to do it again. 🙂