I'm flointing!

Woohoo! Friday I had my first private session with Anjali at Yoga Mountain and it was quite excellent! Definitely a little awkward at first (especially once she turned off the music so she could hear my breathing!) but really something once I got focused on my body. I was most surprised at how much I could actually do - really just needed a couple of blankets and blocks to help modify some poses, and decided to do without altogether the balancing pose requiring me to stand on my left leg. Yeah, not gonna happen!

Wait, that was a lie - what was MOST surprising is that my arms are falling out of their sockets! Not far in Anjali said "Now let me just adjust your arms for you" and literally picked up my upper arm and placed it back into the socket. I didn't know you could do that! There were a few times she did the same with my legs, rotating the calves in and the thighs out because my knees were knocking in in a weird way - no doubt a result of the slight inversion of my left foot that Jennifer noticed, too, when she initially evaluated me. All of these adjustments felt just dandy at the time, and definitely altered my alignment for the better, but MAN did I feel them the next day!

Overall, though, Anjali said my alignment is pretty good - I just need to get more comfortable with the poses and to that end will be doing 2 more sessions just with her before joining her regular Level 1 Anusara class. I'm really looking forward to it - still kind of stunned by what I was able to do and how relaxed I felt immediately afterward (next day pains aside!). Seems like a perfect addition to my routine, so much so that I really wish I'd had the funds for it months ago!

Oh yeah, and flointing! At one point Anjali said "...and just floint your foot and stretch to the left" and I'm going "uh huh, uh huh, stretch to the left... wait. What?!" Apparently yoga instructors are prone to making up words, and this is Anjali's conflation of "flex" and "point". I must say I am an excellent flointer. :) Unfortunately I'm not able to schedule another session til next week, but with a massage tomorrow (YAY!) and an adjustment Thursday, I think I'll muddle through somehow!

Finally heard back Saturday from Erin, Dr. Kim's trusty PA (who just had knee surgery herself), about a couple of questions I had. Turns out all body jewelry is outlawed during surgery, which means both my tongue stud and my rook ring will have to be out for at least a few hours (still waiting to hear how soon I can put them back in) while I'm in the OR. This is slightly complicating because 1)there's a good chance that even after more than a decade, my tongue will heal in that short period of time and 2)I can't take my rook piercing out! I'll need to find a piercer to do it for me, and I have no idea how long that one can be out before it starts to close up. Curses! Of course my mom is triumphant (both she and my dad have said they will NOT be helping me put jewelry back in post-op) but I'm feeling torn at best. Would I have taken either piercing out anytime soon without surgery? No way. But would I go through another round of piercing to have them back? I don't think so. Arrrrr talk about unintended consequences! How frustrating.