That’s what my yoga teacher said to me during my final shavasana.

Last night I headed to yoga, to a new studio that I bought a Groupon for. I wanted to go to this studio because it’s where one of my favorite yoga teachers, Trevor, teaches. I got a Groupon for $30 for 10 classes, which is basically a steal, and I’ve been putting off going since April.

I finally went last Monday (I promise I’ll get back to yesterday soon) when summer hours at my job started. I made the 4:30 class in the nick of time, fluster and hot. I walked in, and realized I was only one of five people in the class. The change in pace of a yoga class from 30 people to five is huge, and I was excited for such an opportunity. Usually the classes I go to are large, which definitely have a place in my practice, but with such a small class size the teacher can give personal attention which helps students grow in their practice, I think.

So anyways, I really liked the teacher I had last week, so I decided to go to the class again yesterday. I arrive at 4:32, rushing again, and as I put my stuff down and came around the curtain I realized I was the only student. So I used the bathroom, took my time to unwind my mat, and hoped someone else would show. Which they didn’t.

This ended up being my favorite class I’ve had yet in my practice. First, my teacher, Darby, asked me about how long I’ve been doing yoga. After talking about that for a few minutes, he asked me what I wanted to do. What I wanted to do? What?

I’d never been asked that question! So I thought about it for a minute. What do I have? Tight hips. Tight shoulders. What do I want to work on? Warrior two.

This is warrior two. I had a tendency to lean forward (Darby called this “surfer”) and I also have a tendency to not turn my back foot in a way that allows me to place my weight on the outside of my back foot. We did a lot of warrior two. I was sufficiently sore.

We also focused on pigeon, which is great for opening your hips! Basically you get yourself into the position above, then lift your heart out and forward, leaning over your front leg. We did this for so long I thought my hips would never be tight again, which resulted in a lot of sweating, but a lot of peace.

Another one we did for the hips was squat. This is great for those of us who work at a desk and have tight hips (coughnikkicough).

We ended the class with an inversion, which in my practice is shoulder stand. We did this for about two minutes (or so it seemed) until I was ready to get down into bridge.

After an hour and a half, during which I could not get away with cheating on a pose, I was sufficiently sweaty, literally dripping (which I am sure that you wanted to know.) My hips and shoulders are nice and loose today, and the class got me ready for an evening long with conversations to my bffs on another coast (cor and laur, try saying that ten times fast) who were lovely to hear from.

Today’s agenda includes yoga and a Chinese food dinner, followed by reminiscing about China with a few friends. This week is shaping up to be a stellar one.