Trending 22nd July 2015 by Online editors

My 30 Day Yoga Challenge Diary: Day 17 & I’m Trying Ashtanga Yoga

It's day 17 of Laura Somers' 30 day yoga challenge and she's trying a new and very different style of yoga.

I got paid yesterday and decided that rather than trying to be my own teacher again I would go down to a local yoga class and try something I had read a lot but had no idea what it was; Ashtanga yoga.

Ashtanga yoga only incorporates a series of eight poses but I found it even more challenging than the usual yoga I do. I had heard a lot of horror stories from friends about people seriously injuring themselves in classes so I went up and asked the teacher at the beginning of class if I’d be able for it. She informed me that if I didn’t do anything that made me feel uncomfortable and was aware of the limits of my body I should be fine.

Eventually the shame of being unable to do anything got to me and I ran out mid-class.

The second the class started I could tell all of the yogis were A LOT more experienced than I was.This resulted in me spending nearly the whole class watching and observing rather than participating. They were trying a load of different complicated moves. I mean they were doing handstands for god’s sake. I haven’t been able to do one of them since I was five.

I definitely looked like the biggest weirdo lurking in the corner doing absolutely nothing. Eventually the shame of being unable to do anything got to me and I ran out mid-class.

I then bought two tubs of chocolate fudge brownie to make myself feel better. It’s a slippery slope, eh?

I started Googling Ashtanga yoga on YouTube when I got home to see if it was meant to be that hard and as it turned out it was meant to be that hard.

On the plus side, I did find this easy-ish Ashtanga yoga intro class. You may want to stop after 25 minutes if you want to avoid broken limbs.