A Case of the Itches

The other day in class I sent up a silent prayer to the Yoga Gods to please let me sweat more.   Yes, you read that correctly.   I wanted to sweat more.    Every inch of me was covered in sweat but I wasn't sweating enough because every couple of minutes a little bead of sweat would pool up and run down the side of my nose ever so slowly, tickling and itching like crazy.   Then, it would happen again, down the back of one knee or behind my ear.    Each time I resisted the urge to wipe (scratch!) at it with varying degrees of success.

There is supposed to be stillness in the postures and that includes not fidgeting with your hair or your clothes.   It includes not wiping away the sweat or bending over and fiddling with the towel on your mat.   The idea is to concentrate on the postures and not on the external, unimportant things.   But holy crap!  A single drop of sweat running down some part of your body has to be the itchiest thing ever!   I have to admit that I scratched and more than a few times.

Soon, I was chanting in my head 'please, please sweat more!' and found myself reaching and stretching just a little bit more each each posture in hopes that that the additional effort would increase my body temperature even more.   If I could sweat more, I knew that those single, irritating beads of sweat would go away.   During Standing Bow, I had the most intense desire to scratch away the offending drop of sweat making it's lazy way along my hairline to my cheekbone but somehow I stayed in the posture only to find that when we switched sides the itch moved to my upper left arm.   Then, my right instep followed by the side of my nose (again!), my right shoulder blade, my right shoulder blade, MY. RIGHT. SHOULDER. BLADE.,  the inside of my left thigh, the inside of my left calf----

ENOUGH!

A full on case of the itches was upon me and it was making me crazy and ruining my class.   I took a deep inhale and began Standing Separate Leg Stretching.   An itch began on the inside of my arm and  made its slow, torturous path down the length of my arm.   Instead of thinking about how itchy I was I decided to acknowledge the itch as something that was here now but wasn't lasting and accept it.   Once, I did that, the teacher's words seemed a little bit louder and clearer and I focused on them and trying my best to make sure I was following them.   Back straight, eyes straight, go all the way down until you can't see anymore and slowly reach for your heels.   Lean forward and pull.  Lift your hips and try to touch your forehead to the floor.   Relax the head and neck.

Concentration and peace returned.   When the floor series came and we were lying on the floor in Savasana, I realized that I felt calm again and wasn't feeling itchy anymore.   Focusing on the words of the teacher and what the inside of my body was feeling had allowed me to stop focusing on what my body felt externally and that was good.   I felt calm and restful and my breathing slowed in preparation for the floor series to begin.   I congratulated myself on my ability to center myself and was mentally patting myself of the back when I felt it.   The tip of my nose tickled and then began to itch unbearably.   I resisted.  Just barely.

Pride goeth before an itch.