Of head-clearing workouts and barre “ownership”

I’ve aptly titled this post “of head-clearing workouts and barre ‘ownership'” for one reason: 

Last night, I hit up barre n9ne in the hopes of clearing my head after a kind of “meh” (for lack of a better word) day. And I limped walked away from last night’s double session with a clear head and an open admittance that the barre totally “owned” me last night. 

(and you thought it was me doing the ‘ownership’ last night, huh? Umm, no. It totally owned me last night…but more on that in a sec)

I really needed last night’s head-clearing, first of all. And as usual, Tanya’s words during class hit me right where I needed them to. She kept reminding us to “focus on you” during each series of moves she took us through (at rapid-fire pace last night, holy god, she was on roll!). And the more she said to “focus on you” the more I not only made sure to do just that by checking my form and tightening it up where needed; but I also took that message to heart. I used last night’s double session to (re) focus on me. I had let the day’s frustrations get the better of me, and my head was a cloudy, frustrated mess of thoughts.

But the more that I sweat through each series, and the more that I focused on the experience itself, the more all of that frustration and cloudy thoughts started to disappear. I was truly focusing on me…in more ways than one. 

However, I will *not* call last night’s sessions at the barre a case of me kicking that barre’s ass and taking names. Nope. Last night that barre had my name on it and it was ready to beat me into submission. Hells yeah. I was shaking. I was struggling. I was pushing. I was sweating. And by the end, my legs were about to shout “no more!” when the second class ended with the most welcome stretch ever.

But it’s those sessions at the barre, when you walk away feeling totally “owned,” much like those really challenging runs that leave you antsy to go back for a do-over, that enact change.

So last night’s barre ownership? And the fact that my name is not yet on that barre? Totally fine by me – I felt transformed last night. Head clear. Body worked. Focused on me.