March Matness- Roll Over

ROLL OVER

The Roll Over is a challenge in the Advanced mat. This exercise comes up third in the classical order and asks you to go on and take your legs overhead. This is one I put on the back burner for a while, when my level of strength and stretch were not what they once were. Sometimes I could do it, mostly not. If I did get my legs overhead, half the time I could not breathe. Then this summer I met Anula Maiberg and she changed all that. Some how she told me to do the exercise and I miraculously did it on the first try. Then worked on the troubleshoot. I was not honoring the curves of my neck. Lifting my chin solved a lot of problems. My neck was long and I could breathe. Adding a foam roller under my hips helped me to get my legs over head by bringing the floor up to me. Now I have no problems with this exercise. I can do it each time I try. 

The Opryland Hotel, is a place I spent time in growing up but somehow I’ve never spent the night there! Most years we would go at Christmas to look at their famous lighting display. As a teenager, I sang in the hotel at Christmas time. I still remember standing on one of the beautiful balconies and singing my favorite Christmas song, Barbra Streisand’s version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. One year, I was in A Christmas Carol at the Acuff Theater right next to the now deceased Opryland Theme Park and the still thriving Grand Ole Opry. We had the best time in that show.

I love walking around the hotel, especially when I have guests in town. The hotel is huge and I’ve gotten lost in it many times. But it’s a great place to visit, any time of the year.

Photography by Jennifer Gouge