A bloody yoga Monday

If you are at all squeamish about blood or don't like feet, stop reading now.

I was perky when I woke up Monday morning for my 6:15 a.m. class. I think I'm getting used to both teaching and the early hour. I slept well, felt prepared and bounded into class on the dot. But when I got in, I saw the teacher mat was missing. I scooted out and ran upstairs to get mine. On my way back in, I held the door for a late student, propping it with my foot. As it closed, the corner of the door scraped my foot, but I didn't think much of it.

A few minutes later, I was standing at the front of the class leading them through the early standing poses. I folded forward, looked down and saw blood. And not just a little blood. The side of one big toe was covered and had smeared onto the other big toe when I pressed my feet together.

Hm. This was a new one.

I put the class into downward dog and tried to figure out what to do. I didn't have a towel, so I went to the props area, sprayed water onto a clean cloth used to wipe down mats and held it to my toe while occasionally calling out "Inhale...exhale." I cleaned off most of the blood and then walked around again, keeping the class going through the flow, but my toe kept bleeding. I refrained from assisting so my poor students wouldn't have to stare at a bloody foot in downward dog, while every few minutes I still surreptitiously tried to blot it clean. It was not elegant.

Here's the clean version of the injury:

It still hurts.

I told another teacher afterward, and she laughed and said, "I'm so sorry." She once had a spider bite during class that swelled up so badly she couldn't walk on it and had to sit down to teach. She said I could have had the class do sun salutations and leave to take care of the injury. But I was happy the injury didn't throw me off beyond the short period in downward dog, which is progress for me as a teacher. After the bleeding stopped, I got back to the practice and that was that. Thanks, bloody toe!