During this weeks Iyengar practice, we did a wholesome yet rigorous session lead by Annie. It was rigorous in the sense that it stretched me in new ways, and I was sore for two days following (even while sitting in class on Thursday!). I enjoyed moving into different postures during this practice, as the blocks and props helped holding positions. The space was a little tight, as many of us were packing into eighty percent of a classroom, with the other twenty percent covering the area of the desks. The Virabhadrasana II pose caught me as being one of the difficult poses, not necessarily for the pose itself, but because of the way you were supposed to flex your hips, and the length of time you are expected to hold the pose out. I later found out from class that our class only held the poses out for about a third of the time you are supposed to hold them. To remark on Yoga as a ritual, I view it as a ritual practice when it is something you perform as a discipline to achieve a specific purpose, one that is internally motivated and can differ based on the person. This differs from something that you do on the side, or for mere recreation. A ritual is to attain an intrinsic spiritual goal, by frequently performing a task.