Day 28: Bikram Yoga Challenge - Standing Head to Knee Tip

Me in Standing Head to Knee in 2008, notice my head is NOT on my knee! (still working on it.)

Today in Standing Head to Knee I tried a new technique I learned yesterday in Advanced class and really felt a difference is my ability to balance and get my head to my knee. Standing Head to Knee is where you stand on one leg, grab the foot of the other leg and lift the leg straight in front of you so both legs are perpendicular to each other, with both knees locked.The dialog of the pose tells you to bend the elbows down to the calf muscle and eventually the elbows will go below the calf muscle. Next you are to tuck your chin and touch your forehead on the knee.

Tucking my chin in and touching my forehead on my knee always makes my elbows come up so they are no longer below my calf muscle. But today I used more of my back and shoulder muscles to round, like in Rabbit Pose, or put another way expanded my upper back as if I was hunching over. This seemed to give me more room to tuck my chin and get my forehead to my knee and also gave me more space to drop my elbows down.

I still need to work on it, I feel out of both sets, but I could get my forehead closer and I could tell a significant difference in my stabilization in the posture. It also helps to push the hip of the raised leg, pushing the knee even further out, giving more room to touch the forehead to the knee.

Standing Head to Knee is one of those postures I think I could work on my whole life and not completely master. There are so many tiny nuances and things to correct, I love working on it and trying to always make minor corrections or changes and watch what my body does. Some day I hope to be able to keep my kicking leg parallel to the floor, without my hands clasped against the foot! Now THAT would be AMAZING! I have the rest of my life to work on it.... namaste.

Day 27 - Bikram Yoga Challenge: The new vent system is a gift to all the students

Image: Tina Phillips / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


Here we are, day 27, class 26 of my 60 Day Bikram Yoga Challenge and I am feeling pretty good. I had sort of been dreading going to class and frankly, being social, for the last few days. Sometimes I just get in a place where I prefer to just be alone and at home, which is nearly impossible when you are in the middle of a 60 Day Challenge! I have come out of my "funk" though and am feeling much better physically and mentally. Today I took the regular Bikram class and the Advanced class, which by the way, only counts as ONE class towards my 60 Day Challenge. If you count my Advanced classes, which we aren't, but if we WERE, I would be at 29 classes!

David taught today's class and he was perhaps very funny today. He made a joke about the exhaust system and giving these guys in the back a "gift" when it when went on because they were right underneath it. It was funny because David made a comment to one of them that his friend put them in just the right spot, under the vent. And these poor guys were dying in class, when it came on I instantly saw relief in their faces and everyone kind of laughed because we have all been there.

I think it must have been the first class for one of them and the other one must have been new. At one point one of the guys opened the back door and poked his head out like he was trying to get some fresh air! That was really funny, not sure anyone has every done that!

And it was someone's birthday today so we sang Happy Birthday during the second set of Triangle with was so nice, it makes it a little faster and even if it didn't, you don't really notice because you are focused on singing, a great distraction.

It might have been one of my better classes in weeks, maybe it was the breakfast tacos I made myself early in the morning.....

Day 23 - Bikram Yoga Challenge: Towel or No Towel? No Towel!

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'm feeling the tolls of taking class every day; feeling a bit run down lately. I feel a little silly even mentioning it because I've pretty much decided 90 minutes of workout a day is a bare minimum for me but man, taking Bikram Yoga everyday is HARD! I better get use to it though, I will soon be taking TWO classes a day for 9 weeks. No wimping out now, I'm not even half way through my challenge, I need to pull it together! :)

There was a funny phenomenon in class the other day. One guy, "Jim" moved his towel during Separate Leg Stretching. Jim comes to yoga on a regular basis and knows in Bikram Yoga we discourage turning towels when we do poses that are sideways from the mat. The instructor looked at him with a smirk and he just smiled and said, "my feet slip." That wasn't the funny part.

The funny part was when another student, "Ed", moved his towel to the side in the next posture. I was smiling inside because what they say is so true, it is a group energy thing and when one person sits down or "moves their towel", others all the sudden feel like they need to do the same. You see it more often when people get exhausted and sit out a posture. Others then feel it is ok if they sit out a posture and you can see it in class, all the sudden there will be several sitting out a posture. This isn't my own opinion, I've actually done this, been exhausted but no one else is sitting out so darn it, I'm going to keep going but the second someone takes a knee, THANK GOODNESS, all the sudden it is a sign it is ok to take a breather.

In the Corporate world they call this teamwork, where everyone works together for the common goal, everyone does their part to get the team to the finish line. In yoga that is called group energy. As a group working together we can all make it to the end of class. Even though we are all there for our own individual practice and the improvement of our own bodies, we are also there in a group and as a group we have an amazing power to help each other. It really does help to have all the people in the room working together. If you are feeling tired you get energy and motivation from the others in the room and if you are going strong and on a roll, well, you give energy to those that need it. Working together, everyone makes it to the end of class.

So this little towel episode made me laugh because one guy set in motion an energy that altered the class. For me, it made me want to try even harder to stay in the poses, to see if I could do it, in spite of my feet slipping. And they do slip, I can't really help that, my legs aren't strong enough yet to keep my feet planted. But I keep trying every day.


As a little side note, the reason they discourage moving the towel is to help build up the muscle in your legs. By not using the towel, you are forcing your legs and glutes to do all the work, making them stronger. Using a towel uses the friction of your feet against the towel to keep you planted in the position so although you might be able to hold the position longer or better, you aren't getting the same benefit as a person that is struggling with no towel. 

 

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Day 18: Bikram Yoga Challenge - Now That's Some Good SWEAT!

I did a double today! I haven't taken two Bikram Yoga classes in one day in over a year, maybe two. The last time was also in the middle of my other 60 Day Challenge. Before I decided to go to teacher training I thought doubles were only for "hardcore yogis" (or those in Challenges) but I have come to the realization lots of people do doubles. Oddly enough, some even find taking class twice a day perfectly normal! There are apparently people outside of yoga that workout for 3+ hours a day at least 1 or 2 times a week so doing two Bikram Yoga classes isn't really too much different that working out at the gym or running for 3 hours, except it is 105 degrees and 40% humidity. And actually, I have run and cycled for WAY longer than 3 hours in over 100 degree weather in Texas summers.

I have to take back what I said yesterday about morning classes and no sweat. Oh my gosh, today was like a shower! I sweated like I had a passion for sweat, it was nonstop the entire class. My towel was soaked and certainly dripping as I left class. Not complaining, loved it. I felt so great today, flexible and strong. It was perhaps one of my better class of late.

I even had enough energy after class to pratice putting my leg behind my head, both sides. It is funny how the body is different on each side. The right side is easy for me, my leg goes over my head and I can look at myself in the front mirror. I don't look like the champions from this past weekend but I can at least get my foot over my head and see myself in the mirror! The left side is not so easy. My leg goes over my head fine but lifting my head up to see myself and basically straighten out my spine is so much harder, I look like a turtle all curled up. My goal is to eventually be able to do Om Pose and Good Bye Pose, well.



My second class was in the afternoon. I hadn't really set my mind to taking class; I had to meet with a vendor and I took some clothes "just in case" I decided I wanted to take another class. I was a little nervous I hadn't eaten enough to take class again but once I was at the studio, I felt fine. My friend Doug was there and he was planning on taking the 4:30 pm class and talked me into taking it too. Megan, who went to the championships with me, was there and so was Mark, a fellow teacher in training, so it was a class full of good strong energy. Sweaty too! TWO sweaty classes in one day! Sweat was streaming down my face, my whole body really, all class, I don't think there was a moment I felt dry. Funny too because someone was saying after class the room was too hot and I had been thinking to myself at some points in class that it wasn't hot enough! Of course, we don't say that in the studio, they may turn the heat up!

I really feel like my practice is improving each day I go to class. It is small things like a tighter grip in a posture, or a bit further stretch, or a more locked knee or sitting deeper in a pose. I love seeing what my body can do when I am really focused and dedicated all the while remembering where I was when I started 4 years ago like not even being able to grab my elbows in Wind Removing Pose. There is so much to correct and improve upon, I think some days it may take me a lifetime to master the 26 basic poses.

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