Unlike yesterday, today was a bit rough. I had plenty of energy and felt great, but once I got started in the class, it was a completely different feeling. Normally, I love the heat, but today was HOT. I know it can warm up a bit as the class goes on with all the bodies in there, but when I looked at the thermometer after class it was 123 degrees! That is a bit ridiculous! I really think they should regulate the heat a bit better than that. I understand 5-10 degrees, but almost 20 degrees hotter than it’s suppose to be??? Insane. No wonder when I hit Corpse Pose in the middle of the practice I just couldn’t cool down a bit at all before the floor poses. And for final savasana, I pretty much ran out of the room as fast as I could. Definitely looking forward to a better class tomorrow.
I can tell that the last couple of classes I’ve been working on locking my knee because my thigh muscles were super sore today. That made for a tough Awkward Pose and an even tougher Standing Head to Knee Pose. Again, I really focused on locking out my standing leg and for some reason with this pose, if I fully lock my leg, I just can’t really kick out like I’m suppose to without killing my back. I think I’m missing a lot of core strength for this pose because I know that sucking you stomach up is suppose to help support you lower back. Today I just did my best to hold my foot in my hand, lock my leg and stand there. Still extremely challenging, but that’s the best I could do for today.
Even Full Locust Pose killed me today. This time from the heat I think. I just couldn’t hold it the entire time because the heat was just too overwhelming. So I did what I could and then released to lay there and try to cool down. I actually like this pose too. It’s one that I can feel across my entire spine and have been really trying to lift higher each class. Today just wasn’t my day.
There were still a few good things that happened despite of my overall practice. The full back bend we do during Half Moon Pose was really good for me today. I even got a compliment of “beautiful form as usual”, which is always encouraging to hear. I really went for it today and got back further then I think I ever have. Only by a couple of inches, but in a back bend, that’s a ton!
Another good one for me was Standing Separate Leg/Head to Knee Pose. I think previously I didn’t have my feet lined up properly because I moved them a bit today and I think it made a huge difference. I was able to come down and keep my front leg straight and get my head to knee without a problem. I also think my hips were way better aligned and my hamstrings must be a lot better because I didn’t feel them as much. I still have to work on keeping my hands in prayer the whole time and balancing, but I’m getting there bit by bit.
So it was just an OK class for me today. Made it through, had some good moments, blah moments and just plain hot moments. But I had a good rest of the day. I went for a 30 minute foot massage and a 60 minute full body massage. It was much needed and now I’m super relaxed. Or at least I was until the final seconds of the Ravens game, but that’s for an entirely different blog. Starting my final full week of Bikram this week and I’m looking forward to kicking its ass.
Today’s observation: I had mentioned yesterday how I find it hard to bend over completely on a Sit-Up after the floor poses that are backward bending, but today something kind of freaky happened. Same thing was happening, and then when I did Rabbit Pose, the first opposite pose to all of the backward bending poses, my entire spine popped. Little pops all the way down my spine as I rolled down. Not cracks, like I normally feel, but something like little air pops releasing from each vertebra. It freaked me out a bit, but I loved it. It felt soooo good and then I got into Rabbit Pose with no problem. Needless to say, the Sit-Up after that was a piece of cake. Crazy.
