24 classes/24 days

This has been a rough week for me physically -- lots of stomach issues that would have kept me in bed if not for this challenge. Attendance is compulsory, and I treat it as such. I am not giving in to lame excuses (something of which I am proud). 

I rested out the floor series for the past few days, but today I felt strong and rocked out straight through the floor series! I was having some stomach issues again, so I took ibuprofen before class, which seemed to help. (But I feel so guilty taking ibuprofen! We're supposed to feel the pain inside the hot box, and ibuprofen dulls the welcomed pain sensations.)

I'm still working on strengthening my arm and leg muscles, and I'm still working on correcting my pelvic tilt. I no longer feel lower back pain thanks to such corrections, but I'm approaching the back bends differently -- trying not to bend from the lower back and making sure my upper and middle back are bending, too. 

Yesterday in class, Ann Marie commented that while Half Moon is a flexibility enhancing posture for most people, it is a strengthening posture for me because I already have the flexibility (I was just born with a flexible spine -- it's not something I've worked toward). My hands twist like Oreo cookies in the first part of Half Moon, and I need to work on straightening my hands and gluing my palms together up to the wrist. Half Moon is now a very challenging posture. 

Lynn Whitlow, a senior teacher on Bikram's Teacher Training staff, is coming to our studio in two weeks to teach class and hold a posture clinic. I'm so excited to learn new expressions of the postures. Right now my goal is to be able to do the entire class without sitting out a single set of a posture when Lynn is here. I want to learn as much as possible from her (that will be my 38th class!), and I learn best by simultaneously listening and doing, not just watching. 

As of now, I always seem to sit out one or both sets of Standing Separate Leg Stretching because my legs are so wobbly from locking them tightly in the previous postures that I literally cannot stand up. The same is true for Eagle -- I just don't have the strength to stay in the posture. I find this ironic because those are the two postures I want and need to do the most -- I'm missing out on all the benefits of each!