Morning Class

I have a confession to make: I am not a morning person. 

This may come as a huge shock to you (although if it does, you've probably never seen me in the morning), but it's true.  I've been in denial about his for years.  I really wish I could be one of those people wakes up limber and ready to go, but alas, I am not.  The idea of waking up to a productive, energizing practice and then having the rest of the day to relax is wonderful, but the practice is not so feasible.  I wake up cranky, with tight muscles and my nose and throat full of gunk.  Honestly, I'm lucky Hubby loves me because I must be some kind of unpleasant in the mornings. 

Anyway, the point is that I am finally admitting to myself that late afternoon/early evening practices work best for me and my body.  I've had time to move, loosen up, and dose myself with caffeine.  While I envy the early workout bird who can take her tight little tush for a run before dawn, I am not her.  After I complete my challenge, I will probably come to Sunday Yin/Yang because it's gentle on my sleepy body, but otherwise stick to the 5:30 classes.  I think it's important to know your body's internal schedule and to work with it to find energy and productivity, rather than work against it and find only frustration.

As you've probably guessed already, I did not have the best practice this morning.  My waist and hamstrings must have been conspiring with each other to defeat me and breathing was a bit of a challenge through my stuffy nose.  However, I did persevere, getting pretty close to my usual expressions--albeit with more effort--and didn't have to sit down once. 

Positive Pose: Standing Forehead to Knee
I am awesome, hear me roar!  This posture just gets better and better.  I estimate that I held my forehead on my knee for nearly 10 seconds on the right side today--way longer than I've ever held it before and probably long enough to take a picture if I can do it again on Thursday...  It was a little tougher on the left side, but just because that hamstring was tighter than the right.  I expect Monday's practice will be super-amazing.

Struggle Pose: Standing Bow

Like I said in an earlier post, this one and Standing Forehead to Knee seem to be inversely related.  Since I did sooo well in the previous posture, this one was a disaster.  My silly, silly hamstrings pulled back, preventing me from kicking up and effectively balancing.  Vicki suggests that I rotate my top hip back a little bit to help with the hamstring stretching.  I think I do this without realizing it when I get really deep into the posture, but then am so surprised that I fall.  Perhaps if I'm more conscious of where my hips are, I will have more success on Monday.

<--This kind of looks like I'm rotating my hip up, right?


I'm getting pretty tired of saying "next time I'll do better."  I've only got two more bikram "next times" left in my challenge. Monday's goal, rather than striving in specific postures, will be to keep my breath and my focus in line.  By refusing to let my mind wander, I predict that I will find the series much easier and have a wildly successful practice.  Wish me luck!

Yin/Yang with Kate tomorrow.

-Allie