Day 31 Keeping at it...

Well, today was 2:30 class. It was HUMID in the torture chamber today. So humid that I was dripping during the first set of breathing. The weather has been unusually warm around here and it has been raining a lot. I am sure that contributes to the high humidity. I find it difficult to focus on my breath when the humidity is so high. I had a decent class. Sat out one set of locus. I made the mistake of eating lunch at 1. All the pressure on my stomach made me want to vomit.  I find that I can't eat a meal 2.5 - 3 hours before class.


Now that I am almost 30 days into my challenge, this might be a good time to review my goals and see how the progress is coming.....


Be in the moment, no fidgeting, or wiping. Completely focus. Right now, I find myself in a bad habit of being kinda 'lazy' in my triangle set-up. I put my arms down, don't get my thigh completely parallel...etc.
My focus has gotten a lot better.  I find that if I just focus on the dialogue and not anticipate, that class goes by much quicker. I have really been working on triangle. After a tip/demonstration from an instructor to put more weight on the front heel, turn the back foot slightly, bend the thigh to parallel and then only twist the arms - triangle has almost gotten easier. The first day after the demo, I got a compliment in triangle. I rarely receive compliments in that posture. With the new knowledge, coupled with a nice compliment, triangle might be one of my new favorite postures :)

Standing head to knee: by the end of the challenge, I would love to be able to get my forehead to my knee and hold it. Right now I can kick out, bend my elbows, tuck my chin in, but the forehead just won't touch my knee.
My forehead is slowly but surely getting closer to my knee. I am really making an effort to get my forehead to knee and elbows down during the sit ups and I think it is paying off.

Standing separate leg head to knee: I struggle with this posture a lot. I find it one of my toughest. By the end of the challenge I would like to be able to consistently get my forehead to knee with my hands in prayer.
I have been really trying hard in this posture. On my right side, I am able to get my forehead to knee and get my hands in prayer for half the time. I realize that my hips are aligned and that is what I am really concentrating on right now. As for the left side, I am able to get my forehead to knee, but not with my hands in prayer. In time....


Standing Bow: hold the posture for one minute. On a good day, I fall out of it twice.
I am finding the most progress in this posture. Some days I am able to hold at least one side for the full minute. I started not bring my body down so much and work on the endurance first. 

Locust: I struggle with lifting both legs up. I hesitate often in this posture. I would like to be more consistent and give it 100% each time.
This is the one posture that I am not really making progress. When I lie on my elbows, I have sharp pains in my right elbow. It feels very strained. I know I am suppose to feel pain in my elbows during this posture, but if I push it, the pain persists outside of class. When I first started practicing, the pain wasn't as severe and never lasted after the posture. So most days, I barely lift both legs. 


Rabbit: I want to be able to get my forehead to touch my knee and lift, lift, lift! Compression postures are very difficult for me.
Happy to say that I am making some progress in this posture. Before the challenge I find myself making all sorts of excuses NOT to get into this posture and if I did get in, I wouldn't really try to get my forehead to touch my knees. Now, I am happy to say I am consistently getting in the posture and consistently getting my forehead to touch my knees. I rarely get the cramp in the abdomen so I know I need to suck it in more and lift more.
Spine twist: to be able to grab my inner thigh.
Still a ways to go in this. Sometimes I think my arms are too short to be able to grab my inner thigh. It just doesn't reach. 


Water intake: cut down my water intake to two times a class (after standing series and before fixed firm)
I am still consuming a lot of water. It has just been so humid. I have water during party time, after standing series, fixed firm and sometimes after rabbit. The next 30 days, I am gonna try to take out the water after rabbit.


Now I just need to keep going to class, knock out some doubles, and things should just keep progressing....