9am Bikram w/Afton

Got into class a couple of minutes late which bugs me when I've driven 40 minutes to get there. The roads were very congested. It is so much better to get there a few minutes early to stretch, relax and switch gears from "getting to class" to just "being in class".

Afton is a very good instructor so I'm glad that she is working in both Bikram locations.

#1 Standing deep breathing. I see people with elbows pointing up to the ceiling and arms along the side of their head and I wonder how long does it take before that starts to happen. Of course, the main focus is on breathing and warming up from the inside. After all, yoga is about the practice not the posture. Still....

#3 Awkward pose. The third position. "Press knees together and go down slowly". Why is that so hard for me? I cannot do this properly. Seems like it should be so easy. I've always had strong legs. Today, I was actually able to lower down to the floor. Got a bit weeble wobbly while down there but at least there was noticeable improvement.

#5 Standing head to knee. The standing leg is getting very firm. The only thing that really keeps me from doing this pose fully, it seems to me, is the pain in the right hip. Hopefully, massages will help with that.

#9 Triangle/Warrior Pose. Getting more strength here. Starting to get into the full position.

#17 Locust pose. My hips actually came up off the floor for just a split second while doing the locust pose. Hallelujah. In the beginning I just dreaded the floor series with the cobra/locust/full locust because it took so much effort for so little result. The locust in particular... I mean the beginning and ending poses looked exactly alike! The only difference was my facial expression which went from relaxed to gritting and grimacing but those legs didn't move an inch. Just a lot of "vibration".

#20 Fixed Firm. I have had to stay in an upright position during fixed firm because the ankles were so tight. Now that there is some loosening up I was able to lean back now, not 100% but it's coming along now.

#22 Camel. After the first camel pose everything went black for a moment. I felt okay though I did take a few extra seconds until I could see again before I laid down between postures.

#24 Head to knee. Only did one of these. I don't do it fully like I used to. I think this is where I re-injured my lower back. So I'm careful here. Before, I thought I knew my limits but was pushing too hard and re-injured the back. For me, the key is to be consistent in practice and not push so hard that I can't come back tomorrow.

At the end of class, I always stay a few extra minutes in corpse pose. Then I do downward dog and pigeon pose [see photo] to stretch out the leg muscles associated with lower back pain as it stretches the thighs, groins and psoas muscle.

Noticed that I did a lot of deep breathing today. I think because I could really feel the heat in the room today.

I was happy to see that I managed to do the situps between postures during the floor exercise although there was some tightness/pain in the right hip. Though I'm glad that I have a massage appointment this Friday with the miracle worker, Rex.