Thursday, April 16, 2009

Day 81: Cruisin' along with Connie

Today was 530 with Connie.  Reggi was not there but alot of the other regulars were....Karen, Christian, Lonnie and Jo (married couple) and some others.  We sat on the benches, lined up in yoga clothes shooting the breeze before class.  I went into class feeling pretty content and relaxed and that carried through my practice.  I was pretty strong again today and did what felt like the best triangles ever, both sides, both sets.  My hips are really opening up, allowing me to get that L shape on the bent leg, finger in between the toes and really stretching that other arm up and getting the little spine twist in at the end.  No wavering or wobbling today, my foundation was solid.  Other things of note:  final spine twist on the second side I am suddenly able to grab my inner thigh on the bottom leg with the tips of my fingers.  I remember when it was a struggle just to wrap that arm around my back.  I never thought I'd be able to be sitting there, spine straight, twisting around comfortably and reaching that thigh finally.  Also in locust posture (for non yogis: you are laying on your tummy, arms trapped under you like you are serving a volleyball and you lift your legs up)  I've really been working on my arms being a base, spreading my fingers out, getting my elbows to touch, getting the weight forward into the shoulders, and for the first time I actually felt my triceps engage as well, and suddenly it really was my arms doing all of the work, elevating those legs even higher into the air, my hips starting to lift.  Wow!
I was telling a good friend tonight about my practice and how I felt and I said "I feel like I don't want to stop at 101, I feel like I just want to keep going".  It's almost like some energy is building up and this day 60 through 90 range is all about making progress and really building on the hard work you did the first 60 days.  It really is incredible.  It feels so good right now to be feeling strong and having some breakthroughs in postures that I don't want to lose the momentum.  Anyway, I'm not saying I'm committing to anything further than the 101, I'm just acknowledging and documenting this sort of crazy euphoria that seems to have been consistent since I came out on the other side and got beyond the knee pain and broke through the mental struggle that ensued shortly after day 60.  Incredible.  

2 comments:

  1. You are such an inspiration! I really want to do 101 days eventually. Just finished class #81 myself last night. Not in a row, mind you. But 81 classes in 106 days - which is an average of 5.4 classes a week - so not too shabby for a beginner like me. ;))

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  2. That is impressive Ellen! Consistency is key, and I'm sure you can feel the benefits of that!

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