Another thing I love about Bikram Yoga is that it is a crash-course in adjusting to the heat. I live in Texas but spent the majority of my years in Massachusetts, where 85 degree weather is considered the dog days of summer. Through most of my life, I have despised the heat. Summer in Texas became like winter in Massachusetts - I wanted to hibernate, crank up the temperature control, and hide from the world.
Now that I practice Bikram's yoga, I barely even notice the heat. Case in point: today's high temperature was rumored to reach 106 degrees. I don't have any problem standing outside, and it actually felt amazing leaving class today to hit the 102 degree temperature that greeted me mid-afternoon. I went from suffering in the summer to celebrating. Fantastic.
Pose updates: I have totally and completely flipped my opinion of camel. It's now my favorite posture. I can't get over the spine tinglies! It's such an incredible burst of energy, and definitely the highlight of my floor series. And to think, in order to love this posture, all I had to do was try it the right way.
Today's minor success: I locked my knees in hands to feet pose. Now I have to practice trying to grab my heels from behind instead of the side. It's hard. So, I'll continue to practice.
My biggest success today was on standing separate leg stretching, in which I actually got my forehead on the ground! Getting up was another story, but I got down gracefully and with strength. I could feel my pesky right hamstring lengthening and stretching. It made me entirely dizzy for the first set of triangle, but I recovered eventually and finished the balancing series without fainting. It's the little things, people.
Now I've completed three days of the challenge! All I have to do is that again, times twenty. Simple as pie.
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