Day 7 - Master Class

8.00am (AT)

One week done and dusted! Wahoooooooo Party Time....the yoga way! (which means water haha)

Wow what a fun week it has been! I seriously didn't think I would feel this good after a 7 days straight, it actually makes me think I could possibly do a 60 day challenge after this one (Ill revisit this after 30days).

So its still raining here in Brisbane which is great cause we definitely need it but somehow it makes the room super humid. Today we had a 2hour Master Class with the great Dr A. Back in December we did the first half of this Master Class which was going into detail about the standing series postures and then smashing out the floor series. Today was opposite - we smashed the standing series and chose two postures from the floor series to discuss in length.

In the standing series I didn't feel as warm as normal and my lower back felt a bit strained so my back bend in Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon pose) felt like nothing but I still squeezed tight and attempted it anyways.
One thing that always sticks in the back of my mind is "Its human to fall out but its yogi to try again" so when I have fallen out of that posture (mostly Triangle) I say this to myself as a kick in my own butt! Actually that reminds me, today in Triangle I did both sides and didn't fall out..holy crap! How did I forget that? After all these classes I am finally learning to concentrate on turning my hip more to be able to sit in my bent leg. Work in progress......

I have just remembered some pain I used to experience that I don't get anymore. A year into this practice I would always without fail get a cramp feeling on the outside of my feet after Eagle and it would last until Tree, so doing Separate Leg Head to Knee I would always come out cause of the pain in my feet. I just realised recently that I haven't had that cramping feeling in my feet - I wonder when it stopped? Happy its not there anymore thou!

CAMEL USTRASANA - a lot of people don't particularly like this posture but I think after a while you begin to love it. I personally love it for a number of reasons:
1) we don't bend backwards enough in our every day lives
2) its a HUGE challenge to calm the breath when you're backwards with your head below your heart and
3) once you come out and lay in savasana I feel my body melt below ground level and its feels sooo bloody awesome!

Today Dr A gave me and Hollie (soon to be in teacher training and an inspiring young lady I only met today) a Hot Yoga MasterClass book by Gabrielle Raiz who does Hot Yoga teacher training in South America. This is now my new bible. I don't know when I will be able to do teacher training but I know it is definitely something I want to pursue. I am at my happiest when at the studio more so than my own work place.

I got in a little quick practice of my headstands and back bends and they are feeling good at the moment.

I have my friend Brooke joining me on her 30 day Challenge from Tuesday so Im looking forward to seeing her around.

Looking forward to tomorrow already.

Until tomorrow x

ALix x

Day 6 26.01.13

~ must remember this ~

6.00am (SM)

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY ALL!

Best way to start the weekend off is with a nice sweaty yoga class.

This morning another 10 people got out of their comfy warm beds and drove in the rain to come and give them selfs 90mins of meditation. There were no newbies so we got straight into a strong class. 

Im finding my shoulder blades are a bit sore so I think Im giving them a great workout - hopefully I have nice back muscles at the end of this. Which reminds me I need to take photos!

I havent done a 6am class in over a year but I do remember that it is always a tough one because your body is still waking up and you can be super hungry. 

Postures:

Standing Bow Pose - Dandayamana Dhannurasana - Today the teacher told us in the second set to take it slow and hold the posture and in the last 10 seconds to push it to the edge. I moved slowly into this posture while making sure my facial expressions were relaxed and in the last 20 seconds I started to  realign my shoulders in one line and relax to make my hips to parallel and as the last10 seconds came I was able to kick harder into my hand with my right foot right above my head. Sometimes I wish we could film ourselves to see what we look like going in and out of postures, it would help me alot...maybe a GoPro? haha!

Anyways, I will need to work on this pose with my left foot because I seem to be more tight in the hips of the left? 

Triangle - Trikanasana - WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME!! Inner Thigh strength I will get you ONE DAY!! 

I felt very heavy in class with my sit ups moving slowly which I can only guess is not a good thing. During the spine series I felt a panic attack for cool air coming on but I quickly concentrated on breath and I was ok and carried on but it was a scary feeling. I was 4th row back on the right which was a different change, there weren't any distractions in class so it was ok. 

Ive started taking Hydalight to keep my hydration up - seems to be working well - I havent had any head aches or anything. 

Tomorrow is a big Master Class with Dr A so I best be off to sleep.

Until tomorrow x 

ALix x