Booze and Caffeine

Another good solid morning practice. I woke up an hour and a half before class, had 3 8oz. glasses of water and no food (as per my teacher's recommendation). I always feel amazing when I've had only water and no food. The only drawback is having to pee a million times before or once during class, like today. I ran out between standing and lying down poses. I managed to get back in time for a little bit of savasana. I stayed on the cooler side of the room. I still managed to sweat a decent amount but I wasn't pouring sweat.

As for my poses, my standing head to knee was solid once again. It even rendered a compliment from my teacher. Speaking of teacher compliments, I know I'm getting better at focusing when I can receive a compliment during the pose and not fall out of it anymore. It's a grain of salt now. After that, my bow pose, especially on my left side, was pretty awesome. It was about half as open as the photo below (that's a standing bow, if you didn't already know) which is great for me. I could see my ankle above my head instead of just my foot. That's how I know I'm progressing. I laid off on toe stand today. I thought I'd give my knees a break. They will probably thank me in the morning. On the floor, nothing spectacular changed except that my hips were tilting forward in sitting head to knee (finally!), according to my teacher, which meant I could start bending my arms and pulling forward. F*#%, that pose hurts a lot but it's one I have to do religiously.

I thought maybe I would give up coffee and alcohol when I started hot yoga. But I actually will get through my morning classes knowing my coffee will be my reward. As for alcohol, I find I'm enjoying beer instead of wine, probably because my muscles are craving it. I don't drink more than a glass or two when I go out and if I do have more than two, I'm completely cranky and hungover the next day. Weird. I guess I'm what you would call, "in shape." Again, weird.