Day 13...Class 13

7:15am...Marie

Finger slices..The sound of ice..Day Dreaming of snow..

Who knows what I'm talking about?.. Those nasty little cuts you get on your first two fingers on the top knuckles! They ALWAYS happen to be right in the creases. Whenever you bend your fingers they open more and more.. They are a result of- The carpet rubbing against your fingers as you grab your heels in Standing Separate Leg Stretching! Aaaahh.. I hate them! Now that they appeared it will be hell in that posture for me until they go away. And to top it off.. Because my hands are in water a lot during the day, I have DRY hands, so they crack even more. Damn.. If I concentrate too much on NOT sliding my fingers, even a little bit, on the carpet as I pull on my heels I don't do as well in the posture. If I go all out, balls to the wall and not think about it, my posture is better but my fingers get cut open.. The more the carpet cuts them open the worse they get and the longer they take to heal up. And it seems to happen SO easily, even just the slightest slide across that razor blade carpet..Well, that's what it feels like when it happens:) If you're trying to imagine what kind of carpet I'm talking about and you've never been there, you'll know what kind my studio has if I describe it like this.. Think back to Kindergarten.. THAT kind:) I KNOW I'm not the only one this happens to... I just can't be.. Am I?

I felt good, but sore today.. I'm so sore right now, especially my legs! My hips and legs were tight when I got to class today. I'm glad I had time to stretch out in the heat before we started. I feel something major happening though. I think I'm at that point where I'm changing.. Getting stronger, more flexible. I was able to go into Camel and Standing Backbend a little deeper today, where as the last couple of days I felt limited because of my lower back soreness. I sent a picture of my Standing Bow to a wonderful teacher who has an amazing Standing Bow.. She's just amazing all around! She gave me some pointers. So I have to work on getting into splits and backbends more to excel in that posture. I've never been able to do the splits, so we'll see! ;) Then again, I was never able to do any of this before I started. It all comes with time. Patience is a virtue. I'm learning that also!

Marie really gave us a lot of guidance today and pushed us. She gave us a lot of corrections and acclaim. I felt she helped us a lot. I was SO thirsty today for some reason, especially towards the end of class and after. Usually I bring enough water for class and the ride home. I finished it when I got into my car. I'm laying there in Savasana..The first Savasana of the class. Now this is one of the times in class where they may or may not turn the fans on.. I wasn't OVERLY hot but I was hoping, like a kid waiting for Santa, that the fans would go on or the doors would be cracked open just for a second. However, Santa didn't show up. I'm assuming today, it was mostly the fact that I was SO thirsty. (I think I ate a lot of salt yesterday..) No fans, no doors.. OK that's cool.. No worries..I laid there, daydreaming in Savasana concentrating on my breath and focusing on the ceiling. It actually does help when you think of something else other than being hot. At first I thought of rain falling down on me.. That was worse. All I could think about was HOT, HUMID, NASTY RAIN:).. So scratch that Cat, think of something else. SNOW.. I pictured myself laying in fluffy, cold ass snow! And it worked. The thing i couldn't stop thinking about was how nice, yet torturous Marie's water sounded!! Every time she picked it up for a swig you could hear the ice cubes hitting the side of the bottle. I wanted it! Mmmmmm, exquisite agony:)

Postures I was complimented on:
Pranayama Breathing form, Standing Backbend, Eagle

Corrections:
Eagle(Sit down more), Standing head to knee(Kick out, toes back), Standing Separate Leg Stretching(Shorter stance), Head to knee with Stretching(rt shoulder down and left shoulder down more-both sides)