Unexpected 30 Day Challenge - The END.html

Woohoo 30 Day Challenge completed. Bit of a delay on posting this – as I finished on Friday 31^st May . Having been hit by the yoga truck during class my immediate reactions were rather tame. I was pleased to have made it and relived that I could have a day off as I ached all over! I perked up post shower and headed out with some of my fabulous yogi friends one of whom had also finished her 30 day challenge the day before for a double celebration.  It was a great evening mainly endorsed by the letter C... for Caipirinha... possibly not the recommended way to finish a 30 day challenge but certainly a very fun way.

The challenge itself was rather a roller coaster. I started off OK, went through a short dip then had a long high in the middle section before heading into a dip for the last part.

In terms of my practise the things that improved most were balance and leg strength  and as a consequence I saw the biggest changed in the standing series postures. Standing head to knee has finally clicked- Never thought I would say this but I’m now really enjoying this pose! Standing bow is deeper, balancing stick is very T like and all three parts of awkward are much more stable.
 However I have a feeling that the flip side to these improvements is a decrease in leg flexibility.. My knees, hips and hamstrings all feel rather sore and 'knotty'. This is making hands to feet, standing separate leg stretching , tree and toe stand all a bit rubbish at the mo. I think the new muscle needs to catch up with the old in terms of elasticity!
 I saw smaller improvements in the floor series my back bends are better but still not as deep as they were pre injury apart from floor bow which is definitely better. My knee alignment has improved in wind removing and fixed firm

Outside of the hot room I'm finding it much easier to focus and go into a 'flow state' - this is especially noticeable when I'm doing delicate lab work. My generally feeling of well being is better and my skin is sooo much clearer (yay)

For me I think the best thing though has been the community aspect. I was so lucky to have such brilliant company and support for the other students and teachers at the studio. Lot of yoga love to you all!! I'm really glad I did the challenge and have a 60 day one in mind to see me through the winter!

Final chunk of nitty gritty posture stuff ....

Class 22 – Thurs 23^rd May) A very average early morning class.  Felt a bit stiff generally from the double the before but no difficulties with the heat as I was a bit worried I might not have rehydrated properly. More specifically the muscles around my hips also ache but I’m hoping this might be the start of them opening up quite a bit. Quite glad that there will be about 36 hours until the next class.

Class 23 Fri 24^th May Nice class. Good balancing series and my toe stand might be coming back woohoo.

Class 24 Sat 25^th May) Did not want to go to class! Combination of beautiful sunny day and a late night on Friday left me asking myself why exactly I wanted to spend 90 mins cooking myself indoors. However I kicked my butt out the door and surprised myself with a really great strong class. My sideways half moon is becoming really deep

Class 25 Sun 26^th May) Another battle to get to class – it was such a beautiful afternoon it seemed almost criminal to be indoors.  But off I went and again surprised myself by having a really great class. My back felt really good and for the first time in a really long while I saw where the wall meets the floor in the backwards part of half moon.

Class 26 Mon 27^th May) Was happy enough to go to class so of course really struggled. It was quite a busy class and the room felt super humid. My postures were still strong up until the end of the spine strengthening series but after that I was really fighting the urge to lie down for the rest of the class. Took things more gently and managed to survive without skipping any of the remaining postures but I was so glad when w finally got to the end of spine twisting

Class 27 Tues 28^th May) Nice early morning class. A bit achy in my knees but a generally a strong class. Starting to push myself a bit harder in the parts 2&3 of awkward resulting in my knees and feet doing a comedy shake as I battled to stay upright! Toe stand seems to be gradually coming back but I’m starting to find triangle a real struggle.

Class 28 Wed 29^th May ) Advanced class. Couldn’t squeeze in the double this week but they may not have been a bad thing as my knees felt distinctly over stretched after last week. Bit less open in my hips but still seeing progression in other areas. Backbends and arm balances felt good apart from crane!  I find balancing on my fingertips in crane really unstable and at them moment I’m not pushing to hard in that. Highlight of the class was just about getting my ankle behind my head in the aptly named leg breaking series :) Guillotine and bound lotus still seem a very long way off - one day I'll remember to bring a strap to class so I have something to inch my hands along!

Class 29 Thurs 30^th May) Fairly achy from advanced the day before but these mostly disappeared during the class. I was fairly far towards the hot end of the room which may have been a mistake. Started feeling quite sick after fixed firm and after that was a bit of a battle to finish the class.

Class 30 Fri 31st May) Good solid class - great way to round off the 30 days!!