Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Day 14 = Almost at the Halfway Point and Feeling Terrific!

Day 14 - April 14, 2010 - 6:00AM with Ida Ripley

What a treat to have Ida Ripley as our instructor this morning. Ida is the Silver Medallist at the 6th Annual International Yoga Asana Championship (2009). She is also a Senior Teacher at Bikram Yoga headquarters, which means she is certified by Bikram Choudhury himself to hold posture clinics and seminars worldwide.

It was a busy class today. Not packed like sardines as there was still enough arm room to "fly" properly during the Full Locust Pose, but certainly enough people were there to crank the heat up a tad! I estimated it to be at least 20, and for a 6:00AM class, that's a lot. But there was great energy in the room, and Mr. Newbie, who had distracted me with his noisy breathing during Savasana, has learned to be more silent this time. I do applaud his efforts in coming in first thing in the morning. However, there was this lady beside me who kept on drinking after each set during the floor series. That was my new distraction. To top it off, she knocked her water bottle once...CLANG!!!...oh brother...chalk this one up for another challenge on my part...to remain calm and serene when these things happen...ahhhh...

The Standing Head to Knee is the prize that I am hoping to win one day. Ida gave us a very helpful tip in order to execute this pose properly. One must distribute the weight on the standing foot, with more focus on the big toe. When you kick, you have to push the lifted foot forward keeping the hip back squarely while keeping the weight on the big toe. This keeps the weight evenly distributed. When I tried it, voila! I was able to hold the posture a bit longer than usual, although my hiney and hip joint still hurt :( But I am very pleased with this new development. Thank you so much, Ida!

So tomorrow is Day 15, the halfway point. I feel terrific; sore in some places, but feeling just fantastic! I can't believe I've gone this far. Yoga has been very good to me. Namaste.

PS: Check out Ida Ripley during the 6th Annual International Yoga Asana Championship held in Los Angeles on February 8, 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhdTOda6dDY

2 comments:

Unknown said...

yay, Lorrena!!! Keep it up, half way and going strong!! Always a pleasure to have you in class.
ps-there were 26 people in that class on Wednesday morning, and that is a very auspicious number as there are 26 postures in the series.....-Ida

YoginiBear said...

Hi Ida!

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment on my blog! I've done Day 20...10 more to go, or shall we say, 40? :)

26 people that day, eh? Pretty cool!

Cheers,
Lorrena