Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Day 28 -- No Water

4:30 class with Libby.

I made it through the entire class without taking any water, and it was great.  I stayed clear headed and alert at the points toward the end where I typically start to go a little loopy.  The only hard part was right after triangle.  But, like I've read, what I needed was air and not water.  I know that the best way to get the air then is to stay still and take deep breaths, but its still very hard to do that when I feel like gasping and gasping.

Locust was a bust again.  I bailed out of the first set after about 5 seconds, but managed to pull together for an almost respectable second set.  Otherwise, everything was OK.  Rabbit was great again.  Camel not so good as yesterday, a little hard to really push the hips forward.

And my knee is fine.  I'm really concentrating on locking the knee in the balancing poses, and its betraying some balance weakness.  It's especially hard balancing on the right foot in Balancing Stick.  I'm going to try to stick with the program.  Locking the knee will be number one priority.

Overall, the class felt about as good as it can.  I kept the water bottle by my side, to keep present the temptation to drink.  I also think its a good idea, for a while, to keep the water handy in case I decide sometime that I really need it.  For at least a couple of weeks of classes.

And also, given the variability of my experience in class, I shouldn't be too quick to attribute my mental clarity at the end to not drinking.  There could be lots of other explanations.  But it's a worthwhile goal to shoot for.

Mary Jarvis says that people drink in class mostly for three reasons:  boredom, emotional comfort, escape.  It's rare that a person who starts with proper hydration will actually need to drink.  So, if the reason I'm drinking is any of the above -- or to cool down, which is a combination of comfort and escape -- then I won't.  I trust I'll be able to tell when I really need the water because of thirst.

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