Another good strong class. Lenette gave me some great corrections, especially in fixed firm, and they seem to help. My left toes were pointing out too far to the outside, and she said that is actually making my knee worse. She had me tuck the foot under more so the toe was more in a straight line to the back.
The same thing happens quite often in Bikram. The things you do to make yourself feel better often actually make you feel worse. The easiest example I can think of is wiping off sweat. I see people doing this all the time -- constantly taking their towel and drying themselves off. It's true that the process of evaporating makes people cooler, so there are times that getting dry means getting cool. But simply wiping the sweat off causes the body to generate more sweat, and that just makes you hotter and more dehydrated. (By the way, the main reason I like to be where there is air flow is because moving air promotes evaporation, which makes you cooler.)
Another example along the same lines is drinking ice water. Ice water, I'm sure, feels great the moment that you drink it. I never bring any into the room, so I don't actually know, but I do know how great cold drinks feel afterward. The problem is that your body has to expend energy heating the drink up before it can absorb the water.
And the last easy example I can think of is not locking the knee correctly. It's so much easier to cheat a little on this, and it can end up being much more dangerous. People hurt their backs, their knees, because they have a sort of/kind of locked knee. On this, because of my recent knee problems, I'm once again barely kicking out at all and just focusing on developing the strength in my leg to hold the knee locked for a full minute. And yes, it hurts.
Speaking of locking the knee, Lenette corrected my Locust posture today. This is another one where you are supposed to be locking the knees on the lifted leg. I do OK on the right, but my left knee doesn't want to lock when it lifts. Coincidence? I think not. So here's another one where I have to focus hard on doing the thing that hurts just a little more.
Yanzi was still jet lagged, and I couldn't get her up to come to class. The good news is that it is no longer a question of whether she will try Bikram, but when. Maybe later this week.
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