110/119

4:30 with Miranda

The heat was a bit of a roller coaster today.  In half moon, I felt like telling Miranda the room was too cold.  By Eagle, the humidity and heat started cranking up, and I was really dripping.  Then it kept getting hotter and hotter with less and less air  in the room.  By Triangle, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it.  And then it got cooler, and by the middle of the floor series, I was just fine again.  And through all of the standing series, I didn't see Miranda go to the controls once.  So I don't know if there were actual changes, or if it was all in my head.

Class was great.  My knee feels like it is about 85-90% better.  Every pose is now better than when I started, even fixed firm.  My hip pain is really a thing of the past.  So I can now say that I am as good as new, but actually I'm much better than new (or at least when I was new to Bikram).  I was tempted to do the final Blowing In Firm in Japanese Sitting position, but decided to give it a bit more time.  With any luck at all, in a week or so I will be completely pain-free.  Even now, with just the slight discomfort in my left knee, I feel so much better than I have basically since about day 45 of the challenge.  And it makes the class just fly by.

As for the poses themselves: no breakthroughs, and no busts either.  Balancing stick was better than usual.  I kept my balance throughout, my arms were locked or close to it, and I could imagine myself in a T, though it was probably a bit angled.  I grabbed the outsides of my feet in the Separate Leg Head to Floor, which I haven't done in a while.  I was almost locked out in both sides of Separate Leg Head to Knee.  

Floor series was very strong throughout, especially Full Locust and Floor Bow.  I'm really beginning to feel stuff in my middle back, not just the lower and very upper parts.  I'm not sure how much it shows yet, but that will come with time.

Here's what I'm wondering:  I've been careful on the poses that brought out knee pain.  I've now done Lenettes correction in fixed firm a couple of times.  I'm doing Miranda's suggested knee stretches before class.  And I'm doing the strengtheners that the Hatha Yoga Anatomy book suggested.  And I've taken some days of rest.  So what, or what combination, is actually working to heal my knee?  I think its probably impossible to say, and since its getting better, I'm not going to mess with what I'm doing.  In the end, I won't know what did it, or whether the problem just naturally ran its course.  No big deal, I guess, but it would be nice to have something more than opinion or conjecture.