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Using my Astrology, click here to see how I came up with the name of this section, the graphic and of course, how I ended up practicing hot yoga.

FIRST HOT YOGA CLASS OF THE DAY - 5:15 AM I am so glad I switched from the 9:00 AM hot yoga class to the 5:15 AM hot yoga class. By the time 9:00 AM rolls around it already feels like Noon and I am light years ahead of where I would have been. Everyday I see some improvement somewhere. Yesterday my body dipped down further into crescent lunge so that my leg and thigh were at 90 degrees and it was so much easier to reach for the back-bend. Don't get me wrong, this is not to say that reaching backward in this pose is easy because it's not. (*See pic below) It's just easi-er when my lunge is low and my knee is as close to 90 degrees as I can get it.

Today I was able to dip down even further than yesterday in crescent lunge. This is the same pose that is in my graphic above. This feels so much more stable for me because before I was a wobbling yogi on this pose and I would fall right out of it. So while this pose may look easy enough, it's not so much when your knee is at 90 degrees and you are up on your back toes reaching as high as you can. Then you slowly begin reaching backward for a back-bend while keeping your legs stable, strong and in place. The emotional satisfaction of being able to be still nearly messed up my breathing. Now that I am able to go deeper (lower) and my balance is a million times better, this will help my thighs get stronger for other poses. I Love strong thighs (not big thighs) ... strong thighs. I also found going deeper in chair pose makes a world of difference as well. I use to despise the chair pose, but I made my peace with it by going deeper. The lower I sit, the better it feels. There was no chair pose in this morning's sequence but there will be in the next class I'm taking today. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm careful to relay my progress and not become braggadocious because I do not need the Universe to 'check me' for getting a big head. In yoga you can feel amazing in one class and in the next class feel like you are going to fall to the mat in the fetal position and start sucking your thumb. (winky wink) My second class today is posted below this pic.

SECOND HOT YOGA CLASS OF THE DAY - 12:00 PM I almost could not wait for this second class. It's a new class with a rockin' sequence that has my body sore 'as if' I just started going to yoga. It's a flow class, meaning we are constantly flowing and there are no long holds in the poses. Sometimes those 1 minutes holds are brutal. This is the class where chair pose is in the mix, which is a pose I have come to enjoy. I know right, who in heck could possibly enjoy chair pose? As I stated this morning (above), since I started going deeper in crescent lunge, I also started going deeper in chair pose, both of which brought me some relief. My arms could stand to come further back by my ears, and as my right shoulder gains more ROM (range of motion) that will happen. By the way, that pic is 'not' me.

The BIG NEWS today is I plowed. I've been in plow posture a few times but my toes had not yet touched the floor behind my head. We start out in a shoulder stand, then plow, then deaf man pose. Once in plow pose all of the sudden my toes touched the floor and in surprise I heard myself say, "OH!" I didn't expect my toes to touch the floor. My legs were probably not straight, but they probably weren't bent too much either, and my hands were under my hips like they are in the picture below. Next time I will be shooting for laying my hands on the mat and straightening my legs. I'm so tickled. It just makes me want more yoga.

I am a pretty healthy eater and normally count every single calorie, but I haven't been counting too many calories lately and I haven't weighed. As long as I continue to eat healthy and go to yoga, I'm done with calorie counting and weighing. I am only focused on the size of my clothes now. My clothes continue to fit better and I'm determined to get to an off-the-rack size 6. It's only one size away and I'm a patient woman. I've come this far so I expect size 6 will be coming soon.

Oh, and did I tell you that I no longer use lotion? There is no need because my skin feels very tight and youthful. When you think about it, I am on a daily rehydration regimen and a daily detoxification regimen. I only wish my upper arms would catch up to the way my thighs look. Arrrrghhhh, I can't stand old lady arms and I have them, but I'm looking to the future and my arms are looking better than they did. My upper arms are no longer bumpy. Ewwwwwww! I know, they were bumpy! Not bumpy like zits, they were bumpy like cellulite. No kidding! I really did a number on myself folks when I chose to overwork and ignore my body. That's in the past and now I have a balance of both worlds. As soon as I can find the minutes in the day to have the Scorpion King take some pics of me doing some poses, I will start posting them . . or I'll get someone after class to take some pics while I'm sweaty and gross because that's when I'm all warmed up. *See plow pose pic below. More tomorrow . . .

by Dr. Loretta Standley
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About Dr. Standley

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