No Water...What?

Class 17 and one of the best I've ever had.

During the second leg of the first set of standing bow I managed to stay in the pose, (with my elevated leg soooo close to being locked out), for the WHOLE time. AND I feel like I got up higher than ever today in locust pose! This is what it ultimately looks like and this is probably similar to what I looked like today, although it's hard to say. You can't exactly look at yourself in the mirror to see your alignment on this one because your face is all mashed into the floor.... but I definitely felt like my hips were just leaving the floor. Yowza! So proud of that one, this pose is HARD. When I started could probably lift my legs about a foot off the floor. I also didn't have ANY of the stiffness that I've been feeling for the past while. It was just magically gone!

So what did I do differently? The only thing was that I didn't drink any water during class. I have very recently read an article by Mary Jarvis about the importance of NOT consuming water during class. She has practiced for 26 years and maintains that water does not help, but hinders you during class. Yes you should be hydrating coming to class, and Yes you should drink afterwards, but during class you should abstain from H2O. Her theory is that people drink for a variety of reasons, but none that help the postures. Most people drink because they think they will "die" without it! or it's habit, or boredom, or an escape... She is right though. You don't NEED water, you just WANT it. It's a good mental challenge too, to try and push through and realize the difference between needs and wants. It's the same thing with wiping the sweat. Do I need to wipe that sweat off my face? No, I just want to.

So I thought I'd give it a try, and you know what? Before class, I thought I would die, but in reality, it was fine. I had a great class, one of my best ever actually, and I didn't miss it either. So I'll try it again, we'll see...I'll keep you posted.