Nemeses

A month ago today I defeated the posture that had been my early nemesis.  A month strong I have performed every set of every posture of triangle pose.  The math: Four sets a day for thirty one days (inclusive), equals one hundred and twenty four sets.  There have been several times that I have nearly fallen out, and I can admit that it has sometimes been pure ego that has kept me from collapsing, but everything before it and everything after is made easier by having conquered just that one posture.

I asked Dara today what I should write about, and her suggestion was that I should write about how I was doing in the postures.  Specifically she said that she thought my standing bow pulling posture was coming along really well.  I am actually pretty excited she mentioned that posture specifically, because all the way back last month on the 12th, when I wrote the post Adapting, I had identified standing bow pose as my new nemesis.

While I defeated my first nemesis in a week, this second has taken quite a bit longer.  The major delay was my elbow, which was getting worse while I was otherwise getting stronger.  When I should have been making gains, I was slowly losing the posture, and there was a time when I had to sit out the posture entirely.  Fixing my sleep fixed my elbow, and fixing my elbow has allowed me to really make an effort in getting bow pulling pose conquered.

I still fall out (a lot).  It is a particularly difficult posture, and while I can get into it pretty deep, invariably I lose my balance and fall out.  Falling out just means that I am pushing myself, and that I am that much closer to defeating this nemesis and moving on to the next one.

Standing bow is not the only posture that I am making gains in.  I remember how excited I was early on just to get my forehead to my knee in the aptly named head to knee pose.  Now I can regularly get my leg all the way straight and my heel off the ground with my forehead to knee.

On the other hand, standing head to knee might have to be the next nemesis I choose, as it seems like it has been a long while since I have seen any sort of gain there.  Mostly because when I am rounding over to pick up my foot, I still have too much to round over, though that is slowly changing.

Really, all of my postures are coming along.  I am in a space where I feel really good about my practice, I am enjoying the benefits of practicing so often.  Also, this may be the most successful I have ever been in fighting off a cold, which is something I attribute wholly to my yoga practice.

Today it seemed to come up several times how my challenge and this blog have inspired others in their own practice.  I am both gladdened and humbled that sharing my journey has had a positive impact on others.  It was never my intention to do anything more than my own personal yoga practice, and certainly I never expected the response from the community that it has created.  Thank you to everyone that is a part of this community, and for everything that you do to lift each other up.

Namaste.