Day 14 - nearly half way there

I've reviewed my progress so far, and I've practiced yoga 10 out of the last 14 days. I'm pretty pleased that currently I'm meeting with 71% of the challenge. I could do better though, and the rest of the week looks like it'll be easier to fit a class in.

DAY 14
Days have been dragging at the office since Thursday. The first week of October we had learned that our paycut was going to be extended indefinitely. That was bad enough. The worse news came last week when two more people were let go. I once again made the cut, and one of my co-workers told me that she thought that I'd be one of the last ones standing. I hope she's right. I took over a project from one of the people who left, a renovation of the Picasso Museum that we finished a couple of years ago. The Museum is looking to convert some of the areas close to the entry into a 'free-zone', mostly retail/cafe spaces to generate more revenue from the public who may not necessarily buy a ticket to the Museum. I'm hoping this turns into a trip for me.

I spent most of the day familiarizing myself with the existing building and investigating what we needed to renovate. I was also looking forward to checking out the Core class at Om.

The description of the class states that "A juicy, creative, flowing class integrating asanas, pranayama and pilates, focusing on strengthening your core throughout the entire practice. You'll see all the familiar elements of an OM yoga class intertwined with pilates based exercises. This awareness will deliver stability and freedom to your poses, relieve back pain, tone your tummy and awaken your core power!" I focused on the word "pilates" and thought the class was going to be different than it was. It ended up being an open class focusing on balancing poses - hence using the core muscles.

During the class, the instructor came over while I was in downward facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) and told me to try to straighten out my legs more. Right! I was obviously attempting to with no success, so he tells me to engage my quads. I tried that, and was able to straighten them, oh, probably another millimeter. Over the last two weeks, I do feel some give in them, but its going to be a while before I can straighten them in that pose and get my heels on the floor. My first goal is to be able to touch the floor when I bend over. Baby steps.