mo' betta' bikram

Ok, day two of bikram yoga is in the books and this round was much better than the last. Knowing what to expect really made a huge difference; as well as the resolution to NOT listen to the instructor(?)'s admonitions about how to progress and scale each pose. As I humbly told her prior to class, as she was schooling me on the subject, that I had a lot of experience scaling things.
I made each pose work what I needed it to work, according to my own individual flexiblity/mobility/ROM needs, not the agenda of the protocol. Way better and much more satisfying knowing I wasn't doing things that I would have to spend most of the week undoing. I mean, that's why I gave up squatting and deadlifting! This means mainly to the "awkward poses" which are squats done on the toes. Not for me. My left soleus and posterior tib are quite tight enough thank you very much and don't need more "stretching" as she called it. Um, that's a contraction of the calf, not a stretch but hey, it's just a detail right?
I kept my feel flat, advanced the knees and got a good ,real, stretch of the calves, precisely what I needed there.And things felt fine.
The heat was no problem again and I actually felt like it was cooler than last week. Tracy thought just the opposite. There were way more people in the class this time than last but it was fine.
My shoulders felt much better overhead and I found that I was able to actually work each of the poses a bit instead of struggling just to get into them.Especially with the one legged poses on my left leg. Things held up well and I could really feel my flexion poses opening up again. This posture is the most familiar to me as a gymnast where basically 99% of what you do is in flexion.I could easily do flat palmed V sits followed by straight arm,straight leg pike presses to handstand on anything.Course that posture is what set up my back injury but that's another story. COurse those crazy ass weights I was trying to lift all time didn't have anything to do with it either :-)
I also did Z drills before the class, during short breaks in the class and immediately after.I focused on the ankles, hips and neck circles.Definitely helps.
I am going on Tuesday again with Tracy so it is getting even more interesting all the time. Lets see how Max Vo2 goes after bikram's the day before.Regaining my gymnastics body one stretch and one snatch at a time.