Day 8 / Class 9...I'm kinda lazy

Today I discovered that I'm kinda lazy, and I like to give up. Now, it may not seem that way since I've taken on this whole 30-day challenge biz, but its true. When I'm in class and a posture is hard or uncomfortable, rarely do I put my whole focus or effort into doing it my best. When it starts to get too hard or my legs ache or my arms are tired, sometimes I make myself loose balance or step out, just because it's hard and I want to give up.

My teacher called me out today. "Lock your knees, Mimi. You have the flexibility, now you need to work on the integrity of the posture." This was during half-moon pose. For those that don't know, this is the first posture after the first breathing exercise. I had another call out when it came to standing head to knee.I've never been able to get my head to my knee, and only once able to kick my leg out, but sometimes I just stand there, trying to lockout my leg, doing my best to hold my slipping foot, and then I just get out of it because it's too hard, and my leg hurts, and I'm loosing my grip. (And I like long sentences.) This time my teacher looked at me and said, "Don't give up. Stop quitting." It reminded me of how my cello teacher used to yell at me to "quit quitting!" when I would come to a difficult passage. I was training myself not to do it, not to play the piece. And it was true in this posture. I was training myself not to stay in the posture.

After class I spoke with my teacher and he was great. "We all are naturally good at something. For some its strength, some have focus, some have flexibility. And there are postures that highlight each of these. But its the stuff we're not so good at that we really need to work on."
"I'm finding out I'm not as strong as I thought I was." I said.
"Maybe it's better to think about building your stamina as a way to build strength. Rather than seeing how far you can go in the posture, stop where you are and try to hold it for the full 60 seconds, or 30 seconds, or however long it is."

Tomorrow I am taking the day off of yoga to attend a seminar at school. When I come back Tuesday I'm going to work on my stamina. And on locking my standing leg.