Day 4: Teacher Knows My Name

Coming off of yesterday's class, I wondered if I could maintain the excitement I felt all day today. More so I wondered if I would sustain my energy in practice as I knew I had not drank quite as much water as yesterday. I was smiling from ear to ear when I walked in the studio and signed in for class. Greeted by another one of my favorite teachers, Carrie, I was simply feeling happy :) Carrie's style can best be described as "peppy," like the quintessential head cheerleader that you love to hate because she's got it all and she's just so damn happy all the time. Don't get me wrong though, there is only love for Carrie in my heart. As what you feel from her instruction is the sense that she experiences pure enjoyment from instructing the students and pushing us to hold on, push deeper, kick higher, stay strong and stick with it with full energy until the end. She's excited to share this with us and watch us improve along the way. Today I pushed myself harder than I have thus far. In each posture I gave that extra bit of energy to see just how far I could go and I owe it all to Carrie and maybe even the fact that she knew my name. That's right, teacher knows my name and the simple act of her identifying me in class to give me instruction on how to adjust my body into the postures, certainly made me want to work harder and also made me smile a lot on the inside, like I've been accepted as a part of the club. Positive reinforcement is a good thing for my practice and being another anonymous face maybe not so much. Amazingly, maintaining that energy throughout and giving it all I had did not totally deplete me. I feel awake and energized still at 9:45pm!

Okay, here's my list for today:
1) Getting the full experience from this challenge is not just making it to class every day for 30 days, but means becoming more a part of the community of this studio...time to connect with more people here
2) It's cool when the teacher calls your name, not to mention motivating
3) Not only was I touching my toes today but I had a breakthrough (for just a second) in my second to last posture- locking my knees while pulling on my big toes!