It who must not be named

has an achey shoulder too.

Strange.

The Good Doctor prescribed "Stop doing that weird twisty thing with your arms."

But how?

"Can you point out to me when you see me doing something strange?" asks the Blogger Who Must Not Be Named.

"Starting with when you first walk in the room?"

Bah dum bum.

I am loving my practice, even if I winced through ever jump through today. The shoulder pain is deep within my right shoulder, and it is only apparent in a limited range of motion. As I start to move the arm, the hurting isn't there until I reach a certain critical point, then the hurting starts and then I can move the arm past the critical point, and the hurting ends. Thus, I was still able to bind in all the Primary Series Poses, although not without a wince each time I got to that critical pain point, and Pasasana, although the second side was uncomfortable throughout the entire range of motion and to my chagrin, I am really needing assistance now on that side.

Since the shoulder doesn't hurt at all in backbends, I was able to do everything I normally do, plus Kapotasana, which Doc got me into, sort of, kind of....as I gasped for air.

First the right hand on the foot. Then the left. All the while, "BREATHE!! BREATHE!!!" When I finally decided to obey, I took I giant gasp with my mouth. Bad lady. I admitted that I was terrifed of the whole thing. It was suggested that I practice at the wall to lose the terror.

By the time I got to dropbacks, I was depleted. My standups were really not very good compared with yesterday. I kept wanting to repeat my best-executed standup, where my head actually came up last, and my body didn't look like Zed. But it was not to be. My shoulder, while not hurting, left my arm weaker and sort of lame. Like, literally lame. Not lame as in "that was so lame", although it was kind of lame.

Alas. It can't always be a big, giant, yoga high. Some days, you just have to be thankful that you have the time and the energy and the health and the body parts to practice for two hours.

I don't think I worked this hard athletically since...ever. When I was training for the three marathons I ran, my weekly mileage ranged from 40 to 50 miles per week over a three year period. That's like a bit more than 8 hours per week. Now, with six-day practice weeks (five and a half, really, because of moon days), it's more like 11.5 hours per week. I have been hungrier lately, but not sure what to add to my eating to reflect the additional work I am doing, having gone from stopping at Supta Kurmasana to doing all of Primary to doing all of Primary plus anywhere from 11 to 15 poses of Second, depending on how you count Salabasana's two asana states and Kapotasana's three. My practice has gone from 60 minutes to 75 minutes to 120 minutes.

Girl Scout cookies taste good but are clearly not the food of choice. Must buy more cococnuts. Must make the Thai Tofu recipe that I saw in Cooking Light. Must buy molasses for the Molasses-glazed Halibut recipe I saw in yesterday's Dining In Section of the NY Times.

Shoulder, please feel better soon. Please? Me no likey feeling lame.

YC