A new month begins. This reminded me that I wanted to see again whether my backbends have improved. There are so many aspects to backbends. Some have actually improved. Others I will have to and want to work on more intensively.

What has improved in urdhva dhanurasana is that the hands are closer to the feet than they were some time ago. My splits exercises, which stretch the hip flexors, are paying off. I was really happy about that today. There are only three and a half wooden planks between my hands and my feet. Hallelujah.

But I find it difficult to push myself up into the position. This has to do with strength again. I can work on this in February.

A good exercise for this is to push yourself up again and again, like with push-ups or squats, only differently. First I want to find out how many repetitions I can do and work from there. Three sets of the repetitions I can just manage and do them every day. What a great plan. Haha......And then I lie on my back tomorrow and want to push myself into urdhva dhanurasana and then I think 'oh no', 'how exhausting', 'I can't'. But I can go from this 'I can't' to 'I want to, I can'.

Then we'll see what the backbends look like at the end of February.

What has improved over the years is my concentration. I don't like to interrupt my practice by taking pictures. But pictures are the best feedback I know. I also need pictures for my blog post. They also motivate me and bring me a lot of joy. I have found a solution. I prepare everything before I start practicing. I roll out the second yoga mat where I can take the pictures. The camera is set up. I basically just have to pull the trigger. This makes it possible to take pictures without interrupting the exercise too much.

I have also found a remedy for my left hip. I always have Tiger Balsam from Singapore in my medicine cabinet. I spread the camphor generously on the inside of my left hip. I already noticed improvements today. Could that be? It was like this.

Keep practicing.