Class #58!

I'm over half way there! It hardly seems like it's been 60 days since I've started this challenge...time has flown by. my 50th class was on a relaxing Saturday afternoon and I was excited the entire time! When I was reading about the 100 day challenge and considering doing it, I heard that days 1-30 were the hardest physically and 30-60 were the toughest mentally and emotionally. I've heard that after your body is accustomed to a daily practice, the emotional and mental cleansing process begins. Many people reported feeling intense emotions throughout class during this period on a regular basis. More or less my practice has been stable and emotion free- I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. I have always been someone to bury emotions deep within so maybe they'll take a little more time to shake free.

I love practicing bikram during the winter time, and especially the holiday season. There is something so special about waking up on a cold winter day when you don't have work/school and knowing that your only plan for the day is to go to yoga. My family basically all got me gifts related to yoga which I LOVE! I'm wearing my lululemon jacket right now as I sip on my new obsession- kombucha. I also got a pair of zebra print sidestring shatki shorts, mat strap, yoga bag, and Bikram's book! The book has been a pretty interesting read and is making me understand a lot more about Bikram as a person and where his outlook stems from. He started practicing as a very young boy in what sounds like a live in school/temple where they studied academics, philosophy, asanas, and did a lot of hard work for their 'guru'. Bikram's mantra that was given to him is "Serve your Self: you are here to give, not to receive". Self with a capital S refers to his karma yoga- ie his greater purpose in life. I wish I had a guru to give me a mantra but I may try to pick one for the upcoming year!

The only bad side effect of this challenge so far is that I've gotten a skin fungus called ringworm. Yuuuuup, pretty damn disgusting. There is one bad splotch on my left calf and a couple of smaller ones on my arms. Mom and I had to laugh when reading the wiki page about it because its causes pretty much exactly described the conditions of a bikram room- hot, wet, humid places with dirty carpets/mats. Hopefully the cream I got will cure it pretty soon, but it's certainly not stopping me!

Today my sister in-law came with me to not only her first bikram class, but her first yoga class ever. She stuck it out and had a great attitude, but I don't think she'll be rushing to come back anytime soon. Coming with a first timer is always a fun experience and really puts how far I've come with my practice into perspective. I have ALOT more improvements to make, but when I think back to how much I struggled during my first class i feel pretty accomplished for sticking with it so long. Now if only I could apply those gains to other areas of my life...

Through class 46

There are only 13 days till Christmas?! Time has certainly been flying by but I have also had a lot of time to reflect on the past few years of my life. I got a few (erm, 5) classes behind due to going out of town to visit friends for a few weekends in a row which turned out to be a bit of a setback in multiple ways. Already being almost 30 days in though, I wasn't going to throw in the very sweaty towel, and now I've caught up to only being 2 classes behind! In reality, the timing of this challenge couldn't be better. It is helping me remain calm while I'm riding out a low point in life that has already started to bring positive change.

About those pesky doubles...I had a ridiculously frustrating experience when TRYING to do a double a few weeks back. It was a sunday and I had already practiced at 9:45 and was geared up and in the car headed to the 4:30 class. I knew it was a possibility that the SARA phone would ring, but I didn't expect it to be one of the most awkward 30 minute phone calls ever. Needless to say I tried to help my incestuous and difficult to understand caller instead of adding another number to my yoga tally. I also did a back to back double since the last time I wrote on a Thursday night. The first class went well enough so I decided to suck it up and stay for the 6:30. As luck would have it, the guy next to me was also doing a double so I felt some solidarity there. I actually think I prefer to do back to back doubles as your body doesn't really have to spend energy cooling down then warming back up. It's like a really long savasana between two very long sets of yoga. I felt extremely bendy during the first part of class and had enough energy right up until the last 15 minutes or so where I fell flat. I realized that I hadn't really eaten anything since my afternoon snack of almonds...5 hours earlier so that probably had something to do with it.

I did another double last Wednesday when I stayed after the 6:30 class for the advanced class. I was unsure if I was going to make it for a while because I was sweating buckets and feeling pushed to my limits during the first class. BUT I was fully prepared this time and had coconut water and an apple so I cooled off and got energized very quickly. Today there were a total of 5 of us- The teacher, me and three other women. It was the most crowded advanced class I had been to! The sun salutation series was exhausting as usual but I did well on the lotus series and the other hip stretching poses. The teacher mentioned that he thought I had what it took to compete in the Bishnu Ghosh Cup! This is an annual yoga competition where you do routines that last 3 minutes and include 5 poses from the beginning series and 2 from the advanced. He said that I would need to work on my back bends for floor bow, but otherwise I was in good shape. WOW! What a compliment! I would definitely have a long way to go but given my competitive nature it's something to keep in mind when I need extra motivation.

During this challenge I have decided that I want to go to bikram yoga teacher training. I have dreamed about it since spring of 09, read BYTT blogs and had the idea bouncing around my head on a more regular basis. The funny thing is, I thought that I would have to convince my family that it was a good choice for me and they were the ones who ended up making it obvious to me. My uncle has thought it was a cool idea from the beginning- to make money doing something you like is a treasure that few people have. My parents have seen my emotions positively correlate with the amount of this yoga that I do and truly are proud of me for committing myself to something I love. My dad finally said to me on the way to yoga this past weekend- Kathleen...I think you need to do this training. He had even looked into it on the website and offered to help make me a budget to save the money I need! It is feasible that I can save enough money by next fall!!

I look forward to yoga every day...and I don't think I will even want to lessen the amount that I go when I am done with my challenge. (Wellll maybe one day off a week...) I feel my upper back crackling and aligning, both legs firmly locked in standing head to knee, and only my belly button touching the floor in bow pose. My arms are starting to look toned and my work clothes are fitting more loosely. I feel my mind clearing and my path unfolding.