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.
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