Day 52

My return to class after a two day (which felt like FOREVER) hiatus was on Friday afternoon at the 4pm class. L and I took spots in the front of the room, despite the fact that neither of us had been to class the day before (in my case, 2 days before).  And class was great!!  It felt SO good to be back.  My body needed to move after two days of near incapacitation.  Nothing to note about the class besides how wonderful I felt after.  I am also thinking that the reason why I am bouncing back from the flu so quickly is because my body was ready to fight whatever immunological challenge I was presented with 🙂

Although I am so happy to be back, I am most certainly not looking forward to the three doubles I have to do in the next 8 days. UGH.

-C

I was so happy C was feeling better!  Mostly because I hate going to class alone… 🙂 I had a half day from work on Friday, so going to class didn’t even feel like a chore since I wasn’t rushed at all.  I can’t really remember anything from the class, but I also had a strong class.

One week and we’re done.

-L

Guest Blogger A

Guest blogger A is L’s little teeny tiny baby sister.  A kickass runner and boot camper, A has been coming to bikram for just over a month.

So my guest blog is long overdue:

Last night was my 9th class I have gone to!  The first 8 went pretty well overall.  I haven’t made it through a class without having to sit down at least once but had been seeing myself improve some……..until last night.  Class started off well and I was even able to finally move my toes behind my leg in the standing eagle pose which was AWESOME!  Right after Eagle pose I started to feel really dizzy and my stomach was hurting so I had to sit down for the most of the remaining standing poses.  I was able to get back up to do a couple of standing bow poses (my fav!) and one tree pose but couldn’t handle much else without becoming dizzy.  My sister said next time I just need to work past the dizziness because it’s all mental.

Sitting series did a lot better as you can’t get very dizzy sitting down!  Highlight of the sitting series was the Head to Knee pose which I mastered on my left side for the second time!

Overall over the past 9 classes I have realized a few things: ·

• L and C are awesome for doing this challenge!!! I could not imagine doing this everyday for 60 days.
• Your instructor influences your class.
• Jamie and Rana are my favorites….mainly because C and L think they like me!
• Instructors who talk slower are better!
• I like morning classes better than evening ones.
• Your emotions come out during class so get a hold of situations in your personal life before heading to class.
• I need to continue going at least once or twice a week because I feel like my body is still really tight.

Well…that’s about it.  Congrats to L and C for being in the home stretch!!!!!

Day 51

Skipped again. Also skipped work. Feel like hell but caught up on 30 rock, office, PLL, Bethany ever after etc. This is awful. I hate being sick. Isn’t bikram yoga supposed to boost the immune system? Almost made it though flu season unscathed. Womp womp.

-C

I skipped today.  I’m not sick…I wasn’t stuck at work…the studio wasn’t closed- I just skipped.  I could blame the rain, or the McDonalds I ate for lunch (gross), or the fact that I just threw down a million bucks AGAIN on my car…But really, I just got lazy and was feeling sorry for myself.  I suck.

-L

Day 50

As much as I didn’t want to, I had to play hooky today. I left work early with a fever of over 100 and felt miserable. Spent the day feeling bad for myself, sleeping, and self-medicating. I hate adding to the number of doubles I have to do within a span of a few days but there is just no good excuse for putting my health further at risk.

😦

-C

Day 50! Home stretch!  I wanted to knock out my last double (from when I was sick….I feel so bad for C that she’s sick now!) so I decided to do the 6am/6pm combo.

Morning class: Going to morning classes alone is usually a little rough.  Since I had taken the 8pm class the night before, I figured I’d be a little wobbly and sit from time to time.  Surprisingly though, I felt great all throughout class.  The owner was the instructor and I’ve found that I can’t half-ass a class that he’s teaching.  He’s the only instructor that knows my name, so I’ll get called out if I don’t try very hard- good and bad thing I guess.  I had a little talk with him after class about the challenge and how I’m just worn out and tired of it.  He seemed to understand what I was talking about and mentioned that the challenge can be really mental, especially when you’re not seeing big physical changes.  I’m not sure if I’m really having a “mental challenge,” I’m just dying to do any.other.workout.

Afternoon class: Like my last double, I expected the second class to be really difficult and it just wasn’t.  I didn’t have any major breakthroughs or stretch farther than usual, but I had a strong class.  I’ve really been focusing lately on tuning other people out so I won’t be quite so annoyed during class.  During the afternoon class, there was a woman who didn’t speak English beside me, doing whatever the f she felt like during class.  And I’m proud to say I didn’t let it bother me!  I didn’t glare at her…I didn’t roll my eyes…and I didn’t let it affect my postures.  Yay me!

Random “I’m really good at math” moment: Not only did I do a double, but I just completed 3 bikram classes within 24 hours (8pm Tues, 6am and 6pm Wed).  Yowsas!

-L

Day 49

I was not feeling well before class, and was developing a low grade fever. But (like an idiot) I decided since I had the chills and could get warm at home, I’d go to bikram anyway. I spoke with an instructor and she said that she’s done class when she was starting to feel sick and ended up feeling better after. This was not the case for me. I’ve never sweat so much in class and I only completed about 60% of the standing postures. I had an extremely difficult time breathing during class and found myself gasping for air and mouth breathing at many points. I knew this wasn’t going to be the last of my little sickness I was developing. Chills, fever, sore throat? Looking like flu or strep. Yuck.

-C

Day 49 was a 8pm Tuesday class- my least favorite by far.  Taking a class so late is not only more tiring, but it keeps you wound up for hours and it’s hard to sleep that night.  Add to that feeling sick from the metro, and I was nottt pumped for class.  C was feeling yucky, so we put our mats in the back and hid from the instructor.  I didn’t have a terrible class, but I had to sit down a few times.  An unmotivated, blah class isn’t even worth writing about.

-L

Day 48

Finally!  I’m finally feeling re-motivated about this challenge!  C and I went to the 6pm Monday class and got our favorite mat spots…front right corner.  Rana was our instructor and she set the perfect atmosphere for  Monday class: calming, yet encouraging.  I felt great throughout the entire class and even found myself pushing harder than I usually do.  Going to bikram every day gets monotonous, and I’ve found exactly which postures I can put less effort into to save my energy.  But last night I actually tried my best in the majority of the postures.

My standing bow pose is starting to look a little more it’s supposed to and I feel like I’m getting a little bit stronger in the standing head to knee pose.  I also tried to work past my hamstring soreness in all of the poses… which will probably come back to bite me in my next class.  And, for the first time in 48 days, my abs were sore last night after class!  Not sure what I did differently, but it was nice to have anything other body part other than my hamstrings ache!

I decided just now that I’m going to knock out my second double class on Wednesday, Day 50.  That way I’ll be able to do a countdown for the final 10 classes!  I’m excited for this final stretch- hope I don’t get hit with another rut!!

-L

I had a great class for day 48 but unfortunately can not be happy about it while writing about it because I am sick 😦  I’m coming down with some sort of viral infection and it’s just NOT FAIR!

Anyway, like L, I did indeed have a great class on Monday and the teacher even noticed, congratulating me after class. That felt awesome  🙂

-C

The benefits of each asana

The following link provides information about the benefits of each bikram posture.  Good summary!

http://www.bikramyogatucson.com/posture.htm

Day 47: Stinky Feet Edition

Hol.y.crap. I thought I was going to die during Sunday’s class. Remember the germy studio that smelled like feet? During Sunday’s class, I was stuck directly behind what I can only guess, was the guy who stunk up the germy studio. A cloud of stinky funk. Five inches from my face. I could handle it during standing series…I’m tall so I was about six feet away from the stink, but during floor series I so close. Too close. Way too close. I held my breath during most of the poses, and then would cover my face with my own towel to hide the smell. I breathed through my mouth (a big bikram no-no). I tried to think happy, non-smelly thoughts. Nothing worked.

Dear Stinky Feet Man: You ruined my class. I was having a fairly strong class…until you derailed me with your death/germ/I-don’t-shower-ever/I-wear-old-dirty-sneakers funk. There’s no way I can focus on posing my body like a locust or a camel when your heinous stink is permeating my BRAIN.

Lesson learned: I’m NEVER standing in the back again. Front row only- feet can’t get you in the front row.

Goal: I have got to stop letting little things drive me insane.

-L

Sunday was rainy and gross. Coming up of the tail or an epic 4-hour long DJed brunch on Saturday, L and I were feeling unmotivated and yucky. I was close to calling my day off and making it up at a later point, but (thank goodness) L convinced me to suck it up and go. Our teacher was the owner who, although he is tough on us, it the strongest motivator of all the instructors.

We took spots in the back, and I was pretty much convinced that I was about to have another awful meltdown/panic attack during class but instead, the opposite happened. As soon as I started the opening breathing exercise, I felt calm and motivated and (dare I say it?) happy! Class was invigorating. I tried my hardest and my body seemed to listen tome. There was a nice cool breeze coming from the humidifier right next to me and I was loving life the entire time. Fortunately I was unaware of the smelly mess in front of Liz and I was unperturbed and finally focused during class. I wish every day were like this 🙂 Sorry I’m not sorry for my ridiculously optimistic post.

There was one notable moment during the class, and it came right in the beginning.  During the half-moon series while doing the backbend:

I went further back then I ever had before and something crazy happened.  My body just completely stopped resisting my mind and I went far back enough to touch the wall in back of me (which is roughly how the woman is bent in the picture).  I felt a rush of blood to my head and I started to have a headache and feel completely overwhelmed with emotion. The extreme compression of my spine had cause an “emotional release”, something that our instructors refer to as being an uncontrollable release of intense emotion.   I felt achy but exhilarated and I’m pretty sure I rode this wave for the entirety of class.

On a not so positive (or maybe it is?) note: I am still SO sore. I have just resigned to the fact that I will never be capable of walking like a normal person again.

-C

Day 46

My worst class to date. I hate even trying to re-live the awfulness but since it was bound to happen sooner or later, here goes.

Mistake #1: Drinking on Friday night. I don’t know why L and I got it into our heads that we were going to drink heavily on Friday night, but I’m assuming it started sometime after L had a glass of wine before bikram. I was up WAY too late, and didn’t even bother to drink a glass of water before bed.

So I head to 10am class with L and my roommate W, and am feeling pretty loopy still (to the point where I didn’t even want to drive fearing my BAC). The instructor was Maria again and I warned her before class that I was not in tip-top shape. Hoping to motivate myself to sweat out the night before, I…

Mistake # 2: placed my mat in the front on the room. Why I thought this was a good idea, I’ll never quite understand. As class started, I slowly felt my body start to fall apart piece by piece. By the fourth pose, I was sitting out every other pose. By pose five I was laying on the floor. My heart was beating on my face and I was having a pretty intense anxiety attack. I would get up to try a pose, get through a quarter of it, and then have to lie back down. I knew that this class was a lost cause. Even worse, I felt like my inability to make it through class negatively affected the people in back of me. At one point, nearly the entire side of the room I was on ended up sitting or laying down. I’ve really never experienced this.

As the floor series rolled around I really started to panic. I was seeing spots in my left eye so big that I had about 5% vision. I needed to get out. I looked over at L and she told me to count my breaths and relax. I tried but it wouldn’t work. Finally, I grab my water bottle and bolted for the door. I felt so incredibly weak and upset with myself, but damn did it feel good to be out of that class. Me and Jameson are breaking up. I NEVER want to feel like that again.

-C

Saturday morning’s class reinforced what I’ve been thinking lately: I’m really good at drinking while yoga-ing. Friday night was an unnecessary mess that I’ll blame on C’s new boyfriend Jameson. Lucky for me, I’m not a hungover sleeper, so I woke up an hour before class and drank a ton of water and had some fruit. I, per the usual, wasn’t excited for class, but followed C’s cue and stood in the front row. And I feel bad saying it considering C and W’s bad class, but I had a really good class.

Class was the usual Saturday shitshow: tons of newbies, people dropping like flies, and the occasional run for the door. At one point, there were only 2 people standing in my half of the room- it was insane. Because C and W were both lying down (believe me, I feel their pain….I was just there 2 weeks ago. Feeling like you’re going to puke in class is one.of.the.worst.feelings.EVER.) I wouldn’t let myself sit down at all. When there are new people in the class, they tend to watch whoever is in front, and I wanted to be a decent example.

It definitely wasn’t my best class, but I was proud of myself for not quitting. I’ve been so apathetic towards bikram lately- half-assing poses, glaring at anyone I think is annoying, I was even somewhat rude to an instructor the other day- it’s nice to finally feel myself climbing out of my rut. I hope my classes continue to get better- we’re done 2 weeks from today!!

-L

Day 45- 3/4 of the way!

Friday night class was great! Just like I hoped it would be.  L and I (joined by our friend and guest blogger W) took spots in the front of the room and I feel like I finally had a class where I wasn’t annoyed, stressed, over thinking, or just physically exhausted.  L hadn’t had the greatest day so I felt like I needed to stay positive and strong for her, so I definitely tried my hardest to stay focused while keeping an eye on L throughout the class. Our instructor, Maria, is a no-frills, fast-moving instructor who keeps a nice rhythm throughout the class.  This made it (relatively) easy to move through class without getting too hung-up on single poses.  There’s nothing really mentionable about class besides the fact that I’ve got my confidence in my practice back and my drive to complete this challenge has been re-ignited.

-C

Like C said, I had a blah day on Friday and wasn’t looking forward to class at all. If C wasn’t so encouraging, I definitely would have skipped this class (and a ton of others). I drank a glass of wine before class and was surprised that it didn’t affect me at all. I didn’t have a good or bad class, just an average one. Zoned out a few times and was basically functioning on bikram “autopilot.”

Nothing worth mentioning- I’ve basically plateaued, which is pretty discouraging. The challenge really is all downhill from here…hoping to get my bikram energy/obsession/motivation back soon.

-L