Day 28

I did a double today, which makes tomorrow my 30th class rather than friday. One more class! Can you believe??

This is from my tumblr blog and I was going to type up a different one for this blog out of fear of being too personal, but i felt that it was a good way to wrap it all up. I did it!!

as my 30 day bikram yoga challenge winds to a close,

ive had a lot of people ask me what changes i’ve noticed, if im going to keep up with it, etc. 

it was hard. it was really f'ing hard and there were days where i seriously considered throwing it all away and making up my entire project but i didnt. i only purposefully skipped one day and i made up for it with a double. because of outstanding circumstances, i missed 3 others, and i made up for those with doubles too. that was probably the hardest part of the whole thing. i sacrificed 99% of my life to my yoga project this past month. i gave up school for yoga. i gave up doing things with friends for yoga. i gave up my job for yoga. i gave up eating (kinda... you saw the froyo.) for yoga. i gave up hair and makeup for yoga. i definitely gave up sleeping for yoga. so, what was the point? what did i gain? i’ll tell you, the satisfaction of finishing a seemingly impossible task. and this just didnt happen at the end of my thirty day challenge. i got this feeling of pride at the end of every class. the yoga never got easier. and it neeeever will. i just got better.

everyone’s biggest question is whether or not i lost weight. i refuse to weigh myself so i cant accurately answer this. but the body i walked into class with on january 31 is not the body that is typing this today. that body couldnt hold a balancing pose. that body couldnt lift a leg in locus. not to invite you all to my personal pity party, but i hated that body. what do you honestly thing was the driving force behind this project? changing my body. yes, obviously, there was a passion and dedication for the practice, but what i really wanted was a new body. i’m so done with that stage of starving and eating gross nasty bird food just to try and be stick thin and delicately boney. i want to be strong, sexy, powerful, toned. its still a work in progress but its worlds away from where i started. theres still things that jiggle and there probably always will be, hahaha. but i dont look in the mirror and hate it anymore. i dont pick myself apart anymore. when youre forced to stare at your almost naked body in a mirror for 90 minutes a day, you better learn to love it. to answer questions about how my body has changed, i am now more toned in my legs, back, bum, and i dont have to push as hard to make my abs show up. but thats not what i care about anymore. i thought that weight loss was going to be a big part of the goal for me. but the truth of it is that i finally see everything that my body can do, everything that it is, rather than everything that it isn’t. its not about a number. i did things in those yoga classes that i never would’ve dreamed of doing a month ago. if you had told me that i was going to stick it out and actually complete 30 bikram classes in 30 days, i would’ve thought you were crazy. i’ve never played a sport in my life. this was so far out of my comfort zone.

aside from the satisfaction and pride i gained from completing my challenge, i gained self-worth, determination, self control, focus, and strength. i finally have something that is my own, and i’ve gotten pretty good at it. i didn’t give up when it got hard and i didn’t get frustrated when i wasn’t the best in the class. yoga taught me that if you’re practicing correctly, you won’t even notice what the people around you are doing. and if you do, it will only drive you to be better, never to give up. 

even though tomorrow is the last day of my challenge, it wont be my last day of practice. i might take a week off to give my body a break but i’m going to try and get in the studio at least twice a week from here on out. everyday wasnt realistic, but I’m not going to throw away all of my hard work of the past month just because the challenge is over. im finally getting good! plus, i love the teachers and regulars too much to give it all up. the hot room is my happy place, can you believe that? i never expected to hear those words come out of my mouth.

thank you to all who supported me and listened to me bitch this past month. i know i complained a lot more than i raved, but i made up for it when i started ranting like a crazed obsessed yogi. tomorrow i will step out of yoga a completed 30 day challenger. and then i will eat a donut. and then i will blog again one final time. i can't thank everyone enough for actually even reading these because if it wasnt for this blog i wouldnt have anyone to hold me accountable for the work. i'm so happy i could cry!

Day 27

Maybe I should invest in froyo.

I did another back to back double yesterday! So now I am right on track with 27 classes in 27 days. I did a 3 and a 5pm which feels like an eternity because I left my house at 2:15 and wasn't home until 7:00. Thank god most of my friends and my boyfriend are on vacation and I have nothing better to do except spend my whole day at the studio. Two days in a row of doubles is kind of rough but I just try not to think about it. I think I pace myself pretty well when it comes to doubles, like I know not to try too hard in my first class because I have a whole class to do right after. Taking 4 yoga classes in 2 days was a lot. I'm really sore today and I havent felt like this since like my first week. My back is killing me. I cant really remember anything from class thats worth talking about because I feel like I was in my own little world. I do so much yoga that listening to the dialogue isnt even necessary anymore because I hear it in my sleep so usually I just zone out and go through the motions. Its kind of nice though. Except yesterday I was so far off in la-la land that I went to sit on my feet for final breathing in the firm pose and out of habit started to pull my towel over my feet like for rabbit. Yoga brain!!

Day 26

I got another double out of the way today.. I woke up and did the 9:30am which surprisingly wasn't too bad even though it was a morning class. Now that I can set up the postures correctly, i'm starting to dislike parts of the floor series as much as the standing series. They weren't actually supposed to be easy all along, I was just doing them wrong. 

Nine West shoes I bought today made
my day much, much better.

I went shopping with Marissa all day and ate giant burritos and made it back for the 6:30 pm class. Since it was such a long break in between it really wasn't that bad except for the guy in front of me was flinging sweat everywhere and just typing this I am gagging it was repulsive and awful and at one point I wanted to barf watching it fly around him. I don't know how the woman next to him survived, I really truly dont. 

Day 25

Today's 4pm made up for yesterdays class. I held my foot up in balancing stick, held my balance in standing bow, and didnt even sit out for triangle. Today's class was really good. Today's class reminded me why I am doing this project. Tomorrow I might try and get another double over with, I dont know yet though.

Hey girl hey
 I was the first one in class so hell ya I took a selfie
Could you imagine if anyone had walked in? How embarrassing 

Day 24

I did an 8am Saturday morning which is equivalent to walking into hell and selling yourself to the devil himself and no I am not exaggerating. I woke up SO GRUMPY didnt even want to move, bitched and moaned about how I should give up now and lie about my the rest of my thirty day challenge (no one was even awake to listen). Stuffed a banana and a greek yog in my mouth (remember what I said about eating dairy before class? why don't i take my own advice?) and then ate these disgusting crackers that I grabbed without looking in the car on the way there. I'm not kidding you I'm trying to find a picture of the brand online but I cant remember what it was. They were like almond crackers or something and I thought "Oh! Almonds! Protein! These'll work!" No. Wrong. Wrong Wrong. I literally exclaimed out loud in my car (am I admitting to talking to myself?):  "these are {expletive} DISGUSTING."

I have never sat out more times during a class than I did yesterday morning. I tasted those almond crackers long after I was done eating them, let me just say. Is my 30 days over yet?

Day 23

The nail art gods are siiii-iiinging!
Thank you Victor, you are da bomb

Oops I accidentally skipped yoga to get my nails done. (It wasnt an accident) (He's really hard to make an appointment with) (I had to).
Fridays are bad enough with school and work so oh well if I skipped yoga. I'll do another double this week to make up for it.

Oh yeah, and I went back to Sweet Kiwi.
Again.

Day 22

No I'm actually dead serious there is a knot
in the wood on the ceiling above my spot in the hot
room that looks exactly like this.  No lie. 

Can you believe it's day 22? I seriously feel like this has FLOWN by. Next friday is my last day and I have another double to make up between now and then. I cannot believe how quickly its happened. Today was a wicked stressful day at school taking all those tests so by the time I got home around 1:00 I just wanted to relax and go to the late 7pm class. I finished my paper, Jake came over, and then I got ready to go. Oh yeah and I ate a whole bag of mini rice cake things whatever the hell those are. They're addicting that's what they are. I feel like this whole blog is about food but seriously eating one wrong thing sets off my whole practice. Like, for instance, if you drank or ate something milky before class and then sat in 110 degree heat for over an hour........ Barf.

Class was ok it wasn't packed so it wasn't humid. Thank god. Humidity is gross you are literally soaked in the sweat of everyone else in the room. Now that I'm in the homestretch of my 30 day and have so much going on with school its getting harder and harder to get to class. I definitely dragged bum to the studio today and it reflected in my practice. I came in with a body that did not want to budge and do much of anything. I'll blame the rice cakes but really I just got no sleep last night and have had a very stressful week compared to my usual laid back schedule. I don't think I've done so much homework since I was a freshman. Thank god for the amazing people in my life and Bikram to keep me centered and relaxed because honestly I think I would have lost my mind by now!! Is it vacation yet?

Day 21

Yesterday was crazy. Since its coming down to the last few days before vacation, all of my teacher have been assigning huge tests and projects all due on the same day. SOooo naturally I stayed home from school to do it all. Even more naturally I did not get it all done. I wrote like 3 out of 4 pages of a paper and it took me 5 hours. And then I went to yoga. And then I went to a hockey game. And then I ate this: 

Theres a new self serve froyo place in Manchester.
I told her to whisper me the price after she put it on the scale.
Shame at it's finest.

And then I had a coffee.  By now it was like 11:00pm and I had like easily 2 more hours of work ahead of me. I think the last time I saw on the clock was 2:00 but even though I had no sleep I think I actually aced all three of my tests today. Very very surprising. 

But this is a yoga blog, not a bitch-about-my-life blog (thats what Tumblr is for, ha ha ha), so all-in-all class went well despite everything else that made yesterday crazy. It was my 90 minutes of peace which is why I love yoga in the first place. The funniest part was when Natalie (teacher) said, "good job, newbies, you're almost halfway through class!" when we were on the last posture. Obviously they don't know the practice so they arent familiar with the postures and didnt know we were on the last one, so all panicked and were like "omg its not over........" Hahahaha yoga jokes. Gotta love it. They kill me. 

Day 20

Also, I drank one of these between classes.
Note to self: this is the drink of Satan.
Never, ever again. Barf.

I DID MY FIRST DOUBLE!!!! And lived to tell the tale!! It honestly was not that bad I definitely had set myself up for it to be way worse. I did the 3:00 and the 5:00 so there was a half hour break in between but since I normally get into the hot room a half hour before class starts anyway, it wasn't much of a break. After the first class I left the hot room long enough to get a new towel, change, and sign myself back in for round two. I had so much more energy than I expected! I really didn't mind doing a double and will definitely do another in the future if I have time for it. If you're now wondering if I am crazy and thinking that yoga has sent me completely off the deep end, you are correct.

Besides the pat on the back I gave myself for doing 3 hours of yoga, I also gave myself a high five for my standing back bend. It's another one of those mind postures where you don't think you can go that far back... and then you do. I really think once you release you're entire mind there is not a single posture that is impossible. Easier said than done. But anyway I dropped so far back I could see the carpet behind my ankles! It's a crazy feeling. And beyond awesome. Mike taught the second class and even though I don't play favorites I always want to go to Tuesday night classes if I know he's going to be teaching :).  He's so personable and so helpful! Today during a savasana he talked about the importance of keeping your eyes open the entire time you are in class right up until final savasana. In terms of the mental aspects of practice, its so vital that you don't shut your eyes. Mike gave the example of people who shut their eyes and say "i'm in my happy place" during practice. Even though you may feel relaxed picturing yourself on a sandy beach, what you're actually doing is removing your presence from the room. It is so important to be present in class the entire 90 minutes, not thinking about today, tonight, tomorrow, or yesterday. When you're present in class you're able to accept everything you are feeling, and choose to keep it or release it. This carries over to life outside the studio. Be present in your lives!

A Bikram back bend... yowch

All in all my first double was such a big accomplishment for me. I feel like a proud little peacock. A month ago, I dont think I could stand through an entire class, let alone 3 hours of it! Not to mention I am so stretched out that it feels like I have no bones just spaghetti noodle arms and legs. Quick thanks to everyone at the studio and in my life who were so kind and supportive about my double class day -- you made all my doubts go right out the window :)

Day 19

I did the 6:30 night class after being at the gym from 3:45- 6:00. Yeah.. I dont know what got into me. I had planned on going to the gym right after school and then going to the 4:30 class but then by the time I got to the gym it was almost 4:00 and I really wanted to get a good workout in so I just paced myself and managed to stay until the late class. I literally did every single machine at the gym. Every one. And the elliptical. And free weights. And stuff on the mats. I kinda miss being at the gym and being able to work out on my own time at my own pace, its a big difference from having to make it on time for a scheduled class. Also I ate really shitty all weekend and participated in a literal breadstick eating contest with Jake last night at Olive Garden so I was long overdue for a good gym sesh.

Clearly, I fit the mold for a PFit Lunk.

Class was ok. It was packed so the humidity was through the roof. BUT my friend's mom and his little sister were in my class and during eagle I made eye contact with his mom and I thought we were going to have to leave the hot room we got laughing so hard. And it made it that much worse that we weren't supposed to be laughing in the silent room because naturally that makes you laugh harder... I could not even look in her direction for the rest of class because I knew I would lose it. 

My half moon today was so much better than ever before. I think once I got over the fact that bending your stomach so far is going to give you rolls no matter what, I was able to go so much lower. You get so used to standing a certain way to make yourself look thinner and having good posture that eliminates tummy rolls so I didnt even realize I could bend so far until I really tried. Thats pretty much it, I didn't sit out today but triangle sucked because it always does. 

Day 18

Fantastic.

Sundays they only have 8:00, 10:00, and 4:00 so I chose to do 10:00 because I knew I had plans tonight and the 4:00 would interfere with that.. Unfortunately 10:00am is almost just as bad as 8:00 when you've had no sleep and have to wake up at your friends house at 8:00 to make it home in time to change and get to class. Fortunately, it snowed again (not) and so I got to once again brush snow off my car and fishtail the whole way there. Yay!
Class was packed.. The humidity was so high that she turned on the fans almost immediately which is unheard of. It was hot and stuffy and I felt like everyone was sweating on me. I hate when classes are super full and everyone is like ontop of one another. Its not pleasant. I was close to the side window so at the very end during final savasana when Jess opened the window literally a gust of snow and wind blew into the room on me.. I can honestly say this is the first time i've ever jumped up to leave the hot room because I was too COLD! Ugh. 12 days to go but still 14 classes because of the two doubles I need to do..

Day 17

So saturday was day 17 and the studio was only hosting an 8:00am class. I really try to do anything in my power to avoid morning classes... something about waking up and first thing going into such extreme temperatures is nauseating. Not to mention the fact that you've been laying in a bed for 8 hours so you're body is still stiff and not ready for that kind of movement. Ugh, morning classes are just all around not enjoyable for me at all. I was so nauseous and I knew the second I got to class it was going to be a loooong 90 minutes because I took one look in the mirror and saw how pale my face was... That's when you know. 

Just what I wanted to see at 7:00 in the morning.
Not to mention my snow brush has disappeared so picture me cleaning this off with an umbrella. Yeah... idk. 

Besides feeling as if I was going to die or barf I managed to make it through class and came home and slept for literally the rest of the day. Like I think I got on the couch at 10:00am and stayed there until 2:00pm. Usually theres one thing I hold onto during class to get me through like "ok if you just make it through 90 minutes you can get a coffee after" (I dont drink caffeine on yoga mornings because it dehydrates you. Me without coffee is SO scary.) But yeah so this day all I could think was like if I made it through class I was going back to bed and that's exactly what I did. 

What I ate when I woke up from my nap. 

A giant boston creme eclair courtesy of my sister/ the Red Arrow. 

14, 15, 16

Day 14 and 15 went well. I feel like I have nothing to write about on here anymore because nothing has changed lately. I know in class when something happens I always make a mental note to blog it but then of course I forget!

Day 16.... today.....
Got out of school early.. Drove all the way to the west side... Got to the studio for the "12:30" class. Nope. Class was at 12. Next ones at 4:30..... When I have work. I was SO frustrated at how stupid I was. I could've cried. I might've cried (who's counting).

Now that means  I have 2 classes to make up... UHGUHGSUOUFHAOUNJVSBHDBVKN


However, my valentines day was lovely and I hope you all had a great one too:) xoxox

Day 12& 13

I'm writing this from my phone on the elliptical... Bear with me here.
12: Monday was not so good. I laid in bed for like six hours before class and I did the late 6:30 class. First of all it felt like it was 900 degrees for some reason. Second of all I ate like nothing except brownies all day. Not good. I'm trying to remember but I'm pretty sure I sat out through standing head to knee and triangle (duh). Everything else was shaky and I was naseaus and hungry. I felt like one of those cartoon characters that sees stars before they pass out lol

13: yesterday I did a 5pm and I did SO GOOD it made up for how shitty Monday was. I finally extended my leg in head to knee and I only fell out of standing bow once but I got back into it!! I love love love Mike as a teacher I think he is so fun! Yesterday was awesome.


Now I'm at the gym doing intervals (god help me) and planning to go to the 6:30 for my TWO WEEK CLASS! It's flying by I can't believe it. Ill try to blog again tonight but ill probably be dead i have four minutes left on this machine UGH

Day 11

Nothing interesting happened in class today! I got up for a 10am because I spent the afternoon volunteering at the veterans hospital with Dave and some of our friends for his senior project and then I had to work. Ready for this week! Cant believe how quickly it is flying by. Since I dont really have anything that interesting to say I'll share some pics I found on pinterest:

Truest truth of all truths. If for nothing else, this is the reason why everyone should practice.

My favorite line in the dialogue I think it's usually said after camel pose when everyone feels like crap. Acknowledge the feeling, and on your exhale release it. The point is to accept that it happened, understand that its over, and completely let any negativity go. Love this because it applies to much more than just a yoga class, life lesson!

day 10: the nemo disaster

Ok -- time to catch up on the last few days. So yesterday I didn't have school because of this whole Nemo storm coming in, but BYM was still going to do Friday morning classes. Since I didnt have school I felt like it was Saturday and accidentally mixed up the friday and saturday schedules... So basically I showed up at the studio at 7:30am for an 8am class that didn't exist and the next one was not for another 2 hours. The fact that I even got out of bed for the 8am after four hours of sleep was a miracle so excuse me for being tired cranky hungry and just feeling all around bad. Frustrated, I was not about to sit in that parking lot for two hours and wait for class. So I drove home and the snow was already coming down so I didn't want to drive back out and while I was at home trying to decide what to do the offer to go out to breakfast was put on the table. Yesterday I chose pancakes over yoga. Sue me.

I can hear angels singing

After breakfast I spent the whole day with Jake, work was cancelled, and then I spent the whole night with Chan and Gina, eating all the bad foods you should not eat when youre doing yoga. Honestly, it was probably my first personal day since Christmas break. I can't remember a weekend day when I didn't have school, work, yoga, or all three. It was so. nice. So nice. And so needed.

Everything we ate last night. Oh god, I wish I was kidding.

Nemo ran its course well into this morning (saturday) but cleared up in time for BYM to hold one class today- the 4pm. Now I swear when I skipped yesterday I was planning on doing two classes today to make up for it, but they only held one class so I couldn't. I took the 4pm because work was cancelled again so it didn't conflict. I died to say the least, but whatever, I made it through class #9 and thats what counts. I will make it up though and eventually do 2 in one day, because 30 days means 30 classes, not 29. Hope everyone is safe and warm!

Almost died on my way to yoga today... Snow driving is not my thing.

day 9

well this storm really threw off my whole 30 day..... i got to class for an 8:00 that didn't exist because I read the schedule wrong and then the late afternoon classes were cancelled and all of the early classes tomorrow are cancelled and i cant make the late one because of work. maybe a break will be good for me who knows! in the meantime, the free time is a blessing because i actually had a really good day:) stay warm and safe everyone!

day 8

I haven't gone to class yet, but I'm getting ready to and I want to go out tonight so I just wanted to get this out of the way ahead of time. Basically if I could rate everything I want to do right now, yoga would be at the bottom of the list. I'm just too tired!! I'm in bed writing this- bad idea, I'm not going to want to leave. Unfortunately with tomorrow's storm I dont know how I'm going to manage everything...

This means I'll have to do a 9:30 am tomorrow and I really don't know what I'm going to do if the Saturday mornings are cancelled because I have to work Saturday night. Ugh. 

So for arguement's sake, if they really do cancel the 8:00 and 10:00ams on Saturday that means I'll be in two classes on Sunday. This weekend already sucks and it hasn't even happened yet..

"How I Feel About Going to Yoga Today" by Yours Truly

day 7

if i dont fall asleep before the end of this it will be a miracle. this is going to have horrible grammar so excuse me in advance. i did a 430 class today and it was taught by natalie who was actually in a class with me last thursday. thursday was my day 1 so i didnt do that well but i remember seeing natalie and thinking how good she was - i had no clue she taught! i went to the gym after school which just wasnt a good idea because i didnt cool down between the gym and yoga. i literally put my mat down and then went back and stood outside in my spandex in the freezing to cool down before class. it went really well im still not doing so hot on the balancing ones as always but my tries are getting better everytime.a lot of my floor postures are almost perfect because they always came pretty easily to me so getting them perfect hasnt been as much of a challenge as getting the standing series. with one week under my belt i will say that im very happy with my body. a lot of people have asked me if ive lost weight and honestly i havent weighed myself (refuse to.. im not a number on a dumb scale!!!) but that wasnt the point of doing yoga. however, i feel so much more flexible its crazy i feel like a spaghetti noodle or something but at the same time i feel so powerful like i'm in the best shape of my life. really proud of the things my body can accomplish cause i never wouldve dreamed of being able to even try some of these things.

things i thought about today during savasanas:

 

Yeah, that is Usher. Before savasana, Natalie kept saying "relax on your back" and my mind immediately went to that overplayed Usher song with the line "relax and get on your back" and so it was stuck in my head all class..

the only other thing i wanted to comment on about todays class is the fact that there was a lot of girls my age in class today which is sort of unusual everyone is usually a lot older. they dont go to my school idk who they are but this wasnt their first class. first of all, there were 3 girls behind me that kept talking to the point where they had to be asked to be quiet in front of everyone. now yoga is not a kindergarten class, natalie cant be more than 5 or 6 years older than them and she had to ask them to be quiet? it was embarrassing to watch. but worse is that one girl next to me had her phone in the hot room and kept periodically checking to see if shes received any messages. i was legitimately shocked.. they ask that you dont have your phone out at all in the studio let alone DURING CLASS! I dont think Natalie saw her otherwise I have no idea what you would even say. I dont mean to be a yoga snob but theres a level of respect among everyone in the practice and you should respect your teacher and the other members of class enough to not be a distraction. It was disappointing, honestly, and a poor reflection of younger people doing Bikram. Thats my rant for tonight. and i didnt fall asleep!

Day 5 and 6

Not even a week in and I'm already getting lazy about this... Ok so yesterday I did the 4:30 class so I went straight from the school to the gym for about an hour (don't be fooled I really only went to go tanning.. sorry mom) but I did some resistance and weight stuff and then I got to the studio a half hour before class. I was one of the first mats down so naturally I got prime real estate next to the window which is the "coldest" spot in the room. And by cold I mean its 104 degrees rather than 105. Its really funny because at the beginning of class they ask who is a first timer and when they raise their hands they are always all congregated in the middle/back row. Anyone who has ever been in class before knows that they are right under the heater and just don't know any better hahaha. I always feel bad when people come in wearing yoga pants and t shirts.... They are definitely in for a surprise. If I had to do yoga in pants and a shirt I think I would pass out or vomit. Mindy taught class yesterday and overall it went well. She knows about my project so she always tries to help me perfect all the postures, so that's nice.

Today I did a 3:00. Afternoon classes on the weekdays are literally so dead because most everyone is still at work. Not having to be packed in the hot room like sardines makes things a little more bearable. I can finally balance (barely) in balancing stick but still a no-go on standing head to knee and triangle. I dont want to talk about triangle. I dont want to ever see a triangle. I hate triangle. ANYWAY I got to class early again so in total I spend about 2 hours in the hot room and have really gotten used to the heat. It obviously still feels horrifically hot but its not like "I need to get out of here I cant breathe I'm going to pass out" hot. It's "I'm fine... I've done this before.. Nothings gonna happen" hot. And I think once you figure that out it opens up a lot of doors in Bikram because it truly starts with controlling the mind. Part one is assuring yourself that you're not going to die or vomit or pass out. I shouldn't say that I'm sure people have vomitted or passed out but I've never seen it... Part two is convincing yourself that if you push beyond your limit, your body is not going to snap in half. Like you are capable of so much more than you think. When you see someone doing the most ridiculous back bends and your like "nope no way I can not bend like that" but in actuality you really can you just have to train your body and mind. The biggest one that I had to convince myself I was able to do is camel. Its a really deep back bend during the floor series and there were times when I thought my head was going to fall clear off my shoulders or I imagine myself falling back flat on my head and breaking my neck. If you tell yourself you can't do something, you're right, and you won't do it.

Ustrasana - Camel

Hmmmm, seems legit.

The word trikonasana gives me anxiety. 

I dont even want to look at this lady's dumb perfect triangle pose. 

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate trikonasana.

Tomorrow marks Day 7 and one thing I've noticed is that I can now list the poses in order, like I know what's coming next before I do it. This is really helpful when your wanting to die during Trikonasana but you can remind yourself your just a Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Janushirasana, Tadasana, and Padangustasana away from Savasana! (In other words, a standing separate leg head to knee, tree pose, and toe stand away from laying like a dead log on the floor and thinking about all the ways you could escape the hot room before the floor series. Just kidding. Nobody leaves the hot room. Have I mentioned that before? Leaving is a biiiig no-no.)

BTW, I'm looking for some boys to come with me as a start my second week so I can use you in my project and talk about how yoga made you better at sports. (COUGH James Brian Dylan & Dave!!). But really anyone who's willing is more than welcome I love seeing people from school in class! :)

Day 4

Nothing of interest and no good pictures. Plus, this post is coming about 12 hours late. Was really tired when I woke up this morning. Didn't give myself enough time to wake up and drink enough before class. For some reason, I dont know if it was just me, but the hot room felt like it was hotter than the depths of hell this morning. I honestly dont think there was any oxygen in that room. I sat out through one set of triangle and one set of balancing stick but I tried for one set of each and I still can not do either one of them. And I couldn't breathe. Ugh, this morning kinda sucked. I had to pee too and that was all I could think about through the floor series. So rare to even have to pee while in the hot room cause usually you sweat it all out. Came home, showered, and crawled back into bed and slept it off. When I woke up, I jumped out of bed in panic because I thought it was the next morning and I was sleeping through yoga. I can tell thats going to be my new fear on the weekends- sleeping through class. I'm going to try and go to the 4pm on sundays in the future instead of the 10am because morning classes really never go well and I dont want to get discouraged after a bad morning class. I didnt do the 4pm today because of the SuperBowl and even though the morning class didn't go well I'm glad I did it at 10am because I had a lot of fun tonight that made up for a pretty rough morning. I ate a donut for the first time in 1,000 years.... yum.:)

My breakfast before class. An apple, a banana, half an english muffin with pb (au naturale) and my own personal favorite-- a bowl of plain greek yog sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with honey for dipping the fruit. So yummy and at 0 fat its a much better protein than dipping fruit in pb. 

Day 3: LOTS of Pics

On Friday's class during final savasana, Pubali jokingly told the class the importance of "detox to retox" and how we should enjoy our weekend and not be so hard on ourselves when it comes to bad eating (or drinking) choices. Naturally, my friday night retox can be summed up in just a few words: fried mac and cheese lobster balls, cookies, and chocolate. A lot of it. Let's just say I learned my lesson. I've barely had any bad food in weeks leading up to my challenge so this was definitely overboard for me. Not only did I have the worst headache from my body re-adjusting to all the shit (sorry, but that's what it was) I put into it, but I woke up this morning feeling literally swollen. It was disgusting and finding the energy to go to class this morning was almost impossible. Remind me to not take "detox to retox" so literally next weekend..

 

The hot room. I took this after everyone left. It looks like a giant sauna, but that's basically what it is..  Usually there's like 40 people lined up in two rows. The idea is beginners go in the back, advanced in the front. Somehow I always get to class too late and end up in the front, god help me.

Besides the fact that I felt like a sluggish walrus (seriously this is the only way I can describe it) class went well. Still having so much trouble with the balancing postures. I'm ridiculously flexible on the floor and even on 2 legs but the second you ask me to do something on one leg, its all over. But I got to take my beginner's pictures today, drum roll PLEASE~

Phones aren't allowed in the studio during class so while I was waiting for Mindy to come take some pictures for me I took full advantage of the selfie photo-op, of course.

LOL if you aren't laughing you have no sense of humor these are hilarious. But ok in all seriousness from left to right thats rabbit pose (sasangasana), standing bow (dandayamana dhanurasana), and standing head to knee (dandayamana janushirasana). Say those names 10 times fast I dare ya 

Big thanks to Mindy for staying after class and taking these pictures for me.. and for being sweet enough to say she wishes her rabbit looked more like mine:) I wish you could see my face in rabbit pose though I'm dying laughing because I felt so ridiculous getting photographed like that. Talk about face down.  However the other two.. not so good. Its the balancing postures that kill me. The idea with bow is to kick your foot high enough that your leg is almost straight (foot over head in the mirror) with your torso parallel to the floor... Yeah. Get back to me in 27 days on that one. And in head-to-knee your head is supposed to be on your knee. This is actually the first time I've ever even gotten my legs locked in head-to-knee so hopefully making some progress there, even if my head is nowhere near my knee. 

Also, I wanted to say thanks for everyone who's supporting me through this! If you read these posts, you're awesome, or even if you put up with my twitter and instagram posts about it you're equally as awesome. If anyone ever wants to try yoga and come with me to a class, let me know!! 

Day Two

Today I woke up knowing I was not going to have a free second to write this so I'm doing it as fast as I can! I went to school from 9-11:30ish and had to leave a little earlier than usual in order to make it to the 12pm class because with work tonight it was the only class I could make today (besides the 6am... no.) If you saw me at school today and wondered why I looked like crap that was why - I didnt even have time to go home and change after school and before yoga. So after sitting through my morning classes I rushed to the studio. I was so excited to see that Pubali, my OE, was today's teacher. She's such a sweetheart and so helpful in class I really feel like I always do my best in her classes. With that being said, I'm really proud of today's class. Balancing poses are still my weakest and floor postures are still my favorite (lol). But for some bizarre reason I'm really good at maintaining tree pose and Pubali jokes that I make it look easy. This makes no sense considering I cant balance in any other one legged pose, but hey, I'll take it. 

Me getting 5 extra minutes of sleep before school this morning. 

Something tells me that this is how most of my fridays are going to look. 

I'm off to work from 4:30-10:30 and then back at it tomorrow morning at the 10am class. Mostly I'm looking forward to going to bed tonight, hahaha. Tomorrow I'm going to get my "beginning" pictures because even though its my 3rd class I haven't really changed much in 3 days (trust me). 

As for something good I ate today.... Idk. I had a handful of dark chocolate almonds before class! Those are wicked good if you've never tried them and even though they're chocolate they don't have the amount of salt that normal almonds do. And unsalted un-chocolate plain almonds are just gross so that definitely wasn't gonna cut it. 

Yum.