Making Progress?

Lately all things in my life have to do with yoga. What to eat for lunch? If I eat a veggie burger and fries, I'll feel horrible in class later. If I eat lentil soup, I'll feel bad in class too. Should I have a glass of wine tonight? Eh, maybe not, I'll feel dehydrahted in the morning. Coffee, soda? Nope, need to drink water so I don't pass out in yoga later. Everything seems to revolve around yoga. Maybe that's a good thing, I do tend to obsess about things and let everything else take the back burner. I mean that is how I got to the point of committing to the challenge. For years, any sort of exercise has just not been my priority. School, work, home projects have always taken over and during the last few months something clicked in me that reminded me without great health, none of those other things matter. Do I still work very hard at my job everyday? Absolutely. But for the first time in a LONG time I have managed to leave work at 5p each day to get to yoga while still meeting deadlines at work. And somehow, I haven't felt incredibly stressed. Maybe making this challenge a priority is positively affecting other aspects of my life. One of the instructors, Kathy, always says "the most important thing in your life is you." She's absolutely right. Of course the instructors say lots of things, some of which I can't help but laugh, like when Gianna calls everyone "my yogis." All I can think is "I fooled you!" Ha ha! Yogi? Hardly! Some days it takes all I've got to just stay in the room, much less actually do all of the poses. Overall though, I am making progress, which makes me feel good.

In other progress related news...Jason's company is doing really well! He's done so many proposals lately, for bigger jobs, and the signed contracts have been rolling in. The next few weeks will be very busy for him but hopefully this is a sign of how things will be this year. I'm so happy that his business has been successful so far and can't imagine things any other way. We've had to make a lot of adjustments in this past year and are slowly getting back to a place that involves actually building our savings again, it's all been worth it. And I know as time goes on we'll continue to see that. For now our life is revolving around my yoga schedule, Jason's work and squeezing in time to hang out with friends! I'm ready for spring and grilling out on the patio, that will definitely call for having people over to enjoy it with us!

Half Way Done!!!

Sweat. Lots and lots of SWEAT! yuck! On Saturday, February 5th I officially made it to the half way point in the Bikram challenge, 30 classes are complete and for me, 21 days of enduring the heat since my last day off. Have I seen any improvement since the day I started, Jan 2nd? Yes and no. Some days I have a great class and feel like I'm making a ton of progress, yesterday was one of those days. I kicked out, briefly, in the "standing head to knee" pose. That was quite an accomplishment considering how I lack any coordination or balance, just the fact that I'm not falling right away when I stand on one leg is amazing, HA! I know I will probably never be flexible enough to be in a yoga competition but I would like to do some of the postures better than I do today. In my 60th class I really really hope that I can hold onto my feet in Camel, right now I can barely grab one.


I also have a lot of "mental" goals for the next 30 days....
- quiet my mind; stop making grocery lists, thinking about things I need to do at home/work and all those other little thoughts that creep into my mind when I am desperately trying to grab my feet in Camel and Rabbit
- limit the mental freak out when I see someones sweat fall onto my towel/mat. I know I am shooting eye daggers at them when I drop falls, but it's not their fault, the room is packed and they are just trying to do yoga too. I should be more understanding, there might be a day when I accidentally sweat on someone else's towel...although not likely ;)
- stop judging myself. No one is perfect and as I overheard someone say before class the other day, everyone has their demons. As long as I continue to go and try then I will continue to grow and improve. As they say, you get 100% benefit if you do the pose correctly, depth is just an extra.
- keep up the determination to finish this challenge...because I get a free t-shirt! ha ha!

I guess we'll see what happens in the hot room tomorrow!

New Year, New Challenge

Torture Chamber. That's what they call it. At the beginning of this year I decided to finally commit to doing a Bikram Challenge. And it DOES feels like torture. 90 minutes, 105 degrees, 50% humidity and way too many people in one room. Some home I've made it through 17 of the 60 classes so now I'm over a quarter of the way complete. There are times during class I wonder if I'll make it through an entire class. But then there are days, like yesterday, that part way through in my most unfavorite pose, I break out into a smile and can't wipe off the stupid grin on my face the rest of the class. I still can't explain that one.

This past year has been very challenging. Jason starting a business and some uncertaintity in my job both contributed to a hectic year. So my goal for 2011 is to focus on simplifying some things in our lives. I've now been vegan for 2 years but until recently haven't maintained a steady workout schedule, which is another very important side of being healthy. My job is important to me but as we have both learned, in the end business is business and you may not have that job forever, or even as long as you might like. The stress of having one person responsible for a business and then an employee's livelihood, kind of scary! Doing this yoga benefits me in so many ways, I am determined to make it through the 60 classes and get my free t-shirt! HA!

So here's to starting the year off with new challenges! I want to document this yoga "journey" as I'm curious what changes I'll see in the 60-ish days of the challenge. My goal for this week's practice is to quiet my mind and just breathe. That is a struggle for this type-A personality with personal space issues in a packed room with sweating strangers only a couple inches away from me. We shall see....