Day 15 of Challenge (60/60), Classes #15 & #16 – Standing Bow & Bow Pose

Just for the record, I did not succumb to the call of ice cream last night. I did fall to some Pirate Booty and yogurt covered raisins.  If you haven’t tried Pirate Booty, I highly suggest it… a mix between Cheetos and popcorn but really much healthier than Cheetos and cheese popcorn. This morning I woke up freezing. I think it was 60 degrees because we forgot to put the heat on last night. That is cold to me. I was ready to get in that hot room and warm up for sure. I was a little tired at first and questioned whether I could deal with a double today. Then I thought about a quote I read yesterday on Facebook that Garland posted, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.” Really true quote… so I said, I think I can do this double today.  After my morning shot of E3live and chia seeds, I felt more ready to tackle the double. Also, knowing Lisa T. was doing a double too made me more determined to get in there.

I slept in a little bit this morning, so I didn’t have as much time to hydrate before class. Also, for some reason I had this horrible headache. Despite my weekly allergy shots, I think the change of seasons is affecting me. I broke down and took Aleve because I didn’t want to be in class miserable. I was excited to see all the great feedback for my blog posts on Facebook. Thanks to everyone reading and going along with me on this crazy, bendy journey. Tamara, and old college friend, posted a great suggestion to take a before picture of a posture that I am having difficulty with now, and then continue to post pictures to see how I progress.  I thought to myself what a great idea. Then I thought which posture do I choose?… I am having difficulty with at least 24 of the 26 postures. Then I thought who would take the picture and when would I take the picture?  I let the idea sit for a while and figured the answer would come to me.

When I got to the West End studio, I saw Tighe was teaching and I knew I was in for it. (I figured she was teaching the 2pm too…uh oh!)  She kicks your tail in a different way than Pavida and other teachers. I figured my tail needed a good kicking and that is why she was teaching class today. I was excited to see Lisa T. and also to see there was plenty of room up front at the mirror for both of us to sit side by side.  After I saw Lisa,  I asked her if she would take a picture of me doing a couple postures for a before picture and I would do the same for her. She thought it was a great idea and we decided to use my phone camera and wait till the 2pm class was over so we wouldn’t disturb people in meditation.  I decided on Standing Bow posture and Bow posture because they are both super tough and I need work on them as you can see below.

October 15, 2011 – Standing Bow Pose

October 15, 2011 – Bow Pose

October 15, 2011 – Lisa T. in Head to Knee pose (she has this one down)

I have to admit I felt like a yoga nerd going back into the hot room with Lisa to take pictures of our postures. However, it’s a good idea so you can really see how you look in a posture. I think it’s a good tool to use whenever if you are trying to progress and need a visual to help you. It’s impossible once in most of the postures to see what you look like.

I felt pretty wiped out in both classes today. Going into the 12pm class, first of the double, I thought take it one pose at a time. I am glad I thought that way because I was feeling the lactic acid in my muscles. Even Tighe brought up the point that anyone doing the challenge is probably really starting to feel the affects of it on their body.  I felt stiff in the 12pm class and had to really work through the pain today. It’s like my body decided to have amnesia and forget all the progress I had made in the last few classes. I told myself to pull it together body!

Tighe mentioned in class, ” Give me your brain while you are in here, your body knows what to do.” I thought that was a good idea because my brain wasn’t cooperating much today anyway. One thing that is fun in class is all the different sayings and additions to the standard dialogue that each teacher says. It makes every class unique even though the postures and dialog for the most part are exactly the same. It helped to hear what Tighe told us today. She said, “This yoga is a lifetime practice. You don’t have to be perfect. Take it easy on yourself and love yourself.” It was at the precise moment I really needed to hear that.

I struggled but pushed through the 12pm with the help of having Lisa T. next to me and knowing she would be there for the 2pm. I just thought I am gonna be hurting in the 2pm. I also seemed to sweat more today than usual for some reason. At one point when I bent over in one of the postures (can’t exactly remember which one because of my yoga brain) it sounded like it was raining because my sweat was beating down on my mat so fast. Now that is some crazy sweating peeps!  We also did one extra set of the “airplane” posture (I know that is not the official name but I figured everyone would know what I was talking about). It was unintentional and I think all of us forgot that we had already done 2 sets. We also did a one minute camel for the second set. This definitely wiped me out so at the end of class I was ready for a break.

In between class I rehydrated as best I could. Finally the Kangen water machine is back!! (this is alkaline water which is better for your  body and makes it easier to hydrate yourself…our amazing studio offers it to all us students for free.) I also ate a banana, showered and put on fresh dry yoga clothes and got a new towel. I felt like a new woman and ready to take class number 2 for the day. I ran into a relatively newer Yogini, Roxanna, and I was happy to see she has been loving the yoga and coming regularly. She was in my rear view for the second class and her new happy energy was contagious. I warned Lisa  I may have to sit a couple postures out today because I just felt like someone took a big stick and beat me.  I was just giving myself the permission to sit out if needed.

The second class wasn’t as crazy hot as the first class. Or maybe I was just zoned out and couldn’t tell the difference anymore. I was sore and achy but I pushed through and forced myself to do every posture. I knew I could do it and I just thought to myself this is temporary, get through it and then you can eat  a delicious late lunch. When we got to Camel again, Tighe had us do another one minute camel during second set. I thought oh my god, this woman is gonna kill me. Then she mentioned  Garland is taking the backbending seminar right now and doing 200 backbends a day and what is a one minute Camel compared to that. After she put it that way, I put a hush on my whiny self and did it. There were a few times in the second class, I forgot which posture was next and which set we were in. I think I was getting some serious yoga brain.

Tighe and some of the other teachers have been announcing in class the World Champions coming to our studio on Nov 5th and 6th to do a Seminar. Jospeh Encinia, the Men’s World Champion and Yukari Miwa, the Women’s World Champion are both teaching a class and doing a presentation for us. This will be on my Birthday weekend and I am hoping to attend so I can have this amazing experience and also share it on my blog. I did watch the routine of Joseph on YouTube and I was blown away. It is so amazing to see what the human body is capable of. Truly an inspiring thing to watch and I encourage anyone to go online and check him out.

One thing that I have noticed is my negative and endless inner chatter has gone away. I still say things once in a while to myself but it is more controlled and geared toward the class. It’s pretty cool that it kind of just happened on it’s own – the yoga has quieted my crazy mind. It’s actually probably the only thing that can keep my mouth and my mind quiet to be honest with you.

Well I made it through another day of a double class and even gave up the most perfect fall day but it was so worth it. I put my two smiley face stickers on the chart and on my way out I asked if Tighe was teaching tomorrow. Her answer was, “yes one class but I am not telling you which one so you can’t avoid me” I just love that! I figure the yoga gods will pick which teacher I have. It’s like a Vegas game, Roulette of Yoga Teachers.

Namaste Peeps!