Friday Night Front Row

I got to 6pm class last night with all my favorite spaces taken up, which are usually along the second row. I like mirror space but am not quite good enough for the first row.

But tonight, I had little choice. There were 2 front row spaces and I took one of them thinking, I'm up for a really good practice today and will do my best to claim this front row space.

And it was a great practice! I really like Friday night teacher's who occasionally sings parts of musical songs during savasana. There were no weird sighing sounds in the room though I felt bad for one really, really tall guy in the third row who seemed to be having a hard time and was hard to avoid him.

I'm so excited to be able to do Camel and Fixed Firm poses - I hadn't been able to really do them till this week & really think it's because I was too scared to go back and have been working on my backward bend in Hands to Feet pose.

This week started with a 6am class and ended with a 6pm class. Can't think of anything better to sandwich the week!

Going Further in the Poses

Being away for 3 1/2 days is a lot for me... I normally don't stay away from exercise in general for more than 36-48 hours, but I wasn't feeling well this week so was determined to make my come-back tonight GREAT. And it was!

I love this Thurs night teacher. She's very positive. Last week she talked a bit about buddhism and about being happy with what 'is' and with what you have. Tonight she said:

"Relax like it's your job"

I like it. I also like that I actually went all the way in Camel and Fixed Firm Pose. That's HUGE for me. I hadn't been able to do them until tonight. But I'm learning to let myself go in the back bends and started tonight by bending more in the Half Moon and somehow in the 2nd half, I was able to do this. Yay me!!!

And I love Standing Bow Pulling Pose. I think that's my favorite. In fact, I do it a lot now just anywhere, in my house, sometimes I even start it in Starbucks as I'm waiting for coffee. But only in the afternoons when not many people are there. And it's more like a standing 1/2 bow in the Starbucks :)

Only hard part about this 6pm class is I've noticed this one guy who just makes these loud sighing sounds. It's really distracting and really annoying. But I'm sure that's just my yoga lesson to focus on me instead of him!

Hope you had a great practice today too!

Craving It After 3 Days

This may be the longest I've gone in about 2 months - 3 1/2 days! And I'm SO eager to get back to it tonight. I last went Monday morning - 6:15am. Today, I took the easy way out for the 6pm class.

Though, I guess the 6am vs. 6pm have trade-offs - 6am - not many people but have to get up super early; 6pm - have to make sure to leave work early (not an easy feat!) and deal with the 50+ people and feet smell in the room...and potentially not getting a good space.

My body is so aching to do these stretches & poses. I feel like shutting my office door and doing some RIGHT NOW! I can wait 4 more hours though.

And tonight is my 'meditation' instructor. Last time she was throwing in buddhism thoughts that really helped me.

I'll tell you all about class soon!

ps - I normally don't go (and can't go) for this long of a stretch without going to a class but my monthly visitor made an appearance Tues and I just felt drained Tues & Wed, so I'm back at it again & can't wait!

First Post

I just started blogging a few weeks ago for another aspect in my life that has seemed nearly all-consuming.

Bikram yoga is another aspect of my life that takes up a lot of my thoughts. I've also been following Bikramanda and LOVE her blog - it's inspiring, it's real and it oftentimes complements my experiences - EXCEPT that she's MUCH harder-core about it all than I am.

My little bikram yoga history:

• A friend introduced me to it a little over a year ago. Helped that it was winter & got to be in a hot room.
• I liked it but it was expensive, a time commitment and I was more into my running then
• I kept coming back to it every 2-4 weeks throughout all of 2009
• I got O (the Oprah magazine in December) right at the same time that I thought "I really need to lose these 12 lbs that have somehow crept on in the last couple of years" and lo & behold - there was this article about Paige finding Bikram yoga - right in Oprah's mainstream magazine!!! And it was so inspiring. I thought, if this woman can do it, so can I! This is EXACTLY what I need to kick this into high gear (and to soften my stress a bit).
• In beginning of January, I bought a 10 pass package and used those up pretty quickly
• I'm now on my 2nd unlimited monthly pass - I go about 3-4x week & want to share my experiences & be inspired by others' experiences

So... I look forward to finding you Bikram yogis out there! :)