Ready, Set.....

The first day of my first Bikram yoga 30 Day Challenge is tomorrow.

Questions arise.  Do I practice today, or wait and rest and start eagerly tomorrow?  Do I count UP the classes (1 done) or DOWN the classes (29 to go)?  Do I take a 60 minute class, or 90 minute?  Do I take the 9:30am class, or 4:30pm?  What should I eat  before class?

 Things I am doing already....


Change the Diet

The string of classes I did the past two weeks convinced my body that dairy is awful and that it does not want it anymore.  In other words, dairy suddenly makes me ill (goodbye, half and half in my morning decaf coffee, goodbye feta, goat and Beecher's cheddar cheese).  So do heavy or processed carbs (goodbye, Cheezits snack mix and French bread loaves).  Thus, we recently switched to healthier foods, like quinoa and miso paste soup.  After the first meal of these two lovelies, my stomach immediately settled down.  It'll be all about healthy food for the next month.  Luckily these new healthies are trendy as well, so lots of recipes on the internet to try!

New Yoga Clothes

I splurged on a second Lululemon top, if you call outlet shopping a "splurge."  While yes, we are lucky that we have a Lululemon outlet nearby, I can't say that the selection was anything to get excited about. Pickings were slim, especially for my size (i.e., larger end of the size spectrum; my shape is more like a belly dancer than a marathon runner).  I managed to snag a cute orange tank with elastic gathering on the front and back, and contrasts nicely with my standard bold striped blue white tank.

Promise of Even More New Yoga Clothes

Which segues nicely into my reward for finishing the 30 classes in 30 days: get a new pair of Lululemon pants, or as we call it here at the home office, "work clothes."  So excited, and I'm sure my butt will love it (if all that they say about how one's ass looks in Lululemon yoga pants is true).

Tried and True Pre-class Routine

Thankfully, having done Bikram yoga for soooo long, my equipment packing routine is fairly set.  In my green yoga bag is:

• purple and orange Yogitoes towel 
• regular white post-shower towel 
• my black running shorts 
• blue & white striped yoga tank top
• change of underwear 
• trace mineral drops (instead of Emergen-C) 
• hair ties & clips 
• plastic baggie for sweaty post-yoga clothes 
• a facial wash cloth.  

Add to that:

• my yoga mat (ProLite Manduka in olive green that miraculously matches my bag) rolled up in its yoga strap, and
• my pink 32oz Nalgene bottle filled with water plus a couple of trace mineral drops  

and I'm ready to go.  It's about the only regular routine I've had exercise wise, and I am thus very proud of it.  It also means that whenever I step out of my exercise zone, I get all discombobulated because I think I need the proper stuff to do the exercise any justice.


A little Bikram Reading
Last week I purchased Bikram's latest book (not the beginner's book), motivated by the fact that he describes in further detail how each postures benefits the body and "keys" in more proper form.  The Amazon reviews were typical - if you like Bikram yoga, you gave it five stars; if you're anti-Bikram yoga, you gave it one star.  

So far, about 1/3 through the book, I'm in the five-star zone.  Will give it a more thorough review when I'm done.  But rather than reading it all the way through this week, I held back to save it to read slowly over the month, for inspiration.  


And what about you?  What preparations did you go through before your first challenge?  Share your tips and routines in the comments below!

30 Day Challenge Count Down clock

Just saw this in the MoMA Store catalogue, two days before my first Bikram 30 Day Challenge.  Wouldn't that be great to have as while waiting for the Challenge to begin (or end)?

 The Countdown Clock from Crispin Jones.



  Sigh, love MoMA Store and the ridiculous things I fall in love with there.

Preview of my first Bikram 30 Day Challenge

Somehow, without thinking, I signed up for the 30-Day Challenge.   

Yes, I know I was already playing with the idea in my mind, teasing it a bit, saying "Oh yeah, maybe, you know, I can swing that...."  

It starts February 1st, in two days.

I've been obsessively googling "Bikram 30 Day Challenge" to scour past blogs for tips, tricks, and what to expect.  I know the basic drill: Every day will be different. There will be break through days and crappy days where I ask 'where'd my practice go?'  That I just need to go, just keep going, don't give up, go no matter how you feel.

And yet.... the Things That Scare Me About the Bikram 30-Day Challenge, such as:

1)  My dominate lazy self convincing my weaker committed self to just skip class, and make up for it…later…

2)  How tired and sore I will feel, which will lead to catching a cold.  Having totally destressed my life now, and adhering to Chinese medical philosophy about wellness, I’ve managed to NOT get sick so far this year.  I know that tired & stressed = sick because of run down immune/defense system.  Will this slew of Bikram classes make me stronger, or sicker?


3)  Stressing about doing Bikram yoga Every. Single. Day.  Again, see #1.  I have far more history of talking myself OUT of going than in sticking to the plan to go to yoga.  I fear my own history, as it were.

4)  Doing double class days to make up for the 2 (maybe 3) day I’ll miss while traveling later in February.  I did scout out a Bikram yoga studio near where I’m going, but it’ll be stressful (see #3) to try to make it to those classes. I have to choose what to commit to - freedom or the stress of getting somewhere on time.

5)  Eating properly  - not too soon, stomach not too full, not eating the wrong things, or not eating enough. So I have to plan my meals everyday, which is something I'm not used to.

6)  Time restrictions that this challenge will pose on my schedule. Which is kind of a joke, since my schedule is about zilch - work at home, for myself, whenever I want, no clients/customers to face or deadlines to meet.  Sometimes I think that people with that 9-5 schedule find it easier just to tack the Bikram class on to the end of it, since they’re already out and about.

7)  This is not a huge fear, but I am a bit intimidated by driving in the winter weather here, enough that the slightest inclement weather keeps me off the roads.  Because of my work situation, all driving errands outside the house are quite low priority (even the grocery store is within walking distance). The weather here is odd compared to what I - girl of the southwestern desert - am used to.  Made worse by the fact that we live on a  bit of a hill, with really curvy and steep, sidewalk-less  streets.  If the weather gets squirrely, like it did a couple of weeks ago, will I choose my yoga commitment or the safety of home? I guess I will let the gods decide on that one, and figure it out when I get there.  

8)  Umm… um….

Really, that's it?  Huh.


What were (are) your fears in facing the 30 Day Challenge? Comment below!

Changes from the Inside Out

[written a couple of years back]

The thought I had whilst in Bikram yoga class yesterday was about changes.  External changes are relatively easy to come by - a new haircut or color, upgrading the clothes, lose a few pounds, change your diet.  But it is the internal changes which are harder to evoke.

 Bikram was instrumental in some difficult changes I made over the years.  It was Bikram yoga that  got me off the drinking track.  Being a functional alcoholic, I was drinking regularly everyday, at night, after work.  It was, for all intents and purposes, an addiction.  I started doing Bikram yoga in February of 2002, and ended up not having a drink for almost three months.  That's rather impressive for someone who had basically been drinking daily  for about ten years.  I loved Bikram classes so much it was easy to stop drinking, because Bikram class can truly suck if you've got residual alcohol in your system.  We won't get into the reasons why I got back off the wagon (something to do with old friends and a vacation in Florida).



Last year, March 10th to be exact, was another milestone for that was when I stopped drinking caffeine regularly.  That addiction stretches back to high school, watching my dad make a huge pot of coffee Saturday and Sunday morning, and I just had coffee all the time.  The stunt at Starbucks in college did not quite help matters either, for I learned more about the nuances of coffee, the impact of fine brewing and the variations of light, mild and dark roast among beans.  I learned the light but undeniable addiction of caffeine in my organic chem class in college, knowing that it takes only a cup to create the body's  addiction for the next 8-10 hours, after which one will experience tightness of the blood vessels and, thus, a headache, unless one consumes caffeine again.  In acupuncture school, we were taught that caffeine creates a steady drippy leakage of qi, and since proper respect and conservation of one's qi was the ultimate key in a long healthy life, caffeine addictions were bad.  Yet still I drank coffee daily.  For a wedding present we got a cool Cuisinart 10-cup coffee maker complete with its own grinder and thermos carafe, and I started making 10 cups of coffee at a time, and finishing most of it in a day.

But thanks to Bruce, a coworker at a Large Popular Health Food Store That Shall Remain Unnamed, who went on a fast detox and gave up sugar and caffeine (and looked a bit worse for the wear during its initial stages), I was inspired to say, "Sure, that sounds great, why not?" and gave up caffeine as well.  March 10, 2010.   Four days before my 38th birthday.  

Magically, it stuck. I've gone about 98% caffeine free, though don't ask how many cups of decaf coffee I down a day. Any slips are usually accidental, sometimes on purpose to get through an 8-hour shift when I was dead tired and cranky to boot.

Beginning, Again 2013 - Part... 15? 25?

A new year, another Bikram yoga commitment. Took a few classes at the end of last year, before the full swing of the holidays. Felt the lack of Bikram class - bloated, stiff, lethargic, moody and sullen. My mood reverts to that of a temperamental child.

Took class last night, Class 1 of... well for today, let's say 2. In a class two months ago, the crazy thought occurred to me to do a 30-day challenge. What?? Me??

 Am not sure which is the "30-day challenge" is more significant, the 30-days or the Challenge. It's almost beyond effort to get me to an actual class, let alone doing it for 30 days in a row. But what else is left, really?

 So last night I started, at the R------- studio, the one I love the most. And it wasn't even the full 90 minute class, but a truncated 60 minute class. I have been, up until last night, a 60-minute class snob. Like, who would lower themselves to take a less than authentic 90 minute Bikram class? But after last night, I changed my mind. Sure, the class is different, and afterwards I felt more like I had done a regualr gym class than a yoga class, but still, I sweated. I stretched and strengthened, I found a stillness point of meditation that I had never found in Bikram yoga before, so apparently one can still benefit.

 And really, 60 minute class is way more beneficial than no class at all.