Day 22-25

Been pretty busy over the past week but still managed to squeeze in daily 3 hours for my practice, sadly not enough time to write here so decided to bundle up day 22, 23, 24 and 25 posts together into a brief oveview. Here are some things I learned...

...about People
- sometimes yoga studio is like a small reflection of the world outside. When you go a lot you tend to bump into people that spend a lot of time there themselves. Sometimes you acknowledge each other by a quick smile, nod or hello, sometimes you make friends. I noticed that during the practice I like to practice close to some people - you just share the similar focus, they move at the similar pace to you, and if they fall out of the standing bow they go right back into it - these are the people that help you keep in balance, just like friends out of studio. Then there is nervous kind of practitioner, and there are many others - competitive guys, shufflers, etc. - I've started avoiding having my mat to close to them...

...about Postures
- "The posture begins when you want to come out of it'. True. When at most uncomfortable, with perseverance ultimately you will make that little bit of a progress - kick up higher, balance better, touch the forehead to the knee etc. that will keep you coming back for more the next day, and the day after that and after. I often get asked how come I don't get bored doing the same 26 poses every day and that is why. Every day is different and every day your body allows you to do different stuff, some days more of one thing some day more of some other. Speaking of which, on Tuesday I finally just managed to touch my head on the floor between my feet in Standing Separate Leg Stretching. My husband can vouch for that, as he went to the practice with me and saw it happening while standing in front of me and hanging upside down trying to sort out his own Standing Separate Leg...
I also began viewing the whole practice as a single thing instead of the series of 2 breathing exercises and 26 postures. In practice this means that I treat coming out of the postures with the same care I treat my postures, coming out slowly and with control, linking one posture to the next.
Can't log off without saying how much the opening sentence here applies the the final Savasana. Usually my first instinct when I get into it and hear the final 'Namaste' is to run out of the room and find some cold air, but I'm finding the longer I make myself lie there the better, calmer and more energised I feel once away from the studio

...Random
- yoga with Korean food induced upset tummy combined with pms cramping not fun (for ladies out there - heat does help). Do not try this at home.
- Jackie Brown is still Q.Tarantino's best film...

Day 21

Easy afternoon, 5pm, class today with one of my favourite teachers. Seems like I've bounced back from the Friday morning low point and I am really pushing myself hard again. 90 minutes just flew by today and I wasn't even hot. My body has pretty much totally adjusted to 40 degrees C temperature by now. Dreading going to a future beach holiday anywhere with temperatures below 30 degrees as I might find it a bit chilly... 
Once out of the studio I floated back home and upon arrival realised that I'm NOT hungry. Hmmm? This has been happening over the last couple of days - I get home and feel like I do not want a big dinner. It's strange, because during the first two weeks of the challenge I have literally been demolishing the content of our fridge. Now, this has just stopped. The insatiable hunger has mysteriously disappeared. Instead, the mysterious cravings have appeared. So far, I have eaten an incredible amount of fresh radish, artichokes, coconut chunks, nuts and dried cherries. None of which featured much in my previous diet. Radish is by now a clear obsession. Having googled it today to check out its nutritional values, I was surprised to find out that it is full of potassium. Is this my body being really really clever and asking for what it needs as opposed to what looks good? Perplexed. 

In addition to what's already mentioned above, I'm off meat - red especially; totally off. This doesn't puzzle me so much as it happened before when I practiced 3 or 4 times a week. The final major change in my relationship to food is that I now prefer it raw-ish. Less processed - the better. So, during my today's google quest to try and find out what's happening to me I stumbled upon a concept of 'clean eating'. This in a nutshell is a lifestyle approach to food, basically striving to eat unprocessed stuff and consume food in its most natural state possible. Definitely something I can relate to right now. Anyhow I'd say that on the good days my family's diet is pretty clean already, but made a promise to myself to make it even cleaner and leaner. It helps that we have a great farmer's market on our doorstep every weekend and can load up with fresh, organic produce on a regular basis. If you are interested in clean eating have a look at these rules - '10 Rules of Clean Eating'. Thanks to the rule 3 below, I'll never view the supermarkets in the same way again...

3 / Shop The Perimeter Of The Grocery Store

Every store is different, but as a general rule, the periphery is the natural habitat of the fresh vegetable, meat market, whole-grain baked goods, and the nuts and dried fruits in the bulk bin. Get comfortable here; it is now your territory.

You'll probably have to venture into the interior for some staples like olive oil, but keep your blinders on. You're entering a museum of extravagant packaging and manipulative slogans. Few of the items you see in the store's interior promote good health; it's a stretch to call most of it "food."

The perimeter is also usually the home of the dairy case and the beer and wine display, so stay strong. Of course, if these are your biggest offenses, you could do a lot worse.

(source: www.bodybuilding.com)

Day 20

20!!!! Woooohooo! 2/3 done! I was a little bit worried about getting into the studio today after yesterday's 6am fiasco. I plucked up my courage but as I walked into the hot room, put the towel on my mat and slowly sat down another thought came to my mind - 2 glasses of champagne, dear God help me! - do we have another storm approaching? Turns out, not! A good class, sailed through postures, maybe drank slightly more water that I'd normally do. I've been trying to wean myself off, so lately been consuming very little during the class and concentrating on hydrating out of the studio. Speaking of water, they say it takes 21 days to form a new habit, and if there is one thing I really want to continue doing once the challenge is over than that definitely must be drinking litres of water daily.  Recently people have been commenting on how well my skin looks, apparently it's glowing sometimes. Also, I've noticed that the whites of my eyes have never been brighter. Aside from daily hour and a half of exercise, I put a lot of it down to water consumption.  Feels like water has featured heavily over the last couple of weeks in my life. I've been drinking gallons, sweating even more, constantly washing of my yoga gear, taking numerous daily showers and baths to help the aches and pains. Water rocks!

Day 19

I woke up at 4.45 am. Snoozed for 15 mins and then at 5am sharp - crawled out of bed on all fours. What was I doing up so early? Well, trying to get to studio by 6am for the worst, toughest yoga session ever. And by saying ever, I really mean EVER. In retrospect, even my first bikram yoga class all those years ago now seems like a breeze. What happened? Not, sure but it felt like a 12 force gale storm. Hurricane. Nothing worked, my breathing, body, mind, everything was disconnected. Is this the famous day 19 wall I've been told about? If yes, then - damn, that's one tall wall! Perhaps it was just the fact that the timing was totally out of sync with my body clock. I haven't slept enough, and at this time of day usually I am still tucked away in my bed not trying to touch my forehead to my knee while balancing on one foot. In any case, I had to do this one so early and rush straight back home and then straight onto a friend's wedding. So I guess it was all worth it. Speaking of weddings, I just realised the one thing I haven't mentioned so far in my blog is - alcohol. Basically, I more or less gave it up totally before embarking on this. So from day one I virtually had no alcohol until this Friday. Friday was a wedding day after all so I had 2 glasses of champagne. The first one went straight to my head, and I nursed the second one for ages, struggling to finish it. I don't miss it that much and definitely intend to stay well away for the next 11 days. Namaste!

Day 18

Late afternoon session today and a very very good one. Worked hard. I feel like I've been maybe pacing myself ever so slightly over the last couple of weeks and that now I'm entering into my finish line sprint. Really intend to go for it and reap up the maximum benefits. 

These past days when I speak to people and they find out I am doing this challenge one of the first questions they ask is 'What are you going to do once you complete it?' It always leaves me slightly baffled. Why? Am I supposed to do something? Run a marathon? Climb something? What? 

Well, now I think I have an answer. I'm considering going for a 7 day bikram yoga retreat next month somewhere nice, warm and sunny. Fingers crossed, it will happen. Namaste!