Day 3: Not Everything is a Competition

Posture #2: Ardha Chandrasana - Half Moon Pose

I walk into class this morning and checked the Challenge sign up list to see how many people had signed up. Hmmmm. That's a lot, wonder how many will really finish. I went back to the locker room, put away my stuff and then went to set up my mat & towel. Whew, MY spot is still open (front row, to the right of the instructor stand) - I hate it when someone is in MY spot.

Class starts. Your supposed to look at yourself in the mirror, focus on yourself, your body, the pose - 90 minutes of moving meditation. "You are your best teacher." Uh Huh.

Lisa was NOT focusing on herself, she was competing with others in the room, unbeknown to them. Yep. I was kinda looking beyond myself in the mirror at spaghetti body chick or at the mother from the Incredibles and saying....DAMN, why can't I do that? I was, through sheer determination, trying to twist, stretch and bend my body just like SuperStretch who not only has been doing this for years but also probably weighs about as much as one of my thighs.

Suddenly, my body decided to jack slap me back into reality (FOCUS ON YOU!, YOU STOOPIT AZZ) by delivering a sharp pain up the back of my leg. Gotch your attention now, don't I?

It was at that moment that I realized that NOT EVERYTHING IS A DAMN COMPETITION WITH SOMEONE ELSE. This is about focusing on me, listening to my body, and training my mind and my body to go further, deeper, be stronger. The only person I am competing with during this challenge is my own ego.

My ego. My thoughts. The white noise of my mind.

I could either spend this time competing with other people, hurting myself, not getting stronger or better. Or I could become "My Best Teacher", listen to my body, focus my mind and shame the devil.

By the way, I've pretty much got the left side of picture/first part of Half Moon, the right sideof picture/second part - Not So Much.

DAY1: 30 Day Bikram Challenge

Pranayama - Standing Deep Breathing
From WorldYogaFoundation.com

I started the 30 days of Bikram Yoga Challenge today. In case you didn't know, there are 26 poses in the series. I thought I would cover all of the poses for you over the course of the event and share with you what is happening with me/to me during this challenge. I was talking to CreoleInDC today and she asked me what I wanted to get out of doing this challenge. Well, I certainly wanted the physical benefits from doing Bikram Yoga:

- Flexibility

- Strength - Many yoga poses require you to support the weight of your own body in new ways, including balancing on one leg or supporting yourself with your core. Some exercises require you to move slowly in and out of poses, which also increases strength.

- Muscle Tone

- Weight Loss

However, there is some other things that I want to achieve from this:

Mental Calmness - Concentrating so intently on what your body is doing has the effect of bringing a calmness to the mind. Yoga also introduces you to meditation techniques, such as watching how you breathe and disengagement from your thoughts, which help calm the mind. My mind is always going a mile a minute, and 90 minutes of moving meditation is just what this sister need to slow down and smell the daisies.

Stress Reduction -Because of the concentration required, your daily troubles, both large and small, seem to melt away during the time you are doing yoga. This provides a much-needed break from your stressors, as well as helping put things into perspective. There is a lot going on in my life right now. Proper perspective and an ability to relax, relate, release is welcome.

Body Awareness -Doing yoga will give you an increased awareness of your own body. Over time, this will increase your level of comfort in your own body. This can lead to improved posture and greater self-confidence. I always feel taller & more lean after class. Perhaps my stride will get even more fierce.

So, how was Day1? Let me tell you...Giiiiirrrrrlllll...it was hot as a mofo today. We had a male instructor lead us through the poses and it was like having Gengis Khan teaching. No fans, no occassional opening of the doors. Just cracking the whip, moving it along. DAMN. Although I am definitly improving on my poses and ability to focus, concentrate and hold, I thought I was gonna die. Then there was this chick in the back row that just wanted to do her own ish. WTF? Do you know how distracting it is when you are doing something totally different and moving all around. Get control of yourself. Finally, the instructor had to tell her to "be still" in between poses. Thank you!

Something happened to me today after the standing series that the instructors are always saying might happen, but of course, I thought it was malarky. I know about the gettting dizzy part, but what I didn't buy was that you might get all emotional after some of the poses due to the release of toxins, stress or whatever else you might be holding on to. Humph. Yeah right. Well, after the standing series, I started to feel sick - for real. I felt like my skin was on fire, my heart beat was not returning to normal - constantly racing and like a weight was on my chest. I tries to work it out by relaxing in Savasana (Dead Body Pose), but it was just getting worse. The instructors always recommend that you stay in the room and try to work though it, but I just couldn't. I thought I was gonna blow chunks or explode in flames if I didn't get outta there. I went into the bathroom, and burst in to tears. Nope, I do not know why. All I know is that after my short boo hoo, I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my sholders, went back into class and knocked out the final poses without a hitch.

I don't know what that was all about, but whatever it was - it was cathartic. Amazing. I'm going back tomorrow for Day2.

Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut her up with cookies. ~unknown~