Day 101

Today marked my 101 days in a row of yoga. I started this challenge soon after I got back from the yoga competition in L.A. I was so inspired by all of the men, women, and children competing on stage and how far they had stretched themselves with this practice. It is truly amazing what yoga practice can do for people. Go to www.yogacup.com to see some incredible performances from last years winners.

So, what have I learned from all of this?

I think the beauty of going everyday is realizing that you CAN arrange your life to have a daily yoga asana practice, there's really no excuse. Now, whether or not you want to that's up to you and what your personal goals are with it. What I always heard when I first started was "3-4 will help you maintain, 4-6 will help you progress, and every day for 60 days straight in the beginning will change your life".

Has my life changed since doing the challenge?

Life is always changing. I definitely learned that I can not control the ups and downs of life. Some days all you hear is good news and some days it's heart break after heart break. But when I do yoga, the bad news and the heartbreak is more like an "excuse" to go deeper into myself and find the real source of well being. Then I realize that my happiness is not really dependent on anything but my own ability to find joy in living. I suppose I knew that before but now it's something all of my cells know.

What was the hardest part?

The hardest part was not being critical of myself in the mirror and to accept my body as it is. There is a wisdom in the body that the mind can not know (immediately) and sometimes I wanted to jump to judgement about being too "whatever" I was dissatisfied with that day. Today was the first day that I looked at myself as a finely tuned machine and thought What a beautiful thing my body is. I think as women (and men too) we are trained to expect someone else to tell us that, and we end up making ourselves very vulnerable to harmful situations and people when we look for that truth outside of ourselves in the world. There are lot's of things that want to exploit us for money. The world is diseased right now. The key is to know our worth in our hearts. I think yoga is the best vehicle for this. If we plant this seed from the beginning, then we will only want the best things for ourselves in life. We would never do harmful things to ourselves or others. We would not accept it or have any energy toward it. Bikram says this yoga makes you, "bullet proof, sex proof, emotion proof, money proof". Strength from the inside out.

So my motto coming out of this is: Stay strong. Keep going to yoga. Never give up on yourself. Always be kind to others. Serve yourself, serve the whole world.

Thank you all for reading my blog. I am really grateful to live in a country where there is free speech and I can write a blog about my yoga experience. All of everything that I wrote has been my own process so take it with a grain of salt. Take what is helpful and leave the rest. BLESSINGS to all~~ May everyone who reads this find energy towards transformation. You already have everything you need to heal your life.

I am signing off!

Day 100- Challenge complete!

Today my challenge was officially complete, tomorrow is the "cherry on top". Today I am philosophically dumbfounded I don't know what to say about this being the end of my challenge.  It has come sooner than expected because I lost count. If it weren't for the blog I would not know where I was.  That being said the blog ends tomorrow at 101 days.  Monday is going to be my first day of no torture chamber. It is because I am going to the beach. It will probably take me a while to realize how I've changed by doing this challenge. So far so good. I am happy with how my body is. It is stronger than it has ever been. I've had several breakthroughs in my poses. My health has finally normalized. At the same time I am also keenly aware of my weaknesses and what I need  to work on.  I've  learned that while I must experience what it is like "to be", I will also always be simultaneously pushing but never arriving in my efforts to be better, more loving, more open, more impeccable. 

Day 99

What, how did 99 creep up on me? I thought I was a day behind, because my estimated day of finishing was on Monday the 25th. Was their a leap year, did I gain an extra day when I did all of those quadruples, what's the deal? Class has been exceptionally hard ever since the beginning of the week. I am definitely on an edge I've never been on before. "Head hurt, hand hurt, hair hurt, goood for you! Your time, money, energy is all worthwhile!"  

Day 98

Just one class today. It was harder than all 3 combined. But I will say that the "pain killed the pain" yet again. I went in with throbbing pain in my left scapula (put a little arnica on it in the afternoon) and came out with no pain. Potent medicine. 

I am not being very hardcore about doing all the classes anymore. I had this realization that there is no "quick fix" but time, intensity, and a willingness to change are all one needs. I was humbled. 

Day 97

I taught the 6:30 am. (I had a bunch of people! yay it was great) And then took the 8:30 am. 

Weird thing happened after class. I took a little snooze and had a dream. I had to crawl up to this door to get to where I was staying. It was a small round door. There were dangerous and slippery ledges before I could go in. Whenever I had to crawl through the door I was amazed with my strength.  I did a heel hook to get completely in, while the door  squeezed me. It was like a birth/ rock climbing dream.  

Two more classes to go today, time for some PROTEIN... AND lot's of water. 

Outside of class I am getting surges of heat from "bones to skin"-- like a hot flash. 

And my muscles burn. I actually look forward to going back into the heat and stretching, because it hurts more when I am not practicing at this point. 

Day 96

It's only 3 today. ;0 4 is brutal. I hit a wall at 6:30 am, but got back in at the 8:30 am, took the 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm. My first two were HARD, the hardest I can remember. I was stiff, my mind was resistant, it was sooooooo darn HOT. Then, something lifted and I broke through to the other side. My postures are definitely not my deepest, but my breathing is at it's best and my willingness is HIGH. The body will do anything, just as long as you surrender the mind, take care of it, drink lot's of water, eat good, don't abuse it with thoughts about how it is too fat or too whatever. We poison ourselves when we think those kinds of thoughts about such great machines (our bodies). Wisdom of the day: don't drink the poision, just keep going to yoga, stay hydrated, and SMILE, you're alive! 

Day 95

Last night I had to sleep a part from my beloved. It was the only way I was going to wake up at 5:45 for yoga. I boiled some water, made miso, drank enough water until I felt nauseous, and headed out the door for the 6:30 am class . After the 6:30 am class, I did the 8:30 am. Then I took a walk, got a kombucha and now I am here drinking miso again and typing my blog. There were definitely points in my practice today where my mind started screaming "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" (actually it was more like what the F@#@#!@!$ are you doing?) but I also experienced  a tremendous amount of focus and determination. My second class was probably my most focused class in years! I think once you get to a certain point, going everyday is not enough, you have to TURN it UP. My teacher Esak, always said if you experience a "break through" that means you have to work that much harder. No easy way. Like I've said before and my favorite Bikram quote, "the right way is the hard way". There is of course a tremendous amount of joy in working and striving, and learning how to be peaceful while simultaneously "killing your ego".  

A funny/weird thing, happened when I walked out of the studio, this crazy drunk man passes by me on the street, points and goes, "You're going to hell". I thought he was going to say because I practice yoga (because I was just walking out of the studio) but instead he goes, "for messing with my son Daniel".  There's nothing like getting pointed at by a crazy drunk guys, after 2 doubles, on the first sunny day in weeks.  At that moment, I realized  two things: 1) one we're all kind of crazy, because we all think these kinds of things in degrees and 2) two I don't have to take on any more craziness, that being sane means saying "no" to other people's craziness (and just tending to your own) or at least letting it slide off of you.  What separates most "normal" people from the drunk crazies on the street is just ONE thing, we don't say what our thoughts are to other people! But, all thoughts in "the monkey mind" are crazy. I have never met a  sane monkey mind. 

Anyway, four classes in a row: Mission Completed ;0