Class 34 - OFFICIALLY 1/3 TO 101!!!

It was a good sweaty class with one of my favorite teachers today. My knee felt much better. I did both sets of standing bow and 1 set of triangle. This is a significant improvement over the past few days so that's a relief. And my floor bow felt great. Yay for class - not much to complain about today :)

Class 33 + almost 1/3...

Since I'm 4 days behind on this challenge, I haven't reached the 1/3 mark yet even though lots of my Bikram101 pals have. According to my calculations, when I'm about 60 minutes into class today, I will be 1/3 of the way to 101. YAY! But at the same time, there is a long way to go. Going to try to get a double in at some point during the week or next weekend if my knee improves.

Class 33 yesterday had kind of a crazy vibe. It was quite hot in the room and more crowded than I thought it would be. There were tons of noobs and a TON of people left the room. I have NEVER seen that many people leave the room ever. I felt bad for the instructor because she is one of the newer, younger teachers (but I think she is fantastic) and one of the owners of the studio happened to be practicing yesterday. Basically there were lots of people hating life yesterday, but except for my right knee still feeling tender, I was surviving fine. The instructor adjusted my shoulder position on spine twist and now I feel like I have a much better idea of what that pose is supposed to feel like.

Class 32... so how many is that to go?

I made the questionable decision to show my work BFF one of my blog posts from a while back. He made a comment today about how racy my blog is. I think he's totally wrong, but in case you're reading this G. - here's more of me attempting to spice up my yoga blog...

32 CLASSES DOWN, 69 TO GO!!!

Other than that, nothing much to report. Class 32 was fine except my right knee was hurting in standing bow and triangle. I took a break on my mat during those postures. My running trainer used to say that injuries are the body's way of telling us we need a rest... but it's still a bit of a blow to the ego to skip those poses. Oh well - it's just yoga.

In other news, I got a sweet new mobile phone after work. Now I just need to find the relevant yoga related apps...

Class 31 + When i get sad i stop being sad and be awesome instead, true story

I could complain about #31. The schedule was wrong so the instructor ended up being SternYogi who I don't particularly care for. Yes, I'm still bitter about the time last year when her oh so helpful feedback in Standing Head to Knee was "A. - that grip is not going to cut it." Uh, thanks. I'm not kicking out so I don't think it matters all that much and maybe telling me what to do (rather that just saying I'm wrong) would be a better way to go. Gah. So yes, I have issues with this particular instructor and try to avoid her. It was 8pm class and after a long day at work, I don't do that well starting something at 8pm unless it's a bottle of wine. But there was one funny part in class. I was pretty tuned out during the floor series. My knee had started hurting during Awkward Pose and I was worried about it all through the standing series. By the time we hit the floor, I felt pretty drained. So imagine my surprise when after spine twist I hear her say something that sounds like, "And that's the end of the awesomeness." WTF? Did Barney Stinson from "How I Met Your Mother" just take over SternYogi's body? She went on to say that we do 26 asanas and end class with a breathing exercise. Oh wait - the way she says asanas is just sort of weird and mumbly and sounds like awesomeness. \
Ah well, it would have been really odd to hear Barney Stinson-isms at yoga. Odd but legen... wait for it... dary. LEGENDARY!

Class 30 + some lovely self-sabotage

I was reading on Seth Godin's blog yesterday about the lizard brain and I got to experience it today at yoga. All day today I was kind of thinking that I didn't want to go to yoga. I had to go to a meeting out in the suburbs so my routine was off. Instead of being a good yogi and hydrating after work, I had something to eat. A big something to eat. Ergo my stomach felt like crap for a good chunk of yoga. I was tempted to skip class because I had eaten but clearly that is sabotage because part of me doesn't want to skip class because I'm already down four on Bikram 101.
Not sure what my ultimate point is here, but just wanted to acknowledge the fact that I am my own worst enemy. Need to start being my own best friend methinks.

No yoga room for me today - trying to bring the yoga everywhere...

Stayed up late last night emailing with an old friend so no 6am yoga this morning and no 6pm yoga because I had plans to meet friends for drinks after work. I'm trying to take the lessons of my yoga practice and apply them to life. So when I had a bit of verbal diarrhea and blabbed and blabbed (and blabbed) over my second beer (and a BLT), I tried to just see it as a bit of toxic stuff I needed to get out of my system! And I told my friends about a (non-yoga related) project I'm afraid to start. It's like toe stand - can't be afraid, just need to bend forward.
Yeah, I'm totally becoming one of those obnoxious people who tries to related yoga to everything :)

Class 29 + bus clusterfuck

Did class 29 this evening. Yes, that makes me 3 classes behind - soon to be 4 because I'm meeting up with my girl friends for happy hour tomorrow after work and there is no chance I'm practicing at 6am tomorrow morning. I feel like I'm trying to hang on to my motivation but it's slipping a bit. That being said, I've thought about when I will practice for the rest of the week and plan to squeeze a double in on the weekend. So I guess I'm still sort of on track.

I meant to practice at 6pm tonight, but due to a bus clusterfuck, I couldn't get to class in time. I usually practice then go to my knitting group on Monday nights, but tonight I went to knitting first, then yoga. I'm glad I did! Jenn told me that there were 64 people at the 6pm class! ick. 8pm was much more civilized!

I've been feeling kind of feisty lately and not necessarily in a good way. I'm going to try to work on just feeling what I'm feeling but not attaching - like what is recommended in camel. I'm kind of embarrassed by how I've reacted to a few things lately, but I guess if I can see what's happening, then that's the first step towards dealing with life differently in the future. Also for me, staying well hydrated, well rested and well fed tends to improve my mood A LOT so I think I need to put a little more effort into really taking care of myself. It's not like anyone else is doing it - I need to set boundaries and make sure that I'm happy and healthy.

Ok enough deep thoughts - time for bed!

Class 27 + 28 - - - BIKRAM ROAD TRIP!

Started out my road trip with 8am class at my studio yesterday morning. Left for Portland right afterward. Stopped only for an Egg McMuffin and to fill up my gas tank. Spent time with friends yesterday. Crept out of my friend's house this morning for 8am yoga in Portland. The studio was nice and I liked the studio and instructor. Of course every time you practice somewhere new, there are weird little hiccups, but overall, I was happy to be there. That was followed by more q.t. (quality time) with my pals and a fairly uneventful drive home. Wish I could have stayed longer because I love Portland but overall it was a good trip and I'm glad I got to practice down there. It's nice to have a change of scenery :)

Class 26 + H. + M.

Did class 26 tonight. Over 30 people at Friday night yoga. Ugh. And someone near me smelled like Thai food. Of course my first instinct is to blame the guy next to me who was in spandex shorts but really it could have been anyone. As I may have mentioned here before, I tend to get sort of obsessed with certain foods and there was a period of time (ok, years) where I was a Thai food addict. I've even been to Thailand twice and even though I got so sick on the first trip that I thought I might be dying, I still have very fond memories of the green curry. That being said, fish saucy Thai food smell during Bikram was really grossing me out. The smell seemed to be less intense on the floor so I kicked it on my mat much more than usual tonight.
And I saw one of my new-ish yoga acquaintances H. She has a friend named M. who I talk to as well. I have hated not having "yoga friends" (besides Jenn but she's a teacher and knows everyone so she doesn't really count) but now I have H. + M. so that makes me happy. Plus their initials sound really catchy together :)
Off to Portland tomorrow morning (after 8am yoga) and will be practicing down there on Sunday. There is a studio in my friend's neighborhood so that will be uber-convenient. Had hoped to practice with @secretmuffin again, but I don't think our schedules will work out. But alas, there will be other trips to PDX in the future :)

25 down, 76 to go

Wow - those stats look kind of depressing when written out like that! And after today, they're only going to get worse since I'm not going to be able to make it to the studio after work today. This is a marathon, not a sprint... this is a marathon, not a sprint... THIS IS A GODDAMN MARATHON!
Ok, end crazy lady rant.
I guess I'm just looking at where I am - physically feeling pretty good. Except for some sporadic knee pain, the physical aspect of the classes has been mostly fine. Mentally I'm kind of all over the place. While the 90 minutes of moving meditation is great, I'm struggling with how much time it takes. There's not time to do too much else on the weekdays besides go to work and go to yoga. I miss happy hours! I miss being lazy! Yes, these are my white girl problems and yes, after this is over, I will probably appreciate my "freedom" even more. But I just wanted to say that doing Bikram yoga every day is hard!!!!!
---
Class 25 was decent. It was hot and the studio smelled kinda funky. I went to the late class so there was more space, yet the guy next to me still managed to be sweaty and weird and hit me during full locust. I guess yoga will slowly help me overcome my desire for personal space!