Bikram 101

- Sapphire, Almost Famous

When the first day of 2010 started, I did not go to yoga. I felt as if I had already fallen short. In my heart of hearts, I really wanted to join the Bikram 101 Challenge. I knew I had some obstacles to hurdle through in order to complete 101 classes in 101 days, so “committing” to the challenge did not happen. But now it is February 5^th, and we are 36 days into 2010. And guess what? I am 37 classes deep. Somehow, someway… I am now committed. It is certainly not going to be the easiest thing for me to do. I have a week long vacation coming up, where there will not be a yoga studio to practice. And my day job tends to get a little bit nutty this time of year. But you know what? I cannot begin to explain how good I feel right now. So with this, I am moving forward. Plunging ahead with the challenge. Excited to see how I will fit it all in. Anxious to strong-arm my way through 90 minutes of empowerment every day.

Something has happened to me. I think it began on Thanksgiving, where I began yet another 30 day challenge. Getting back to a daily practice for the first time since the end of June brought me back to a place that I love. Taking 90 minutes every single day in that steamy, hot room felt like going back home. Detoxifying my body, wringing out all the dust, and filling me up with energy and love and life and breath. (How could I NOT join this challenge?)

In class, we always hear how “yoga is the only exercise in the world that actually gives you energy. You leave class with more energy than when you came in.” We work our bodies in such a way that we flush the blood from one side of our body to the other. We cut off circulation to certain areas for a few moments so that fresh, oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood flushes into that area upon the release. We compress. We extend. We flex. We point. We stretch. We SWEAT. We move our bodies in ways that nature intended. No props. No modifications. Just you. Just your body, your determination. Your guts. Your glory. Of course it is energizing. All of this energizes our bodies in ways that we don’t realize until we wake up at 4:45 in the morning, after 5 hours of sleep, ready and rearing to go. We realize it when we get home from yoga class at 7:30 at night, after being awake since 6am. We do the dishes, clean the house, write our blogs, prepare our lunches for the next day, do the laundry, and finally force ourselves to go to bed because we really know we should. Our productivity levels skyrocket. Efficiency in our jobs, unheard of organization, lightening-fast responsiveness, and prioritization is clear. Daily yoga practice creates efficiencies in our brains. All the extra stuff that can clutter the brain is no longer important. Clarity of the mind is a side-effect. You become the most important thing in your life. The love that we have for ourselves then emanates outward to the rest of the world. Our relationships grow stronger. Our immediate realization of negativity is so strong, we either take a moment and try adjust negative situations, or we simply remove ourselves from them, because it is no longer a part of our make up.

Happiness ensues.

The power of yoga is what has happened to me. It is stronger than ever. I am stronger than ever. It is so powerful and so honest that it hurts.

Danielle lives in Worcester, MA and has been practicing Bikram yoga for 4-1/2 years. After her first class, she knew she wanted to teach. It took her 4 years, but she finally made it to teacher training in Spring, 2009. She currently teaches 2 -3 classes a week, practices daily, and has a full time job as a graphic designer and director. Eventually, in the future, she would like to own her own studio, but for now, she is living in this very moment.

http://yogachronicle.blogspot.com/