Bikram 101

Day 51: %$@! happens (no post)

Day 52: You can't stop progress!

Day 53: Dreaming of being late represents fear and running out of time. Classrooms represent the need or desire to earn something.

Day 54: Because what is the yoga class (and especially the standing head to knee part of the yoga class), if not one big, long "character building" exercise?

Day 55: We are doing this challenge for a reason. Don't forget that. In the midst of the grind of laundry, logistics, work, family, life and just trying to make it into that room everyday, don't forget that there is a higher purpose to this whole thing.

Day 56: Point yourself in the direction you want to go and one day you'll get there. Progress happens gradually, then suddenly. If you don't show up, you might just miss it.

Day 57: (Wow, nine weeks. Can anyone think of something else that's nine weeks long?! Nine weeks can go by fast.)

Day 58: Yes, we get 90 minutes everyday to get away from all of this while in the hot room. But is that enough?

Day 59: When we come out of that room, we should all realize we have given ourselves another chance for a better life, a new appreciation of ourselves and a way to open up our minds and our hearts to those in our lives- for that we all deserve a gold medal.

Day 60: There's no (more) crying in Bikram.

Day 61: There will always be hard days, fun days, killer days, and rock star days, no matter how long you do this stuff!

Day 62: %$@! happens again, sometimes.

Day 63: I love the kind of people who love yoga.

Day 64: There is really only one rule for Bikram yoga: breathe.

Day 65: Bikram’s advanced series...or how to scare people aware when trying to motivate them!

Day 66: And that's not the point of this yoga. The point is to progress. To go for it. No fear.

Day 67: "You're getting something out," as one of my studio owners told me in my last really bad class. "This is good."

Day 68: Yoga class is a gas station, remember? (Maybe you don't? Maybe I should talk about that next time.) Take my word for it - yoga class is a gas station.

Day 69: You see, while I like those other forms, it's just not the same as the 26 and 2 of Bikram. The dialog, the room conditions, the teachers, the sequence....put together it's magic.

Day 70: ...it's detoxification & intoxication.

Day 71: When was the last time you saw your body as a whole, instead of seeing bits and pieces of things that you like or things that you want to change?

Day 72: The teacher teaching, though, knew I was half-assing it... She knew I was surrendering to the absence of energy into my mind. Yet, instead of verbally calling me out on it in class, in the second set she did something that helped me get back into line with my energy and pose...

Day 73: “Open your knees, keep 6 inches between your toes, heels knees and hands” - *snigger. Sorry, that line just sounds really dirty [well, ahem, to ME at least. No really, TINK OF IT!]

Day 74: There have been plenty of days where I did not want to be in the hot room. But I use my English bulldog determination to make myself go and throw my mat on the line.

Day 75: It's a lifetime practice, and it's a lifestyle, too.

Day 76: Do not have green shorts or top on. Do not bring a green mat. Do not have a green towel, hand towel, washcloth, water bottle, hair tie. In fact, if you have green eyes, close 'em!

Day 77: pleasure of the pain.

Day 78: Yoga teaches you to love yourself now. Perfection is not the goal. It's not even part of the equation.

Day 79: This is our journey and we are so incredibly lucky to have found this path and to be able to experience its wonders together.

Day 80: Although sometimes we need a little distraction to lift us and get us through a tough moment, it’s important to try and come back and focus on the present, no matter what we may be feeling.

Day 81: I don't even notice the heat anymore.

Day 82: Our yoga is similar in so many ways. It's the same everywhere you go, and it speaks through a universal language - movement - that can bring people together regardless of age, race, gender, or anything else!

Day 83: I don't know how my body will react to each posture, or if the room feels too hot or cold that day, or if the person next me is wandering around their mat. I can control if I'm in the room and focused and if I do that, it's a smooth ride for the whole class.

Day 84: Just get to the room. That is all you have to do. Get to the room. Your body will know where to take it from there for today.

Day 85: And I think the yoga works the same way. At first, we are all just strangers. Then we come to honor and respect one another. Eventually, we are bound together by our sweat (thicker than blood) and become like family. It's strange and wonderful, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Day 86: "You’re here...that's all that matters. It doesn't matter how well you do the poses. All that matters is that you are here and you try."

Day 87: Each new day is a clean slate; I rise up from sleep and I am in some sense, reborn. Ninety minutes of daily practice teaches me that I have a chance to connect to myself and connect to the Divine. Each new day, I have an opportunity to try again, to reach further, to dig deeper.

Day 88: I would love nothing more than to get over whatever is holding me back and keeping me at my current progress state. I just don't know if I will be able to do it before the challenge ends.

Day 89: We find out how much of the stuff we've been carrying around with us is completely unnecessary. And when we get rid of all that stuff, it feels so much better. It feels great every day!

Day 90: Yoga is the gift that brings us closer to that peace.

Day 91: This Bikram 101 challenge has changed. my. life. period.

Day 92: It means to celebrate each step towards freedom as if it were enough, then to start on the next step.

Day 93: I've developed the patience to recognize that all the things I wish I had are what keeps this yoga challenging for me each day.

Day 94: For the low-low price of $5 a class, I am healing my body in incredible ways.

Day 95: We are each our own creators. What are you going to create with the seven days you have left?

Day 96: We can't control the events that surround us, but we can control the way we respond. And that is what yoga teaches us. We learn that it doesn't matter what environment we're in, what other people say to us, or what happens around us. We can breathe through all of it.

Day 97: Thank you, Bikram.