The 30 Day Challenge- Prelude and Catch-up

I have been thinking for a while about endeavoring to complete the illustrious Bikram 30 Day Challenge (in which one practices 30 continuous days of yoga) for a while now. Initially, two of my friends from the Fremont studio were going to go at the challenge with me- but as our “start date” of February 1st approached, they began to waffle and were unsure as to whether or not they wanted to partake.

Needless to say, when they shared with me their uncertainties, I made up my mind to begin the challenge then and there. No need to wait if I’m undertaking this alone, right? It is not my intention to sound indifferent or apathetic to their needs, fears and desires, because that is most definitely not the case. Both girls have beautiful and dedicated practices and I feel that the onus should not be on me to convince people to do something they may not want to do.

As one might imagine, my life will be moving away from one of excess and indulgence and onto a more Spartan path over the course of the next month. I recognize that I have done an unfortunately poor job since the new year of documenting my merry-making; but I have found that between a full time job, a stringent yoga schedule and copious amounts of glorious revelry, one has painfully little time to recount and reflect.

In an effort to maintain what so many of you have come to enjoy reading, I will be documenting my progress daily as I work to achieve the goal I have set….

Day One (Wednesday, January 27th)

Penni the Hun, as I so endearingly call her, gave a shot over the bow as I signed in for class: “It’s going to be a tough one tonight!!” I can always count on (and look forward to) her classes being the most challenging so I wasn’t terribly surprised to hear that.

I walked into the room to put my mat and towel down and was immediately overwhelmed by a thick humidity. Once class actually began, I already had a pool of sweat gathered around my feet. I tried to focus on my postures, but had to lie down and skip half of a posture twice. People all around me were dropping like flies due to the almost oppressive heat.

I tried to ignore the pounding in my chest and focus instead on my breathing. I felt especially guilty falling to my knees to take a few sips of ice cold water because Penni is SO positive and SO encouraging. I evaluated if this was an issue of weakness or necessity and came to the conclusion that it was, in fact, wickedly hot and I should not be too hard on myself. Toward the end of the series, Penni relented and turned on the fans. Finally, my breathing calmed and I convinced myself that I could do it.

By the time the floor series came, I was exhausted (looking and feeling like a piece of overcooked spaghetti) and for the first time in ages my mind started to wander: How am I ever going to do 30 continuous days of this? I feel like I’m going to barf. I’m lying crooked. My pony tail is jabbing the back of my head. Maybe I’m not ready for teacher training at all. What happens if I go and then fail?

Ultimately, I made it. One day down, 29 to go. I dragged myself home, planted myself on the couch and sucked down a Dry Soda, coconut water, a half a glass of wine and picked at my brown rice and grilled tofu which Brett lovingly prepared. I barely had the energy to pick up my fork. I went to bed at 11- sleeping as though I were in a coma.

Day Two (Thursday, January 28th)

I had to wake up earlier than usual since my co-worker Lauren and I were going to a logistics training seminar down in Sumner. My alarm went off at 5am and I bounded right out of bed—full of vim and vigor. In my 29 years, I have come to heavily rely upon sleep. Sleep is my savior, my friend and one of my greatest loves. I always joke to Brett that I need a ridiculous amount of “Beauty Rest” because I am so incredibly beautiful. (Insert canned laughter here….) My point is, I only had six hours of “lights out” but awoke with such bright-eyed bushy-tailedness that it may as well have been for nine hours.

Despite enduring a frighteningly difficult class the night prior, I found myself looking forward to day two…or so I thought. Having arrived home around 3pm from the seminar, I decided to take a nap after doing a bit of reading and move-watching. Brett woke me up at quarter after five much to his chagrin—I was cranky, groggy, and disoriented. My Snuggie enveloped me in a sheath of warmth and I didn’t want to move. Fremont seemed epically far away and all I desired in the world was to relent myself to the siren song of snoozing. I stared resolutely at the clock and reconciled the conflicting emotions in my head.

Just go. It’s only 90 minutes. And really, how many hours of the day am I doing something I’m as passionate about as this anyway? (Sleeping aside….)

I whined and moaned, complaining like a toddler the entire time I was getting ready. But then I was off—my mat and Lulu yoga bag in tow—and I was excited. Lisa was prepping a few new students at the front desk so I quietly signed my name and headed in to class. I would say Lisa is my favorite instructor, but then so are Penni, Saiko, Jenn, Izzy, Melissa and everyone else who teaches me. What I love is that while the postures and dialogue never change, each individual has their own specific brand of teaching. I was looking forward to Lisa’s mellow, pragmatic, and encouraging style.

Class was phenomenal. My body felt lean and strong and I found myself, though exhausted, simply acquiescing to the postures. One thing Lisa always says which I have come to adopt as my new motto is “Don’t buy into the drama.” I simply just allowed myself to experience each posture to the best of my ability, let go, and moved on. Overall I gave it 98.9%. During the very last posture (a spine twist), I started to fade away until I heard Lisa say “that’s it Heidi, keep going!” and then I pushed harder.

Day two- success! Only 28 more to go........