A Double

I have been inspired by you.  By all of you that I read every week.  So Monday evening I decided I would do a double on Tuesday.  My own challenge.

I went to my regular 6 am class and made sure I told the instructor I was going to do a double.  I needed someone to be aware of my intentions.  It was hot.  I don't normally sweat all that much in the mornings but today I was dripping.  Sweat rolling down my legs, off my elbows, dripping from the end of my ponytail.  I had my water bottle but not one drop of water touched my lips.  I am really starting to notice a much deeper compression in my internal organs when I limit my water intake.  Loving it!  My balance was way off.  It felt like I was back at the beginning of my practice.  I would tip and stumble and dip and sway.  I take this as a good sign.  My practice is coming round full circle again!

Went to work with a fresh set of yoga gear in my car and made it back to the studio for the 5:45pm class.  Again, HOT!  But such a different heat.  All those bodies sweating in the room all day had left the room humid, the air heavy.  My toes went numb until about the 3rd asana.  This used to happen to me when I first started Bikram yoga.  I'm thinking it has to do with circulation??  Once I got the feeling back in my toes, my standing series was strong, again my balance was off and my butt muscles were burning!  I only had a couple sips of water during class and noticed a headache in Kapalbhati breathing. 

I have been re hydrating since I got home and will be back to my 6am class tomorrow morning.

Thanks again for the inspiration!
 

The Power of Breath

This morning I forgot my water bottle!  I could not believe it!  I'd forgotten my double walled vacuum sealed stainless steel water bottle filled with a few ice cubes and Emergen-C!!!

After a moment of panic, I asked my teacher for a cup, bit the bullet and walked into the room.  Luck would have it or maybe it was meant to be but yesterday I had read Mary Jarvis' posting on Oh My Bikram about her view on water in class and decided to take her advice and focus on my breath.

At Party Time (the one official water break), I calmly stood on my mat and contemplated my cup of already warm water.  There was absolutely nothing appealing about it at all, I knew it was already warm and there was no flavoured goodness in there.  So I passed.  I didn't drink through the entire standing series, or when we hit the floor for our 2 minute Savasana.  I'm not saying it was easy, the cup was calling me, whispering into my ear, trying to convince me to just take one little sip.  By the time we pushed up to Fixed Firm Pose (Supta Vajrasana) my throat was very dry so I wet my lips and continued my practice.  Every so often my warm cup of water would start talking to me but I never drink water before Camel (Ustrasana) or Rabbit (Sasangasana) so I curbed my craving until after the final breathing.

I am absolutely amazed that I survived this class.  Not only did I survive but I was strong.  My breath was constant and focused, if I got nervous or anxious I would inhale and exhale deeply and it would calm me.  Who would of thought that it was really that easy?