Almost time...

It's almost time to begin again!

I've ended my 2009 Bikram practice with a vacation--I ended up skipping Bikram class both yesterday and today. Hmmph. I had some other stuff going on, and I guess I'm seeing these two days as the equivalent of a binge right before rehab. I battle my tendency toward stagnation and a lack of motivating energy in many aspects of life. This is why I NEED this Bikram 101 challenge. I have seen so much change in my health, my body, my emotions, my spirit just with my half-assed Bikram practice; I truly have faith that this challenge can and will change my life for the better.

And lately, I feel like I can't throw a rock without hitting somebody who has an amazing testimonial to Bikram yoga. Somebody at our studio posted a copy of Paige Williams' excellent O Magazine article about her Bikram experience, and I've found all these 101 blogs as well. Old friends who live hundreds or thousands of miles away have found their way into Bikram classes--I read all about it on their facebook pages. I've got teachers who've healed surfing and skiing and snowboarding injuries, recovered from car accidents, alcoholism, and obesity. I have teachers who've straightened out debilitating severe scoliosis and turned around a debilitating connective tissue disorder. I don't understand how anyone could doubt it--Bikram yoga works. Whenever our studio has Community Day, after class I want to tell every red-faced, exhausted newbie, "Keep coming back, it works." And, "The more often you come back, the faster it will work, and the more it will do for you."

I slept in too late today, and I worry about getting to sleep tonight. I want to be awake and properly hydrated tomorrow morning. In my experience, very full classes are extra hot and sweaty. I don't want my first class of the challenge to be one where I get tired, depleted, dizzy and sit down.

No no no...gotta keep in mind that it's all in my mind.

The other evening, talking with my teacher after class, she gave me some great advice about how to get my hips and lower back in better alignment in several postures. I have a weird little lower back sway thing. It's pretty minor and common, but it can inhibit good full expression of many postures. Teacher said to tighten up the muscles of the pelvic floor, the perineum, your kegel muscles. Doing so will pull your hips into line. I tried it on Tuesday, and it really worked. I usually consider my cobra pose to be pretty good anyway, but I concentrated on contracting my pelvic floor muscles during cobra on Tues, and I swear to God, I felt as if I was doing it perfectly, like I was channeling Bikram, felt as if my posture was like a picture of him doing cobra. And the teacher (not the same one who'd given me the posture hint the night before) was saying, "til your arms are making a right angle, exactly as Sisya is doing right now." It made me so happy.

this is a ramble-y post! Just a little babble before the big day, before the big 101 days. Excited, nervous, and happy to be part of the challenge!