Learning to breathe...

33 days of eating gf and my 26th class of learning how to breathe!

Today was such a hectic day at work and I felt like I was going non-stop all day! Before I would allow myself to enjoy a smoothie this morning, I chugged 6 oz of my sweat water! I am all done with cramps ruining my practice! I have 34 more classes to get stronger and leaner, not to cramp up! Today's smoothie was probably the best one yet and I don't know what I did differently!

For lunch, I had my leftovers from yesterday and one of my co-workers, who does not like asparagus, tried it and agreed that it tasted like bacon! She was a fan!!  I made myself eat a Lara Bar because even though I didn't feel hungry around 3:30, I knew I'd want it around 5:30! I am still a fan of the apple pie bar! I am thankful to Amelia for letting me try her's several weeks ago, otherwise I'd probably still be trying to swallow those chalky Luna Protein bars!  I also had an Emergen-C with my snack to make sure that my electrolytes were good to go!

I happened to get a new spot that I have never tried before and it ended up being a great one! I was still in the front row but closer to the windows and it was a perfect combination of hot, humid and manageable!  Michael led us through a good class with laughter and insight!  I bet if you took a poll and asked people what the hardest thing about Bikram yoga was they would list off a number of different postures, but I have learned that breathing is almost harder than any of the 26 postures we do!  It seems ironic since we breathe in and out all day long and we have been doing it the entire time we have been on this earth! But Michael spoke about how important it is to be able to go from giving 110% of yourself during a posture to being in 110% relaxation during the savasana to gain all of the benefits.  Numerous teachers talk about how the savasana posture is your "yoga gas station" and it's where your body is repairing all of the damage we have done to our bodies.  So being able to learn how to control your breath is probably one the most challenging things for me, especially when it feels like my heart is going to explode out of my chest (say, after Triangle pose)!  If you can gain control of your breath, you can gain control over so much more!  There is a mantra that I say to myself while I am trying to slow my breath back to the "regular, slow" inhale and exhale...I try to inhale while I say "A calm and sweet surrender" and then exhale while saying it again! I came across this mantra when I was practicing in Baltimore and I felt like I could NEVER slow my breath and almost every class, I wanted to sprint out of the hot room the second it became hard (which was frequent, especially when Lynne, Kyle or Nicole were teaching!).  One day Nicole was talking about how we should find a "word" that would help us stay in the moment and to help push away all of the outside thoughts!  My mantra started out with the word "calm." I just needed to calm my ass down and realize that people do NOT die from Bikram, regardless of what my limbic system was trying to convince me of ;-)  A slowly pieced together the rest of the mantra "A calm and sweet surrender" and I always resort back to it when I need to regain my focus and set my intentions!  Because isn't that what this practice is? A calm and sweet surrender?  You are surrendering your body and mind to the change that you experience every 90 minutes when you step into that room, and hopefully you realize how sweet of a thing it is that you are giving yourself this gift!  So tomorrow all of my fellow yogis, try to focus on your breath and remain calm and surrender yourself sweetly to these 26 postures! Your body will thank you tenfold :-)  And for those of you who have not tried Bikram, please do! Come with me!

Sarah and I went directly to my cousin's high school soccer game (which they won!!) so I needed a quick dinner but one that was gf! Thank goodness for Z Pizza being in our backyard and having the best gluten free crust! It was great to eat pizza while watching some exciting futbol (in the rain too!)!

Okay ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow is my second double, but this time I am doing a back to back! Please send me good vibes and all of your energy! By 11:30am, I will have completed 3 HOURS of Bikram yoga! I cannot wait to reward myself with an epsom bath and hopefully some goodies from the farmer's market! Here's to having a calm and sweet surrender tomorrow! Namaste!