swirlspice

As of yesterday I did 31 classes in 29 days. Missy very sweetly scheduled a celebration for me on the last day. Dinner at Namaste Cafe. Fitting! And delicious.

On Day 22, I did my first double. I had no plans to do any doubles; I wanted to do one class every day for my first challenge. But I did want to attend LYC‘s Evolution Advanced class, and to take the advanced class you have to take the preceding class to “warm up.” As an added bonus, Missy came along. This was the first time taking this class for both of us. I was advised to eat a good breakfast and to have a coconut water or grapefruit during the 15-minute break between classes. Missy kindly spent a lot of time Sunday morning peeling two red grapefruits so we had a good snack. We started the second class rolling through a handful of poses from the first. It was surprising how different those very familiar poses felt with a combo of warm up, but also a little rest.

This particular class combines elements from the bikram advanced series, vinyasa, and anusara. Suzanne, the studio owner, created it and teaches it. Class size is limited. There was music (which there’s not usually at this studio). It’s more free flowing; no strict timing or sequence. It was totally so much fun. My hips are still not open enough to get a full lotus, but I had a good-for-me half lotus going. There were handstands which it turns out I’m pretty good at. I wrestled myself into some positions and fell/flopped out of others. It was really nice to change up my practice, get some exposure to new and different stuff, enjoy the company of my wife and other people I like, and to feel like I was working hard but not at all out of my element. We immediately signed up to do it again the following weekend, which fell on Day 29.

My quads and abs are noticeably different-looking. I’m told my back and face are as well. I’ve lost approximately one pound. I’ve had less appetite overall and have been eating less, so I’ve been occasionally eating a bigger lunch to keep my metabolism guessing.

I’m amazed that I continue to have so much energy in class on a daily basis (usually).

I’m traveling for work this week. I’ve already identified where the bikram yoga studio is in relation to my hotel in Salt Lake City (and I’m nervous about the altitude). This last 30 days has gone so well that I’d like to keep going as long as I can, until I can’t. I’ve got a couple extra classes in the bank in case this week doesn’t go as planned.

A friend asked if I felt transformed. I definitely look transformed. I feel good about myself. I’ve seen my practice progress, physically and mentally. But I can’t help but feel like there’s more to come. Continuing on feels totally doable, which I didn’t expect. I thought I’d be more than ready to take a day off after so long, but I actually feel the opposite. With the changes I’ve seen in 30 days, I can’t help but wonder what it’ll all look and feel like in another 30 days. I’d hate to undo the progress I’ve made.

But for now, mission accomplished. Achievement unlocked. I did it! I’m really quite proud of myself.

As of Day 11 I was finding this challenge way easier than anticipated. I tried not to have any expectations, but I was also sort of expecting it to be difficult. Then I had two really rough classes in a row.

There are clearly changes from day to day with how well I’ve eaten and hydrated. Usually what I’ve done is good enough. But the studio I go to on the weekend has such a different feel from the one I go to during the week that I can’t fully tease out what it is about my weekday vs weekend eating/hydrating habits plus the atmosphere of the studio (literally and figuratively) that makes such a difference.

But I do what I can every day and try to let it go. I’ve become more likely to sit out a set here and there, like I need to pace myself. This actually feels healthier, mentally. I’m not fighting with myself. Trying to talk myself out of taking a knee is not meditative.

One of the things I like about bikram yoga is that, even though it’s the same exact series of postures every time, you hear something different in the dialogue every time. Each teacher has their own insights. Or one day the exact same words they’ve been saying all along suddenly have new meaning to you. I’ve heard many different metaphors for how to think about getting various body parts to do various things. In a few poses, you have to hold your arms and hands completely straight, with all five fingers together, thumbs next to your index fingers. One teacher says “like little spatulas.” Another teacher pointed out that you’re sending energy in the direction your hands are pointing, so I imagined lasers coming out of my hands. Now, mostly during awkward pose and blowing in firm pose, I look at my hands and think of *pew*pew*pew* spatulas.

I was in the lobby after class at my favorite studio one day this past week. A guy had come in to pick his wife up. Another guy who had just finished class was there. The woman mentioned that she’d been trying to get her husband to come. After Class Guy talked about various things he liked about it. And then he says “plus you get to look at all these flexible women.” I raised my eyebrows, finished putting my shoes and socks on, and headed out the door… and spent the whole drive back to work chewing the guy out for saying such a thing. Eye candy might be something he gets out of going to class, and if he really wants to share it with his buddies he can do that, but plainly stating that you are objectifying the women you’re practicing with while you’re standing there in the studio in front of them is not the best choice. Plus, seriously, if you have free brain cycles during class time to think about that, you’re doing it wrong. I really wish I had said something to him.

Garurasana: Eagle Pose

While every class is different regardless of how often you go, I’ve found that a daily class has really pushed me mentally towards truly accepting each day as it is and not dwelling on it. If I have more to give, I give it. If I don’t, I just don’t and I let it go. That was advice given to me when I started asking around about doing a challenge. Now I’m actually feeling it. The woman that gave me that advice did her 95th class of her 100-day challenge today.

She also advised me to plan my classes out just a bit at a time. Planning just a week out is working well. Putting classes on both home and work calendars is helpful and motivating. Fortunately, I have day time hours to spend so I’ve been getting my classes in even when my evenings are booked. Going forward, I’m going to keep with the day time classes as much as possible, even if my evenings are free. I like being able to get them over and done with and also not have to worry about managing my food and water that much longer. Plus it makes for a nice break in the day and I get more done at work when I return.

I still have problems with feeling competitive with people, which I really need to get over, for real for serious. Everyone’s anatomy, ability, and inclination are so different, it’s ludicrous for me to compare myself to other people, but I do. The only benefit in looking at what anyone else is doing is if I’m specifically looking for someone to demonstrate the correct way to do a pose.

I’m really grateful that I have access to laundry on a daily basis. It feels wasteful, but you can’t not do the yoga laundry every day, unless maybe it were summer and I could dry the mat outside. If I could at least let the mat air out, I could rotate two sets of clothes and towels and maybe even another mat. Then I could just wash every other day. But it’s in the single digits here in Minnesota. I’m-a have to work on that one.

It’s kinda weird to take a totally short utilitarian shower most days. I have new appreciation for the space in my own shower, the smells of my regular products, not being rushed, and having time and space for miscellaneous grooming. The number one pitfall of post-class showering in the studio is that I haven’t stopped sweating yet but I have to get dressed in my work duds anyway. In the summer, the heat prolongs my still-sweating period. In the winter I have long underwear and multiple layers to contend with. #firstworldproblems, I know.

Going into this challenge, I didn’t have any goals other than to do the 30 days. There are things that are going to happen that I just can’t know ahead of time. I know my weight just because I weigh myself every day anyway (yeah, I know). No changes there so far. I didn’t measure any inches. I feel like my pants are fitting a little differently, but it could just be that I haven’t washed any of my jeans in a while so they’re all loose.

I think my hips are very gradually opening up. A little. That’s a difficult process. Those are big joints with strong muscles and tissues around them. I’ve noticed some progress in getting my toes wrapped in eagle pose. I never thought that would happen, so that’s encouraging. I had blamed this inability to get my toes wrapped around my shin on my thick thighs but I think it’s much more a matter of my hip joints moving. It’s all about the angles. Eagle pose toes has emerged as my one pose-specific hope for this challenge.

I named a 30-day hot yoga challenge as a goal for 2012. I didn’t want to start January 1 as I had some scheduling conflicts. And I was afraid. Too soon! Missy had to have a chat with me about external validation. I fretted over whether I could formally complete a 30-day challenge because I’d have to split my time between studios. Rightly, she reminded me it’s not about getting your name on a wall somewhere.

I started going this week as I was able to see how it felt and when I hit Day 5, I declared the challenge underway.

The only parameter is that I do 30 hot yoga classes in 30 days since that’s my primary practice. I’m not confining it to 90-minute bikram class. I’m open to doing doubles (i.e., two classes in one day) if my schedule absolutely prohibits me from attending one day. But I’m not planning for doubles. The whole point of the challenge is to make space for your practice every day. This is the first thing my favorite studio director said when I mentioned to her that I was thinking about doing a challenge.

For a couple months in the fall I was exclusively practicing a 60-minute hot hatha class that my favorite studio offers. This class starts with sun salutations instead of pranayama breathing and contains a lot more hip opening poses. When I returned to 90-minute bikram I found I could do a number of things in poses that I couldn’t do before or that were much more difficult before. Empirical evidence for cross-training! That was a delightful discovery.

My practice during this challenge will be a combo of these two classes plus a 75-minute class that’s an abbreviated version of the bikram series (two sets through the standing series, one set through the floor series). Which one I do in a day is strictly based on what is being offered at the time of day I am free to go to class.

Other, miscellany:

• Two months of measuring my water intake via Health Month has resulted in a new normal of much higher water consumption. Daily yoga not only requires this, it actually helps me to me to keep it up. I don’t feel at all like I’m forcing it.
• Keeping adequately fueled for daily yoga is making me pay more attention to my eating choices. I’m trying to make sure I eat enough and not sending my metabolism into starvation mode.
• Predictably, the earlier in the day, the less flexible I am. I can feel the difference just between a 9:30 class and a noon class. This is frustrating because it makes it hard to judge progress in a pose, but I need to get in the habit of just observing it and letting it go. It doesn’t matter how it went as much as it matters that it happened. At least for the purposes of this challenge.
• Keeping hydrated and fueled for yoga for a morning class, a noon class, and an evening class are three different things. I find the noon class to be the sweet spot between food/water prep and allowing my body to wake up and loosen up.
• I worry about getting bored.
• I worry about fatigue.
• I worry about public failure.
• I worry about not making any progress in my practice, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary I’ve described so far and more.
• I have this back and forth with myself over whether it’s better to wear a shirt or just a bra top. Either is comfortable. The question is my attention. With just a bra top on, I spend time admiring my own abs. I’ll totally cop to that. At the same time, it’s easier to see alignment on some poses (like half moon). And it’s easier to notice when I’m not sucking in my gut like I’m supposed to (like standing head to knee or awkward pose).

I got new Lululemon shorts recently. I love them. Like, <3 them. They’re lighter than my Tonic shorts (which I also love, and which I can’t show you because Tonic’s website is not helpful that way). They stay over my butt even without a drawstring! I once bought a pair of shorts that seemed like they would and then they didn’t. I can’t be hiking my shorts up all through class.

If you’re going to invest in one piece of special hot yoga gear, it should actually be your matt/towel situation. But if you’re going to invest in a second piece of gear, get hot yoga shorts or pants. Whatever floats your boat whether it’s boyshorts or capris or something in between. I find they make the biggest difference in comfort. Wearing shorts that scrunch and bunch is highly distracting. You can get away with a variety of tops, since they just need to cover you up, not hold you down the way you’d need if you were bouncing. Performance gear does help combat the stinkies, but you sweat so much you really sweat out the worst of the stink-inducing bacteria. Think about how you smell after a really hard workout; you (and your clothes) don’t smell half that bad after a hot yoga class, even if the yoga room does a little.

So, yeah, 6 days in. So far so good.

I just got an alert from Outfront Minnesota that the city of Eden Prairie, a suburb of Minneapolis in which we have lived and in which I have worked for 8 years, is considering a domestic partnership registry. I sent this message to the mayor and three city councilmembers. I sent a slightly modified version to the one city councilmember who is clearly opposed.

[Mayor/Councilmember],

I’m so pleased to hear that the city of Eden Prairie has proposed a domestic partner registry! My partner and I lived in EP for three years. We now live in Minneapolis, but we do still own a house in EP (on which we pay taxes) and I work in EP.

I just read the Eden Prairie News article re: the January 5 city council meeting. I’m very pleased to hear that the city attorney and city manager could answer some of Councilmember Aho’s concerns. There are a few more I would like to address.

As you know gay marriage is already illegal in the state of Minnesota. Regardless of whether the people of Minnesota vote to enshrine bigotry into our constitution this coming November, gay marriage will still be illegal in Minnesota.

More and more Minnesota cities are creating domestic partner registries. Eden Prairie is not exactly leading on this, but would still be far far ahead of most cities. There was so much pride and enthusiasm when EP was named CNN Money’s Best Place to Live in America in 2010. This can only add another positive to the list of reasons why.

The following reason is the most impactful to me: The primary benefit of a registered domestic partnership, at this point in time, is for a person in a DP to take advantage of DP benefits offered by their employer. A private employer. My employer, [redacted], while it was owned by [redacted] and now as it is owned by [redacted], offers such benefits and requires documentation for them. Luckily we did not need them during the time we lived in EP because my partner is adequately insured by her employer. If we had needed any of those benefits, I would not have had access to them because we couldn’t have registered anywhere. This did play a small part in our choice to subsequently move to Minneapolis.

Regarding the concern that people may attempt to mis-represent the state of their relationship in order to register, I’ll suggest that it’s analogous to voter fraud in that there isn’t actually a problem there. Not to mention that people – straight and gay – do get legally married when they are truly desperate for access to health care regardless of the actual state of their relationship with the person they’re marrying.

Lastly, the absence of a DP registry in Eden Prairie does adversely affect some residents. Enacting a DP registry does not adversely affect any residents.

Thank you for your support of a domestic partnership registry for Eden Prairie thus far.

Erica Mauter (formerly of [address redacted])

subscribe

archives

photos

see also