Sometimes You Just Need Help

Day EIGHT

For the last two nights, I laid in bed coughing so much so that I would only find relief at 4am when I would finally fall asleep.  My cough didn't improve and I could feel my lungs, discomfort in my shoulder blades, ever time I took a breath.  I decided to see a doctor, who told me that I had a bacterial infection with a slight case of bronchitis.  She prescribed 5 days of antibiotics.  Drugs!  Hooray!  Relief is in sight.  I'm not one to reach for medication easily.  My preferred route of healing remedies is the "natural" way but when my body can't kick a bug after a prolonged period, I call in the big guns.  The last thing I need is full blown bronchitis or worse, pneumonia!

I got to the Doctor's office at 11:30 and didn't see her until 1:30!  Despite the immense frustration of waiting, I was grateful that she could squeeze me in without an appointment.  While waiting, I started getting anxious about getting to yoga.  The last class at my neighborhood studio was 4:30 and my regular studio at 5:00.  And even if I was done with the doctor, I was with my mom who helped me, and we were starving and had to eat.  As I was about to resign myself to skipping yoga, I realized, "Wait.  I live in New York City for goodness sakes.  There MUST be another studio that has evening classes on a Saturday night." 

Thankfully, BikramYogaNYC (the first to open a bikram studio in the city in 1999) with its 4 locations, had a 7 and 8pm class at its Upper East Side Location!  (I just checked:  there are 13 studios in Manhattan alone with another 8 studios in the other boroughs).  What a relief but man, it took effort and extra cash to get in this day of yoga!  I missed the 7pm class by minutes.  Argh!!!!  Annoyed but thankful that I wouldn't miss a day, I plopped down at a nearby Barnes & Noble to kill time.  

8pm with Connie had only 10 people.  I originally set up in the second row but I was wearing my eyeglasses and without them, I'm blind as a bat so I moved up to the first row.  Tonight's class was similar to last night's.  I couldn't get myself to inhale and exhale strongly in pranayama, which did not bode well for me.  By awkward, I was starting to feel weak and by eagle, I was spent.  I talked myself into staying strong and in standing forehead to knee, I nailed it on both sides but it took everything I had.  By standing bow, I had no more fight and no more stamina.  I sat out for the first set of triangle and a set of standing separate forehead to knee.  By this time, Connie handed me an Emergen C packet and I took some, almost chocking on the bubbling concoction in my mouth.  She encouraged me to get up for tree and I did it and toe stand by reaching deep within.  By the gas station, I was couldn't be still because I was coughing.  I managed to get through the floor series doing the best I could for today.  I felt soooo hot that my back tingled as I realized an egg could fry on it.  I was so grateful when Connie opened the window and the door.  My lungs felt clogged and my body and mind just felt drained and tired.  Despite the struggle, I am grateful I got to class.  I am grateful to be alive.  I am grateful that my body can heal itself.  Life is still and always will be beautiful.

The Brick Wall

Day SEVEN

Yogis and yoginis, my heart breaks for Haiti and its people.  Looking at the images and watching the news makes me cry inconsolably.  The devastation, the loss, and the suffering is so overwhelming that it almost mutes the few miracles that occur.  It is hard to find hope when signs of death are all around.  There is so much I want to say but I can't find the words.

These last few days, I have thought about how natural disasters have even graver consequences for people living in poverty.  There is a connection between poverty and vulnerability and as we've seen with Hurricane Katrina, the same effect is is seen in Haiti with more dire consequences.  The combination of lack of infrastructure and a weak government have created road blocks to aid, food, water, medicine, equipment, and communication, etc.

How did the once richest and most prosperous country become the poorest in the Western hemisphere today?  I don't know about you, but I've never learned about Haitian history in school and it was only until I got to graduate school and took a course in African-American studies did I learn a little about this country that was once the pearl of the Antilles.  The following pithy summary of the country's political economic history may give you insight into how vulnerable Haiti is today to natural disasters.  

Once a colony France, slaves taken from West Africa worked the sugar and coffee plantations for trade. The French Revolution that began in 1789, which was highly influenced by the American Revolution decades earlier, had a great impact on the people.  Through the military leadership of General Toussaint L'ouverture, African slaves and Afro-Haitians successfully revolted against the French, freeing themselves from their colonizers and abolishing slavery by 1804.  Haiti would become the oldest black republic in the world and the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere, only after the US.  Think about it folks.  1804.  Imperialism and colonialism abounded.  But in Haiti, black people were free while the institution of slavery flourished worldwide including our very own United States. Despite gaining freedom,  Haiti had to pay the equivalent of billions of dollars of reparations to France for successfully revolting.  Nations refused to recognize this new black republic and therefore, refused to trade with it.  In essence, Haiti lived in total isolation despite its ability to produce sugar and coffee.  With no source of income and shouldered with debt, it laid the foundation for the country's poverty over the next 200+ years. Decades and decades of political instability culminated in an American invasion in 1915, occupying the country militarily for 25 years.  Our country backed up Haiti's dictators in an effort to support our own interests.  By the mid 20th century, the country accelerated its deforestation as a source of income yet the environmental effects are detrimental.  Soil erosion decreases land productivity and increases droughts and damages infrastructure projects as well as coastal marine life.  Here's a great article I read recently on Haiti. 

As Port au Prince lays in ruins, I am forever reminded that life is precious and every day is blessing.  Hug those you love.  Tell someone you love them.I do believe that only out of nothing can everything become possible.  So my hope and prayer for Haiti is that this devestating tragedy will bring forth opportunities that may one day elevate it to regaining its title of the pearl of the Antilles once again.  

Support Haiti by making a donation to the following reputable organizations: American Red Cross, UNICEF, and Partners in Health.

If you want to read more about Haiti, check out:

The Black Jacobins:  Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by CLR James

Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution by Laurent Dubois

Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915-1940 by Mary A. Renda

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder


Friends, today I hit my wall in the torture chamber.  Attended 5:30pm with Kara, one of my faves.  The room was incredibly hot so much so that our towels and our mats were hot to the touch.  I could sense it too from Kara who moved around the room, playing with the heaters and opening the windows, and inspiring us with her energy by asking us to reach deep within ourselves to find our strength.  But today, I had no mental strength.  I knew I was in trouble at pranayama breathing when I struggled with the heat in the second set.  By standing bow, I really just wanted to sit down.  I struggled through it but lost the battle for the first set of triangle.  My second set of triangle was strong so I knew it was mind that was fatigued, not my body even though it is sore.  I just couldn't fight for it any more.  I sat out again for the second set of standing separate leg forehead to knee pose.  After this pose, I had to find a way to get through class.  So I decided to dedicate the rest of my practice to Haiti and the people of Haiti.  It helped.  I found the strength I needed to get through tree pose and toe stand and the entire floor series.  

People were dropping like flies, even those of us who have a regular practice in the front row.  By the second set of camel, 90% of the back row didn't bother sitting up for a second set.  Kara even commented, "Whoa, back row!  What happened to you?  Ka boom boom boom and boom!"  By the time we were done with that second set of camel, there were only 10 of us in a room of 60 still in the pose.

Today, my studio offered a huge bowl of grapes and I hungrily partook of them and downed a second liter of water as I sat outside of the locker room for another 15 minutes just trying to recover.  I could sense the wall was coming and today, I crashed into it at such a high velocity.

Your Mind is Like a Wild Dog

Day SIX

Attended 4:30pm class at the neighborhood studio, taught by Victoria who is visiting from San Diego.  Victoria had great energy and my taking a class with her made me realize that I really like teachers whose voices change throughout the class:  they start calm yet energetic as we go through the warm up and by the time we get to the peak of the standing series, their voices ring.  By balancing stick, their voices have so much energy that I can't help but be like a "T as in 'Texas' ya'll" (a little variation from my favorite teacher who is a Texan).  There were a few times when the cadence of Victoria's dialogue, coupled with what I think is a Mexican accent, reminded me of an auctioneer.  I couldn't help but smile when she said "Change!" in the same way an auctioneer said, "SOLD!"  She helped people in class correcting them in both English and Spanish.  I thought it was cool to hear some of the dialogue in Spanish.  It certainly refreshed my memory of body parts in Spanish:  la rodilla = knee; las piernas = legs; los manos = hands.  :)

I was cramping in the beginning of class -- perhaps I wasn't hydrated enough?  In the second and third parts of awkward (my favorite:  note the sarcasm), my arches were killing me.  It took every ounce of energy to get in, stay in, and come out of the posture.  By standing forehead to knee, my standing leg cramped up so much so that I had to fall out after pulling my elbows down to the calf, both sides.  I struggled in triangle but stuck with it and by the time I got to standing separate leg head to knee pose (my second favorite pose:  again note the hint of sarcasm) I really had to focus on calming my breath down.

I reached for water today more than I usually do.  I drank right before fixed firm, which made for a little queasy camel, and again right after rabbit.  In the first set of rabbit, I mentally disconnected for a moment before I told myself to snap back into it...and Victoria felt it.  She said, "Stay with the words.  I see some of you are disconnecting.  I've been doing this long enough to know and because I've done it myself."  In the savasana immediately following that first set of rabbit she said, "Your mind is like a wild dog and like a dog, you have to teach your mind to 'sit' and it shouldn't move until you give it another command.  That takes practice."

She let people leave the room when they couldn't stand the heat or couldn't catch their breath.  Guess what happened when one person left the room?  Yup, a second immediately followed and Victoria exclaimed, "Noo.  Where are you going?  Don't leave!  If you go, it will spread like an infection!!!"  I almost laughed out loud when she said that.  But it's totally true.  When one goes down, others want to follow.  We are each responsible for the energy in that room.

Yogis and yoginis, I've never sweated like I sweated tonight.  My towel was doubly drenched and my yoga mat had puddles of perspiration on it even after I removed the towel.  I had to sit down in the locker room for 10 minutes without moving.  It was just one of those classes.  I am still proud that I managed to do both sets of every posture and I noticed that in the last few classes I've been able to touch my forehead to the floor in standing separate leg stretching pose.  I could never touch my forehead to the floor in the last 9 months of practicing.  Boo yah!!  Hooray for small victories.

Grumpy

Day FIVE

7am with Alicia and practiced side-by-side with The Husband today.  Had it not been for The Husband getting up this morning, I don't think I could've done it on my own, challenge or no challenge.  You see, worked from home today so if I didn't go to 7am, I would catch the later class.  Sometimes having too many options is not a good thing!

Today's class made me very aware of my hamstrings perhaps because they are a bit sore.  Several days before today, the soreness was in my back.  I think my most recent practices of such mental determination left me mentally spent for today.  By cobra, I was not that into class and wished it was over.  By forehead to knee separate leg stretching, I didn't want to be there anymore.  I had had it and I couldn't breathe because of my head congestion so I half-a$$ed the last several postures.  I could tell The Husband wasn't having such a great class either.  I felt his energy indeed.

Got home and slept for several hours only to wake up to a fit of coughing that lasted for an hour.  I've been grumpy all day thanks to the tightness I feel in my chest that just won't go away.  Bah!  Humbug!

Focus Focus Focus

Team Conan!!!!  

Good for you for standing up to those inept NBC execs!

Day FOUR

Took the 6:30 evening class at my neighborhood studio with a teacher whose name I can't remember but I know it starts with a "C".  I think she is newbie teacher because I used to see her practicing at my regular studio and then I didn't see her for weeks, and now here she is at my neighborhood studio.

What I love about practicing in NYC is that my bikram teachers hail from all over the country and the world.  I've got teachers from Dallas, Seattle, the Philippines, Japan, Ecuador, India, and Eastern Europe.  It is so cool to hear the bikram dialogue spoken in English with accents from all over the world and even from near by (Jewish, Long Island, Bronx, and Brooklyn accents abound in one particular studio).  Yes, think Fran Drescher delivering dialogue).  Admittedly, there are some teachers who are difficult to understand like one teacher who said, "poin-yee-toe" during locust.  By the second set, I finally figured out that she was saying, "point your toe."  We do our best to listen because they do their best to teach.

Today, I stood in the juicy part of the room but close to the door.  I don't think I'll pick that spot again since I like to take a loooooong final savasana.  It is hard to bliss out in final savasana when people are walking by my head and feet to exit and the door is opening and closing, letting cold air in.

I am still getting used to the rules and vibe of this new studio.  It seems that people are allowed to leave the room and come back at any time.  People are allowed to drink water at any time, in between sets and even before "party time".  If the following scenario happened at my regular studio, the teacher would tell the student to sit down and stay in the room.  If a student absolutely had to leave the room, the teacher would signal them back but only between sets.  And absolutely no water during party time, no water between sets, no dousing yourself with water to cool off (One teacher told a student, "You can do that afterward when you shower.") and absolutely no hand towel.

It took TREMENDOUS concentration and focus to set up and stay in standing forehead to knee as a woman walked behind me to leave the room.  When she came back, another woman decided to leave the room!  Whaaaaa?????  She left during the first set of standing bow.  When the door opened, she casually walked back to her spot while many of us were trying to balance on one leg.  But she doesn't know better because the the teacher didn't say anything.  My mantra during those two postures was, "FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS."  If I didn't say that, I would've been saying, "F-you, F-you, F-you," at the woman and the teacher instead.  I chose to hang on to the positive energy even though it was not easy.  I entered the hot room after a hard day at the office.  Something came up and I got angry and frustrated with the situation.  I was moody on the way home and on the way to the studio but the heat and the moving meditation melted the day away.  I wish I could say that after yoga, I maintained my peace but unfortunately, when I recounted the day's events to The Husband over dinner, I got angry all over again. 

"Let no one steal your peace," Bikram says. In the hot room, I was successful.  Outside the hot room, not so much.  I need more practice.

Holding Hands During Take Off

And when I touch you, I feel happy inside

It's such a feeling that my love

I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide

Yeah you, got that something

I think you'll understand

When I say that something

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

- The Beatles

DAY THREE

Back to work and back to my routine.  Mondays usually start with The Husband and I going to 7am class with Alicia at our regular studio.

I regularly practice in the morning before heading to work in order to ensure I get a class in.  Getting up early for the first time in more than two weeks was brutal.  The first five minutes after the alarm clock rings at 5:45 are always the worst and today was no different.  I did not want to get up and I even tried to get out of it by entertaining the idea of canceling an evening appointment so I could sleep in and take class later.  I determined there was just no way I could get out of the appointment so I had no choice.  I got up.  Believe me, if I wasn't doing this challenge, I would've slept in.  It also really helps to get up with The Husband who practices three times a week

When picking my spot, I usually choose the hotter part of the room and the front row.  Today, I decided to change things up a bit and I practiced right next to The Husband, in the third row and next to the windows,  the cooler part of the room.  I never practiced side-by-side The Husband before.  When he first started, I stood a row in front of him so he could watch me if he got confused or needed clarification.  But I worried about him in the beginning (my proclivity to want to help others to a fault) and I always found myself peeking at him, distracting me from my own practice.  When he got the hang of the postures, I moved to the other side of the room so he was out of my range of vision!

But today was different.  After the class I had yesterday, I wanted to test my focus and concentration again.  I was also curious to see how it would feel to practice in the third row again, like I did when I was a newbie.  Would it give me a new perspective?  Would it teach me humility as Mary Jarvis believes, who makes her teachers practice in the back row at her studio?

I had another solid day today.  Although I generally concentrate more on form and alignment in the morning due usually to less flexibility, I found myself going deeper today than I usually do at 7am.  Again, I was grateful for my body opening.  I took whatever it offered.  Standing in the back was definitely different.  I felt further away from myself. - not good, not bad, just different.  It certainly was harder to look "into" my eyes since I saw just a speck of them.  Instead, I focused gaze on my belly button.  As for humility, I suppose it's easier to learn it when you are behind several rows of people.  Today, we had 9 people in class so I had an unobstructed view of myself.  Jury's still out - will have to get back to you on that one.  And guess what?  I focused completely on me despite standing next to The Husband.  There were times when I felt his frustration and in return, I offered him my energy.

My favorite part of today's class was full locust.  With our arms outstretched, my fingers touched The Husband's. I held on to them as we ascended up, like 747s taking off.  At some point, our fingers untangled but somehow, it made me happy!  Later at dinner, we recounted our day's practice and laughed as we remembered our locust encounter.

When we take plane trips, I always reach for The Husband's hand when the plan accelerates to take off and on the descent.  After 2 years of marriage and 3 years of dating, I am always grateful to have my husband's hand to hold.  I still reach for it when we walk or have dinner or sit in church.  In early December, I went to the Philippines without The Husband.  With no one to reach out to as the plane accelerated on the runway, I looked around at my fellow passengers.  To my immediate right, a wife reached for her husband's hand.  To my left, on the far side of the plane, a husband reached for his wife's hand.  I smiled because I understood the reassuring comfort of holding a loved one's hand in that moment.  Many of us who practice bikram often say that what happens in the sweat box is a metaphor for what happens in our lives.  I felt the beautiful, powerful, reassuring love that I have for my husband today in my practice just by standing next to him.  I surrendered to it and for that, I received a rock-solid practice that provided me such peace and contentment.

Tremendous Focus

Day TWO

Attended the 4:30 class at my local studio and I purposely moved to the hotter part of the room so that I could try a new spot and have a juicy class.  I took the front row again and there were at least 3 newbies.  The teacher, Greg, was a newbie too, who just got back from teacher training.

My body remained opened and it yielded to going deeper and I was grateful despite the various, crumpled Kleenex that lay at the top of my mat by the end of class.

Today took tremendous focus and concentration.

The student directly behind me drank water just after awkward and Greg didn't say anything.  Students were drinking while people were in the postures and in between sets. 

Two rows behind me was a newbie.  The poor thing had had it by the time we finished the first set of balancing stick.  By the time we got to the floor series, she was sitting up and facing away from the class.  And by the time we got to head to knee with stretching pose, she was on her belly and with her arms up as if in surrender.

And there were a lot of fidgeters.

I found myself in the beginning questioning the newbie teacher.  "Why doesn't Greg say something to the girl when she drank water after awkward?  Why doesn't Greg tell the newbie to keep her head above her heart?  Why doesn't Greg do this?  Why doesn't he do that?"  After a million other questions, my mind yelled back at me, "Who the hell is the teacher here, YOU or GREG?  Greg.  Good.  Glad we got that straight.  LET. IT. GO." 

In general, I've always been the kind of person who wants to help, who wants to solve things for others, who wants to carry other people's crosses.  My heart breaks when I watch people suffer.  I've had to learn many times in the hardest of ways that people often need to figure it out for themselves.  A wise friend once advised me about a guy I fell in love with for all the wrong reasons, "You can't save him.  You can only support him."  It took me a year to figure out what she meant, as I walked away from that relationship with a broken heart and shattered self-esteem.

As I learned in life, I could only support the newbie and the drinkers and the fidgeters.  I could only share with them my energy, my focus, and my lightheartedness.  I smiled at myself right before I tucked in my chin in standing forehead to knee.  When I fell backwards out of toe stand, I laughed.  Yeah.  They just had to figure it out for themselves.

There's No Place to Hide

Day 8 ONE

Yay yay yay YAY yogis and yoginis!  Today was the first day my body didn't feel achy and out of sorts.  Despite the complete head congestion, I attended the 4:30pm class.

I was initally confused of the class time.  Originally, I thought class was at 4:00 pm and was geared up and ready to go when I realized I had another 30 minutes, I suddenly lost all my motivation.  I worked myself up all day because I had trouble breathing through my nose.  For ten minutes, I rationalized why I should skip class:  "I can't breathe.  This must be a sign that I should push this off tomorrow.  I'll do better if I go tomorrow anyway.  I don't feel well.  I'm going to totally suck today"  I almost gave in but thought of The Missus' advice from a few days ago.  My goal was to "just get to the studio" and it made me move my tush.  I parked myself in the back corner of the room, which also happened to be next to the heating vent (mental note to self:  this is the hottest part of the room - love it!).  I planned to take it easy especially if hot wind was going to blowing on my body!  "There's now way this class is gonna be easy.  I can't breathe!  And breath is key!  I'm gonna have to sit some postures out, for sure," I thought to myself.

Caroline came in and introduced myself and identified all the students in the class.  When she finished, she looked straight at me and said, "JoJo, I know you are recovering from being sick but would you mind coming to the front row?  You've got a regular practice and it would be good for other students to see what's going on.  If you need to take it easy and sit down, you go ahead.  It's good for them to learn that that's okay too."

Well, so much for taking it easy!  There's something about being in the front row that makes me feel a responsibility to my fellow classmates.  I'm a huge believer of leading by example and being in the front row means you are the example.  It certainly keeps me honest:  I'm more focused, less likely to fidget, fix my hair/costume, wipe sweat off my face.  I remember when I first started bikram and when I got lost, I looked to the front row and was inspired by their focus, their poses, and their peace that was stolen by no one.  I was always inspired by them and I hope the beginners today took that from me today.  In return, I received their energy and determination.  As a result, I had a great class!  I did both sets of every posture although I stumbled off to the left as I pushed my hips to the left and bent to the right in the warm up for half moon.  I had to laugh.  I wasn't used to moving in 8 days!  

The congestion I felt these last three days (and for that matter, any other time I've felt congestion due to seasonal allergies), pranayama breathing cleared it right up.  It must be the powerful inhalation and exhalation.  Whatever the reason, my nasal passages always clear or at least loosens things up so that I could clear my nose.  It felt SO AWESOME to finally move and stretch my muscles.  My body opened up and said, "aaaaahhhhh."  It was so nice.  I was sweat soaked by the end of pranayama.  It was a juicy class indeed!  Every pose that required a locked knee, I felt and saw in the mirror the muscle just above my right knee (the old injury) twitching every time I came out of the pose and let it go slack.  My muscle hadn't done that since I started my bikram practice.  It was a reminder to keep that knee locked since the muscle must've weakened in the last week.  It was also great to just let my mind rest.  For 90 minutes, I wasn't living in my head.  It was such a relief!!!!!  I walked home with a spring in my step and a smile on my face.  I arrived home and when The Husband greeted me, he instantly recognized a different person.  "It's the old you," he exclaimed.  I was so happy!  I still am!!!

So here's a poll for you yogis and yoginis.  I'm not sure what I should do.  My intention for this challenge was to make this yoga my priority and truly go 101 days straight and only do a double if absolutely necessary.  With 7 missed classes, I could catch up with doubles so that I could finish with you all but only go a little over 90 days straight instead of 101.  The other option would be to reset my clock and treat today as day 1 of my challenge.  I suppose the final option would be a compromise and do 3 doubles and push back my end-date by four days.  What to do?  My teacher Caroline said that I should push my end-date back to April 19.  "Don't kill yourself.  That's not the point," she said.  I don't know.  I'm curious to hear what you all think.  Please leave a comment.  I would love to hear from you!!!

Breath is Key

After two days of propping up my sorry self in bed in order to sleep, it never fails to amaze me how much we take our breath for granted until, well, we can't breathe.

Ok, here's another cool etymology lesson!

In Latin, the word anima has several meanings.  It can mean air or breeze.  It means breath.  It also means soul, spirit, life. From anima, we have in English the word "animate", which means to breath life into, to encourage, to give vigor.  In Spanish,  the verb "animar" means to enliven, to cheer up, to brighten up, to encourage, and my favorite, to inspire.

I looked up the word inspire and here's what the online Miriam-Webster dictionary said: 

1 a : to influence, move, or guide by divine or supernatural inspiration b : to exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on inspired by the Romanticists> c : to spur on : impel, motivate d : affect inspired him with nostalgia>
2 a archaic : to breathe or blow into or upon b archaic : to infuse (as life) by breathing
3 a : to communicate to an agent supernaturally b : to draw forth or bring out inspired by a visit to the cathedral>
4 : inhale 1
5 a : bring about, occasion inspired by his travels in the Far East> b : incite
6 : to spread (rumor) by indirect means or through the agency of anotherintransitive verb : inhale

Isn't it amazing that so many of the modern languages ties the breath to life to our soul to the divine in one word?  The ancients understood this connection and when language developed, one word was used to define what today may seem like disparate things.  Sure, we all accept that if we stop breathing, we die.  But do we all accept that our breath is our connection to the truest part of ourselves and to that which surrounds all of us, the divine?  Not necessarily.

I was amazed once when I stumbled upon a story of a few yoginis take 8 classes in one day.  They took it Global Yoga studio in San Francisco, owned by senior bikram instructor Mary Jarvis.  I was struck by her passionate opinion about the importance of breath (and the equal importance of not drinking water during class).  She writes:

They do not drink water ever in class. It is a demonstration of the fact that in yoga...the most important thing you need in our yoga is our BODY,our MIND,and our infinite stream of SOUL. And the BRIDGE to this is the BREATH...

Apparently, she learned this from Bikram himself.

I've noticed in this first winter of practicing, I have decreased my intake of water.  I still can't help myself from taking a sip at party time.  My throat gets so dry or sometimes, I get the worst bile-taste in my mouth after eagle, that I desperately want a sip.  I think at some point during this challenge, I would love to take one class without every having to drink.  I'm just curious how that would feel like.

Dad, This One is For You

Day 7


Whenever my father felt the first signs of illness, he always used to whip out the vaporizer.  I used to watch him as a child as he filled the brown vaporizer with water, drop some Vicks liquid, wait for the steam to rise, and stick his face in for 15 minutes.  I was mesmerized at the vapors.  Over the years, if I ever complained to my dad that I was getting sick, he always advised the vaporizer.  Guaranteed.  I never did listen to him until today, my third day of suffering terrible congestion.

As I walked to our nearby pharmacy (thankfully, we live within a 2 block radius of every kind of possible store we could need), I thought of my dad.  A dentist by trade, my father is the epitome of health.  He gets up at 4:30am daily and does his morning routine:  he walks briskly for 45 minutes with two pound dumb bells, returns home for breakfast, and then heads out to the market to buy the day's food.  His family has a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.  While his siblings take insulin and other medications, my father has managed to avoid the pills through strict diet and exercise.  I asked him on my recent trip to the Philippines if he felt any sorts of pain associated with aging that his peers often complain about.  "Nope," he answered.  Arthritis?  No.  Muscle stiffness?  No.  Indigestion, gas, acid reflux?  No.  I was impressed.  I'm half his age and suffer from chronic knee pain and various other joint issues.

I hope by the end of this challenge, I hope to feel the same way my dad feels.  I believe I get my discipline and determination from him.  So I dedicate my practice to my dad*, who is such an example to me of good health.  When I start to waver or have my down days, I'll ask myself, "What would dad do?"


*I can't dedicate a practice to one parent while leaving the other out.  So I also dedicate my practice to my mom, who is on her own health journey.