Fitness as a journey

Yesterday I went back to Bikram yoga for the first time in a month.

Let that sink in for a hot sec. A whole month. I knew it was going to be rough, but was pleasantly surprised when I was moving through pranayama deep breathing and half moon pose. I eve felt uncharacteristically strong during the balancing series. Usually, I fall out at least once on each pose, but this time I was able to hold both sets of each posture until the instructor told us to change.

And then I hit the floor. The floor was not friendly yesterday -- I had those feelings of being overheated that I used to get so frustrated by early into my Bikram experience. I made all the rookie mistakes -- wiping away sweat, fanning myself, angry at the heat. Basically, the second half of my very first class back in a month was rough -- and that's an understatement.

So I'm sitting there, feeling like death and about to go through all the should've/could've/would'ves about my last month of being away from my normal routine. But then I realized (probably one of those life-realization-right-before-death moments) that fitness, much like life, isn't a destination. There's not one moment where you achieve your peak fitness - it's about the getting there, failing, getting there again, and maintaining. The question is -- why did I fall off of my fitness journey? Why did my yoga and running take a backseat to other things? How can I learn from the past month so that, in the future, it doesn't happen again? And in the meantime, how do I find peace in where I currently am while also striving to reach my full fitness/health potential?

In my heat dillusion, I came up with focusing on that one class. I made it my goal to not leave the room - just like it had been for the very first few Bikram classes I attended.

And I am happy to report -  I did not die, and I managed to stay in the room the entire 90 minutes.

Confessions of a Targa-holic: My favorite (inexpensive) sports bra

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone's week is going well. I had a really fantastic weekend with two of my best friends at Amelia Island last weekend, and I'm still wishing I was by the beach!

Luckily, Trader Joe's has these delicious plantain chips that I am enjoying while I pretend I am still somewhere tropical. And they're not the only thing keeping me in good spirits.

buy here

I'm also rocking my new neon green and bright blue sports bra by C9 for Target. I actually bought this one in purple/blue too, since these babies were on sale for $12(!!).

I'm kind of obsessed with Target (and have considered renaming this blog "Confessions of a Targa-holic" on multiple occasions), and I have this problem where I go in for bananas and come out with sports bras. They knew what they were doing when they converted all the Targets into Super Targets, let me tell you.

buy here

My favorite sports bra ever is the Free to Be bra from Lululemon because it's perfect for both Bikram and running, but sometimes I'm a sucker for fun patterns and low price tags. I love that the Target brand sports bras fit that bill AND are super comfy and functional for distance running.

What are your favorite sports bras? Are you a sucker for fun patterns too?

Missing my 26+2

Well, after a two week hiatus, I finally found my way back to the Bikram room last night. It was pretty rough, and I felt nauseous for most of the class.

Somehow, it is now 8 am and I am already back from my daily 26+2. As in, I got up at 5:30 this morning to get my daily sweat on.

Over the last two weeks, I've really put my practice on the back burner because I was doing other fitness activities. What a poor choice.

Yoga is something special. It combines mind and body, and helps you achieve complete health. Even after just two classes, I've realized how much I've missed my "me" time. I think it's important to have time alone with your thoughts and yourself, and yoga gives you that opportunity.

Anyways, I am definitely looking forward to being more diligent about my practice, and I kind of like waking up early and getting my sweat on in the morning. It got my day going this morning, and I am now enjoying some delicious four ingredient pancakes (2 egg whites + mashed banana + cinnamon + vanilla) and blogging for you fine people -- all before work!

Good morning!

Five tips for Bikram beginners

My Bikram studio recently did several Groupons. This is great, because Bikram yoga is wonderful for your mental, physical, and emotional health, and everyone should give it a try! That being said, I've realized there are a few things that I wish someone had told me as a beginner, and so I'm sharing them here.

If you're going to try your very first Bikram yoga class, here are five things you should know:

1. It's super important that everyone can see part of themselves in the mirror. If you're anywhere but the back row, be aware of other yogis in the class, and stagger your mat so that they can see themselves as well.
2. The yoga room is a silent place. The Bikram community is wonderful, and talking in the lobby is totally encouraged, but a lot of people come early to class to zone out, get their meditation on, or just enjoy some silence. Even if you're coming to yoga with your friends, try not to talk inside of the room.
3. It's totally okay to sit out a posture. Or seven. Yoga isn't a competition, and it's about the journey. If you need to sit down and take a breather, do it. Noone is judging you, I promise.
4. People don't wear a lot of clothes, and it's more than acceptable to join them. You know why? Because it's cool. Literally. You are sweating in a 104 degree room for 90 minutes, and you're going to feel a heck of a lot better in a sports bra and short shorts than leggings and a t-shirt. Like I said, noone is judging you.
5. Come back the next day. So maybe your first class was rough. Maybe you felt hot and sweaty and not flexible. Leave the room, sign up for the next day, and come back. Flexibility, inner peace, happiness... all of these things take time. You're never going to heal yourself physically, mentally, or emotionally unless you keep coming back.

Anyone else a Bikram yogi? What would you tell a newbie to the practice?

Bikram reflections: Days four and five of my 30 day challenge

Well,  so far I am five-for-five in my 30 day challenge, and as I'm writing this post, I'm preparing for class number six.

The last two classes have been pretty awesome. In a way I've never really experienced before, both classes felt like they went pretty quickly, and I actually kind of enjoyed every series of both of them. Bow (the pinnacle posture of the spine strengthening series) felt really strong both days, and I was kind of proud of how much better it looked and felt. Bow, just so you know what I'm talking about, eventually looks like this:

I am also finding that my practice is starting to feel like the "moving meditation" that it claims to be. I definitely am starting to fall into the rhythm of the practice, and I think that's probably what has been most helpful in making the 90 minutes enjoyable each day.

Scheduling myself time for my practice each day has been great. I love how Bikram makes me feel, how it makes me look, and that it gives me time daily to focus on myself. I'm sure I've blogged about this before, but I think that we sometimes forget how important it is to set aside time for ourselves each day. I don't just mean time to workout, I mean time to let all of our other responsibilities take a breather for a hot second (literally hot, in this case) and just let our mind have a break. We're all so busy all the time, and we sometimes forget that taking a breather is necessary too.

Here's to class number six.. after today, I'll be a fifth of the way there!!

Bikram reflections: Starting my 30 day challenge

I started my 30 day Bikram Yoga challenge three days ago -- and I am three for three so far! I'm doing my own little 30 day challenge for several reasons. Obviously, first and foremost, for my health -- to see what 30 straight days of getting my 90 minutes in the hot room can do for me. Then, it goes without saying that the competitive part of my personality thrives off of challenges. I've also been neglecting my practice a little bit lately, so it's definitely long overdue for me to kick it back into gear.

I'll be trying to reflect on my practice daily on this blog, but figured I would go ahead and combine the first three days. My three classes were all at different times (7:15pm, 8:15pm, and 6:00am), with different class sizes (five people in the 7:15 class, a full room during the 8:15 class, and then probably about 10 people in the 6:15 class), and with three different teachers. Here are my thoughts so far:

• I was really distracted during the 7:15 small class, when a gentleman was breathing really heavily throughout the practice. I did realize that this probably means I need to work on focusing on my own breathing, and not letting little things distract me.
• Holy cow is standing separate leg stretching pose hard. I always thought it was difficult (even though it looks like it would be one of the easiest poses), but after being away for so long, it's gotten even harder.
• The 8:15 class is for beginners. There's a lot of people, a lot of fidgiting, and a lot of groaning. Again, reminded that I need to work on focusing internally instead of externally.
• Conversely, the 6:00am class is for more experienced yogis. There's a lot less water drinking, and a whole lot more "class energy" propelling you through the series.
• The 6:00 class is also nice because I think it's too early for your brain to be awake. It makes it a lot easier to make the practice your "moving meditation" and control how much your mind wanders.
• I can do the whole spine strengthening series!! Yeah, it hurts, but I can do it, and I'm confident that I'll be doing locust correctly in no time :)
• Sometimes, increased humidity is worse than increased heat. More on this later, I'm sure.

Anyways, just wanted to get this up before I head to work. Always nice to start my day with a Bikram class :)

Bikram reflections: class without water

One of the instructors at my yoga studio talks about how it's been years since he's had water with him in a Bikram class. Today was actually my third class water-less. And by water-less, I mean that I brought water in (just in case), but didn't actually drink any.

Bikram legend has it that if you've come into class dehydrated, it's already too late to rehydrate yourself with just water. It's why proper hydration throughout the day prior to a class or the night before if you're taking it in the morning is so important.

The temperature and humidity conditions of a Bikram yoga room are such that you're supposed to sweat, and you're supposed to sweat a lot. If you're improperly hydrated, your body doesn't have enough water to generate an adequate amount of sweat -- your body's built in cooling system can't work the way it's supposed to.

What that all boils down to is: that water you're drinking during Bikram class is more for reassuring you mentally, not so much physiologically.

I've found that my practice without water is actually a bit easier -- instead of drinking, I take the full 20 seconds allotted to me for savasana and calm my mind. I don't think about whether or not I'm going to drink, which means I'm more able to focus on my practice.

Obviously, I'm not a professional and I'm not advocating that everyone should stop drinking water while in physically demanding conditions. What I am saying is that with proper hydration, and listening to your body, it is definitely possible to complete the full 90 minutes without water -- as long as you make sure to rehydrate after class :)

Anyone else practice Bikram without water? What did you think?

Bikram reflections: setting an intention for your practice

I really did not want to go to yoga today. Last night was rough in that my dog, Rusty, decided that he needed to wake up every two hours to bark at the door, which means my quality eight hours last night wasn't so quality. The lack of sleep combined with a pretty long shift last night meant I woke up feeling dehydrated and kind of icky (for lack of a better description).

Begrudgingly, I ate some egg whites and a couple of whole wheat waffles and dragged my butt out the door, towel and liter of water in hand.

I am so glad I went to yoga today.

Siri Om was teaching, which is always a good start, because I feel like she's talking directly to me. Knowing I was feeling kind of meh going into my practice, I really liked that she started the class advising us to set an intention for our practice.

Setting an intention is something that I definitely don't do as often as I should, but am so glad that I did today. My intention was to focus on my breathing, making sure that I was consistently breathing in and out through my nose in a calm manner.

It was kind of amazing how much of a difference this made in my practice. By focusing on my breathing, I found that I was able to complete the entire sequence, going deeper into many of the postures that usually give me issue. I didn't have a moment where I felt overheated or panicked or like I needed to quit. Honestly, this was probably the most meditative and refreshing class I've taken yet, simply because I set an intention and focused on my breath.

Siri Om continuously repeated "breath before form, form before depth" throughout the class today -- and now I can see why.

The "church of sweat"

In my free time, I prefer to read other healthy living blogs instead of being normal and watching TV, mostly because sometimes I come across some really interesting articles.

Like this one from Lululemon's blog.

It's about this new sect of people who are finding something spiritual through their sweat sessions, whether they practice yoga or run or whatever. Now, I'm not sure if it's really "new," persay, since I'm pretty sure people have been finding something higher through yoga, dance, surfing, etc, for a long time, but I love that it's something that we're starting to talk about.

I find that I almost always have some sort of self-realization, inner-peace-finding moment during my 90 minutes in the Bikram room, and more often than not during longer runs. I think that in our over-stimulated world, these times that you set aside for yourself to be away from technology and others and to just be inside your own head are really hard to come by. Of course you're going to find some sort of deeper meaning, because that time is time that you are allowing yourself to focus on your thoughts, your breath, your life.

There's something inherently spiritual about yoga; I think it's the fact that it forces you to be in the moment, to focus on the now. Being forced to listen to your breath and your heartbeat is some sort of reminder that this is your life, and you're living it. Right now, no do-overs.

More than that, I've found that exercise has made me more grateful for the little things -- the cool towel at the end of a hot yoga session, the breeze during a long run, water after a tough workout.

Obviously the "church of sweat" isn't a replacement for a real church experience, but they serve different, yet similiar, purposes. It's like one of my geography professors used to talk about -- if you want to find God, you can go to a church or you can go to the top of a mountain and watch the sun rise. Both make you appreciate life more fully, find a deeper connection, and believe in something bigger than yourself, and honestly, isn't that the whole point?

Dear Siri Om, you rock (plus a new job!)

Yesterday I had a really great Bikram yoga class with Siri Om at Bikram Yoga Fairfax. It was one of those classes where I took myself to the yoga studio because I really needed to take class to work through some stuff mentally. It was probably because I didn't go to yoga on Saturday or Sunday (poor life choices, I'm telling you), but I am so, so so glad that I went on Monday.

I think the clean eating makes my yoga practice easier. I felt so strong in all of the balancing series, and even was able to get both legs locked out in standing head to knee to the point of beginning to bend my elbows below my calf muscles. And I didn't sit out any of spine-strengthening series, which is a big accomplishment for me!

The best part of class, though, was that it was like Siri Om was talking directly to me during the dialogue. I should back up and say that taking classes with her is a treat every time because she radiates positive energy and inner peace. She is obviously so convicted in the healing power of Bikram yoga, and it's just inspiring. </end crunchy-granola talk> Anyways, during class, she talked about how your practice, and life, is a journey and that it's so important to enjoy the journey in order to really appreciate the destination.

It's pretty incredible that sometimes you hear exactly what you need to hear from an outside party who has no idea what you're going through.

In other news, I started a new job at Carlyle, which is a part of the Great American Restaurant chain. I attended an orientation tonight, and I am so excited to learn and interact with people on a daily basis -- especially since I love the food! It's really an organization full of people who love what they do and are passionate about providing fantastic service and building connections. I am so ready to enjoy this part of my journey :)

Weekly Workouts

I've alluded to this before but: over the last two months, I've worked out A LOT. I've been lucky in that my part time job affords me the time to be able to be active as much as possible. It's the reason I've shaped up so quickly.

The bottom line is, if you want results quickly, you have to work hard. A lot. And you have to eat enough to fuel all of the exercise you're doing -- this part is the most important.

Anyways, the real point of this post is this: I really need to start planning out my workouts in order to balance all of the activities I like to do. Earlier today, I went to my gym to do an upper body workout and realized I hadn't been there in two weeks! Plus, with marathon training starting, I have to plan all that in as well. I currently have three different memberships (whoops): One to my regular gym where I run and lift weights, one to my Bikram yoga studio, and one to my boxing gym. Sidenote: I joined a boxing gym. Yes, I love it, and yes, it kicks my butt every time I go. I justify all three because they're all for different activities, so dropping one would mean I lost one area of my training.

So Wednesdays are now for planning. And I'm sharing it here so that I can hold myself to following through on each part, and so that you can get an idea of what I'm doing to kick myself into shape. So here's this week:

Thursday:

Morning: Bikram yoga

Afternoon: Kickboxing, Lower body, 3 mile run

Friday:

Morning: Boxing

Saturday:

Morning: Boxing

Afternoon: Bikram Yoga, Upper body, 3 mile run

Sunday:

Morning: Boxing

Afternoon: Bikram Yoga, Lower body, 5 mile run

Monday:

Morning: Bikram yoga

Afternoon: Kickboxing

Tuesday:

Morning: Bikram yoga

Afternoon: Kickboxing, Upper body, 3 mile run

Wednesday:

Morning: Bikram yoga, Boxing

Afternoon: I fly to San Antonio for ANTSO National Miss Nationals!!

Spine-strengthening series.

There's a period at the end of this title because that's how I feel about spine-strengthening series. I have so much hate towards it that I don't even feel like completing the thought. It's a set of four postures that I literally dread every time I go to Bikram.

I hate it so much because it hurts so bad. Which is apparently proof that I need it the most, but whatever. All I know is that when my first sweet savasana is over, I've got fifteen minutes of suffering ahead of me.

Spine-strengthening series is supposed to hurt. It's suppose to work every part of your spine, making you stronger and releasing toxins. It starts with cobra, moves on to locust, then full locust, then finishes with bow pose, which works every segment of your spine. I hate spine-strengthening series because it's the only segment of Bikram that is ALWAYS difficult for me. It really never feels easier.

Inevitably, I always end up sitting out at least one set of one of the postures. Typically, it's locust, because my arms being under my body is super uncomfortable. Today, however, I challenged myself to complete the entire series.

It wasn't easy; I cringed a lot and I forgot to keep my breath steady, but I finished the entire series without sitting out any of the postures. It still hurt, and I was still really happy when it was done, but I completed it, and sometimes that's the most important part.

I often find myself reflecting on Bikram as mirroring life. Over the last week, I've had a lot of tough classes, including a few where it was an accomplishment just to stay in the room for the entire ninety minutes. In fact, one class, I felt like I was going to be sick from about twenty minutes in onward. I must have looked crazy miserable, because the teacher came up to let me know that I "didn't have to be a hero" and that I could leave the room if I wanted to.

Life doesn't work like that.

Life is full of challenges, hard times, whatever, all of which are a heck of a lot more difficult than 90 minutes in the hot room. And you know what? You can't just quit. You can't just say "you know what, I don't feel like it today." You stick it out, you ride out the lows, and you get yourself back to the highs. Slowly, maybe cringing, but you get yourself out of the ruts that life throws at you.

And just like in spine-strengthening (which I still hate), you stick it out and it makes you stronger.