Thursday, December 27, 2007

Back in the city....

My vacation is already over. Too bad! Had a great class at home yesterday (Wednesday). The studio is definitely not as hot but the teacher is really good, so I got a chance to work hard. He had me demo cobra for the class, which I was pleased about because I think I've changed/improved that posture a lot since I started approaching it differently a couple weeks ago - I am thinking about brining the scapula together and it makes a big difference, I can just about look at the wall behind me now.

I also did FIVE wall walks in preparation for my new year's resolution, which is to keep working on wall walks til I can go down with no hands and maybe (eventually, in the future) grab the ankles. TOTALLY do-able in 2008. I'm thinking maybe for January I will have a 5x5 kind of scheme: 5 a day, 5 days a week? Something funny I realized is that doing MORE wall walks is really a lot EASIER than only doing a few, because the more you do in a row, the easier they get. Number 1 is really tiring and hard, but 3 and 4 are much easier and number 5 is a piece of cake!

Today (Thurs) I got stuck at work all day on a double shift and didn't get to practice and was PISSED. Tomorrow!! Tomorrow!!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

O yea - presents!

I almost forgot - I gave both my dad and his girlfriend gift certificates for the Intro Special at their local studio for Christmas. Dad was hilarious; he opened up the envelope and said "oh NO!!" Then we talked about the class a little bit and he said "how long is it?" and I said "90 minutes" and he said "oh my GOD!" I shoulda lied and said "easy 30 minutes class" but was already on to me. But here's where *I* am really smart: Dad is not that gung ho about getting into class, but his girlfriend REALLY like the idea, so now I can count on her to drag him along with her. I think that once he gets in there a couple times he will REALLY like it - it's getting him to go the first time that takes a little cleverness!! I hope my plot works...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day was lovely. Lots of family, fun, food, drink, and more FOOD! Hmm. Definitely no more food until tomorrow night. Planning to practice at noon, so that'll make it really easy to hold off on food until the afternoon. Hot tea will be nice!! This poor teacher in my hometown - he think I have a nice practice, but unfortunately EVERY time I take his class is when I'm on vacation, so I've usually spent the previous day stuffing my face with food and sitting on my butt! He should see me when I'm NOT on vacation! Slightly apprehensive about tomorrow, but hopefully my digestion will do its work well!!

Right now I'm feeling like I REALLY want to go to teacher training in April, regardless of all the other shit that I need to figure out. I've been telling myself that I need to figure out the grad school situation (getting INTO a school, choosing a school, and getting funding) before I go anywhere, but another part of me just wants to say "fuck it" and send in the application. I would be GOOD at it! Memorizing shit and doing yoga - those are like my 2 biggest skills!! Plus I have been making tons of money at my waitressing job this winter - I transfered another thousand dollars into my savings account today - so pulling together 10 grand in the next four months could actually happen. Yeah, my income sucks compared to people who have REAL jobs, but my expenses are super low - I don't go out a lot, I don't drive, I rent, I save money - so I have a reasonable amount in my savings account already. And I already know the dialogue to half moon - I learned it on the sly while I was alone vacuuming the studio one night and my IPod battery had died. SUCH temptation.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Xmas Eve!

Wonderful class with Charlie this morning. Not super hot, so didn't drink any water during class, but nice and sweaty - had tons of energy and worked really hard. Gotta get balance back in standing bow, though! Need to bring weight forward a couple inches on first side to get 2 feet in one line. Charlie fixed me but then I fell. In toe stand, need to really lift hips up off heel. I keep on slacking and not really doing it, because when I rest on my heel I can balance easily - but it's not the right way! (The right way is the hard way...) Also still need to keep knees and heels closer together in dhanurasana - so hard!

Played with extra postures just a little bit after class. Did some stretching, guillotine, and a couple really good wall walks - then Charlie came back in to play and I showed him full camel, dancer, peacock, lotus peacock, and finger stand. Finger stand actually worked MUCH better than usual - got feet off ground and balanced for maybe 5 seconds! Yay!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Wish I could practice tomorrow. On the plus side, I am indulging with tons of desserts and wine today because it's not going to catch up with me immediately... muahahaaa...

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Aha! It's a blog!

Hi there, world!

Why the heck am I starting a Bikram blog?? I have a few reasons, some of which are good and some of which are silly.

1) I'm getting bored with my usual forms of procrastination - overheardinnewyork.com is only updated so many times in one day, and facebook stalking gets lame really fast.

2) I've been keep a good old-fashioned journal in a little red notebook with notes on my Bikram practice, and it is falling to pieces! I have written in it faithfully pretty much every day for the past four months, which is unprecedented for me. (I have a box full of journals from grade school days that start off with one or two entires and then pick up again about five years later.) I'm hoping that writing online will let me write in more detail, since I'll have unlimited space, and also I don't have to worry about how the spiral binding is coming apart from all the pages.

3) Ever since I decided to go all out with Bikram's yoga and practice every day (or as close to every day as my life will allow), I have been kind of obsessed. I love to talk to people about this practice and learn about everyone else's experiences. I figure that if this blog ever has an audience, it will be from the people exactly like me, who are super excited about Bikram and want to hear that others feel the same. I don't expect that I have anything especially profound or insightful to say, but I can give you all a report on my experiences as they come.

4) I work nights, so I am in the habit of staying awake until 2am or so, which leaves me with nothing to do in the evenings when I have a night off, I'm awake, and everyone else I know is fast asleep. (Case in point: tonight.)

I guess that's enough reasons, and now I'm sleepy. Ironically I did NOT practice today, because I desperately needeed to sleep in, and then I was on a bus for almost four hours to get home for my quick Christmas vacation. Tomorrow I'm practicing at the studio in my hometown. I went there for the first time over Thanksgiving break, took 3 classes from the owner, Charlie, and LOVED it. Charlie is such a sweetheart. I'm psyched to see him again and take his great class!