Day 23: Hoping for a second wind.

I must be over tired because once again I fell asleep on my mat waiting for class to start. This is getting bad. I couldn't get it together during class either. Think I'm knackered and not concentrating. Am looking forward to this weekend when I can give my brain a break and just plough through the homestretch of this challenge.

I've never done any fitness training per se, or trained for a marathon and anything even remotely like that, but as far as the 30 days of hot yoga go, I am hitting the wall. I'm running out of steam and enthusiasm. Of course, I'm still going, but I feel like I need to check in with a yoga sponsor so I don't fall off the wagon:) I think by this point, Moksha should be calling everyone still in the ring everyday and leaving messages of positive reinforcement on our voicemail:) I'm such a baby.

Going to bed now because am back at the studio for a 630 am class. Gah.

Sorry so neg, folks.

xoxo

Ps. Something positive: Even though I nearly suffocated in my Spanx dry run, I hardly have any back fat in my strapless gala dress. Maybe I'll get my second wind after all;)

Day Twenty Two: There's such thing as being too relaxed.

I can sum today up pretty easily.

I fell fast asleep on my mat before yoga and the only reason I woke up is because class was starting around me. My question is, while I was dozing in class, how many people saw the purple underwear static-clinged to my yoga pants?

Good night all,

Justy

xoxo

Day Twenty Two: There's such thing as being too relaxed.

I can sum today up pretty easily.

I fell fast asleep on my mat before yoga and the only reason I woke up is because class was starting around me. My question is, while I was dozing in class, how many people saw the purple underwear static-clinged to my yoga pants?

Good night all,

Justy

xoxo

Day 21: I can't believe it!

I seriously can't believe I'm on Day 21. That's a lot of hot yoga all at once. That's like 25 hours of yoga! And about 56 hours of me talking about yoga. I am boring even myself, because I am obsessed with the HYC. Obsessed! 

I'm like the Bridezilla of hot yoga. I'm behaving like I'm the only person who's ever done one of these challenges.  And of course, my love for hot yoga outshines all others'. They don't understand the artform as I do. Ours is a true love. It doesn't matter that my skill level is average at best, for I am enlightened. I was born to do this.

Ok, so three week mark and time to check in with the progress. Here's what I've noticed:

• My skin is incredible right now. Smooth as a baby's foot!
• Legs for sure have more definition and are getting more muscly. In fact are looking pretty good until I get to my thighs and then they look like turkey drumsticks.
• Arms are toning up nicely - cut line in bicep is back! YAY!
• Back is getting muscly.
• When I lay on my back in class I have a hollow between my ribcage that was never there before. Did you hear that?! A ribcage hollow!
• I've lost a chin - thank goodness because in many of my poses, it was actually cutting off my ability to breathe. It was either the chin or me!!
• Pants are looser.
• Still only 4 lbs down, but have lost the mini boobs between the main boobs and my armpits. This is huge!!
• I've lost chest fat, and dare I say my collarbones are making a long overdue appearance.
• My flexibility is getting really good which makes it so much easier to do half of the stuff we do in class. Now I feel like I'm not battling my stiff muscles and can concentrate on strength and perfecting the pose.
• I know I joked, but I am calmer at work. Because I'm slammed and should be freaked right out now...but am tranquil and the very picture of reason;)

And can I please qualify the update above? Please know that I am under no misconceptions about this experience. It's been 21 days. I know people that have been working out their entire lives with no public forum or fanfare and those are the ones who deserve all the kudos. I am merely "trying something". Yes it's been hard, and yes I guess I'm proud of myself, but I do know that this is just the lead up to me taking better care. I'll congratulate myself in a year's time when I'm still doing this full time and can do a ...oh what do they call it? What's Sanskrit for Teddy Bear Stand? Anyway, this much I know:

• I still have a ton of work do to on myself body wise - of course.
• My balance is a problem. It's ridiculous how bad it is. I fall down every second day. It's like I need a doctor's note. I still pogo stick around the studio when trying to balance on one foot.
• I face plant into my mat every day.
• During the napping I accidentally hold people's hands.
• Sometimes I fall asleep during the stretching.
• I get foot cramps trying to grip my towel and not wipe out. 
• I fake the breathing exercises. I can't do them, nor do I see the point. (Don't tell Allen.)

...But you know what? It's totally working. I can't believe the changes I'm seeing in a relatively short amount of time. Not that I expect anyone else to notice, but I know myself and I am seeing the gradual changes. It's a real commitment and I'm feeling rewarded:)

Thanks for indulging me in my incredibly self-centred update. See? Bridezilla!

Goodnight all.

Justy

xo

Day Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen and Twenty: A Lesson Well Learned.

Never blow off a day of hot yoga when committed to a 30 Day Challenge. And never, EVER blow off three days! Also, if the doctor tries to tell you to lay off the yoga for a couple of days due to the antibiotics, tell him to "up" the prescription and keep on rolling because this is what I know to be true: Catching. Up. Is. Not. Worth. It. It's just not.

And I'm still not caught up. I would've been after this weekend, but no, I blew off Friday night's practice to go to the bar! What? Who does that? Justy from the '90s apparently. So, to atone for my sins, (a TONE. Get it? Ha!) I ended up doing four hot yoga classes over the weekend! I don't recommend this. First of all, I am exhausted. I'm exhausted now, I was exhausted during the classes. Anticipating the next class made me grumpy, when usually I look forward to them, and I felt like I spent my whole weekend in a yoga studio. And, I was so self-conscious going so many times...it was all the same staff/instructors each time and they were on to me for sure. "We know what you did. You blew us off to go to the bar, and now here you are, creeping back to us. Bet you're tired, aren'tcha? Hmmph. Well, quel surprise. Serves you right, Drinker!"

And the way the schedule worked this weekend made it so I did four Moksha classes and nothing else, and I just found it really hard. The room seemed hotter, the poses seemed longer, the lactic acid more prevalent. And I was barely hanging on. Every time I abseiled from high plank to my mat, I nearly face planted, and then every time we got to rest for a minute in "child's pose" which normally regulates everything, my heart was pounding so hard that MY NOSE had its own pulse!! My nose was beating so hard it was lifting my face off the mat! I'm not even kidding.

So, the major highlight of the weekend was getting these four classes done. I actually can't believe that I did it, because I found it really, really hard, and nearly bailed between each one. So although I wouldn't recommend skipping a day, I feel it was quite an accomplishment ploughing through them like that. Although with all the work I did this weekend, I totally feel like I deserve to weigh 110 lbs and feel ripped off that I don't!

My friend Jason came to yesterday's 4 pm class with me and made me laugh afterwards. "Whenever I do a hot yoga class, I feel like I drink so much water and then only pee a thimble...and it's the colour of Beep." Sure sign that you should be drinking more water, I think. Anyway, it made me laugh. Hopefully he's not in renal failure today. I should call and check.

Also, people need to be vigilant about their mats. Either clean them regularly, or just keep buying new ones. I don't mind which. But there was a guy in class today whose mat ponged so bad - it smelled like barfy feet. And his mat was so gross it looked like it had a camouflage pattern. He didn't use a towel on it either and so when he got all sweaty he was slipping around like Bambi on Ice. And it was squeaky. We're all having our naps at the end and this guy sounded like he was making balloon animals. I wonder if there's the dirty mat police on staff because it was really nasty. Like, his mat was the Honey Badger of the foam rubber world!

I have a question. When you're laying down at the end of class having your nap - or savasana I've learned it's called, how relaxed yet energized is one supposed to get? I've heard of lots of different things happening during this time - I for one, get tingly hot back. But, like, you're not supposed to get really, REALLY tingly are you? Because the guy next to me tonight had some pretty extreme breathing going on...you know....breathing? Let's just say, I think he found the class a little more exciting than the rest of us. And no, I'm not going to come right out and say it, but I know what I heard. And I did my napping with one eye open in case he tried rolling over onto my mat!

So ten days left. I have one more class to make up and a very busy week ahead of me, but I'm feeling good - a lot better than I did at the beginning of the weekend.

Goodnight all.

xoxo

Day Sixteen: I got nuthin'.

Hi All,

Was up at 4 am today and had a long and grueling day. Am knackered and am going to bed. Hmmph. Sorry about the cop-out post but will be all over it this weekend. It's Double Down weekend as I still need to catch up on the two classes I missed due to my near-death experience. So that, I'm sure, will provide some insight I've yet to gain:)

Nite All.

xox

ps. Lame.

Day Fifteen: Half Way There!!

Today at work, I wrote speaking notes for one of the world's foremost experts in Childhood Cancer and another set of speaking notes for a world-leading cancer researcher. They trusted my ability enough to do this. And that's an awesome feeling. But I cannot even tell you the sense of accomplishment I felt when I was doing this...

...and our instructor came by and said to me, "Good, good." and gave me a little pat on my foot.  It made my life!! I was ridiculously happy!

Today's class was Moksha Flow and it totally kicked my arse!! I could barely keep up...it was moving so fast, and every time we would abseil from downward dog to plank then lower to the ground, I nearly ate mat every time. I had absolutely no tricep strength today at all.  OR DID I????

So Day 15 was the day I was going to attempt to push myself up off the mat into this....

...and I totally did it! Just once. There was the option to do it 2 or 3 times...but after the first attempt, which I got up on, I couldn't do it again. But who cares, because I said I was going to do it and I did it! (I didn't get a foot pat for this one, but maybe he didn't see:)

Oh - and the other awesome thing that happened today is that I'm down 4 lbs! Nothing nothing nothing...and then Bazinga! 4 lbs!

And now here's something bad that happened in class:

I tried to do this today...twice. The first time I just couldn't, and the second time I nearly got it but then my knee shot off my lotion/sweat covered arm and I fell on my face, exclaiming "Sh*t!" in a crowded, yet silent yoga room. I barely cared. I'm sure I wasn't the first.

So there you have it. The halfway mark and I'm still going strong. I'm feeling limber, stronger, more calm at work (not that my colleagues would agree with this statement, but if you only knew how much I would normally want to kick off right about now, they'd understand how much the yoga is helping me...and them.), and if you can believe it, thinner. Not considerably but I can tell where I've slimmed down down around my upper chest and around my rib cage for sure. There's a slight possibility that something good is happening to my legs too, but that just might be my NEW FAVE LULULEMON WUNDER LEGGINGS!!!! Have I mentioned how great these pants are?

Oh - and here's another product that has been my best friend throughout The Challenge that was under my nose all along. An old stand by. An unsung hero, if you will. As you may know I used to live in the UK and one of my favourite products from there is Simple Cleansing Wipes. I always stock up when I go and I am on my last packet! Gulp.

These miracle wipes get voted Britain's best beauty product every year in magazines and they are wonderful. They take off all of your make up without leaving oils or remover lotions on your skin or in your eyes like so many wipes you can get here in Canada. These are far above any other make up removing wipe I've ever used. Even after you take your eye make up off before practice and then sweat into your eye...there's no stinging at all...because there's nothing there. And they are so cheap. You can usually get them 2 for 5 quid, or $5 Canadian each - which is so much better than paying anywhere from $10 - $14 for wipes that are guaranteed to give you a sty! So, if you are ever in the UK, be sure to stuff your suitcase with these and if any of my lovely Brit friends are reading this, please feel free to send some my way, ok Paulette?  ;0) 

Well that's all for tonight. Hard, hard class - but very rewarding.

Goodnight all.

Justy

xoxo

ps. God bless the wipes.