I think I survived the post-holiday rush! I guess it’s the same at the yoga studio, as it is in the gym. After the holiday food has been eaten and the new year resolutions have been made, more people decide to start taking care of their bodies. Good for them! Most people, however, don’t stick with it. You know what I’m talking about, right? I think it’s safe to say there was a surge in attendance during january and february, at least the first week or two of february. Class sizes the last 2 weeks or so have seemed a little smaller. Not by much, but enough for a little more breathing room or air, I would be smarter to say. Well, I’m thankful for the people that do show up. Like today, hearing surfing stories before practise is so cool! a led us in practise today, she surfs too! It’s such an inspiring sport! As for me, it’s all I can do to keep up with 24 poses and 2 breathing exercises. My knee barely survived the third part of utkatasana today—I don’t think I could stand on a surfboard in the water! My knee also bothered me a little in garurasana too, but those are the only two poses. I’m surprised I can do supta-vajrasana, but i can. I’m happy for that because it’s one of my favorite parts of the floor series. I was so proud of my floor series today! I am going to close thinking that it has more to do with my focus than the end of the post-holiday rush. How does that sound to you? namaste, m

Friends, i hope your day is going as well as mine is today. I pretty much floated into practise this morning. I woke up super early to have breakfast, then went back to bed, relaxing under the warm blankets, reminding myself of all the positives in my life. My walk to practise was a sunday morning dream, no cars on the road, clear blue skies, pretty much perfect. It was a great way to go into practise. The other T was leading today, which was a nice treat! She’s got a great voice (they all do) and i like her attention to form. Because it was an early class, the room wasn’t as hot as I bet it is right this very minute, so I hardly broke a sweat! The highlight of practise was getting to do a 3rd set of dandayamana-dhanurasana! I’ve been paying more attention to that pose, since a showed it to us in practise a little while back. I was really happy to get a 3rd chance at it, because i wasn’t pleased with the first and second. Did it help? Yeah, I think so, I was able to hold my standing bow on both sides and not fall out of it. That’s bonus, right there! As you prolly know, there is so much going on in that pose, it’s hard to think of it all right now as i type. With all that stuff swirling around in my head and getting two chances at it, having a third set kinda helped put it all together. I have a long way to go before I ever have a front-row kinda standing bow, but for today, it felt great to hold it for the full count on both sides. That’s kinda how the rest of practise felt, just like a really good bonus! I was so energized! I can’t believe I’d been thinking about a day off—shame on me. Making it to 49 days straight hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be, but i’m so glad i made it. namaste ~m

Happy march yogi(ni)s! What a great way to start the month! I had such a strong, focused practise today! I was so proud of myself, but even bigger than that—the way I felt, I was so “glow-y” afterwards! And then I got to talk to the cutest yogini in the world afterwards. Walking and talking with her underneath the sun, which feels so great today! Even the walk back to the birdhouse was brilliant. I sat by the river for a little while just to watch it flow. It was so beautiful, calm, peaceful, total Huck Finn. We’re having this amazing sun today, it was one of those mornings when I din’t want to come back to write to all of you, it’s just way too nice out. What did I do to have such a nice practise today? Lots! Last nite, I had a ton of red meat (carne asada burrito *and* taco). Lots of sleep. Before I went to bed and when I woke up, I reminded myself of all the positives in my life. Right before practise, I almost drank an entire bottle of water. That may have been the deal maker, but who knows? I may have been letting the outside world get to me too much. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been so down. Maybe being able to focus on positives led to such a positive morning. The sad boy in me would rather have carne asada burritos every night, but i think I’m gonna try this positive stuff for awhile and let you know how i do. luv, m

It’s the 29th of february! Today is a day that only comes around once every four years, right? I hope you celebrated today like I did, with a nice bikram practise! Today was a warm one, for sure. My water crutch is this annoying habit of letting my water bottle drip little drops of water on me. It feels good at first, that nice cool water. But then the water drops get room temperature and it just makes your face even hotter and more uncomfortable than you were a few seconds ago. But the first part.... It’s like a vicious cycle of i don’t know what, but it is easy to fall into. I really have to focus and stay with my meditation during the poses to avoid it, but sometimes it’s hard. Like today, I couldn’t stand looking at myself in the mirror. I wanted to look at anything but me, so staying focused was a challenge right from the beginning. My left knee feels almost 100%. I really only noticed pain during the third part of utkatasana, when we hold our knees together as we sit down. I’m getting really confident with the second part of that pose, when it’s heels up! knees up! I don’t hardly tremble at all when we’re holding it! I remember my first day doing bikram, thinking I would always have problems with that part of the pose and now, wow! I love the way I feel right before we go into it, just knowing “i can do this,” it’s so cool! I can’t wait til I go into every pose with that same feeling. I can’t wait til I have the discipline to not use my water crutch. During the savasana between the standing and floor series, I need to take time to remind myself that I won’t need water at any time during the rest of practise. When I can remember to do it, I think it helps. Okay, there’s something to remember for tomorrow, see you at 10! ~m

As usual, my practise started out strong and finished weak. I really need to work on my endurance and stamina if I want to keep with my daily bikram practise. i was exhausted by the end of practise today! recurring problem, i know. anyway. what she lacks in size, a makes up for in energy and sheer amazingness. she demonstrated such a beautiful dandayamana-dhanurasana for us today! Even though it was quick, there was so much she showed us in her pose, a lot more than words can say. The way her body pivoted on her locked-out knee—wow! Her leg was a lamppost in disguise, I swear. At the end of class, a told us that at the end of march, Jason Winn, one of the top bikram instructors in the world will be visiting our little studio! She said he used to not allow any towels that weren’t white into his studio! That’s so great. He also organizes what sound like really cool trips to costa rica, you should check out his website if you haven’t already. a also mentioned that some out-of-towners were planning on being there—can you imagine how hot it’s gonna be with more than the usual amount in the studio? Well, it’ll be fun too. And a neat experience. And, a little extra incentive to work on my endurance! Okay friends, enjoy your day! ~m

Did we all make it to practise today? As nice as a day off sounded, I still made it to my practise, making it 45 days in a row now! It was a really fun practise too, we had a good time with lots of laughing. Our wednesday noon yoga club has grown with lots more great energy, but the intimacy is still the same. I’m not sure why I decided to go back to my meltdown spot, but I did. I must be a glutton, because I swear it’s a hot spot! Still having some issues with my left knee. This was most noticable in garurasana and utkatasana, but i was respectful of it with all the standing series. Despite the heat, I had a really nice practise today. I don’t think I took water once! I felt confident with every pose all the way through the floor series, it was rad! But I have to admit something: I was on performance enhancers today. I had an entire vitamin water before practise. *Balance* flavor, no less. There, I admit it. I took a later practise today so that I could sit in the sun and read a little. While I was reading, I drank an entire bottle less than an hour before practise. Actually, I don't know if that stuff really works. But you wanna know what? It was still a great practise and I had fun! So much fun that I wanna do it again tomorrow to make it 46 straight! ~m

Look out yogi(ni)s, it’s the season for knee injuries! What does Bikram say, “you can mess with the gods, but you can’t mess with your knees”? A couple of nights ago, I bashed my knee into something that din’t move. Yesterday it bothered me on the way to and during practise. But on the way back to the birdhouse, it felt great! It wasn’t until later in the evening when I started feeling it again. Today it bothered me through most of the standing series. But it was only during utkatasana when i felt really unsure of myself, especially during the third part where we hold our knees together! Yikes! I actually thought about not doing a second set because my first set was so wobbly. But I did my second set and made it through the rest of the standing series. The floor series, on the other side of the mat, was a different issue altogether! I just din’t have enough fuel in the tank to finish today. I don’t think I savasana’ed out any sets, but I was barely there. I mean, during the spine twisting at the end, my eyes were so glassed over, I could barely see. Right now, I feel great, but after practise all I could think about was water and food and cherry coke. Of course, I’ve had some water since then, but I’m still working on the food part. So I’ll leave you now with another bad joke I thought of today, “what’s the magician’s favorite pose?” TA-DAsana! That was awful, I know, but sometimes the little things are all we have. ~m

Um, yogi(ni)s? I said I could appreciate missing a practise due to poor driving conditions. Today there was no excuse—what a brilliant day! “Hail to the sun,” indeed. I’m so thankful to live in california, my heart goes out to all of you who din’t get the fantastic weather that we did. I knew practise was gonna be a grueling one today because I was dripping sweat *before* we started. Oh boy. and me with my hydration issue. I guess that’s why it’s a practise, I gotta start getting used to this, right? I was able to stay focused a little more than I had been the past couple weeks, so my water crutch wasn’t too bad. My dandayamana-dhanurasana was not pleasant today, but! on the other side of the mat, my dandayamana-bibhaktapada-paschimottanasana was the best i’ve ever done! I’m not sure where I found so much length in my lower abdomen, but all of a sudden i felt myself in amazingly new territory! It was a rad feeling. I swear, if we had held that pose for the rest of practise, my forehead would have touched the floor. That’s how good I was feeling in that pose (realistically, I was prolly about 7 or 8 inches away from the floor). And then, at the end of practise, when we do janushirasana with paschimottanasana, i was able to find that same length for the stretching again! As tired as I was, I still thought it was rad. oh! sad cobra wasn’t as hard as it was yesterday. Isn’t it weird that it’s hard for me to relax my face? Naturally, also on the agenda for today was a sad locust. You wanna know what? Poorna-salabhasana din’t seem as hard as it usually does! There is so much to every pose, it’s unbelievable. After every practise, it seems like I've learned at least one new thing. At this rate, I’ll have the perfect practise in about 40 years! That’s okay though, I’m in no hurry. ~m

Okay yogi(ni)s, i can appreciate wanting to skip a practise in the studio because of the weather, especially if you have to drive farther than 5 minutes! I couldn’t imagine driving in the weather that I got to enjoy while I walked to practise today. There were, like, gale winds out there and way too many raindrops! I was pretty bundled up (they made fun of me when i walked into the studio), so despite the rain and wind, I actually built up a little sweat and I was surprisingly ready for practise! Well, as ready as I could be. I din’t wake up early enough to have the rad potato burrito breakfast I had originally planned, so I wasn’t surprised when I started losing my focus towards the end of class. It’s such a let down to me when I do that to myself. But, on the other side of the mat, I *did* go back to the spot where I melted last week. That may actually be the hottest spot in the room, I swear! Well, maybe the spot in front of me is warmer, it’s hard to say. Anyway! Although I tried not to focus on it, before practise I told myself “sad cobra.” Whenever I look up, I look up with my eyebrows and forehead. I don’t even do it consciously. Any pose where my head is supposed to be moving back, it’s all forehead and eyebrows with me. So yesterday, before bhujangasana, tall a said something about looking like “sad cobras,” so you’re not looking up with your eyebrows and forehead. I don’t know if this was intended for me, maybe other people do this too, but it sure helped! It helped today too, but it is hard to do even though I am prolly using less energy. It’s amazing how every part of your body is involved in every pose. There’s no let up for a minute. I worked myself today, but I was keeping up, despite my water crutches. False foundation though, that’s all the water crutch is, I know. It totally distracts from my focus. That’s gonna be the thing I have to remind myself before practise *and* after the standing series tomorrow. I’ll let you know if it helps! ~m

Good news friends! The storm waited to start until the moment I began writing to you! The storm was due in several hours ago, but it just now started and is quickly making up for lost time. And that’s the weather, now back to asana daily, my yoga blog! a crowded room today, of course, it’s saturday! so i took a spot in the back row, on the “alaska” side of the room. Yes, one side of the studio is not as hot as the other, but not by much. Regardless, I still claimed my spot over there anyway. I figured, if I can pick a side, why not go with the one that will work to my advantage. Since hydration is an issue for me, no need to stress my body out anymore than necessary. By the end of class, it paid off. It really *was* cooler where I was! That helped a lot during those last few poses! Sometimes it’s all I can do to keep up at the end of class, today I felt like I was keeping pace okay. After my savasana at the end of class, I did another set of ardha-kurmasana, so I wasn’t lagging by any means. I guess I just feel conscious of my water crutch. Proper hydration and nutrition is not an easy thing for me. Especially when a third of my diet is cookies and m&ms, but I’m getting better. Bikram says the right way is the hard way for a reason and my diet is proving that, for sure. I guess that means I should wrap this up and start cooking lunch instead of eating cookies! see you tomorrow friends! ~m

happy friday friends! How was your yoga practise today? Mine was super great thanks to so many things! A super great teacher and super great practisers to practise with. Can you tell what kind of mood I’m in? It's friday and I’m still in my post-yoga fog. My padangustasana was not perfect, but I was really feeling it anyway! And the girl next to me did her’s so well, it felt really, um, beautiful, for lack of a better word. I mean, it just looked cool and felt super great; good standing series in general, I would say. The standing series can be so much fun if you let it. Just let go of yourself and go with the pose! My favorite Clinton, George, said it best, “free your mind and your ass will follow!” Bend it like Bikram, baby!

My floor series will always need work and today, my form was abysmal. Starting with supta-vajrasana (fixed firm), I pretty much water-crutched it the rest of the way. It was just so hot and sweaty and sticky on the floor, I was finding it hard to stay focused. Oh, but that made me think of a joke: Why is bikram yoga like sex? Because they’re both hot, sweaty, sticky and habit-forming. ba-rump bah! and with that, i bid you a good weekend friends! namaste ~m

What do *you* do when you don’t feel like going to your daily yoga practise? For me to go to yoga practise, I have to walk about 2 miles each way. When it’s raining, it’s kind of a hassle to have my mat and my cool back-bag *and* my rain gear. What’s a yogi to do? I know! Splurge and *rent* a mat and towels! You wanna know what? The studio got new mats today—I got to use a brand new mat for practise! I joked with T before practise, “I’m gonna do every pose perfectly!” Well, for some reason, the brand new mat did not yield instant meditation and I did not do every pose perfectly. If it was only like getting new shoes and being able to run faster! The good news is that I have the rest of my life to keep practising. There’s so much room for improvement, too. At the same time, it’s still nice to know that there’s some poses that I do okay with. Sasangasana is one that T told me today I did well! My breathing needs improvement in that pose. I want to try it right now, as I’m writing this, but I know I shouldn’t (too cold in here!). I know there’s other things in that pose that I think I need to work on, but still it’s nice to hear. In this journal, it seems like I focus on the poses where I need the most help in. But even the poses that I feel “confident” with can use improvements. Like in ardha-chandrasana, besides depth, I really need to work on my grip! Seems like such a simple thing, keep your hands together; but my palms always seem to want to drift away like they were opposite magnets! I can only marvel at the thought of having perfect form for 90 minutes! I’ll prolly be an entirely different person by the time I develop that kind of concentration and patience! Well friends, follow me on my journey! See you tomorrow ~m

Hi friends! How was your practise today? I hope it was as nice as mine was. Today was one of those days where, at least, mentally i flowed from pose to pose. Maybe not physically, I had some problems with my dandayamana-dhanurasana, but i smiled them away. days like today make me think i could do a double no problem. but then i think about the people who actually do doubles, like the 2 yoginis today, and i still feel a long way off. but i guess that’s the next goal after i feel comfortable with my practise, i’ll try two in a row. On days like today, i’d love the extra opportunity to try my standing bow again or some of my other favorite poses that i am still learning to love. I have to admit though, the past couple of days, i’ve been eating like a little piggie and also been drinking lots of electrolyte-enhanced beverages. I’m not sure how much that helps, but it obviously hasn’t hurt. There’s a lot to be said for the discipline it takes to go to the yoga studio everyday, but what about the discipline outside the studio? Eating right, getting enough sleep, that’s part of your yoga practise too. Something I prolly need to start respecting a little more than i’m used to. Rather than end on such a serious note, i thought i’d share this 34 second clip with you—doggie yoga! If you have an extra minute, enjoy! ~m

How do I follow up an 8 am practise? With a 6 am practise, that’s how! I think my body was as confused as my cats were. I was not nearly as bendy as I normally am, that’s for sure! I din’t sweat as much as I normally do. The room felt like “bikram-lite” because it never really got super hot. It was actually kinda nice, now that I think about it! Because I wasn’t as bendy as I normally am, I think I was more conscious of my poses today. Trying to go into them slower than I normally would. It made me concentrate on form a lot more than i am used to. this was my fourth day in a row having class led by tall a! that doesn’t happen too often, but it’s been great! there is something to be said for continuity with a teacher. okay friends, there will prolly be a part 2 post later when i have time to write more of my morning thoughts down. ~m

To celebrate president’s day I had an early practise this morning! It’s so weird, it was a rough class but afterwards it seems like I had so much fun. Tall a kept the room focused and breathing. There were a fair amount of people in the room, but it was early so it wasn’t as humid sticky unbreathable as it can get later in the day. The highlight of my floor series was my most favorite pose dandayamana-bibhaktapada-paschimottanasana. And I say “favorite” with a side of sarcasm because that is my *least* favorite pose. Actually, my new way of thinking is, I really like that pose and I wish we could do 3 sets just so I could have an extra chance at it. I could use the extra chance, so instead of dreading it, I look forward to the opportunity for improvement. And after 36 days in a row, I think I am finally finding some length in my lower spine! The other day, right before the janushirasana with paschimottanasana at the end, tall a commented that when going into it, notice where your body is and how you can use that for dandayamana-bibhaktapada-paschimottanasana, which really helped me find that length today. My head is still nowhere near the floor and it’s so hard to keep my legs locked. My body has a way to go before i can fall gracefully into it, but today i felt like i went further then i normally do. I din’t think about it during practise, but in writing about it now, i feel pretty happy with where my body was going! Like I said, I look forward to the chance to try that pose, so I’ll be back tomorrow and see where it takes me! ~m

After a fiasco like yesterday’s practise, the best thing I could do for my body was to follow it up with another day of sweating for 90 minutes. I told myself (and tall a) that I was going to pace myself through practise. I din’t want another episode like yesterday, but it also wasn’t heavy on my mind. That was yesterday, see? Well, I forgot about pacing and, like I have the past few days, I let each pose take me where it wanted to go. At least, I tried to. Dandayamana-dhanurasana din’t want to take me anywhere today! Actually, I just had trouble setting up for it. That’s prolly the pose where I try to lose myself the most in. I really try to just fall into it and kick and lock and point straight and let the body fall and.... There’s so much to think about in that pose! If I think about all of it, I have trouble! Since I gave up thinking, my standing bow has looked a lot better. That’s the other thing, I try not to even acknowledge that fact while practising, I don’t want to mess anything up by thinking about it, you know? By not thinking though, I din’t pace myself and today I had another really exerting standing series. Locking the knee takes so much energy, doesn’t it? During the break between the standing and the floor series, I let my concentration lapse a little and reminded myself that all i needed to do was breathe and stay with the class, at least mentally if not physically. Although I had let go of yesterday, I still wanted to respect the fact that I had never been so physically debilitated as I had been yesterday. In the end, I don’t think i had the strongest floor series I’ve ever had, but I did every pose! It was a really nice practise to have no matter what the circumstances, but after yesterday, it seemed extra satisfying! ~m

Whoa, Trixie, what a practise today was! I had such a strong standing series, well, for me and where i am with my practise at least. The last few practises, I have given up even thinking about my performance. Instead, just trying to relax into the pose or letting the pose take over my body. I don’t know how to explain it, but suffice to say, in not trying so hard, I find myself “doing better.” That’s sort of how today was going. I found myself having a really great practise, until dhanurasana, when I started to feel *really* winded and outta breath. And then, you’re not gonna believe it, but, out of nowhere a big yoga truck drove through the studio and hit me straight on! I’m not sure if anyone else saw it, but I ended up savasana’ing out the rest of practise. I tried getting up and joining the rest of class, but I couldn’t, all I could think about was fresh air, my concentration was broken. Lying on my back, completely drained, felt pretty humbling, but also pretty liberating. To quote Jimmy, “I mean, come on,” who cares if I couldn’t finish a practise. After a shower, I was pretty much back to normal. Tomorrow, I’ll make sure to have a little more fuel in the tank and make sure to use that fuel wisely so I can finish the class. Which is exactly what tall a said when we started! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to protect a pretty cow kitty from a mean old tuxedo. ~m

Sometimes I get all serious in the moments leading up to practise. Like, “I have to get my body ready,” or “I’m gonna have a good practise today” or whatever other bit of motivation i need for the day. Today I was in such a light-hearted mood, I din’t have time to psyche myself out. Another day to just go with the flow and see where the pose takes me, even though I subconsciously tried to skip dandayamana-bibhaktapada-paschimottanasana and tried going into trikanasana instead. I’m laughing about it now, what a dork I am, right? But I still have trouble with saying the indian names, so I’m not *that* big of a nerd. Anyway, just breathing, concentrating on your form and going where the pose goes is not as easy as it sounds and it took a lot out of me today. I was struggling towards the end and, yes, my water crutch was there, making sure I din’t fall. Like I really would have fallen if I din’t have it. Looking back on the 90-minute workouts i used to do pre-bikram, i would have water breaks in between some sets. Not many though and i was still sweating a lot back then. So it shouldn’t be that big of a surprise to me that my body needs to learn to adapt. All of this is “oh so new to me,” so bear with me as i figure it out. Well, it was a great class today, the kind of class i want to have more of. Thank you. lots of luv, m

Today is the kinda day where I just wanna stay home and eat chocolate chip cookies and watch south park. What is it that bikram says, 90 years of daily suffering or 90 minutes of suffering a day? I guess that’s reason enough to leave the birdhouse. Yoga isn’t just good for the body, it’s good for low self-esteem and confidence issues—mental things that can also cause a person to suffer daily. “Seems fine, though it ain’t, no,” (thanks Victoria.) If you can’t love yourself, then no one else will. And what’s the first step to loving yourself? Staying healthy, doing your daily yoga practise. So I finally made it to practise and I was happy I did. I love my classes with T and I was able to lose myself with her voice. Bending a little more, going a little further, not consciously and not even acknowledging it really. just observing it, taking it in. it felt real nice. Without as many bodies in the room, there was plenty of air to go around for nice floor breaths and when practise was over I think I could have been ready for another round! Although a second round is prolly what this yogi needs today, I don’t think I’m quite there yet. namaste, m

I get caught up in the physical aspects of my practise a little too much sometimes. The past few days, the class leaders have really been enablers to that side of my practise. So it was nice to have practise with small a today. The way she leads us makes my practise more of an “emotional rescue” (thanks mick & keef) rather than an emotional rollercoaster. Working things out that you might not get to in the “real” world. Her analogy was like cleaning out the cobwebs behind the ’fridge, except in your mind. And your body too because we’re also concentrating on where our body is today and where we need work today. That’s a part of practise I always forget—it’s only about today and where you are *today*. If you have to savasana out a set, who cares? That’s where you are today! The water crutch is disrespectful to your fellow practisers, but if that’s what you need today, then that’s what you need. For 90 minutes, we’re all working on the same poses, working in the same breath. We’re all one and equal, it doesn’t matter if it’s your first day, your 31st day in a row or if you’ve been practising for years, for 90 minutes we’re all equal and the same. If you can’t hold the pose or feel like you just can’t go on, don’t chug on your klean kanteen like it’s a chocolate peanut butter milkshake, be respectful and just breathe along. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself today, we’ll see how far that gets me tomorrow. namaste, m

Guess what? guest teacher today! Kind of a different style than the teachers we have at our studio. Is this how they do bikram on the east coast? I’m joking, of course, but not really. The standing series was more pressing and urgent, while the floor series was blessed with generous savasanas. I could really feel an energy rush during ardha-kurmasana (tortoise)! Before going into it, I was really feeling kinda winded. I gave it my all anyway and felt great afterwards! It was kinda cool, I gave the pose all the energy I had, but got more than i started with in return. And for a change, I was ready for ustrasana (camel)! The rest of practise was still a struggle, but not as much as it has been the past couple of days. So, I think my tortoise helped in that regard! That was fun, can we do it again tomorrow? ~m

Did everyone make it to monday practise? I hope so. If you were in my class today then you know it was hot even though the class was light! What’s up with that? I was hoping for a nice, easy practise where I could cast my water bottle aside. No such luck, actually, I was thirsty for water before practise even started. But that’s another story. So, another fun class today, this time with K. I did something i never did before, but it wasn’t good! I fell over backwards during the third part of utkatasana! I was so surprised, I laughed! I think I got distracted in the mirror, trying to make sure my torso was straight. Last night I was looking at some old sports illustrated photos that made me think I need to work on my alignment. This is old, but If you want to see an nfl player doing a perfect awkward pose, try that link. 12 of the poses are photo’ed in all. His salabhasana is pretty great too. And I like the pictures of the yogis in the background. It’s gotta be good to practise with their images in the room. That’s a nice touch that I wish my studio had. Does your studio have yogi pictures up? ~m

Today “the great 28” is more than just the essential chuck berry collection, it also marks 28 days in a row of sweating in a hot, humid room while bending in the oddest of positions. Wow. It’s been awful, amazing, sweaty, fun and prolly a lot more adjectives than i can think of right now. J led class today so I knew it was gonna be a sweaty workout and that we were gonna be holding poses a lot longer than usual. The challenge makes me think of the aerobic-type exercises I used to do and the fun I had doing them. Like yesterday, I was pretty liberal with my water crutch today. But I was having fun, so I felt okay with it for today, but tomorrow, I gotta get offa that, ya know? Because even though I felt like my floor series was better all-around today, it still din’t feel right since I was waterboy today. okay, that’s enough self-deprecation for today. positive thoughts, right? namaste, m

I really should know better. With so many people in the room, it was gonna get stifling hot. and me so weak. today i was so distracted with water that I think tomorrow i’m not even going to bring in any with me. It’s too much of a distraction. Well, we’ll see how i feel about this tomorrow, but for now I am upset that I let myself get so weak. This is a lot harder than any aerobic workout I’ve ever done. and the sad thing is, I don’t think it gets any easier. I think that’s why bikram calls it a torture chamber—it really is sometimes! Oh my gosh, I could barely focus my eyes as I staggered out of the studio today. I love the way I feel after such a grueling practise. That post-yoga fog feels so good! When I think of all the saturdays I wasted in other torture chambers, it makes a day like today feel really special. namaste, m

Happy friday friends! I hope your practise was as super-great as mine was today! It was so hot and sweaty! I let my concentration lapse with small water drops from my bottle. I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help myself (it’s like the same way I’ve been with peanut m&ms lately)! It’s an embarrassing lack of discipline on my part. But at least I’ve had the discipline to practise everyday! You know I thought my streak was gonna break earlier in the week. I kinda tweaked my lower back the other day. So I really took it easy that night and then in the morning, it was still tweaked. Instead of skipping practise, I told myself that I was just gonna take it easy and not try anything that my back wouldn’t like. You wanna know what? After practise, my back felt 100% normal! So, no matter how regular your practise, you gotta take one for the team (yourself) and play through your injury. I did and afterwards, it was like it never even happened. I was so stoked. So, I’ve developed enough discipline to practise every day, now I just gotta work on cutting out the water crutch so I can focus on *all* 26 poses, not just the first 20 or so! namaste ~m

This practise is a give and take. Sometimes you make advances in one pose while losing ground in others. At least that’s the way I feel today. I had such a good padangustasana today! Well, good for me, okay? But then my poses towards the end of practise felt so sloppy! Am I like the Seeds and “pushing too hard” at the beginning? I do run out of gas at the end. I know, I’m supposed to let go of today and there’s another practise tomorrow. But still, people are getting up early to go to 6 am practise, just so they can do an advanced class at 8! I can barely finish the beginning class! And I don’t know how I would have done if T hadn’t stood on my feet during one of our “upside-down” savasanas! Energy really does flow through one person to another and today I needed that pick up for sure! Time to let go of today and get ready for tomorrow! ~m

Today is bob marley’s birthday and what better way to celebrate? Ninety minutes of sweating it up in a bikram studio! Appropriately enough, today’s class was pretty lighthearted. I don’t think I’ve laughed during practise as much as I did today! It was nice to laugh and then be able to focus and get into whatever pose was next. Before practise, I did a set of padangustasana (toe stand). Since we only do one set during our practise, i thought an extra set beforehand would help me out a little. Everyday I get a little better with this pose. I think it helps that I don’t have to lock the knee! Actually, that’s why I’ve been trying so hard to learn this pose because it strengthens the knees and that’s what I could use! During some of the poses my knees feel so weak and feeble when I'm trying to lock them out. So, I figure strong knees will make it easier. Who knows? Although humor was nice today, my favorite part of practise was when small A showed us a perfect dandayamana-bibhaktapada-paschimotthanasana! This is the pose that makes me feel like such a beginner and to see her example it for us, well, my week may have been made. Exaggerating your chest forward is a good way to start. I’d been going forward with my chest, but when she added “exaggerate” to the mix, it helped. There is so much to that pose! It’s going to be a hard one to put together, but I remember my first month of practise when I used to stare dumbfounded at my practisemates as they went into toe stand! I remember thinking “I’ll never be able to do that.” Now I’m trying to get in an extra set before practise! I know there’s a lesson in there somewhere, isn’t there? All I know is that learning padangustasana has been way harder than it was learning to drive clutch! Until tomorrow friends... ~m

Oh, what a day! When practisers from the class before melt out of the studio, you know it’s gonna be a hot one. During the standing series, I had a couple of moments before I went into some of my poses, where I could only stand still because I couldn’t see or feel anything. Well, I could see, but I think my eyes were glassed over from the heat. Even the floor series was rough. A couple of people bailed but then came back. I don’t like that, stay in the room! But I have to admit, when that door opened and the cool air sneaked in, I was not complaining! In fact, I was even hoping more people would have left! Not really, but you get what I mean, it seemed way too hot. Sure wasn’t 130, but it felt hot anyway. L actually did turn on the fan towards the end of the floor series which was enough of a pick-me-up for me. I tried my best to focus, but it was hard to concentrate and meditate on the poses today. I knew it was the heat distracting me, so I tried to put it out of mind, but that is easier said than done. L has such a nice voice, she’s perfect for leading class—two days in a row, too! So despite the heat, I think we were a bunch of lucky yogi(ni)s! ~m

Another crowded room and another day with a new face leading practise. In retrospect, I guess it wasn’t really that crowded and Lia has led at least one of my practises before. Still, it was a little warm, or was that the lack of food this morning? I did have an apple, but it was a small one. It’s that delicate balance between too much food and not enough. I found myself lagging a little towards the end, but not too bad. Not enough to make me feel like I should have had more to eat, I guess. Anyway, it was a good practise. Someone wanted to leave the room and get some fresh air—L made her stay! I love that! Hey, it’s warm, I’d like some fresh air too, but you gotta stay in the room, just like the rest of us. We’re all one, remember, and when you submit to defeat, it doesn’t help the rest of us. Sometimes it seems like just a little kernal of doubt in the room can wipe out the entire class. But today was a strong class despite all that. And I could really feel a difference in my dandayamana-bibhaktapada-paschimotthanasana! I still can’t do it right, but today I could feel my spine stretching when I reached with my chest! Right now that pose is a big white whale to my practise. It’s almost an effort just to keep my knees locked, but isn’t that the problem with every pose? Lock the knee! There’s other poses I can’t do fully, but at least feel like I’m “getting there.” I know it can be slow, but it’s so frustrating, I know what I *want* my body to do! Doing it is another story. Patience, I know. Until tomorrow! ~M

Wow, another new face leading practise today—that makes twice this week! Not used to so much switching up, but I like variety. That’s why I always try and practise in a different spot everyday. Today I picked the spot right next to the teacher’s box at the front of the room. Oh boy, my ears got blown out today! She never left the box, i don’t think! But seriously, I had a weird moment during dandayamana-bibhaktapada-janushirasana (standing separate leg head to knee pose) and I had to literally abandon the pose and head straight for the ground. It wasn’t pretty, but I had to—from the inside of my hip, it felt like my whole right leg was about to collapse any moment. That used to happen a lot to me, where I would get this weird feeling inside my hip and a leg would give out on me. It hasn’t happened in a long time, but today, it seemed like it was about to happen. But once I got on the ground, I felt normal again and joined the class on the turn to do the other leg. That’s one of my favorite poses, not just because i like the way the indian name sounds, but it requires a lot of abdominal strength to curl down, and it feels so good when you do it. At least I think so anyway. Well, other than that, it was another hot and crowded class. A super way to start super sunday! Oh the asana championships were yesteday! I hope they end up on youtube. I checked kcal 9 for coverage, but din’t see any. I was hoping for Stacey Butler to be down there covering the competition! Maybe next year, right? ~m

p.s. 21 straight!

Happy groundhog’s day fellow yogis & yoginis! Could you see your shadow as you were doing tuladandasana today? You know how your body sags when you’re not holding balancing stick correctly? Umbrella territory. Tall A caught me sagging a little into umbrella territory today. Tuladandasana has been one of my favorite poses ever since she had it demonstrated back in december. I love the way you sweat in that pose! When you breathe in through your nose and you slowly inhale small drops of sweat that are trying to fall down to your mat. It’s so hard to concentrate because of the sweat. Sometimes it feels like my eyeballs and contacts are soaking in puddles of sweat, but I never wipe it away. Too much energy wasted and you’re gonna sweat anyway, right? Besides, I love to sweat! Don’t you? Today was hot and humid, with lots of unfamiliar faces again. A little too hot for me, as I went for the cold bottle to the face pose again. And even with all the new haircuts, it wasn’t really that bad, I think it was just a matter of not being ready for practise today. But that’s what tomorrow is for and even though it’s sunday (and super bowl sunday, no less), I’ll see you at 10! ~m

Happy February everyone! I hope your month starts out as well as mine has. I took an early practise this morning. It was a weird feeling, being in my comfort zone, but feeling like a stranger, practising with so many new faces. Well, T was there and B was leading, so at least there were 2 people that I’m used to practising with. Not that I was nervous practising around new faces, like when I first started practising, but still, I think you know what I mean. Anyway, it was a great practise! Nice and warm, but still breathable since there were only about 15 people in the room. B always pushes his class and even though it was early, today was no exception. I like the extra push and with such a breathable room, the challenge was more on the fun side than the exhausting side. Still no progress with my dandayamana-bibhaktapada-paschimottanasana, but what else is new. An early practise, new faces, not a bad way to start the month off! ~m