For those of you who don't know, my husband, Osvaldo, is a photographer. To check out some of his photography skills visit his website: http://osvaldocontreras.com. (Currently it is under construction and he is adding more of his work portfolio as we speak)
As his wife, its kind of my unoffical job to be his "lab rat" / "test model" when he gets new gear. Which is fun but can also have its hazards. Like holding postures for a yoga photo shoot in a freezing cold parking garage.
A week or two ago, the hubby got some new camera flashes in and needed a test subject. He wanted to experiment with the flashes and sports photography, which worked out great for me, because I really wanted some new pictures of my practice. So last Saturday we did this shoot.
In order to get limber enough for the shoot, I did a Double back to back then headed out to meet the hubby at the photo shoot location. The day was really nice outside in the sun, but in this parking garage it was really, really cold! In between shots and setups I had to keep moving and stretching to keep limber and warm. You'd think holding a posture for a picture would be easy! Oh my God it was HARD!!! I got all nervous and was falling out of postures all over the place, you'd think I was posing for Bikram himself.
Anyway here are the results from the fruits of our labor. Enjoy.
Standing Bow
Standing Forehead to Knee
Half Moon
If you like what you see and want some photos taken, check out his website and contact him to set up a meeting.
So, what about class? How does it feel now that I am about 2/3 of the way done with this challenge? Well, mostly allI can say is that classes have been going by super fast. Which means that I'm starting to have fun in class. I feel like we get into half moon and the next thing you know we are doing the camel and I'm thinking "Whoa, we're almost done already?!?!"
This happened to me this morning (class 42). I woke up at the butt crack of dawn (5:15am) to get to the studio for the 5:45am class and the instant I woke up I was super groggy. I was tempted to hit the snooze button and go back to bed but Cicely was going to the 5:45am class and I didn't want to let her down. So, I drove to the studio in a haze. The haze didn't fully clear up for me at all, this was not my best class. But our teacher (Tyler) was fantastic. He kept the energy up and coaxed us to do more and more in each set.
I started off the class feeling like the class would never end and was thinking to myself, "this class is going to be so long" and "the room isn't hot enough, I can't get into the postures" I was making all kinds of excuses. But slowly with his dialogue, encouragement and some motivating, Tyler won me and my negative thoughts over. Then the next thing you know my negative mind chatter had ceased and I realize that we were in the middle of the second set of camel and class was almost over. Crazy how that works out. By the time class had ended I was out of my haze and was seriously on a Bikram high or as I like to call it "yoga stoned." It's amazing what the support of a fantastic teacher can do!
I was so happy I dragged by butt into class, because the rest of my (which was a busy one) went so smoothly and I actually had enough energy to get through the entire day. Tomorrow I plan to greet the sun on my way to my next 5:45am class and start the day off right. Hot and sweaty!
Classes 39 and 40 are done, they are mine I own them! I have marked them down on my report card. 20 classes closer to the end of the Challenge!
This is short and sweet, because I am meeting Cicely at the 5:45am class tomorrow. I know I'm crazy, but I have stuff to do after work and I need to get this class done. 5:45's are always hard initally (its the waking up that sucks) once you get in there is all down hill from there.
I'll tell you if it sucked or not tomorrow. Good night yogis!
Sunday I did yet another Double for the sole reason of going to the Advanced class. Before doing Advanced, you need to first do regular yoga, so that your body is warmed up and loose enough to do the postures in the Advanced class. I took my first class (my warm up class) with Eddy and it was fun and hilarious! He always knows how to motivate everyone and keep us all going. About half way through class, everyone was dropping to their mats like flies. So in true Eddy fashion, he sung for us, did some stomping and pretty much lifted everyone's mood to get us going through the class.
Side note: The night before we had our Mid-Term party at TnT (Tacos and Tequila) many of the students in class were at the party the night before and me thinks they might have enjoyed more the tequila rather than the tacos. But that is just my theory.
Right after Eddy's class, I was feeling pretty good and was excited! This month, as part of the Challenge the studio opened its Advanced class to everyone who wants to know what the heck it is. So for Sunday's class there was a pretty significant number of us who took Eddy's class and stayed for Advanced and more people were coming on in as the class drew nearer. It was a bit exciting and I was most excited that my friends Tiffany, Cicely, and Tina were all there to experience the class with me!
Here is the think about Advanced class, its crazy hard. Not in the same sense as the Beginning Bikram Yoga class, but in a totally different way. I've been to Advanced class a handful of times before, but don't go regularly, which is a problem. To really do Advanced, you need to go often so you can be more bendy and so that when the insturctor asks you to be able to look at your own ass, you can. Yes this is a posture. Here is a picture for proof:
Aside from being hard as hell, it is a super humbling experience. You might feel all bad ass in regular class and feel like "Damn I got this" but once you go to Advanced, it knocks you down a few pegs. But all in all, Advanced class is actually pretty fun. At our studio at least, its way more laid back. You test things out, try them a couple of times then move on to the next posture. I can really only do about three advanced postures correctly (in the full expression of the pose) out of 84 asanas! Yea, apparently for Advanced you need ubber open and flexible hips, which I don't have - but i'm working on it.
On Saturday, I spend like 4 hours doing yoga related activities. I did my usual double, so right there thats three hours of Bikram Yoga (if your counting).
The fist class was the 9:30am with the awesome Jackie Mistler! As you know, I love love love love her classes. Anyway Saturday was her birthday! Gotta love her dedication! I love myself some Bikram Yoga, but I'm not sure if I'd spend the majority of my birthday in the hot room. I am glad she decided to spend a good chunk of her day with us in the hot room, because we had some birthday fun with her during class. In the second set of triangle, we busted out Happy Birthday and it was actually really good and lifted everyone's spirits too! (At the studio I go to, for people's bdays, we usually sing Happy Birthday during the second set of triangle) Y'all are doing to think I'm crazy (more so than the usual) but I gotta admit, singing during that second set ALWAYS makes triangle so much easier for me, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with taking my mind off the fact that my thigh is shaking and trembling. Class # 35 with Jackie Mistler ended on a happy note!
About an hour later I took Class # 36 with Mardy Chen at 12:00pm. This class was a bit harder for me mentally, because I was starving. I totally forgot my granola bar snack at home (I usually snack on a small granola bar in between Doubles to keep my hunger at bay) so my tummy was definitely a rumblin'. Despite the fact that I was hungry as hell, my practice was ridiculously good and I didn't fidget as much as I normally do. Crazy huh?!? Before I knew it, class was over and it was time to head out to meet the hubs for our photo shoot.
The husband, Osvaldo, and I spent about an hour and half taking pictures and trying out different shots (blog post on the shoot to come). If you are counting that brings the total of hours of yoga to 4.5. This doesn't sound like much, but anyone who has done Bikram Yoga and has done a Double back to back can tell you that - that is quite a bit of yoga for one day. The photo shoot was really fun but by the time we were done it was 3:30pm and I was starving! I had only eaten oatmeal for breakfast that day. Needless to say, I ate my weight in food. Just kidding, but I did totally go to town on some fries and chile con queso. (Don't knock it. It's soo good. Its just how we roll in Texas - queso on everything).
Later that night we headed out to Tacos and Tequila (TNT) for the Pure Challenge Mid - Term party. There were so many of us yogis out there it was ridiculous! Seriously, it was hard to move through the crowd and hard to say hi to everyone. But I finally got to introduce the hubs to my yoga family, which was a really nice treat because he doesn't know any of them. I know, shocker! But, the hubs isn't a yogi at all, which many people thought was strange. But either way, I'm glad my fellow yogis met him and that he got to meet all the crazies I do yoga with.
On the to do list for today:
Its a day full of yoga and yoga related things! So excited for the day! Stay tuned for more blogging!
5:30am, was the time that I woke up on Friday. Why on earth did I wake up that early on a Friday? For Jackie Mistler's 6:00am class, thats why. Waking up for her class is totally worth it. Of course when I initially woke up, I wanted to get right back into bed, but once I was at the studio in the hot room, it was all good. And might I add the rest of my day was awesome! I had tons of energy and was really productive in the morning!
The class went by so quickly! I'm not sure if was because of Jackie's energy or if it was because I had a lot of energy. It also could be a combination of the two. Either way I had a great class. Teachers always tell us to mix up / switch up our practice and take class at different times of the day. My practice was totally different at 6:00am than at 5:30pm. In the morning I had way more energy but was less flexible in the 1st set of all the postures, and I had to really work hard to get in the postures deeper (which was okay, because I actually had the energy to push myself). At 5:30pm, I'm more flexible and its easier for me to get into the postures in the 1st set, but my energy level is really low.
I'm so glad I took the 6:00am class and am thinking of making it a habit and part of my weekly routine to take Jackie's 6:00am on Fridays. I think doing this will help me quite a bit in my practice. Turns out, waking up early does have great benefits after all.
Class 32 has been marked of the list! You'd think that I'd be a lot skinner now that I am doing Bikram Yoga every single day, but sadly that is not the case. Since I've started the challenge, I've gained weight! I know my weight isn't the end all be all, but I'm really bummed out that I've gained weight during the challenge. Despite the fact that I've packed on a couple of pounds (about five or six) I feel fantastic and feel really strong and fit. So, really the weight shouldn't' matter to me, but it totally does.
Suffer with me as I take on my first 60 Day Bikram Yoga Challenge at Pure Bikram Yoga
