Home Practice - Bikram #88
Wednesday (5/5/09)

Home Practice - Bikram #89
Tuesday (5/6/09)

Bikram Hawaii Kai - class #90
Wednesday (5/14/09) 8:05 pm w/ Fiona

Bikram Hawaii Kai - class #91
Friday (5/15/09) 7:00 pm w/ Manny

I took a couple of classes at the Hawaii Kai studio just to change things up a bit. The studio is really nice. Wood floors, radiant heat, very clean and not at all smelly. But after taking these classes I realize that the teachers at Kaimuki are generally more difficult. They tend to hold most of the postures longer, sometimes a lot longer, even compared to the audio cd w/ Bikram himself. I guess that's a good thing. I am learning from the hardcore of the hardcore. A new perspective is still nice, though.

I leave for the Bay Area tomorrow. I am so very excited to see my family and a little nervous to get my tattoo. That means no yoga for me for the next couple of weeks. But I do promise to start back on June 1st - even if it's just at home. And I also promise to post pictures of my ankle once it has healed a little bit.

Aloha & Namaste

Home Practice - Bikram #87

I had a really good practice this evening. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, what with the fasting and all. I didn't sweat as much without the heat, of course. So I wasn't able to go as deep into a few of the postures. But much to my delight and amazement, I was actually able to go deeper into some of them. I was able to touch both hands to the floor pretty easily in toe stand, although I have still not figured out how to bend my standing knee to get my body down yet. And I was able to grab my elbows for the first time ever in the last part of wind-removing pose. Hmmm. Maybe I'm just less sore and stiff than usual after taking a week+ off. Overall I was very pleasantly surprised.

I really like doing the Beginner's Series along with the audio cd. I just love Bikram's personality. He reminds me of a dance teacher I had when I was in my teens. Tough as nails and always pushing you to your edge, but doing it with so much love and genuine concern for your personal well being. I enjoy the insight into the man, the legend. And I love feeling at least a little bit like I am taking yoga from the boss himself. When I move back to California I definitely want to drive to LA at least a couple times a month to take classes when he's in town.

Next time I think that I will try a space heater so that the room is at least a little bit warm. I mean it's not cold in Hawaii by any stretch of the imagination, but it's nowhere close to 105 degrees either. Hopefully that will get me a little bit hotter and juicier.

The Master Cleanse is going great. My sense of smell is on overdrive and foods smell *really* good, but I am not at all hungry and know that I will not break it. I am seriously on a mission this time. ;))

Hope everyone's doing well with their challenges, practices, teacher training, etc.

Aloha & Namaste

Bikram Kaimuki - class #85
Tuesday (4/21/09) 6:30 pm w/ Jeremy

Bikram Kaimuki - class #86
Sunday (4/26/09) 11 am w/ Gail

Sorry that I haven't written for a while. Life has kinda been happening and I've been slacking on the yoga. I had an old roommate of mine come to visit for 10 days. And then I went to stay with my sister and her family out at the Ko`olina Resort on the other side of the island for a few more days. Besides that I was also pretty busy with work and have been furiously studying for my final on May 13th whenever I can find a spare moment. SIGH. I have had a *really* hectic schedule and let the yoga slide a bit. The bigger problem is that I let my eating habits slide too.

Well now that the visitors are gone and I'm down to the 2 week countdown before my trip I have decided to do the Master Cleanse to wipe the slate clean. (I will be posting the nitty-gritty details on my Raw Mana blog.) While I am on this detox program I will be doing yoga at home and not going to the studio. I'm afraid that the heat will just be too intense for me while detoxing. And at home I am a lot more in control... I can stop the cd and take a rest if needed, I can go get more water/lemonade from the kitchen, etc... But I do hope to practice at least 10 times in the next 13 days before I leave.

Then I also plan to get my ankle tattoo while I am in the Bay Area. Which means another 2 weeks that I'll need to stay out of the studio. So basically, I need to keep up my practice at home for the entire month of May. But to *sort of* make up for being out of the studio for a month, I'm thinking about doing a 30 day challenge in June. I've checked my calendar and as of yet there are no events that will prevent me from doing the full 30 days consecutively. I do hope to do 101 days at some point. But 30 days without skipping would be a start.