Biting the bullet and going for 101

Well, 2010 is over. And it seems that it was a bit of a rough one. I knew that the move wouldn't be easy, but I guess I didn't take into account how hard it would be to completely uproot my whole life like that. Finding a steady job, adjusting to living with my crazy mom, figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life, and getting into a new yoga routine - all of that was far more difficult than I bargained for. But just a bit over a year later and I think that *maybe* I have finally hit my stride...

So my original plan was to get a job (any job) at Scripps Healthcare so that I could take advantage of priority admission for their employees to the Grossmont Nursing program. I applied for every job posting that seemed I was remotely qualified for - but it just wasn't happening. I took several temporary/promotional type sales jobs just to have some income in the meantime and by July I was pretty much demoralized. That's when I started researching other options and accidentally came across a relatively new flex-time Doctor of Physical Therapy program in San Marcos.

It's hard to explain but it was as if a light-bulb clicked on. I had always had sort of a cursory interest in PT but wrote it off thinking that my grades weren't good enough, it was too expensive, there wasn't a program in San Diego, blah, blah, blah. But with this option I saw hope because it would totally be possible to work during the first couple of years of the program. Yes - there are more pre-requisites, so it's going to be a long haul. But this resonates with me so much truer than nursing ever did.

They say that when you truly decide on something then things just fall into place. And that's what happened to me. Within a month I had found a 3/4 time position doing outreach & marketing for a PT clinic in La Jolla. Right around the same time the non-profit I used to work for in Hawaii contacted me about doing contract work for them - basically running one of their programs long distance. The funding for the non-profit contract didn't come through in the Fall but thanks to my job being flexible and not full time, I was able to go through a 200 hour training as a Yoga Instructor & Somatic Movement Therapist through the Natural Healing Institute. Long term I think that I want to incorporate physical therapy with yoga therapy so this training was a good start in that direction. The thing is now that I am done, I feel like I have only scratched the surface of my yoga education. So I applied to go through Shiva Rea's 300 hour teacher training over the course of the next 1-2 years.

But before I start this next training, I was feeling like I needed to do some serious Spring Cleaning. So I signed up to do a 30 Day Challenge at Bikram Kearny Mesa. I went 6 days in a row and then came down with a pretty bad cold that has had me coughing for the last 10 days. I am to the point now where ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!! I haven't had a cold that lasted this long in 2 years. Which tells me that I need to get back to a regular daily yoga practice once and for all.

So I have decided to do 101 days of Bikram in the studio. I've been toying with the idea since I first read Mary Jarvis' avocation of doing 101. (Read it HERE.) When I still lived in Hawaii I did something like 127 consecutive daliy yoga practices but I would only go to the studio 3-4 times a week and practice at home with a dvd on the other days. The idea of doing 101 daily Bikram classes in the studio completely intimidated me, to be honest.

That's one of the good things about going through the 200 hour training. I realized that I know a whole lot more about yoga than I realized and that I have a pretty strong practice - especially for not being the most consistent over the last 3 1/2 years since I took my first class. Now is the time to get consistent. Now is the time for me to do a 101 Day Bikram Challenge.

I am working 2 jobs and I will be taking classes towards my PT pre-requisites. But it doesn't matter. I NEED to do this and there is no time like the present. My journey starts tomorrow and I will try to document it here to the best of my ability.

Anyway thanks for joining me.

Namaste.