Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Milestone Monday

Lots of happenings.
Monday marked class 50 out of 60 in the 60 day challenge.
Monday I took the 6am class with Jackie.
Monday was my niece Scout's fourth birthday.
Monday was the day after Sunday when I took my mom and Kendall to yoga with me.
Monday was the beginning of the week that my parents are in Austin visiting.
Monday was the day before my birthday, TODAY.
TODAY I took the 6am yoga class with Jackie and the class sang Happy Birthday to me during tree pose.
Just found this article: Belly Flop, Amazing Underwater Dog Photography
Which led me to this Photographer: Seth Casteel
Which in turn led me to this new cause: Second Chance Photos
Which makes me smile...THIS BIG.

Friday, February 17, 2012

My Toes are Numb...

I guess that means I need to get into the hot room for some Bikram love.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

The most important thing in your life...

"The Most Important Thing In Your Life Is Your Life." - Bikram Choudhury
Take care of yourself. In whatever physical activity gets and keeps your heart pumping. Be kind to yourself. The most important thing in your life is your life.
I had a great Valentine's day with Dustin on Tuesday. It was probably our first real date night on a Valentine's since we met. Best part of the show was probably hearing Bob Schneider and the Orchestra and Tosca string quartet play Unforgettable. It was truly unforgettable, loved it!
Last night in yoga I was inspired by Kathy. She is amazing. She's the current Texas Asana Champion and is moving on to Nationals in March. She shared her experience with us and it was totally inspirational. Bikram Yoga brought her back from depression and anxiety. She mentioned the Bikram quote I mentioned earlier and it was a great reminder that doing the 60 challenge is the exact right thing to do for myself for the time being and participating in Bikram Yoga for the rest of my life is a definite reality. I signed up for the Advanced class for next weekend and it was a reality check. Joining USA Yoga as an "athlete" is surreal. It means I can participate in Advanced class but it brings the idea of competing in the future to the forefront of my mind. Maybe I could do it in the future. I know my number one cheerleader would be Kendall. She was uber excited by the idea of "competing" with yoga, especially when she saw Kathy demonstrate her rock star moves. We'll see what happens.



Pure Challenge Inspiration from Today's Newsletter:
The posture you dread the most is the one you need the most! Give your least favorite posture some more love and you'll dread it less! I guess here's to me in Camel today in Lisa's class! Maybe today will be a triple camel day, it always seems to work out that way...no cheesecake class for me...

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Color Run, Corneal Edema & Life in Fast Forward

So its been a while. I got caught up in life, day to day, work, you know how it goes. You look up and its been almost three weeks since you stopped to think about writing down your life in your words.

Since my last entry I’ve completed 19 Bikram yoga classes, 90 minutes a day for 19 days. I’ve surpassed the midway point of the 60 day challenge and I’m over two thirds of my way to the end. Friday afternoon I celebrated my 40th day in a row with a Party Time at the Cedar Park studio with all my fellow yogis. It was amazing to actually meet and speak with some of the yoga students that I often recognize in classes with me but never get a chance to talk to. I met Kaylene who’s a high school art teacher that works in Killeen but lives in Round Rock and still makes it to as many classes as she can and pulls doubles on most weekends to keep up with the Challenge pace. There truly are some incredible stories and inspirations at Pure Bikram, especially Pure Bikram Cedar Park. The Smiling Happy Faces at the Cedar Park studio are as much an inspiration for all the teachers at Pure as they are to us students. After we snacked on Chuy’s nachos we gathered in the studio and listened to different students and teachers speak about their inspirations and why they do Bikram yoga. At the end of the talk we saw a demonstration by Kathy, Jeff and Sarah who are all Texas Yoga Champions from this season and are soon to be heading to New York to compete in the National Championships. The people I practice yoga with are truly amazing and all the inspiration I need to continue walking through the door each and every day throughout the challenge and beyond that. Why stop what your doing when its providing amazing benefits; mind, body and soul. A long time ago Dustin mentioned to me that yoga is like my religion, its my church when I walk into Pure Bikram. The whole mind body connection, 90 minute open eyed meditation, sweating my ass off - it puts me at ease, calms my mind and brings fresh oxygen back into each and every cell in my body.

I dragged Kendall with me to the party at the studio on Friday night and it was neat to see her experience the studio and actually listen to everyone speaking about yoga. She really wanted me to speak about my experience and share why I came in to Pure but I was enjoying finding the inspiration from others. She also recognized a fellow yogi as a classmate’s mother. We were sitting listening to people talk about yoga and she kept saying ‘I think that’s Parker’s mom.’ Turns out it was and she was just as confused since she had met Kendall’s mom before and here was this little girl that looked like Kendall hanging out with Amanda. Its a small world for sure.

In other events over the past few weeks, last Saturday we did the Color Run and it was a muddy and colorful mess. We had a great time. Actually did the mud trudge with Dustin, Kendall, myself and Mandy. It was an adventure that none of us especially Kendall will ever forget and if the Color Run returns to Austin we will for sure participate again, Mud and all.

Don’t ever mess with your eyesight. On Tuesday morning I woke up with severe pain, swelling and discomfort in my right eye. Upon a Dustin review of what my eye looked like after prying it open, ‘your eye is 3 times the size it should be’ we headed to the emergency room. According to the ER doctor I had a Corneal abrasion. A large enough scratch that both Dustin and the doctor could see it with out any special lights. I got some medicine and a pirate patch, set up a follow up appointment with my eye doctor and rested that afternoon. On Friday afternoon I had my appointment with Dr West and was extremely surprised to find out that I actually had a Corneal Edema aka Ulcer. Before Friday I never knew you could have an ulcer on your eyeball but now I’m living proof. My contacts are the culprit in this ulcer of the eyeball and apparently if the ulcer doesn’t heal completely a dry eye and eyelid can exacerbate it again. Its glasses for me until at least Tuesday but I’m definitely more aware of my eye health now then ever. If I hadn’t taken my contacts out on Monday night it could have been ten times worse than it actually was on Tuesday morning. And yes I did do yoga on Tuesday evening, eye patch and all. It was a little difficult to balance during the balancing series of postures but I successfully completed a pirate-like Bikram yoga practice.  Nothing like an added challenge to my 60 day challenge.