I'm Still Here

     Hey. I'm still here. I know it has been so quiet around this place. Things are shaking up at work. I have resumed my practice after yet another bout of absence. I guess I have to accept that it's part of the journey and what this blog is all about. To document everything--good and bad--that will happen along the way. The good thing is it the 5th consecutive day I am going to yoga. The bad is....this is happening after another bout of an almost week-long absence. The alibis reasons...Saturday--it rained so hard I was told it was flooded already in the area near to the studio. Sunday--it's Sunday! God declared it as a day of rest! Who am I as a mere mortal to oppose the omnipotent? Monday--I should get half a credit for this. I dressed up. I went out. It's just that....I didn't make it on time. And you know how it is, if you don't make it by the end of second set Pranayama breathing...then don't bother coming in. Tuesday--sleepy. Wednesday--sleepy again. I promise promise promise this will be the last day I will have this excuse reason. Yeah, right.
    Thursday--she rose again!! Well, here's my yoga calendar to make the story short. Yes, I track my attendance. In purple are days I practiced, in yellow are the days I paid for another month and started a new package.

     It's not all that bad for July, right? I have a good start this month, save for August 3. Last Saturday it rained so hard and the area going to the studio is INDEED flooded according to the news on TV.
    Upcoming posts--all about yoga wear, yoga mat, diet, etc. and my latest posture breakthrough! Coming up!

Just Go!

Three in a row! I practiced Friday, Saturday, and today Sunday. I have learned my lesson all too well that being absent for even just a day will negatively affect my practice overall. Instead of getting deeper into my poses and growing in my practice, every time I stop and come back all I'm doing is catching up over and over again.

I hope this time I will be able to keep it up. I proved to myself many times over that between going and not going (for some superficial reason) of course, going is always the better decision. I never regretted it after every class that I almost didn't go to.

So now I want to print these two words and put them everywhere--on my closet door which is the first thing I see when i wake up, on T-shirts, the whiteboard at my office workstation, everywhere! I'm talking about this:

JUST GO!!

Photo from altmnl.com

My Advanced Class Experience

So I find myself dragging the left side of my face across my sweat-soaked Aquazorb towel while my legs are trapped in lotus position trying to get up from a pose where I had to press both shoulders to the floor. I cannot untangle my legs to save my life and knew that I was in trouble when the teachers said "Change!" That pretty much sums up my experience attending an advanced class. Struggle, struggle, and more struggle.

An advanced class is composed of the 84 classic asanas practiced with the teacher demonstrating and taking the lead. 

Here is a poster featuring THE Bikram Choudhury doing all the poses in perfection. 

Photo from yogilifestyle.com

Even though I was nowhere near looking like ANY of the pictures above I was able to realize some things that would definitely help me in my yoga journey. 

1. More than anything, attending the advanced class broadened my horizons. It made me realize that beyond the 26 poses of the beginner's course there is so much more out there to aspire and achieve in this yoga journey.

2. It was an honor to witness strong and inspiring yogis performing pose after pose in utter perfection. 

3. The advanced class made the beginner's course look...easy! Although I know it is NOT at all a walk in the park, I'm sure that my experience in the advanced class will help me pull through when I'm in the middle of the poses that are more challenging to me like Standing Head to Knee. 

Photo from ohmybikram.wordpress.com

It will remind me that there are far more difficult poses than probably the one I am in. 

This is all of us after the class. Yay, we made it to the end!

Newsworthy Kind of Normal

Day 2 of the comeback is so much more...normal. The way I'd like it to be. I was able to do all the poses and didn't sit at all. I even got a couple of 'very good' praises from Teacher Nikoy during backbend and standing bow. Were my classmates that bad? Hahaha.

It still holds true that whenever the teacher would say the lines.. 'Lean back, fall back, go back, way back, more back...' it's like a magic spell to me. I manage to bend some more even though I feel that I'm at my fullest, bendiest expression. During standing bow, I think I was the only one who was holding the pose until the end. But of course! I was on my stronger leg and it is my favorite pose! 

In other news, I was invited by my yoga friend A to go to an advanced class tomorrow in Greenhills. First a beginner's class at 9:30AM then the advanced class at 12:00PM. You mean practicing yoga the majority of my day? I'd be bursting with fruit flavors if this happened two or three months ago when my yoga practice was much...uhm, better. I said yes to her already so there's no turning back. I have to be there! Let's see what amazing stuff tomorrow holds for me!

This is me in my best (although fleeting) ability in Japanese ham sandwich. This was taken around March this year. See what I meant when I said better?

Yogini, Interrupted

And so the journey starts with...a detour. I have not been practicing for over a month. The routine at home changed since school started and this is me trying to adjust (and refusing to part with my cash because I'm also in the middle of unplanned but necessary expenses left and right...but that's another story).

So here I am sitting and barely unable to move because yesterday was the first time after a long time that I went in for Bikram yoga. 

I expected for things to be difficult--to be stiff, unbendy, and to get tired easily--but was I in for a shock! I sat down and rested more times than I'd like to admit, had difficulty breathing, dizzy the whole time even in Savasana... I mean the worst feeling on the mat ever. I felt like my head was vibrating like Aquaman sending sonar waves to the Hall of Justice. 

In the middle of it all I was half convinced that it was a bad decision to go back but who am I kidding? I know I needed to sooner or later. Needless to say I made it to the end and decided that I will go back the next day. That is, after I spent half an hour recovering on the floor while the rest of the class got up and continued with their lives. I also realized how dehydrated I was to handle this comeback. I finished my near-liter of water plus two Gatorades. Did you catch that? Two bottles. TWO!

This parting shot is of my trusty water bottle that I noticed was beginning to peel its label. It must be losing hope that she will be used again by her owner and was on slow suicide mode.

This Journey

Spring of 2014. Mid-April of next year. It's just several months away until I fulfill one of the biggest dreams of my adult life.

Do you know what it feels like to chase a dream? To not give up and sacrifice knowing that every step you take and every decision you make in life from this point contributes to the fulfillment of that dream?

My goal is to become a certified Bikram Yoga teacher. I hope you watch this space as I document my adventures on my journey towards being just that. Here we go!