Break Fast

Hoped to get to Bikram but set my priorities to getting prepared for work tomorrow. If I don't make it today, tomorrow is the official start. I'll go to the 6pm or 8pm class.

One thing I've noticed is that since Melissa gave me a hard time about the water and told me to breathe deeply through the postures instead, I haven't needed water like I did before. When she told me that, I found it hard to believe but I tried it and it does work. I do drink a lot before class, however. Somewhere I read that you hydrate about one hour ahead which gives you time to pee. Then I sip before class begins. Then, during class I only need water when they say "party time" and just before fixed firm. Oh and just before savasana at the end of class. So that's the three.

Also, I don't wipe away the sweat with a towel anymore because someone said that the sweat helps you to cool. So now, I wipe my forehead with my hand occasionally just to get the sweat out of my eyes. By the way, as a result of the recent cleanse, the sweat doesn't sting my eyes. Not that it was a bad sting. But I've noticed that it's less salty. Finally, the heat doesn't bother me like it in the beginning where I was swearing to Melissa that I had gotten heat stroke from a class and that's why I needed to pour the ice water on my head and was drinking between every other posture.

Finally, I've noticed since I first began I felt good after class but was totally wiped out and unable to do anything else. Now, however, I feel great but also energized.

I'm preparing brown rice and miso soup with shitake mushrooms and seaweed. I'm half-Japanese so this sounds good to me. Not that I normally have that for breakfast! I'm half redneck too. Eggs, grits, toast, fresh OJ, coffee. mmmmmm.

Glad to be eating again because this means I can return to Bikram five times a week. I know that the schedule will be tight because I will be so busy returning to work. But they do have 8pm classes....

As I was looking in the fridge, I saw the bag of organic apples I bought because the cleanse highly recommends raw organic apple juice. I had thought/hoped that I'd be able to juice them but that didn't happen. Which lends me to conclude that I was right!

I was right to buy the kit!..."Know thyself."

The Fast is Ended

The first couple of days took some discipline as I craved something to eat, I was surprised to find that I had few cravings. I love coffee and didn't want any. I did enjoy drinking some mint tea a couple of times. And a few times I had a vegetable broth with miso. The soup was comforting and satisfying as it was hot and probably because it was vegetable based vs fruit (apple). Maybe the apple juice countered any sweet cravings. I don't know. But I was amazed that I sat through an entire Italian dinner and was content to simply inhale. And last night at the movies, I could smell the popcorn and was fine with my bottle of water knowing that the fast was coming to an end.

As I'm still seeing "results" when I go to the bathroom, it makes me want to continue the cleanse a day or two more but I won't have the energy for work tomorrow. So I will have to eat today. However, it does inspire me to eat more healthily and LESS!

I lost six pounds during this process. The goal, however, was to kick-start a focus on health this year, which is why I've started doing Bikram.

Anyways, the cleanse is done! Yay! I made it! It was successful!

Alright!

4pm class w/Doug

Day 8 of Colon Cleanse.

Felt even better at this class.

Standing postures. Again, muscles fatigued easily. But, not as easily as before. Strange, am I used to not eating now? Holding my arms up in the standing postures became a chore but I did it. Something that never happened before.

Warrior pose. Kinda gave out the very last one. More to do with the cleanse than anything else.

Tree pose. Seemed that the legs went further into the posture, particularly the right leg which is more flexible in this posture.

Floor postures.

Wind removing posture. Now this is an easy and relaxing posture. However, I was stunned to find how much calmer the body was during this pose. So much has been eliminated from the digestive system and this posture is related to those organs, so that would make sense.

Fixed Firm. A pose I did easily in my youth. Some days, I ease right into it. Other days not. Today, my legs were completely flexible and flat on the floor.

Locust Pose. Both legs are going up now. Not great form but it's happening. Not diet related. Just strengthening.

Camel - a little dizziness due to the fast, but I was okay.

Rabbit - My head touched my knees and stayed there as I bent forward into rabbit. That has not happened before.

Overall much better flexibility (diet). Muscle fatigue so that I cannot sustain a hold in the standing postures (diet).

Observations & Conclusion
Two people have asked me what have I done because I look so "bright-eyed".

I felt the body become much much calmer, particularly during the Bikram sessions. However, I would need to eat something, to have a little energy to do the postures.

The literature with the cleanse kit talked about toxicity in the body being related to emotions like anger. I've heard this before too. Basically, because the body's energy is consumed with overcoming the effects of toxicity that it is stressed, resulting in emotions like anger. Well, we know that mental stress can result in angry reactions. While I have theoretically thought this made sense, I now know that it does from this experiment.

While I realize I need to eat something in order to function... I haven't been able to concentrate as well as I normally can when doing work and the muscle fatigue....I'm also amazed at how little I need to eat. I eat way more than I need.

Happy Birthday to Me

Woke up this morning and soon after the phone rang. It was my brother calling to wish me happy birthday. Yay. I was talking to him on the phone and mixing the packet for the colon cleanse with apple juice when I happened to look outside and noticed my car covered in balloons and a banner wishing me happy birthday! How sweet! Well, normally I drink the concoction immediately followed by 8 to 12 ounces of water. But because of the surprise outside and my brother on the phone I forgot. When I returned to the kitchen, about 15 min later, I saw that the drink had turned to a beige sludge. I can't drink something that thick. ugh. Luckily, they had sent a few extra packets so I poured it out and started again.

Got my hair cut, colored and highlighted, and it looks great. Then I was surprised with a little birthday celebration by my husband and some of my in-laws. Unfortunately, my husband did NOT tell them that I was on this strict 'sand-juice' diet. So there was a cake that I could not eat. Dinner at an Italian restaurant that I couldn't eat and champagne that I couldn't drink! He should have told them. Amazingly, I didn't really crave anything. Though I did inhale deeply. Tomato sauce, garlic, parmesan. mmmmm... Actually, I felt bad for them that they went to this trouble and I didn't consume. I drank water from the champagne glass. As Cindy said "are you nuts to do a fast on your birthday?!" Yes. I guess so. But there is never a good time. I couldn't do it while I was in Oregon and I can't do it when work starts Monday. I feel great but I am having some trouble concentrating.

Going in to get some work done tomorrow. Plan to go to Bikram. Maybe the 4pm class.

Early Morning Class

6am class with Afton.

Wow. I feel great. I didn't know how it would feel. Six a.m. class on the sixth day of a liquids only fast. I felt better in many respects but noticed that my muscles fatigued during the standing postures.

Half Moon. Towards the end, my arms fatigued and I had trouble keeping them up. First time.

Standing postures in general. Muscles just fatigued towards the end and a tendency towards dizziness. Found myself just saying hang on until the floor postures. That way, if you do faint, you'll be closer to the floor...

On the way to class, I was wondering how many people would be there. There were only five of us. Not good. Less people means more individual attention from the instructor. And as predicted..... Straighten your arms! Point your toes. Can you go back further? And the silent reply .... no.. no ... and no...

Well, I can safely say that the nazi party is alive and well. And they work at my Bikram yoga studio. In comparison, Eugene is also very strict but they push you to ensure that your form is correct while here, they also push you to go further in the posture. You have to know your body and decide whether to push further or not. Of course, our lead instructors compete in yoga so I appreciate their dedication and keep that in mind when they ask me to bend backwards more more more.

Uh-oh. Bikram burns a lot of calories. I'm very hungry now. Thank God I purchased all my supplies at once. Going to the grocery store now could be very dangerous.

I think I'll skip a day while on the fast. So I'll plan to go back on Saturday.

Bikram Yoga - Eugene Oregon

My first week in Oregon, I traveled with some very good friends. We flew into Portland, a very hip town, and visited the Columbia Gorge and visited some wineries then drove down the gorgeous Oregon coast. If you haven't been to Oregon... go! Well, in the summertime. I hear it gets pretty cold.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to the University of Oregon, where I'd be staying for the next four weeks, I had caught a cold.

By the middle of the second week I was feeling better so I bought this really cool pink beach cruiser to ride to Bikram class. There's a photo of it in front of the famous Hayward Field where some of the Olympic trials took place this summer.

What a wonderful place to ride a bike! Bike trails everywhere. The weather was so amazing. Bright sunshine, cool air, flowers of all different colors everywhere.Did you know that lavendar grows there? Try that in Florida. Then with less than a week of ownership, late on a Sunday night, the bike was S T O L E N. Less than a week and I had already grown so attached to that bike. Yes, I had a bike lock. But obviously, I didn't secure it properly. I know how, I lived in a university town for many years. But I was preoccupied thinking about a dinner at the director's house and what I was cooking that night. Squash southern-style, yum. Argh. I had been really good about my diet knowing that I'd be hitting the Bikram place soon. But after that, I just had to go to Bepe's with my new friends for a carb fest to drown my sorrows. Homemade fettucine to die for. I felt so low, I would have ordered dessert if I could have found the room. But I had stuffed myself on the pasta (and salad, and wine, and bread...)

I was informed that Eugene is one of top cities in the country for bike theft. So I began to reflect on the state of mind a person that goes around stealing bikes. You know that since it is part of their consciousness that they see other people differently. They see other people as plotting to do/take from them. They live in their own private hell while I got to see that there is goodness in the world when someone generously and graciously loaned me her bike. Which I double-locked during the day and took up to the dorm at night... thank you very much.

With the intense schedule at the summer institute, I wasn't able to go to Bikram as much as I had hoped. But I went and that was the main point. I just felt that it was very important to make the effort to keep the momentum going. Upon arriving, I was wondering how I was going to suffer and was surprised to find that I didn't. Could it be the lack of humidity in Eugene? Eugene has around 30% humidity while Florida has around, I don't know, 100%?! The dry vs wet heat was the difference between doing yoga in a sauna or a steam room. I didn't get enough sweat on my legs to wrap my legs around as much as I normally do for the eagle pose. So my toes didn't show.

Eugene is a very low-key place but they still care about the integrity of the yoga practice. So while there's no place like home, I enjoyed the difference.

I flew home on Saturday and got home very late at night. I decided that was a good time to start the nine-day colon cleanse. I ordered a colon cleanse kit from Blessed Herbs. Basically, I'm pouring a packet of clay/psyllium/ginger into a cup of organic apple juice 5x a day. I'm call it 'sand-juice'. Not to get graphic but if you click on the testimonials and look at the photos, well, that's what it looks like.

I started work on Monday. So travel-lag, time-lag, work-lag AND colon cleanse had me a bit preoccupied. However, the alarm is set and I plan to go to Bikram for an early morning SIX AM CLASS. Yes. Yes. Yes. I WILL DO IT. I AM BACK.