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Hours spent over a 4-week period in a room heated to 108+ degrees with over 40% humidity: 45

Times I managed to actually do the full standing head-to-knee pose properly: 2

Yoga mat, yoga clothes, water bottle: $125

30 day unlimited pass to Bikram’s Yoga Studio of India: $150

Lessons learned from doing Bikram yoga for 30 days: Priceless

Doing any one thing for 30 days in a row is hard, no matter what that one thing is. Like my boyfriend said, “Even trying to take a nap every day for 30 days would be tough.” I knew going into it that it would be difficult, that was part of the appeal. I hoped to prove to myself that I could stick with it no matter how hard it was and walk away with a sense of accomplishment and a new skill, maybe even get in shape. I really had no expectation that I would learn anything new about myself just from doing hot yoga for 30 days in a row. In fact, I finished the challenge just over a week ago and it’s taken me until now to actually sort through everything I walked away with.

I can say without a doubt that the lessons learned from the whole experience are helping me refocus to make happiness more of a priority in my life. Why? It’s pretty simple. My free time inherently became more valuable when it dropped to just a few hours/week. And the more valuable something is, the better I tend to take care of it. While on the challenge I came to realize that certain things were worth dedicating a precious chunk of my free time to and other things weren’t. For example, I’m not one of those people who can just sleep less in order to fit more into her day. Sleep is not expendable for me. Quality time with friends, taking time to think, plan & set goals are not expendable for me. Working out isn’t expendable for me. I’m starting to look at anything that doesn’t fit into one of my priorities as a bonus – something additional I get to do that may enrich my life even more – but I’ve realized that whether or not I’m doing all of the “extras” there are a few core things in my life that I need to be doing to be happy, and those come first.

All-in-all, the 30 Day Yoga Challenge was absolutely worth it for me. Aside from the health benefits (better skin, more energy, more flexibility, muscle tone, etc.) it helped me realize that I need to actively seek balance in my life and make time for what makes me happy. Not bad for 30 days…

I’ve officially made it through 15 days IN A ROW of hot yoga. Yes, I am proud of myself for making it this far. Yes, I plan to complete the 30 days. Yes, I’m seeing changes in my body and mind. But it definitely has not been easy. In fact, it’s one of the harder things I’ve ever done.

Here are a few things I’ve been surprised by so far:

1.) I haven’t lost any weight. Considering how much I sweat, it seems impossible that I wouldn’t be burning enough calories to drop at least a pound or two after fifteen 90-minute workouts in a row. The scale disagrees with me. What I’m finding is that this form of yoga is much more of a toning exercise than one for weight loss. The heat makes you feel as though you’re burning more calories than you are. I’m cool with that… I guess.

2.) While it’s been relatively easy for me to slim down in the past, I’ve always had a hard time putting on muscle. After 15 days of Bikram yoga, I can actually feel, though not really see, some muscle toning going on – primarily in my legs.

3.) There’s more to this yoga thing than just the physical changes. It effects how you structure your day, what you prioritize, how you deal with stress and how you manage your time. If nothing else, this challenge has driven me to make healthier choices. Struggling through a 90 minutes class in a 108 degree room where the odds are good that you’ll be posted-up next to a smelly person is the best motivation I’ve found so far to make sure I don’t do anything to myself to make those 90 minutes any more difficult than they already are.

4.) Now that I’ve painted that lovely picture, let me be clear that despite the heat, the smell, the sweat, the pain and the lack of weight loss, the class is far from unpleasant. It’s the most cleansing thing I’ve ever done. I walk in feeling stressed and worried and walk out feeling refreshed and energetic. It puts you in touch with your body, your breathing. You become more aware of the parts of your body that hurt – pains that you could probably go most of your life ignoring because your body and mind get used to the day-to-day discomfort that comes with sitting in front of a computer 40+ hours/week. Stretches that once hurt come to feel amazing. Stretches that once felt amazing come to hurt. You have the self-satisfaction of knowing that you are taking your current and future health into your own hands. Like most things worth doing in life, it’s challenging but wonderful.

5.) The class is 90 minutes, but the time commitment is more like 2.5 – 3 hours/day once you factor in getting to the studio, changing, warming up, cooling down, driving home and taking a shower. The time commitment has been the most difficult part of the challenge for me.

6.) Yoga is expensive. Doing yoga requires that you buy yoga stuff. Yoga stuff is expensive too. But if you’re going to do it, good yoga clothes, a nifty water bottle and a nice yoga towel are worth the expense. When I started this challenge I decided that I’d just use stuff that I already had rather than fork out over $100 on a tank top and yoga towel. I’ve been wearing the same 3 yoga outfits on rotation for 15 days in a row and, in addition to the fact that I’ve had to do laundry every other day, I’m totally sick of all my outfits. Needless to say, I will be investing in at least one more yoga top to get me through the next 15 days. I’m also buying a yoga towel so I can stop using our bathroom towels for my disgusting sweat sessions (sorry babe, should’ve thought of that sooner). Beyond getting bored with wearing the same outfits day-after-day, you need to do what you can to feel confident if you’re going to be looking at yourself in the mirror for 60 minutes per day, and a nice yoga outfit, cool gulp of water and absorbent towel can work wonders to improve how you feel during class.

7.) I’m more sore on day 16 than I was in the first week. With most workouts, you feel most sore on day two or three but if you continue to do the same thing day after day, your body adjusts and you begin to feel less taxed by the same workout. That is not the case with Bikram, a practice in which you do the same postures in the same order each class. However, though you’re going through the same movements, as you begin to understand poses more you move deeper into the postures, pulling more benefit from them but also putting your muscles, bones and ligaments through new challenges on a daily basis.

8.) It’s hard, it’s hot and it takes up a ton of time, but I can actually do this!

9.) People of all sizes and ages can do this yoga, and really kick ass at it.

10.) Maybe most surprising of all: I’m not sick of it yet.

We’ll see how I feel after another 15 days…

The last few months, I’ve been in what you might call a workout funk. I have a weekday alarm that I’ve shut off every morning for months that’s set early enough for me to get to the gym, eat breakfast, take a shower and be off to work by 8. As for my excuse for not going to the gym in the evenings, I’m usually pretty drained after a day at the office and talk myself out of going to the gym after work even when I don’t have other commitments AND I have my workout clothes packed. Shameful. My general lack of motivation to workout has extended into a general lack of motivation to do much of anything – a sure sign that I need to shake things up and try a different path.

That’s why I’m both nervous and excited about my plan to do 30 days in a row of Bikram yoga. Bikram’s beginning yoga class runs 90 minutes and is done in a room heated to 105°F with a humidity of 40%. I will be doing this EVERY day for the next month. I’ve done the class twice before, and both times I had to stop and rest mid-way through and felt like I was going to throw up. It’s a very challenging workout, but something that’s good for your mind, body and soul.

A happy side effect of doing this is that I’ll get to spend more time with my friend Kira. It was actually her idea. She did bikram yoga regularly a few years ago and said she looked and felt great. Both sound excellent to me. Our challenge is as follows: Both of us have to do 30 days in a row of Bikram yoga (we started yesterday). If one of us quits, they have to pay for the other one’s month of classes. If both of us quit, we have to eat a can of dog food.

So there you have it. Where mind power fails to motivate, the threat of eating the most disgusting thing you can imagine will surely succeed. Here’s to the next 30 days.

The lovely Clare boards

Two days in over the weekend – done. My lovely friend Clare is in the pic. She came along for day 1 of snowboarding; a full-day class. The second day was spent trying to get comfortable with heel-side and toe-side turns on the bunny hill. I don’t think I’ve ever been this sore in my life!