A Year of Bikram Practice

It was this time last March that I began my yoga practice. So much has changed for me. I am stronger, healthier, happier, more energetic, more connected with myself and others.

Inspired by my practice, I take better care of myself overall. I have adopted a vegan diet to support all the hard work I do in the yoga classes. ("Forks Over Knives" is an excellent and compelling documentary on the benefits of a plant-based diet and the risks of animal protein.  www.forksoverknives.com  Also, Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals presents a well-researched, thoughtful account of the horrors of factory farming and the moral reasons for a vegan diet.)

I challenge myself more often to "leave my comfort zone," not just on the mat but in life. I started a blog! Something I had never considered doing! I more easily enter and initiate unnecessary conversations- which may not sound like a great stride, but being an introvert, it is for me. I let things go that may have bothered me. My control over every aspect of my days is more relaxed.

I have made progress in my practice itself. I've lost 25 pounds (though that was not part of my motivation to begin- or continue- yoga). I can sometimes get my head to my knee in standing head to knee (though I still need to work on exiting gracefully!), I can sit lower in eagle, I can sometimes get my head to the floor in separate leg stretching, I can sometime balance for a moment in toe stand. There are also innumerable other ways I have progressed that aren't as easy to measure: I feel more balanced in standing bow (though I still fall out), I feel different and deeper stretches in triangle, fixed-firm, camel- really all of the postures.

As I revel in the changes of the past year, I look forward to the year ahead and the challenges and rewards of another 12 months of Bikram practice.

The Doldrums and the Ecstasy

This is usually the time of year when I quietly recite to myself the poetry of Dorothy Parker or Emily Dickinson. . . "pain has an element of blank- it can not recollect when it begun or if there was a time when it was not-" As usual, it is not easy this year. However, I have not needed Dorothy and Emily as much. The dark thoughts are much less possessive of me and I feel more hopeful than usual.

I had a strong class last night, and lately practice has taken on a more meditative, reflective quality. Though it is always a "90-minute moving meditation" I have experienced it as much deeper the past few times. My mind has felt more settled and quiet. I have made progress in several postures, as well. Toe stand, standing head to knee and standing separate leg stretching pose.

It is easy this time of year to give in to the doldrums of winter, the stagnation and temptation to hibernate. But the tremendous happiness and sense of accomplishment, the ecstasy of finishing a Bikram yoga class keeps me from burrowing in completely.