This evening while surfing around Youtube I discovered this little performance by Sinead O'Connor. How can I describe what went through my mind listening to this song. She's singing in Gaelic, a language as indecipherable as any I've heard, and yet this song touches my heart. There are several versions on youtube from a number of performers. Curious to know what the title, Óró 's é do bheatha 'bhaile, meant I put it through Google's translator.

Óró 's é do bheatha 'bhaile. Oh You're Welcome Home!

Wikipedia has an excellent write up about this song with original lyrics here.

This is what I do know. Over the past two months I've made a ton of improvements in my postures. Things are changing, and practicing consistently will help those changes continue down a good path. What I'm eating has a huge effect on how I feel about doing yoga. Somehow I've got to figure out how to be satisfied with a good salad for lunch, and cut out the sugar.

So although I didn't complete this challenge the results are still worth the time and effort. Bikram yoga looks like Hatha Yoga, but it is very much Raja Yoga as well.

There was a new teacher for this class. A lovely young lady named Nicole who taught a very precise dialog. The room was full, hot, and humid. Getting through this class was pretty difficult. Physically I was sore, stiff, and low on energy so I just did what I could and didn't worry about it. It's going to be what it's going to be. Each day is different.

After this class there was a Yoga Talk. It's an informal sort of desert party that the studio in Bend holds from time to time. Everyone brings something for desert and the studio usually springs for pizza for everyone. It's a good time to find out a little bit more about yoga, and the people sweating next to you. During this class we discussed a book that many people had read called How Yoga Works by Michael Roache. More on this book later. The yoga talk was fun, informative, and went on until quite late.

4:30PM Class 12 Day 7

It was a gorgeous weekend in Bend, and I considered going up to Mt Bachelor for a day of skiing except that I was way to sore, and stiff from doing yoga all the time. Really this stuff is beneficial to more recreational enjoyment. I swear it! However it's a practice, and when you're just starting out, or kicking things up a notch you are going to discover muscles and tissues that you've never known before. I certainly was. Very very deep muscle tissues were complaining that I was doing way too much. And this was a class. Michael Harris the studio owner taught this one, and it was in his words a Monster Yoga Class.

Michael's classes are always good because he is an excellent teacher who has experienced great benefit from this yoga. His doctors will tell you that he shouldn't even be alive now, but as a result of Bikram Choudry and this crazy hot yoga stuff Michael is around teaching classes in his studio, giving seminars and workshops in many other places. So he was in the studio Sunday afternoon teaching a monster yoga class, and my body was crying No no no no no. Little baby! Actually I did quite well going through this class. I was particularly pleased with the back strengthening series on the floor.

Afterwards I went over to visit my friends Doug and Stacie to watch the closing ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver B.C. Doug introduced me to the pleasure of Hot chocolate mixed with good scotch.

6:15AM Class 13 Day 8

This morning I woke up at 5:30 feeling energized and ready for the day to begin. Usually when I wake up this early I'll go back to sleep until about 7:00. Today was different because I wanted to try doing my double classes 12 hours apart. Morning class at 6:15AM and evening class at 6:30PM. Michael's suggestion.

Molly was the teacher wide awake greeting everyone this morning, and she taught a rockin class. Even at 6:15AM there was a full house. These Bikram people are serious about their yoga.

The soreness that I've been feeling is still there, but it's deep. I felt really strong throughout this class, but everything was like cold clay. Tight strong muscles aren't always flexible so even with the strength to get through the poses the flexibility was lacking. Which is pretty cool because in the course of my previous 60 day challenges it's taken me about 20 to 25 days to get to this point, and then it usually takes a few days to become flexible again. Today it happened between the morning class and the evening class.

When I finished the morning class I really felt energized and ready for the day. Today was certainly going to be a double class day.

6:30PM Class 14 Day 8

No trouble coming into this class, and I had the added bonus of getting Delana again as the teacher. Have I mentioned before how amazing she is? This class too was simply amazing. Every posture felt very strong, and I was getting some good stretching going. There is still some tightness in the deep tissues, but in this class I could feel them opening up. I could feel the flexibility returning. I could also feel my heart pounding in my chest. It felt like a metronome set on fast.

If you're used to running a lot or riding a bicycle, or some other aerobic exercise this is one aspect of Bikram yoga that will certainly catch you by surprise. In the beginning it is one of the most aerobic exercises you've ever done. The reason it's a surprise is that you're not moving while your heart pounds like its running a marathon. You move into a pose, don't move a muscle once you're there, and your heart acts as if its the most strenuous thing it's ever experienced. Ok, that might be true because if you've never tried to twist all your limbs like ropes then this may be the most strenuous thing ever.

All I know is that I really feel great right now. My muscles are pleasantly sore, and I'm looking forward to more tomorrow.

After last evening's drama I wasn't quite sure what to expect in this class this morning. Soreness was rampant throughout, and yet once class got started, Molly was teaching, it turned into a very powerful class. I was in good form for all of the postures. Very strong backbend, Triangle, and in the back strengthening series on the floor.

11:00AM Class 10

During Pranayama I knew that I was in trouble in this class. I even considered just leaving the room. That's not gonna happen. As strong and powerful as I felt during the 9AM class, I felt weak. It was a struggle just to stay in the room. So early on I decided that this was not a class to push hard in. I let my body do some of the postures, and completely sat out others. In Standing Head to Knee (Dandayamana - JanuShirasana) I just put all of my weight on my standing leg and concentrated on contracting the thigh muscles as tightly as possible. Skipped Triangle and Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee pose (Dandayamana - Bibhaktapada - Janushirasana). Just didn't have the strength to go there in this class.

Same on the floor series. Basically I would set up for the pose and go into as far as my muscles allowed without pushing very hard. At the end of this class I was finished.

I think that 10 classes in 5 days is enough doubles for this week. Tomorrow and Sunday I'll just do one class during the day and see about picking up doubles again next week.

Day 5 Classes 10

It's really been interesting watching my practice progress through doing doubles. It has certainly kicked the intensity up several notches. I'm farther into every posture at this point than in previous challenges where I've just gone each day. The human body is an amazingly adaptive physical specimen. Begin working out. Push your body to go to its edge consistently and the edge continues to move farther and farther out. Fatigue will also build up more quickly, and without an opportunity to rest and recover any benefit will probably be lost. At this point if I were to continue doing doubles I would just be incurring fatigue and courting injury.

Delana led us through this wonderful class this morning. I say wonderful because it was full of yoga drama. Suddenly it seemed as if every inch of my skin was itching. Not all at once, but everywhere at different times. Stuff like this is better left alone and ignored. It's usually just the monkey mind trying to get you to fidget, to distract you from your practice. Well, in this class the monkey won out. I fidgeted, I scratched, I got light headed and dizzy, and I went down to the mat several times during this class. It was pretty rough.

The second set of just about every pose today was pretty good, and even though I went down to the mat I managed to do every set of every posture. Can't say the same for my next class. More about that one in a minute.

Early Afternoon - The Wall

I had planned on going to the 4:30PM class, but I was really tired and sore so I changed my mind to go to 6:30PM. The extra couple of hours helped. It was still a struggle to go to class. It felt like there was a physical wall in front of me, and my mind was creating all kinds of reasons not to go. I had work to do, I was getting too fatigued, I could make it up by doing a triple tomorrow. All excuses, and bad ones so I went to the studio.

6:30PM Class 8

Susie taught this class. She's a wonderful teacher. Besides teaching Bikram Yoga she's also a personal trainer here in Bend. She's very good about encouraging everyone in their practice. It's something that means a lot to me because it's genuine, encouraging, and helpful.

So this class was something else all together. Some postures I only did one side of one set. Most of the beginning floor series I sat out, or just did the set up for the pose. It was a very rough class. Rough as it was, there were some gems in all the drama.

I found a deeper edge in Half Moon pose. Having all the muscles on your side stretched feels really good.

The first side of the second set of Standing Bow Pulling Pose (Dandayamana - Dhanurasana) was probably the best one I've ever done. This posture gives me the best stretch in the backs of my legs. My glutes, hamstrings, and calves get more flexibility in this posture than any other. At least for now. The better my flexibility in the back of my standing leg, the stronger I seem to be in the entire posture. It is very cool to see the progress in this posture.

The next huge thing in this class was the first set of Trikanasana (Triangle pose). Triangle is an extremely strenuous posture that I've been working on all year. I used to be able to do this one without much trouble. Now it takes a lot of work, and I'm usually falling out. Today was no different. I fell out, or perhaps it would be better to say that I was ripped out of the posture by a muscle cramp.

The set up was one of the strongest that I've done for this posture. My arms were out to my side, my active leg was bent in a perfect 90 degree angle, I felt strong and steady. Then just before turning our arms to go into the posture Susie called for us to shift our arms back more. Thats when the big muscles along the back side of my left ribcage decided to seize up. It was like getting a charlie horse across a huge expanse of muscle. Hurt like hell, and threw me on the ground like a rag doll. Finishing up the rest of class was pretty difficult.

After this big yoga drama moment my ribcage began to feel like it was on fire. The tiny muscles in between my ribs were very sore making it almost impossible to stay on my stomach for the beginning floor exercises. Felt like my ribcage was getting crushed. Ouch!

The rest of the class I did what I could, and rested in Savasana (Dead Body Pose) when I couldn't.

Tomorrow is going to be two back to back classes because I have to be somewhere in the afternoon. Tomorrow should be very interesting. We'll see.

Day 4 Classes 8

Sleep is not a problem when you're pushing yourself to do doubles in Bikram yoga every day. Last night I slept like the dead, and yet I was wide awake at 6AM. Wide awake and sore as hell. The deep muscles running down my spine are cussing me up one side and down the other. Whiny little babies. They better get used to it because I'm not stopping. Not over a few sore muscles.

Delana taught a wonderful class this morning. A class in which I dropped to the floor almost every posture. There's a sensation that I've experienced usually coming out of a posture that I've been pushing into very hard. The feeling is a sort of light headedness, dizzy kind of thing. The sort of feeling that warns you against making any sudden moves or you're done for. There was quite a bit of this as I worked through this class today, and it put me on deck. In spite of all the yoga drama there was some minor improvement just about everywhere. Tiny, tiny, tiny adjustments barely the space of a sheet of paper, but they're real.

Doing doubles like this is going to take a toll on your body. About 2PM I began flagging really hard, so I went home to have a nap. Didn't really sleep, but it felt good to lay on my bed in the dark.

4:30PM Class 6

Wow! talk about some screaming hamstrings. Everything is tight, stiff, sore, fatigued. It feels like I've been hit by a Mac Truck, and that's the good news. Everything that I've been doing for the past 3 days has been building up to this point. As stiff and sore as I feel I know that going through this class will help build things up for tomorrow, the day after, and next week. Just do the yoga and get through the class.

Molly, who spent a wonderful day up on Mt Bachelor, taught this class, and it was really good. As hard and difficult as this morning's class was, this one turned out to be better and worse at the same time.

One big thing was that I didn't go to the floor once during this class. There were plenty of poses that I came out of early. I bent over at the waist supporting my hands on the floor or on my legs, but I didn't leave my feet during the entire standing series. It's the first time that I've done that in quite some time.

Muscles were very sore though, and towards the end of class I could really feel my energy level drawing down. I was very happy today when this class came to a finish. This one is done, and it was amazing.

Day 3 total classes 6

Why Bikram Yoga?

Bikram Yoga is a specific series of 26 hatha yoga postures performed in order in a 105 degree studio. The class is led by a teacher who calls out the same dialog every day. Every teacher learns the same dialog, and teaches it the same way.

This is a very strenuous regimen. It will improve your strength, your flexibility, and your balance. It also makes dealing with stressful situations much easier. After all if you can go through a 90 minute Bikram class you can go through almost anything.

For me this is a program that shows me huge results in controlling the size of my belly. When I'm able to practice on a regular basis Bikram builds a fitness foundation that in the past has helped me drop down to 190 lbs which is a helluva a lot better than being a big slug at 245 lbs. Last year when I arrived in Bend I weighed 245. After doing Bikram everyday for 90 days I had dropped 40 lbs, and I could put my socks on easily again.

This is a hard workout. When you first begin it is very confusing because the teachers don't really show you how to do the postures, they just tell you how to get into the postures, and at first this doesn't make much sense. My body won't do that you might say. Maybe true, maybe not. The coolest thing about yoga is that wherever you can go in a pose today, that is a perfect pose for you. My first Bikram yoga teacher Patrice Simon at Bikram Yoga the Camp in Costa Mesa, California likes to say that it's not Yoga Perfect. It's Yoga Practice.

Go do the yoga!

I woke up this morning feeling energized, excited, and sore. Yeah, Bikram's torture chamber will do that to you. Molly taught this morning. Her classes are always fun. As we moved through the poses I was noticing that the stiffness I usually feel on the second day wasn't as apparent as usual. Is that because I'm more fit? Or is it because I worked through the stiffness yesterday?

I went to the floor a few times. Just a little yoga drama. Not much. Saving that for the second class today.

In the middle of the class today Molly did a call out for people who were doing challenges. I'm not the only one. Terri is 40 days into a 60 day challenge, Zoe is in the middle of one, and a few other people are testing their discipline as well. We're all in good company.

4:30PM Class 4

Tom taught this class. There's always good energy when he teaches, and he's pretty strict. Good corrections always. There was a bit of yoga drama in this class. Quite expected considering it was my fourth class in two days. Aside from the drama I can see improvements and gains already.

1st set of Ardha Chandrasana with Pada-Hastasana, or Half Moon Pose With Hands To Feet Pose, I could feel the muscles around my ribs. They were very tender, yet I was going deeper into the pose. My shoulders usually give out in this pose. It's half way through the left side of half moon when I want to come up to give my shoulders a little break. Second set this doesn't happen so often. I can go deeper into the posture. This is the power of yoga. Big gains are made in small steps. Many times it's hardly noticeable.

When we went into the second part of Utkatasana or Awkward Pose I found a bit of drama. This posture strengthens the thighs, and it is very intense when it's done correctly. Most of the time I can go into this part of awkward and hold a very good pose. Sometimes though my legs will fail and I fall to my knees. This first set in this class was a good example. Second set wasn't so bad. No drama.

More drama later in the class most of it during triangle pose. But there were some cool things going on during this class as well. I almost wrapped my foot around my calf during one set of Garurasana (Eagle Pose). I feel like I'm getting closer to kicking out in Dandayamana - JanuShirasana or Standing Head to Knee pose. Then during the floor series I went all the way into Ustrasana, or Camel Pose. This is a very difficult pose, and I haven't put my hands down to my heels in a long time.

At the end of the class I really felt like it was a very strong class overall.

Class count:

Day 2 Classes 4

I've been fairly pleased with my Bikram workouts over the past year. My 90 day challenge at the beginning of 2009 was a huge achievement for me, and I managed to practice fairly consistently for the rest of the year. This year I've begun twice to just "go every day." A promise which has been kicked to the curb by a couple of nasty winter colds, and by paying more attention to my work over at Roll35.com.

The last cold brought me into my Doctor's office where I had to get up on a scale. The 216 pounds recorded didn't make me very happy. It confirmed what the little buddha belly on my stomach had been telling me for a couple of months now. Time to kick it up a notch!

Today was my first day back at Bikram since the Friday before the Superbowl where Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints dismantled Peyton Manning's vaunted offense. Yeah, Nasty cold and work. After class this morning my friend Courtney, who has done an amazing number of classes since last February when she began, challenged me about not coming. "You're on the wall. People look around, and they want to see who you are, and you're not here." Ok, maybe I paraphrased it a little bit, but the gist of it was "you need to get your butt in here Mr." I think Courtney would have made an excellent Chief Petty Officer.

So now my name is on the board, and I've publicly stated that I'm doing a 60 day challenge. In fact it's going to be a bit more intense because I'm going to attempt to do doubles six days out of the week. Except on days when I go skiing. Skiing is an acceptable replacement for 1 class out of the day, but not both classes.

Day 1 Class 1 9:00AM

Delana was teaching class. Yesterday's 21,000 vertical feet was screaming through every single muscle in my body. The hot studio felt so good. Going through the first few postures wasn't bad. The muscles were responding well after the long break. They're going to go to failure on several occaisions over the next week, the next month, the next sixty days. After Garurasana or Eagle Pose I dropped down on my knees to have a sip of water at the water break. Everything is stiff, and the stretching is good. I think I skipped out on Triangle pose, and I did really well on Salabhasana or half locust pose.
It was good to finish this class, and I'm glad that I decided that today would be a double.

Day 1 Class 2 6:30PM

Molly was teaching this class. Much more difficult class while at the same time being an easier class. I dropped down to the mat more, but I also went deeper into a few postures. Now it wasn't just the skiing that my muscles were screaming about, it was the torment that I was putting them through a 2nd time. Tough, they'll get used to the punishment. Actually the punishment is very good, and I'm already feeling better. One thing I have learned when doing these challenges is that the most difficult part is getting into the studio. It is very easy to have an excuse about why not to go. This is the secret that makes challenges work. Every class is a good class no matter what you are able to do during that class. If all you can do is Pranayama breathing at the beginning and Khapalbhati breathing at the end it was a good class. Listen to your body and it will guide you to improvement. The secret is to determine what is talking, your body, or your mind. The mind is a tricky rascal. It will do everything possible to convince you that you don't need to do this or that posture today. Or that there's no reason to push today. The mind just needs to Shut the F*ck UP! Sorry, that was the mind.
Getting through this class was excellent, and I'm now ready for a night of good sound sleep.

Update tomorrow after my next classes.

Today's count:

Day 1 Classes 2