Man, this challenge seemed undesirable today. I wistfully longed to skip class, and it's only Day 3. Instead I wanted to go to the mall with my sister and buy a sexy black dress for my cousin's stagette this weekend, an event which is going to make yoga a pain in the butt to go to on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday. ARGH!
I had many second thoughts about this, like that I don't have time to go to yoga every single day. I was supposed to be looking into picking up a second job, going on more dates, and devoting more time to my personal projects. Now I have automatically lost 2 extra hours each and every day to yoga, for the next 7 weeks. Actually, more, because I need more sleep now. When you think about it, that's kind of a big deal.
They say ("they" meaning teachers and studio directors, and Bikram himself, I guess) that there's nothing more important than your health, and that is why it's always worth it to go to class. I have always tended to agree. But what I'd really like to establish for myself is whether I truly believe that every day for 50 days is actually the best thing I can be doing for my health. Is it really any better than 5 days a week? And what practices outside the room can make this a better experience, in terms of rest, food, drink, and things to avoid. I'm also concerned, despite claims that this yoga is "holistic" and as long as you do the postures using the correct form you cannot injure yourself (or injure yourself further), actually VERY concerned, about the state of my back. A chiropractor recently told me that BY can exacerbate injuries, and I've got to say that my back immediately starts to feel better as soon as I lay off the practice. I've talked to about 10 different teachers about this, and everyone has a different answer. It's really hard to know who to trust.
Mind you, there are so many people that practiced against the advice of all of their doctors, in all states of injury, that emerged healed. I will say that my back is definitely better than it was a month or two ago, and I have by no means stopped practicing. But the improvement occurred with easing up a lot in the hot room, particularly with forward bends, Like I mentioned in a previous post, I've also been doing other things that have nothing to do with BY, that have been therapeutic as well.
Anyway, I'm determined to heal my back and come into much greater alignment. I've been out of whack for years, with wonky hips and a right duck foot, slouchy shoulders and a back full of tension. I suspect that this could be a "get worse before you get better" situation.
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