I am Niagara Falls

Holy crap, what a class! I feel like I visited another dimension during that class: wow.

Hung over as rhymes with luck and half dead with fatigue after going to bed at about 4 am this morning, (stuffed with an alcohol assortment as well as candy and pizza), I dragged my sorry ass butt to class at 4:15 pm today! I was in such rough condition that my run to the studio (yes I always run to the studio because I live a block away and I usually leave my front door about two and a half minutes before class starts, sometimes necessitating holding out my hand for cars to stop as I attempt to jaywalk across a major street) had me breathing in a way that might be termed 'wheezing'. You know you're in rough shape when you're already dizzy in the change room. I was scared. I was very scared.

Luckily we had a great teacher scheduled, a champion practitioner with a clear, deliberate delivery, good advice, and the smarts to leave the right people alone, who was able to give me the energy I needed and help take me from start to finish in one piece.

I didn't have too unpleasant of a class considering the state I was in, meaning I didn't get the spins, but it was very challenging. And unusually long. And I was suffering from a hangover headache, throbbing at every twist and turn ... although this did make me aware of the fact that I don't usually have a headache in class, so it was nice to have that thought. I had to take a few knees during the standing series, not because I was dizzy or nauseous, but just out of sheer fatigue. As I referred to in the title of this blog, I was also sweating up a storm; much more than usual. I did drink a lot of water today in an effort to keep myself alive after all the alcoholic beverages I danced intimately with last night, but I often drink a lot of water. I'm not sure. All I know is that when I dumped my gear in the laundry after carrying it home, my arm got that achey release feeling, like I'd been carrying something especially voluminous and weighty, and they hit the floor with a thunderous slap. But it was just three little items.

Anyway, once again, not a chance in the world I would have attended class had I not been on a challenge, but I believe that this will affect my decision making process in the future, when I feel that I just cannot make it to class. I always say to myself that I will never drink that much again, and I tend to feel very guilty the day after drinking excessively, like I've damaged my body irreversibly. (And in a sense, I suppose I have.) But lets face it, the future will likely hold more stagettes and parties and  7 hour marathon yack fests with a friend or cousin or sister that involve drinking more than a single standard unit of alcohol. This WILL happen again. And since I allow myself to worry that I have negatively impacted my health, why not give my body the helping hand it needs to rid itself of the toxins?! Anyone with any understanding of wellness should be able to recognize that doing a Bikram yoga class is probably one of the best things you can do to right yourself after a night of wrong. I know that other styles of yoga are great. And the variety of postures featured in other styles each have added benefits and stretch the body in different ways. But I'll say it for the infinitieth time: there is no exercise on this earth like static postures done in that heat. Amazing recovery system. But the motivation to get there is killer, and the class itself is still no piece of cake. I must have burned about 1000 calories today. Did I mention how long the class felt? Time slowed right down so that my pre-class memories from today feel like they happened last year.

Oh, Life! You can be such an obstacle course!

Anyway, as a rule I absolutely don't believe in rewarding oneself with special food or treats after challenging exercise (I have a lot to say about this, but I'll save it for the time being!) but today was an exception. I was going to make myself a protein shake but it turned into a crazy milkshake as I wildly added more and more ingredients, and it was freaking delicious. It started with just a cup of almond milk, a scoop of protein powder, and a banana, but I was suddenly inspired to toss in a tablespoon of Frye's cocoa, and then a large scoop of ice cream (some might say the equivalent two scoops, but if you use your hand as a cupping device, one scoop can be quite sufficient), and then I really lost all control and threw in a hunk of peanut butter, and not even the all natural kind. The Skippy. This was an epic milkshake, let me tell you.