I remember when I first started doing Bikram yoga, many jobs ago, my hours of work were 8 - 4, Monday to Friday, disallowing the possibility of 6 am or 4:15 pm class. The only classes available to me during the week were 6:15 pm and 8:15 pm; work and yoga left me with very little free time, the time I needed to relax. That really affected my motivation, especially considering how back in the early days, 90 minutes felt like an absolute eon, and each class was an important accomplishment. (I don't care what people say - in some sense at least, it does get easier!) How I longed to be able to go in to work a little later some days, so that I could go to 6 am class and get my yoga completed first thing in the morning! I thought about it all the time. But I didn't have that kind of freedom and flexibility with work in those days.
Now, I start at 8:45 am, making class at 6 am very doable. Mind you, I also get off early enough to go to 4:15 pm class, and sometimes even 3:15 pm, and now the studio has two rooms and runs classes on the hour up until 8:15. There are a lot of choices now, and I can go to yoga straight after work. It was that hour or so between getting home from work and having to get up and leave again for yoga that really sucked me dry of motivation. Let's face it; after a day of work, sometimes you don't feel like doing anything. It IS easier not to go home first.
Anyway, I am a bit of a night owl, and the earliest I like to wake up normally is about 6:20 am. Any earlier and I go through that whole "I would seriously rather lose my job or even die than get out of bed right now!" which, although it only lasts a few minutes, is really one of the most unpleasant things we regularly go through in life, in my opinion. If only I could get into the habit of going to bed earlier, but it's such a struggle for me. I just love doing my little projects, reading, drawing, watching stuff on youtube, that kind of thing, before bed, and then I never want to stop. (When I'm single, that is.) So, I was really anticipating this 6 am class on Friday all week, and telling the teacher who was scheduled for that class every day that I was nervous about it and not sure if I was going to be able to do it. He just laughed. Then I get there and the class is packed with regulars! Everyone was fine. I was fine. The girl in front of me was performing as open and flexible as an olympic gymnast. So, truthfully, I was really shaking my head at myself and the lesson I took from it was to have more faith in my ability to do challenging things, and to not make such a big deal out of things.
So the whole reason I had to do 6 am class was because I was busy after work planning my cousin's bachelorette party, which is tonight. Last night as we set up the party house, I had a few drinks and stayed out rather late. I am also quite busy today, obviously, so I had to wake up bright and early again, but this time for 9 am class. This morning I really learned the value of being on a challenge, because if I wasn't, with the way I was feeling this morning and the craziness of this weekend, there is just no way I would have gone to class. But because I am on this challenge and have made the commitment, I did, and I had a superbly enjoyable class. I feel so much better. Throughout the past few months, morning classes have been difficult for me because of stiffness in my back, and although that is still present, having gone every day this week and to such an early class yesterday, it made this morning's class easy peasy. There is just nothing else in the world that could have taken me from where I was at 8 am this morning to what I am feeling now: light, energetic, with clear skin, in a good mood, and without a hint of bloat, even though I ate Japanese food for dinner last night and snacked on chips, which was a salt overload. (Another style of yoga, a HIIT routine, a jog - all of those things would have made me feel better and pushed that salt out of my system. But not like 90 minutes in the heat.)
It really goes to show that the times when you feel least like going to class are exactly the times you need it the most. And for anyone that struggles with motivation, challenges are invaluable for showing you just that.
My goals for tonight (which is going to be crazy with a capital C) are to drink water, NOT do ANY shots of alcohol, mix alcohol as minimally as possible, and just relax and have fun. I have been being so careful with what I eat in an attempt to shed a few pounds before the wedding, and also because as I have mentioned, BY makes me really hungry and leaves me vulnerable to binging. All of this being said, tonight is not the night to worry about food. It's going to be yes to the bread, the tortilla chips, and the hummus and pita. Not the end of the world. I can really put myself through hell the next day if I feel I "overdid" it, but I think over the longrun, success with weight control comes with knowing these nights are inevitable, and for me, drinking alcohol while restricting food can spell disaster. I'm too old for that now. Really. Lol. Cheers!
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