Is Whining Allowed in Yoga?

That's my quick snack 5 minutes before I headed into the studio last night.

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a great start to your Tuesday. Pretty dreary today here in Boston. Drizzling, cold and raw. I think that might be a Northeast word to describe the weather. Raw. Sums it up though. The kind of cold, damp weather that gets into your bones. Know what a great fix for it is? HA! The hot room of course. Cures it every single time. Well, that and a glass of wine by a fire burning in the fireplace too of course ;) And thank god for scarves. I seem to always have one wrapped around my neck from now until April! Cozy.

Now for a Day 23 recap. 6:30pm with Mimi. There’s a difference between hot and REALLY FREAKN HOT. Last night it was the latter. I knew it was going to be like that. For some reason Monday nights have been insanely busy at the studio. Busiest night for sure. All these people trying to sweat out the weekend toxins perhaps? First things first though because this made me so happy. I walk up the stairs and am greeted by 2 smiling faces: Mimi (teacher) and Chris (owner). I sign in and Chris is all smiles and says look at that Traci. It’s the December schedule and guess what? It works for me! Set my mind at ease and put me in great spirits. Thanks Chris! Talked to a ton of people before class. Everyone was in such a good mood creating some very positive energy. Set up in the front, far right corner with Janet. This just happens to be the hottest spot in the room. Oh boy. People keep filing in, setting up and quickly there’s like 60 of us packed in. Well, probably less but that’s what it seemed like. And it’s hot right out of the gate. I had a pretty strong standing series, although I was still so happy to get to Tree/Toe Stand. Even with a class this size I was surprised to see there was just a handful of us doing Toe Stand. Give it a shot folks, you might be surprised. The feeling of being down in toe stand, slowly bringing my hands together in prayer and bringing my eyes back to gaze in the mirror. Such a feeling of control and peace. And if you fall out? No problem. It's just yoga.

Floor series was tough. By this point the room was not just HOT but steamy. My towel was hot to lie on. I just kept thinking of my breathing to keep me going. We get to camel and I think I can’t. I just can’t. My body is fried. But my Bull Dog Determination kicks in and says Oh Come On! Are you kidding me! It’s like 30 seconds, do the posture already! So I did. Probably wasn’t my best Camel, but I did it.

With two postures left I pull my now sweat drenched pink headband from my head and for some reason decide to wring it out over my towel. Janet catches me doing it and cracks up. Now here’s the 2 of us, tired, so hot our skin is on fire, red faced and laughing. And I can’t stop. I feel like I just released and kept giggling, trying to hold in my laugh. Then Janet says...Can’t breathe...Need air. Open the door! Class ends, short Savasana before I head for the door. Still lots of bodies to step over. Tiptoeing around them in the darkened room it felt like forever before I reached the door. I swing it open and suck the coolness into my lungs. And just like that the fact that the class was so hard starts to fade. It’s amazing how quickly our bodies recover. I quickly change, check off my name on the board and I’m off. I’m parked pretty far up the street and it’s raining. I looked up at the rain falling from the sky and smiled. It was like I was in a big shower. Felt good until I realized I just went from being extremely hot to now chilled to the bone. Ok, Traci speed it up. Get to the car and get home. I’m telling ya, my shower and warm house never felt so good folks. So good. This is hard work we do, it really is.

I was talking to my mom on the phone this morning (we have a standing call every morning around 7:30am to catch up). I was telling her I was tired and could use a day off from yoga. That last night was really hard. Most of the time she’ll indulge me and say, listen to your body and do what it needs, or that guy wasn’t good enough for you anyway :).  Well, this morning I was looking for a little mom sympathy and you know what I got instead? Tough love! That’s right kids. I start whining (yes, even at this age we can still whine to our moms). She waits for me to finish and says...Traci, think back to gymnastics when you would spend 3-5 hours a day in the gym. Did you always like it? No. Were you so tired at times you could even lift your arms? YES! Remember the tears on your palms from the bars and how you still had to jump up and do your bar routine? You knew what your goal was and THAT’S why you kept going. Same with this yoga challenge. You have a goal; you will reach it and feel great. This is for you, nobody else. Then she talked about my dad who has run 20 plus marathons and how his training and dedication is similar to mine. She continued on saying how my sister Erin (who was a REALLY good gymnast, much better than me) was also saying this challenge will be a great accomplishment when completed. That I should be proud. Thanks E! And ah yes, mom, thanks for setting me straight this morning and giving me some much needed energy to recharge. How in the world do you always know exactly what to say to me? Thanks for you’re never ending support and motivation on so many levels. Love ya so much!

Guess that’s a wrap for now guys. Day 24 tonight with Maria. Should be great as usual. Hope you all have great practices if your heading to the studio. See ya back here tomorrow for more talk about the Hot Room!

Oh and below is the Cranberry Bliss Bar from Starbucks I just might have snacked on last night ;).Only had a piece of it but needed a little something sweet after dinner. These are so good!

Something to think about today: Every moment of suffering brings an opportunity to build relience. Indeed!

Cheers,
Traci