Sometimes it is the little things in life that can make you the happiest. Today, I touched my toes. In the proper, straight leg, straight back kind of way. This may not seem like much to most people. However I have never been able to do this seemingly simple task.
In high school, PE teachers would yell at me, thinking I was being lazy. I was 120 pounds and 5'5''. When I bent forward at the waist, I could reach to just about below my knees. I liked to blame it on how my legs were too long for my arms to reach my feet. Haha. High school thoughts are funny. I remember distinctly a time when my PE teacher walked up behind me and without my knowing what was about to happen, placed a strong palm on my back near my shoulder blades and gave me a good hard push down. I nearly screamed, it hurt so damn bad... Not to mention it could have done some serious harm.
I've just gone through life thinking I would never be able to touch my toes. And that brings us to my meeting Shannon and getting into Bikram Yoga. Before I meet my dear friend, I had never even heard of Bikram Yoga. I had done one "normal" yoga class and honestly hated it. I know I wasn't taking it seriously, but it just wasn't something I could ever see myself doing regularly. Shannon told me to try Bikram. She was all excited to get me into one of her classes so I could see what it would do for me and my health issues. "So it's yoga, in room that is heated to 105 degrees... Yea, that sounds awful." But hey, for $20 I'll give it a try.
I went, I tried, and I thought I was going to die. The heat, the sweat, the smell. The fact that she was asking me to bend in half and place my forehead on the floor between my feet... Um... Right. Half the class I was sitting and telling myself I was never gonna come back. But two days later, I was there again. It wasn't necessarily easier for me, but I wanted to try. Really, honestly try. Then my intro classes expired... and Bikram is expensive. So that was fun for what it was... And that was probably about 10 months ago or so...
After talking with Val, the owner of the studio, I set up a trade... I would work the desk for a couple hours a week and she would let me practice. Awesome. Unfortunately, this was all in the midst of my hospital/blood clot/ health issues (So Here's the Thing...) I had practiced, rather sporadically for about a month and a half, then was readmitted to the hospital for the second round of blood clot drama. When I got out of the hospital, my leg was so swollen and sore I could barely walk and the limping affected my opposite foot. I was a freaking mess. I couldn't practice. And I was OK with that. I wasn't ingrained in the Bikram way at that point, so no skin off my teeth. Val gave me December off and told me to start up again in January. When I was ready to start up again, the unpleasantness that shall not be named happened. I was out until the third week of the month.
When I came back to it, everyone was talking about the 60 Day Challenge. It was set to start on the 31st of January. Basically, students are encouraged to take 60 classes in 60 days. I could maybe try and do that. Haha. All I could think was that I hadn't practiced in over 7 weeks and before that my practice wasn't all that wonderful. This might end me. That last week before the challenge started, I practiced to get myself as ready as I could.
Now I am five days in. It's been hard. Making myself go. Getting it into my schedule. I am sure most of the posts from here on out will revolve around this challenge and what it does to me personally, emotionally, mentally, and physically. So be prepared for that...
But hey... on the bright side... I touched my freaking toes today!!!
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