Day 2. I am sore.

Felt nauseous in class yesterday. Went to the 9:30 am class instead of the 6am. I probably wasn't hydrated enough. I also didn't have my N.O. Intensity or L-Carnitine before class. I also was directly under the heater. I had to take a couple 30 second breaks throughout the class, but overall I think I did fairly well. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say my personal performance in class yesterady was a 5. I want to get to a 10 by the end of this 30 days. Nay, an 11.

I HATE THE HALF LOTUS POSE!!! Full lotus is ok, but half lotus completely killed my forearms. I could barely grip a tub of protein powder at work. I also hate camel pose. I can get into it just fine but I feel like it's really bad for my neck and that at any second it is going to snap like a twig and the thought of it breaking makes me sick. Our instructor did say though that because camel pose is so constricting for your spine, it will stimulate your nervous system and might cause an emotional reaction. It's crazy how the human body works. We have millions of tiny little emotion deposits all throughout our body - and occasionally we tap into them, and everything just breaks loose.

I vividly remember an experience I had at the chiropractic office shortly after my roll-over car accident. I was on my stomach and he proceeded to simply touch several points up and down my body, most of them along my spine, but he also touched several points on my knees, ankles, and ribcage. There was a place he touched very lightly, in the middle of my back, and it didn't hurt at all, but I immediately started crying. It was the strangest thing. He told me he it happens a lot and he still doesn't have an explanation for it. He simply triggered a physical part of my body that was linked to emotion that as soon as it was barely touched, caused instant waterworks... Only I wasn't just crying. I felt sorrowful. These weren't just "I didn't pass Spanish class" tears; I was crying tears of deep, deep despair. I fully believe that emotional pain and physical pain are very closely linked - if not one and the same. Anyway.

Camel pose. I hate it. Blech.

I will say this though, when I woke up this morning, I felt like my entire spine had been shifted an inch to the right. I looked in the mirror though, and realized that my posture is actually much improved. It's been hard for me to slouch today. My muscles don't want to slouch, they are more comfortable when my spine is aligned. And vice versa. Crazy, right?

I hope I can do this 30 days in a row. I wonder if I need to take a day or two off to let my muscles relax and heal - but Bikram yoga itself is SO healing and amazing already, and it's not like I'm doing any heavy lifting - I'm simply performing a series of postures that require an immense amount of concentration, flexibility and muscle control in a sweltering hot room with 25 other people.

I definitely need to take the N.O. Intensity before class today though. It was almost a completely different workout for me yesterday. My intensity level was down, I wasn't nearly as flexible, and I fatigued more easily than I had before.

So. Lesson learned. Off to class 3!