(* it was an incredibly beautiful weekend- a view from my favorite yoga spot <3)

Throughout my experience in yoga practice I have learned many things about myself and about exercise, and one of the most important of those lessons is has been that rest is just as important as the actual movement. It's similar to writing- editing is 50% of the work. Well in yoga, rest is 50% of the growth.

It took me a while to learn this. When I first started bikram I was so thirsty for a cleansing that I wouldn't stop. I couldn't stop. Not only was I going 3 times a week (which was a huge jump from doing absolutely none at all) but I was also biking all over the place. It was summer time and I can't even fathom how much sweat I dropped in those 5 months. I would wake up in the morning and just go go go- bike to work, stand on my feet all day, bike home, bike to yoga, eat, sleep, and repeat. There was down time, but it wasn't conscious down time. I clearly needed a change, and I grabbed it the second it came to me, but since I was not giving my body the rest it needed all the work eventually took it's toll on me. I remember there were days when I would wake up and think "I really don't want to go to yoga today- I'm so tired…" but I would go anyway. I got burnt out pretty quickly.

So after time away from the heated room, I began to slowly and naturally ease my way back into my hot practice, and this time around I can feel a dramatic difference. In between classes I allow major resting time. I rest not only for my body, but also my mind. I take calming showers, I make sure to eat fulfilling, nurturing food, and I give myself little treats here and there as little gifts. I listen to what my body is asking for, which is the best thing I think I can do. There is no torture involved, and there is no excessive pushing to do more than I can. I can feel myself getting stronger, more balanced, and more confident with each day- I can see it and feel it in my practice.



Rest is not being lazy or sluggish, and it's not a time to complain or criticize yourself for what you're not doing. It takes just as much consciousness and care as the physical exercise and it is active. It's the time you have to reflect on all the work you're doing and surrender to all the incredible benefits of that work. There is no growth in constant work- that's just robotic. But there is growth in reflective work, and without the down time we wouldn't be able to see just how far we've come since we started our journey.

And on that note, I have to say I got the some of the best sleep of my life last night, and I'm so ready to start into my second week of the 30 day challenge tonight! Between today and yesterday I feel like I've been giving myself a lot of free/fun/fluid time to do whatever I'm craving to do, which of course ends up with me playing around in poses/ in the kitchen/ with crafts :P My inversion challenge progression pictures are shown above (working on stag leg balances this week- and my handstand was held for a full 5 seconds today!!) and a few other things I got to do this weekend!

( *to the right- a strawberry + blueberry pie & a few apple turnovers | below my third tangram coaster - just one more to go!)

Reminiscent of a few years back, yesterday a good friend of mine accompanied me to yoga. And actually this particular friend is the reason why I practice yoga at all. I had been going through a time in my life where I was making choices based on nothing… perhaps they were based on my insecurities and were influenced by the people I was associating with, but I truly feel during this time I wasn't making conscious or thoughtful decisions. I was reactive in the worst sense of the word. Needless to say I was a bit of a wreck, treating myself very poorly and living off of coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, and very very little sleep.

I had heard of hot yoga and knew KNEW I would love it, but I had taken no steps to actually finding a class when this same friend of mine mentioned she was trying out bikram studios. My first class kicked my ass, but since I didn't really know what to expect, I had no expectations and I did pretty well. I felt incredible afterwards, as if I had just spent 2 hours with a soft scrub brush cleaning out my whole inner body. Although I loved what I had experienced, the chaos of college kept me from going to my next class for another three months. But the one I did go to was particularly fun. It was the night sweats class at Bikram LES, and between the pink lights and pumpin jams, somewhere I got hooked. I started going three times a week.

What was so wonderful about this time was that the transformation that I felt in myself was directly correlated to my dedication to yoga. I had just shaved off all of my bleach blonde curly locks (key sign for needed change!) and I felt like a totally different person. I was trying to figure out who that person was when bikram opened me up to the possibilities of who I could be. I found a trust in myself that never had before, and I started treating myself and my environment with love and consciousness. I quit my job, I stopped smoking, I started eating better, I was biking everywhere, and I felt amazing. I began exploring a stronger side of myself, and my weaknesses were dripping away with each class.

But as always life gets in the way of things we need sometimes and my senior year of college took me away from my steady practice. I had also reached a point where I didn't have the dedication for class anymore- I had thrown myself into this new world so quickly, and I think the exhaustion caught up to me. So I took a break- a break that felt like it was three years when it was only off and on through one.

And then I came back. Stepping into a hot room felt like coming home. There is a safety in the class, and I feel like I can open myself in ways that are unacceptable in the real world. Each person in the class is pushing and cleansing themselves with same strength and power, and the connection you feel to the people around you is a palpable and wonderfully fulfilling energy. It's one of my favorite places to be, and I'm so glad I'm back.