My quest for 30 days

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi everyone,

So today I found myself feeling lazy, and much further from being in shape than I’d like to be… Additionally I thought it may be a good idea to give myself a real challenge.

Suddenly and quite… unexpectedly I found myself speaking to a Yoga Advisor and feeling a high amount of anxiety. (thankfully she was quite nice and that helped me relax).

Basic run down… I’m 31. Used to ride bikes for hundreds of miles a month, in competition… and for fun. (i should note that was 10 years ago)

Now, I’m sad to say I’m a pack a day smoker, who (while i do have a job where I walk multiple miles a day) free dives… and does so poorly.

I’m hoping to gain some support from this community. My goal is 30 classes in 30 days. Starting at the basic levels (non-hot style).

The reason for this, other than the above :slight_smile: is that a good friend of mine recently did 45 days in a row. And said he’s never felt so good in his life. And this guy is 38.

As my first class is in ohh an hour, I’m wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I understand that I may be putting the bar to high on myself. But unless I really invest in something I’ve found the payoff is limited.

At any rate, thank you for reading. Lets hope I have the energy to type tomorrow :slight_smile:

-merit

#2

Neat challenge you’re attempting! Advice: Be PATIENT with your body, stop if you feel pain. Don’t let anyone push yourself past your own limits. The breath is an excellent reflection of the state of your body and mind - if you can’t breath smoothly, then relax and focus on it until it becomes smooth again. It’s ok to stop in the middle of class and rest for a few minutes if you need too. Don’t pay too much attention to what those around you are doing. It’s not a competition; feel good about what you CAN do, not bad about what does not come easy. If you need to skip a day, do it. It’s better to do five minutes of practice where you are focused than three hours where your mind is on something else.

Get lots of sleep. And drink a lot of water.

#3

Good for you,

I’m 35 and I feel 18, so I’ll just reiterate what your friend has told you.

Cigs are tough, they are evil, they should be illegal. I quit 3 years ago, its brutal. But you can do it.

#4

Well day one is done.

Shoulders are on fire, hips are … well they are still here.

I really thought my instructor was nice, and thankfully I already went into this with the idea that i’d “do what i can” taking some frequent breaks. going to the late evening class seems to be a good call, as there seemed to be more space.

… 29 days to go. and i slept like a brick last night

I’m used to recovery for some forms of workouts, any pointers on what to eat and what to avoid (besides the obvious fastfood, soda, ect)

I’m hopefull that as this continues my drive to smoke will slow down.

#5

Great job Merit,
Keep the spirit high. Going to an evening class helps as the body is a bit more flexible than it is in the morning. DO not compete with anyone in the class. Take a break when you need to and go as far as you can with the strain, don’t be in the pain when you are holding the pose.
Are you a vegan-Vegetarian :confused:? I am a Vegetarian and can’t help with the non-veg diet. I follow Ayurveda when i suggest diet.

#6

Thanks Deepti,

I do eat meat, however recently I’ve been focusing on getting more fruits and veg in my diet. Guess I’ll just stick to protien and carbs (not sure if this’ll work but I figure a muscle is a muscle) white meat chicken breast, and rice?

#7

Brown and long grain rice if you must. :slight_smile: Stay away from processed foods as a general rule.

My advice to you is drink LOTS of water. You will be working out a lot of toxins, and you want to flush those right out. A body that is well hydrated also has more energy and works more efficiently. Take vitamin C to help relieve lactic acid buildup in the muscles. With yoga, my experience is my muscles are not as sore as when I do other forms of exercise due to, I think, the controlled breathing and focus on oxygen, and the fact that the muscles are stretched so well. New blood is infused into the area and the lactic acid is carried away more efficiently is my theory. :slight_smile: That and focusing the mind on staying present. Really!
To help prevent soreness, take a very hot bath before bed with 1 cup of Epsom salts. Yummy! It really helps.

Good for you, you’re inspiring me! :slight_smile:

#8

So now we’ve got two points to address in the post; the first is the degree of the challenge and the second is how to respond in one’s living to the physical practice so as to support it rather than fight it.

I tend not to tell students “do it” or “don’t do it” unless it is so clearly beneficial or deleterious that I would be doing disservice not to say so. You’ll likely learn many things from an all out 30 days of anything. So more power to you. If that learning happens to be exactly what you thought, I’d be stunned. But again, it’s possible.

It should be pointed out that it is not actually a larger investment to do 30 days of practice than it is to, say, practice every Thursday for a year. And when 30 days of practice deprive muscle from the requisite time for repair, the practice actually becomes harmful in much the same way it is when a tired child is forced to remain awake :slight_smile: It can also thus become “less safe” as muscle fatigue then muscle demand can place that demand on connective tissue resulting in tendon/ligament issues.

So I’ve implied above that rest is part of point number 2. In addition, we know that garbage in equals garbage out and to do a physical practice for 30 days require high octane fuel. In Purna Yoga™ the three basics of nutrition are hydration, oxygenation, and an alkaline state. The first is achieved by consuming half the body weight in ounce of water with something in it (lemon/lime juice, sunectar, fortune delight, calli). The second is achieved through the eating of deep green leafy vegetables (kale, spinach, chard), and the third is reached by eating those foods which are alkaline in the body. That is what TO eat. What to avoid begins with caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and sugar. When you get there ask me again and I’ll give you the intermediate level.

For muscle soreness, assuming you are not continuing to place demand on them…the three things I suggest are sunbreeze oil. Maha Vishgarbha oil (Tattva’s Herbs please) and warm epsom salt baths.

warmly,

gordon

#9

@ gordon, i am impressed with your detailed knowledge Yoga and Ayurveda. We need more people like you. And i agree with your suggestions. especially the epsom salt water bath.
Deepti

#10

Gratitude for your warnings, having been through other kinds of training or workouts I have a decent idea what I am looking forward to :slight_smile: both the bad and the good.

My goal is simply to commit myself to doing something that is “good” for me each and every day for a month (not to say it will end following, who knows I may keep it going).

I have to be clear, I have no desire to hurt myself or burn myself out. And having spoken with my instructor she has recommended that after each two days to take a medidation and deep strech class. In hopes that it would be less stressful on my joints. It sounds like a decent plan of attack however she did stress the idea that I should “listen to my body”.

I find it impressive how much my breathing practices from Free Diving and what I’m using in my Yoga are the same. Very rythem based.

As for feeling competative :slight_smile: I think the bigger struggle for myself will be not feeling embarrased. But so far everyone has been very supportive.

I can even liken it to diving… Competativeness in diving can get someone very hurt, or sadly even killed. When I was in the class I tried to put myself in the same mental state as when I dive. At 40ft depth, and having no airtanks if you don’t listen to your body you WILL get hurt.

Hydration is something i have been leaving out of my life, and I can tell my body is going into a form of shock today, I expect it will worsen tomorrow. My hope is that when I get past the first 7 or so days my body will begin to adjust.

However there was a powder that someone mentioned that I am unable to recall. Closomine? She said it helps soft tissue repair, in a powder form added to a glass of water, or apple juice. And a icey / hot like gel that doesn’t smell like a gym.

Wow thanks for all the feedback.

#11

Well two days into it, and I think the biggest challange I will face is just getting on the mat. Seems the practices are based really on just getting the muscles working. My friend advised me to use L-glutamine 2x a day to help with muscle repair.

About 10 minutes into the class the aching stopped and my body was able to perform about 80% of the movements.

Tonight is a new class with a new instructor, “Recovery” is what it’s called.

Interesting side note, I’m actually excited to get past the level 1 course. (no where near it yet) but they only offer the hot yoga on the level 1/2 course. I think that would be fun… is that strange? thinking more sweat not less would be fun? :stuck_out_tongue:

#12

Day 8 the Wall

In my ongoing quest to finish 30 classes in 30 days it appears I have reached a very… achey (thankfully not painfull) wall.

Yesterday was a cool down day, took a “easy” class. Appon arriving I noticed the temp of the room was rather high, not thinking about it we all moved forward with the class. At some point roughly 40 minutes into our 1.5 hour session someone commented about the heat, the instructor then noticed the termostat was set to 90 degrees.

We figured out how to reset it, however between the AC being turned on and the windows being open (it was mid 50’s yesterday) the room then got rather chilly mid session. I learned a very valuable lesson… Going from Hot to cold … really doesn’t make your muscles happy. Additionally the (this being the first time i’d taken the session) class became very … very uncomfortable.

As far as physically I would say I am doing ok. However my hamstrings are in revolt with my normal daily activities. The Yoga1 classes are a workout without breaking me, the Iyengar classes are hell (probly explains why I like them so much).

But I will say this, for anyone who may be reading this, if you have insomnia (like myself) you seriously need to do this, you will sleep like a brick. The tricky part (that i am encountering currently) is finding ways to make sure you do not miss a day. Rearanging my schedule has been a real balancing act.

Some numbers.

Height: 6’4
Starting Weight : 230
Current Weight : 224

Typical weight flux before/after class is 4 pounds.

Figure most of it is water weight. I wouldn’t say I’ve been feeling weakness, but more of a otherwise insanely powerful urge to go to bed… :slight_smile:

#13

Keep in mind your definition of ‘yoga’. To successfully meet your 30 day challenge, you do not necessarily need to do a 60-90 minute asana class each day. You could do a shortened asana practice at home - you could do recovery yoga at home on days when your body is exhausted - you could do pranayama or meditation also.

I have challenged myself to 30 days of yoga before and there were a couple days when I simply did ‘legs up the wall’, pigeon and corpse pose. Listening to our bodies is critical.

Good luck on your challenge! Personally, I love a challenge. It gives me that extra incentive I sometimes need to push myself. And right or wrong, it helps to be accountable to someone other than myself occasionally.

#14

Merit,
It may be fruitful to introspect if the ‘wall’ is your own creation. You have a goal in 30-day challenge, but that is spelt in a very simplistic terms - “doing”. That confines your attention merely to completing the day’s work, by stretching yourself. And you are used to it in riding bikes and free diving.

But it is good to hit a wall. If you would allow yourself to go over the last 8 days, please jot down what is different about Yoga from all that you have done in the past. Take for example the rhythm. Do you experience the rhythm in Yoga any different? deeper? subtle? quieter?

Do you see anything happening beyond 30 days? Has anything happened to your ‘pack a day’? what exactly pulls you back to the next Yoga class with aching limbs? what brought you to Yoga and not, say, karate?

Not the answers, but this very process will get you in touch with your inner self. The physical challenges may look pigmy in front of inner challenges. Beauty of Yoga is that it delivers on any plane of your choice. While doing an asana, you can achieve a breathing rhythm and postural equilibrium that will trasnsport you to a new world. It is not necessary that you MUST think like this. But, if challenges excite you, Yoga has an endless array of them.

#15

[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;52132] what is different about Yoga from all that you have done in the past. Take for example the rhythm. Do you experience the rhythm in Yoga any different? deeper? subtle? quieter?

Do you see anything happening beyond 30 days? Has anything happened to your ‘pack a day’? what exactly pulls you back to the next Yoga class with aching limbs? what brought you to Yoga and not, say, karate?
QUOTE]

Of the three I would say they have more in common than different. The Rythm you need while cycling (to prevent lactic acid buildup) very much reminds me of the rythm you need to maintain focus on the mat, or needed to focus on relaxing while diving.

Diving for me is the deepest emotional activity I have found (so far) as I feel there is a greater need to release control. As you have no control over the enviorment, and a level of risk always exists. (Sothern California regularly has some large carnivorus creatures off shore)

Yoga provides me with a more communal feeling. While all the people in my class are strangers seeing the more skilled people and the less gives me gratitude for what I can pull off. Not so much as a form of judgement but having the absence of it.

Other than feeling rather slothful recently and having absolutely nothing to do durring the rainy season (diving in 3ft vis is no fun) I wanted or needed something to fill the silly amount of free time I have.

Additionally with the recent choice to end a relationship that I was quite fond of, I needed something that put me around people. Not really to meet or chat, but just to be around them. (strange?)

Normally the path I’d take would be destructive so I’m trying to break the cycle and focus on doing something for myself that has benefit. Additionally its a private matter, between me and myself… (other than the readers here) no one knows that i’m doing this in my personal life. It seems to allow me to maintain a non ego-driven porpose.

A few things bring me back. One, few things in life feel better than streching. Two after making a commitment to myself failure (missing a day) is something I can’t allow to happen. Rarely do I get the chance to put a really challanging expectation in front of myself.

Pack a day is lower (likely due to less stress) but still there.

As far as why not martial arts, or something like that? My old Akido studio closed, and the energy there was amazing… Sadly I doubt I will ever attend another studio as the traditional methods (atleast in orange county) have been replaced with Tap Out banners, and kids that want to hurt people instead of learn from them. …

#16

So, finished day 8 last night. I’m not sure what the pose is called. (straight legs toes touching the floor behind you) But I decided to go half way. Also doing the normal Warrior 1, and 2. ect ect

Last night however was the first night where I didn’t feel exausted following the class. Had enough energy to go out and see a friend’s band play…

Getting soooo close to touching my toes.

I guess I have a new question. Is the level that you sweat totally based off the individual. Many times durring my practice I will start quite literaly dripping on the mat, I’m wondering if persperation level is based on how “in shape” you are. Or if this is just how my body warms up? Needless to say its getting quite slippery. heh

#17

Merit,
You are doing great!! Keep up the great work!!! I believe some people sweat more than others. If you were a smoker…and found that you’ve cut back now…you can think of the sweat as toxins coming out of your pores. The more you do yoga the more it will cleanse your body!! So you may find that over time your sweat becomes less, as you purify your body more!! Hope this makes sense!! And again, great job with your challenge and keep it up!!!

#18

Great thread and I hope you achieve your goal and then continue your practice after that, as well.

I am curious, though, you say in your first post “now I’m a pack a day smoker.” You are 31 now. When did you start smoking? Recently?

#19

The story of how I started smoking is a cautionary tale.

17 I think, trying to make a young lady like me. It worked, so my plan worked. However … :slight_smile: as luck would have it she’s gone and I’m stuck with this horrible habit.

I speak about it as if it happened yesterday only to tell myself I’m still young :stuck_out_tongue:

#20

Just a quick update.

Last week I was speaking with the instructor and she gave me a slight word of warning. Not so much as to the physical challanges of 30days of yoga, but more towards the mental.

She expressed a warning that if I wasn’t carefull I may start “resenting” my practice. So I went for a few more days and decided it was ok to go to a hockey game. :slight_smile:

I have to admit it did put a new mental challange in my path, it seems that my body had gotten into a rythm with my practice, additionally my stomach muscles seem to have decided to uhmm ache?

So it seems i’ll be doing more of a 4 to 5 night a week practice, which I think will be good.