Dear Britomart Bikram yogis,
On Sunday Feb 1st, many Britomart students along with lots of your teachers will together begin our first 30-day challenge of 2015. This is no mean feat, even for those experienced practitioners who may already have numerous challenges under their belts.
Committing to a 30-day challenge entails completing 30 classes in 30 days. It’s an excellent way to explore and go somewhere new with your practice. You can do a couple of doubles (two classes in one day) if necessary but we don’t really recommend many more than one double a week.
What we do recommend is that you think only of your challenge one day at a time. Every night simply decide what class you are going to practise the next day. Digest your challenge in bite-sized chunks so you won’t feel overwhelmed at the prospect of no ‘rest’ days because in reality, you will manage perfectly well without them. Your Bikram practice is a fuel-station: the only ‘exercise’ in the world where you are actually gaining energy! The very healing and therapeutic nature of the Bikram practice means that you can absolutely practise every single day!
Here are a couple of tips which you may find helpful:
And one final note… Please don’t overthink your class once you leave the room. Sure, a little reflection on your practice is helpful sometimes… but more often than not what starts out as some well-meaning advice to yourself: “You need to work on on getting your hips down lower in trikonasana”, can turn rapidly into “Your triangle pose looks so rubbish in the mirror, and it’s nowhere NEAR as good as Sandra’s!” :-)
Be kind to yourselves! Your bodies hear and absorb everything your mind says. Furthermore, these thoughts are compounded because you are often looking at yourself in the mirror when they surface. View your challenge first and foremost as an exploration. You are embarking on a beautiful adventure where the only goal is to emerge knowing, accepting, and loving yourself a little bit more.
See you on your mats!
PS: God help us all! ;-)
On Sunday Feb 1st, many Britomart students along with lots of your teachers will together begin our first 30-day challenge of 2015. This is no mean feat, even for those experienced practitioners who may already have numerous challenges under their belts.
Committing to a 30-day challenge entails completing 30 classes in 30 days. It’s an excellent way to explore and go somewhere new with your practice. You can do a couple of doubles (two classes in one day) if necessary but we don’t really recommend many more than one double a week.
What we do recommend is that you think only of your challenge one day at a time. Every night simply decide what class you are going to practise the next day. Digest your challenge in bite-sized chunks so you won’t feel overwhelmed at the prospect of no ‘rest’ days because in reality, you will manage perfectly well without them. Your Bikram practice is a fuel-station: the only ‘exercise’ in the world where you are actually gaining energy! The very healing and therapeutic nature of the Bikram practice means that you can absolutely practise every single day!
Here are a couple of tips which you may find helpful:
- Take your challenge one day at a time. Think only of tomorrow’s class each night before you go to sleep.
- Drink plenty of water. Add some lemon for quicker absorption and some Himalayan pink salt to replace sodium lost through sweat.
- Eat a banana after class for some potassium and prepare some snacks to have mid-afternoon if you are doing an evening class after work. This could be a handful of raw nuts and a piece of fruit for example?
- Engage with your fellow yogis before and after class: Find out who is doing the challenge and share your experiences and insights.
- Engage in a compassionate practice. If at any point you are struggling please kneel down, take a break, and join us again when you are ready. There will be classes which you will find harder than others. Have no expectations, and simply commit to working as hard as you can in that moment, every moment, every posture, every class.
And one final note… Please don’t overthink your class once you leave the room. Sure, a little reflection on your practice is helpful sometimes… but more often than not what starts out as some well-meaning advice to yourself: “You need to work on on getting your hips down lower in trikonasana”, can turn rapidly into “Your triangle pose looks so rubbish in the mirror, and it’s nowhere NEAR as good as Sandra’s!” :-)
Be kind to yourselves! Your bodies hear and absorb everything your mind says. Furthermore, these thoughts are compounded because you are often looking at yourself in the mirror when they surface. View your challenge first and foremost as an exploration. You are embarking on a beautiful adventure where the only goal is to emerge knowing, accepting, and loving yourself a little bit more.
See you on your mats!
PS: God help us all! ;-)
