It's been one week.....

.....since I began Dry July and my personal 30 days of Bikram yoga challenge. Strangely, or perhaps not because of the latter, I haven't missed alcohol at all. The 30 day challenge is something I've often thought about doing since I started doing Bikram yoga 2 years ago. It always seemed a bit mental so I never did it. However, Dry July is something I've been doing for 2 years as well, and it's always been quite hard - especially after a hard day at work when the first thought is mmmm, wine (always followed by mmmm, rice crackers and Lisa's dip....but that's just a whole other reason to do 30 days of yoga really). So this year I thought, well if I'm out of the house doing yoga every evening, I won't miss alcohol and by golly, I was right! 

Not that 30 days of yoga is a walk in the park. I have never done yoga on consecutive days and recently, have managed maybe once a week. So on top of the distraction, I always wanted to see if I could do it and of course make my monthly Bikram pass worthwhile.

So day 1 was especially hard. I found I was nervous, 30 days of not getting home until 7.30 or getting up early to be at the 6am class - how would that work? The class was hard and I hadn't slept well the night before. I found during my final savasana all I wanted to do was sleep and it took me a long time to get up and have a shower. 

Day 2 & 3 seemed better, my head was clearer, and after all, it's only one month in my life! Class was good and my hubby had settled into a good routine of having tea ready for me as soon as I got in. For day 4 a work event meant I needed to go to the early morning class. I was the only person there. Mortification quickly passed as I realised what an amazing opportunity this was to learn how to do postures better. Anita was fantastic at giving me pointers and made me feel a lot better about my inability to master standing head to knee stance. It took her one year and it was real determination on her part to be able to do it. It reminded me I need to leave my mind talk at the door, something I still need to master but I am sure I will get there! 

Day 5 was Friday and not only did I not want to go for the early morning class but I also wanted a nice Friday evening with Andy, so I did a sneaky, and went to the express lunchtime class. It was amazing! I had been unsure, as how can 90 minutes be condensed into 60 and am I good enough to be a intermediate student? But I totally enjoyed it; there were elements of flow yoga, and less savasanas and also less time for thinking. It was great for me to just get into a posture without overthinking! Sadly a 2 hour lunch is not something I can often get away with so until I move to a job in the city, this may not happen regularly. Shame. 

The weekend was easy enough - both 8am classes although early mornings do sometime means wobbly legs and since Saturday night was a late one, also sleepy legs. 

But that's it - week one done! 25% of Dry July/yoga frenzy completed. Only 3 weeks to go!