Forty Days of Yoga – Day Two Recap

Yesterday was rough…in a good way. I awoke to find my abdominal muscles virtually useless. They were feeling the love burn from the day before. I tried to sit up, but my body wasn’t really responding. It was intensely sore and stiff. I almost resorted to sliding feet first out of bed onto the floor, but figured it would probably be more difficult getting to a standing position from way down there. Instead, I did the ole count to three and heaved my way to my feet.

Despite the pain, I kind of wanted to do a jig. A happy little it-hurts-but-I-am-going-to-be-top-notch-in-40-days kind of jig. But, I didn’t. Instead, I got ready for work and packed an extra bag of yoga clothes and grabbed my mat in preparation for class number two of Semperviva’s Forty Day Yoga Challenge straight after work.

I find that when I am engaging in good physical activity, I crave healthy snacks like grapefruit and Greek salad instead of the greasy, junky kind. It’s some kind of unconscious attempt by my body to preserve the benefits I have just reaped from my workout, to ensure that pushing myself to the limit, mentally and physically, wasn’t for nothing.

Typically, my breakfasts consist of a medium-sized cappuccino and…well, then there’s lunch. The last two days I have avoided the cappuccino at least until noon and dined on an early morning meal of bananas and smoked salmon. Strange combo yes, but I don’t enjoy standard breakfast foods. I am not sure if my increased energy is coming from the bananas or if it’s a mental trick, but I will accept either.

Day two’s class was an evening Hatha class taught by instructor Bernie. I have to admit, I liked his style. Every time I felt ready to give up and collapse onto my mat he would crack a joke about alligators and their tough stomach muscles or challenge the class to do the pose with no feet, when clearly no other body parts were touching the ground, making this humanly impossible…unless some of the students could levitate. His encouragement, chides and tales succeeded in distracting from negative thoughts and I found myself smiling through most of the class.

I also liked the class concentration on the core. The one area I would most like to work on is my middle. I am genetically quite lean and have worked to put some meat on my bones, but in the past year or two I have gone from flat stomach to the beginnings of a female beer belly. Okay, I might be exaggerating…or not.

I can blame some of the effect on bad posture, a lack of cardio and developing terrible eating and drinking habits since finishing university. Needless to say, my mid-section is what I most want to change over the next 38 days. If yesterday’s class is any indication of a regular night with Bernie, I will be back.

Tonight’s class: Either the 5:30pm Hatha class at the Sun studio or the 5:45 Hatha class at the Sky studio.

Tomorrow’s challenge: getting up and going to a 7AM class before work. The evening is not an option as I have tickets to see U2.