Wow, I am truly honored and humbled to be chosen as the student of the month at Bikram Yoga Grapevine. I could have never imagined my name would be up on the bulletin board when I started practicing almost four years ago.
I grew up in a family where athletics and fitness was a priority. My dad was a college baseball coach, so it was pretty much like pick a sport and work as hard as you can to be good at it in our house. I chose to go the tennis route and played competitively for many years until I was completely burned out by the time I got to college. So to replace the four hours a day on the court, I became a gym rat and spent hours upon hours on cardio machines, lifting weights and in various kind of aerobics classes while also running outside as much as I could. After years of this routine, I began to feel the effects on my body…my muscles were wound up tight as a drum. It eventually got so bad that I could not even make it through a meal at a restaurant without have to get up and walk around because my sciatic nerve bothered me so much. I knew something had to change, so I started taking some power yoga classes at my gym and really liked how my body and mind felt after class…and I actually found out that it was a serious workout…not a meditation session which was my very misguided impression of yoga. While I was out visiting family in Arizona for Thanksgiving that year, an old friend of mine invited me to a Bikram class. I had no idea what I was getting myself into…he just said he would bring a big towel and a lot of water for me. I have always loved to sweat and never felt like I got a good workout unless I was drenched afterwards, so I said sign me up! That class is kind of a blur to me because I was trying to figure out how the heck to get my tight body into all of those positions. However, the two things I do remember are how thankful I was for the floor series and how much better I felt afterwards…energized and refreshed rather than tired and stiff!
When I got back to Dallas I looked up the local Bikram studios and found out there was one about a mile from my house. I tend to be quite stubborn, so for some reason I just kept going back to the cardio and weights at the gym because my work schedule made it difficult to get to the yoga classes. A couple of months later, I decided I needed to take a break from working my life away, so I quit my job and took a few months off to enjoy life. A couple of weeks into my "sabbatical" I finally found my way to the Dallas studio. The teacher told me it would be a lot more humid than the class in Arizona and boy was he right! After sitting out much of that class (which disappointed my competitive self) I was not about to give up, so I purchased the first-month special for unlimited classes. After that month I was hooked. I lost about 10 pounds and loved the way my body and mind felt for the first time in long time. I started to plan my whole day around yoga class (and still do) and had no desire to do any other form of exercise.
In the meantime, I met my soon-to-be husband who lived and worked in Fort Worth. Fortunately there was also a studio close to his house in Forth Worth or we might not have made it to the altar. Just kidding! When we got married, we decided to meet in the middle and move to Colleyville. I really loved the Dallas studio and was pretty bummed to have to leave. I know marriage is all about sacrifice but surely that didn't mean yoga! Fortunately for me, Bikram Yoga Grapevine was nearby. I'll never forget that first class with Sami…I think it was the hottest one ever…but the more sweat the better! Thanks to all of the wonderful teachers and students, I felt right at home in the Grapevine studio. Some of them probably thought I was moving in when I showed up with all my gear to shower for work after the 5:30 a.m. classes!
As if changing jobs, getting married and moving was not enough, I decided to go for another life altering event. In August 2008 I found out I was pregnant. Of course one of my first thoughts was whether or not I could continue practicing yoga along with whether my body would ever be the same again! I am very grateful to be part of a studio where other students (Carissa, Sami and Jennifer to name a few) had blazed the trail before me and where all of the teachers were so supportive during those nine months! Thankfully I was able to practice throughout my entire pregnancy, and I have no doubt that was the reason I felt so great and it went so smoothly. I think my practice actually improved during that time simply because I learned how to focus on the breath in every posture.
Our son Tyler was born on May 6th of this year. However, about two days after the delivery, my blood pressure started going up and I could tell something was just not right. I was so anxious that I didn't sleep for almost three straight days. Things continued to get worse and I ended up being in the hospital for 10 days while my healthy newborn son was at home. I was eventually treated for pre-eclampsia, which meant being confined to a bed and flushed with magnesium sulfate for 24 hours to reduce the risk of seizures. It was a very scary time rather than one of joy and excitement.
Four weeks after Tyler was born I went back to the doctor and I was still not feeling quite right…my head just felt "funny" and I did not have any stamina. I was afraid of what the doctor was going to tell me, but much to my surprise he gave me the green light to start exercising because he thought it would make me feel better. I'm sure he thought I might go for a nice leisurely stroll with the baby or something, but little did he know that the very next day I would be back at Bikram yoga. I was able to do every posture (even after a C-section), and I literally felt like a different person after that class. I think I sweated out all of the crap that was in my body and my blood pressure was completely back to normal without any medication in a matter of days. Thanks to the yoga I was also back to my pre-pregnancy weight within a few months and, despite lacking a little sleep, I felt mentally refreshed. I will never know for sure, but I truly believe that if I had not been able to practice Bikram yoga that I would have had more serious complications during the pregnancy. And I know the recovery would have been a lot more difficult. After all was said and done my husband, who is a doctor, finally admitted that he thought Bikram was the best thing I could have done for myself and the baby.
It is still amazing to me how the same 26 postures can be such a physical and mental challenge every day. Whether it is your first class or 500th class, I would encourage you to listen to the teachers' words all the time because I have found that I hear something in every class that helps me that particular day. Bikram Yoga Grapevine is truly a special place. I am so thankful that the events in my life led me to this fabulous studio. I want to thank all of the teachers for your smiling faces, wisdom and encouragement each and every day. I am also eternally grateful to Bikram for creating this series that I can practice for the rest of my life.
|
