Monday, March 1, 2010

Day 1/30

I started a 30-day challenge tonight. Well, two of them, really. Not biting my nails for 30 days, and doing yoga every day for 30 days.

Obviously, the former is vanity-driven. To my embarrassment, the latter is as well - at least waaayyyyy more than I'd like to admit. I know all the wonderful and amazing things this yoga has done for me in the past. I could use a shot in the arm of "feelin' great!" and clarity, etc, etc, blah blah blah.

Here's the thing, though:
I'm taking a trip to the beach (South Carolina, never been!) on March 31 and unless there is three feet of snow like we got here over the weekend, I fully intend to wear as little clothing as possible and get some color on my belly and do my San Diego roots some justice. But I'm at least 15 pounds heavier than when I bought that last swimsuit.

So it's time to get serious. Again. I just finished Day 1's single set of the Bikram series, despite feeling like going straight to bed when I got home much later than usual, then dealing with my landlord (last time handing in rent! Woohoo!!!).

The fact that my back was seizing up all day (shit, I just chewed a nail) was a huge motivating factor for me to practice tonight. An hourlong walk at lunch didn't help much, though the weather was nice-ish and it felt good to move. So even though it's already an hour later than I usually go to bed, I'm feeling good. They say that 30 seconds in half-tortoise gives you the same relaxative (That is so not a word. Um. "Relaxatory"? No? I need an adjective for relax-y) benefits as eight hours of sleep. Since that is one of my tougher postures, I did it four or five times once I'd finished everything else. So really, it's like I got a whole week of sleep, right?

I doubt I'd be doing this if it weren't for the 101 Challengers and other bloggers, so thanks everybody for the inspiration!

Now, time to hit the shower. :)

5 comments:

  1. Glad you're inspired! And dude, bikini season is TOTALLY acceptable motivation... I always tell people that it doesn't MATTER what they tell themselves to get motivated for yoga, as long as they do their yoga!

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  2. I second what J says :-) Everyone comes to the yoga room with something they need to work on--migraines, back aches, anxiety, diabetes. Sometimes, it's just the BUTT (or whatever vanity thing it might be for you)! Fortunately, yoga fixes butt problems, balancing our inner selves right alongside :-)

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  3. Good luck with your 30 days! You'll definitely see some results, of varied kinds, by the end.

    One additional benefit of lots of yoga is that your hair and nails grow faster, too. Sooo, about that nail-biting habit... :)

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  4. I totally understand the motivation behind your challenge. After all, I live in SUN Diego :-) hahaha. I also started 2 challenges yesterday, a a 30-day BYC and a Dinner Challenge ( eating ONLY salads for dinner for 30 consecutive days). I want to lose 10 pounds too. hahaha. At the moment, the second challenge seems harder to me!! I practice BY 5-6 a week already. Good luck with your nails.

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  5. Good for you for starting both challenges Catherine!

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