10 tips for making it through a Bikram challenge

This is a post by Colleen Rogers, current Stafford Street Hot Yoga student and experienced challenger...

My Experience During the Stafford Street Hot Yoga Challenge

I’ve been a yogi for a couple years now and I want to share with you my personal experiences during my Bikram yoga challenge.

When I began my journey I wanted to be prepared. Unfortunately, there really is no way to be prepared! I, however, would like to share some of my personal tips with fellow yogis that are gearing up for their first challenge...

1)    Stock up on coconut water. You will be sweating out water, impurities, and electrolytes (sodium, potassium).  I look for the “no sugar added” variety. I found this to be helpful to drink after class. Especially when it’s nice and cold!

2)    One word: GOMASIO. Ever heard of it? It’s a macrobiotic condiment in which sea salt is cooked with sesame seeds. During the first week I noticed that I was sweating so much during class and, despite how much water I drank, I didn’t seem to retain the fluids that I was drinking. Also, I had extreme salt cravings. So I purchased a bundle of gomasio from SSHY (it’s made on site) and noticed immediate differences. The amount of sweat lessened and the salt cravings decreased as well. My favourite way to eat gomasio is sprinkled on avocado - amazing! I made a habit of putting it on my lunchtime meals in order to allow my body to retain fluid in my body prior to class.

3)    Take it easy on the garlic and raw onions prior to your Bikram yoga class. This one explains itself. What you eat WILL come out in your sweat. Be mindful for others around you. Odours can be quite strong! Because I tend to go to the classes in the evenings, I found that eating a nice salad with chickpeas or hard boiled eggs, avocado (I used half for each meal), bell peppers and gomasio was delicious.

4)    Treat yourself to some nice yoga outfits. Yoga will pretty much become your life. (Or maybe yoga IS life hmmm), so you might as well look and feel good. You deserve it! The studio has a great selection of clothes.

5)    I personally do not enjoy hauling a smelly mat and soaking wet towels around with me. I took advantage of the towel and mat service rental and enjoyed it!

6)    Set your intentions! Every day I set my intentions for the class that I was planning to go to. Once we make up our mind it’s actually quite easy to do what we want to do.

7)    Focus on small improvements. You will struggle during the class. But that’s ok. Yoga is a practice. I found it helpful on those days to just focus on one thing. For example, flexing my toes, the sit-ups or just staying in the room!

8)    Expect challenges to happen. That is normal and completely OK. You know when the teachers say during Camel Pose “you might notice some emotions, dizziness occurring” ? There was one class about halfway through that I had injured my back and felt so emotional during and after class that I completely broke down. The teacher was kind and understanding afterwards and talked about it with me. I’m not sure what happened but perhaps something had opened up and my emotions were set free. Set free from expectations, fear, anxiety, worry. I was mad at myself that I couldn’t just perform “at my best” that day. So now I try to roll with the punches. If you have a bad day, you have a bad day. There’s always tomorrow.

9)    Visualize yourself in correct alignment. This is very useful because if we visualize us doing something we will eventually get there. So I did this during the postures. It helped me keep my focus and balance during class.

10)     Mix it up. Take classes with different teachers if you can. Although the dialogue is the same, each teacher is different. I found that I was able to pick up tips on postures and words of encouragement from each teacher.

I noticed that during my challenge my life had become yoga. I lived and breathed like a yogi. I purchased the book Bikram Yoga and read about Bikram’s life and the different postures. I am much more mindful of my breathing and grounded to the earth - meaning that I am much more peaceful and who doesn’t want more peace in their life?

In short...
The challenge changed me from the inside out; affecting all areas of my well-being.
As my strength and flexibility improved I realized how unbalanced my body was.
As my balance improved I realized how mindful I needed to be to notice this.
As my mindfulness improved I realized how much I need peace.
And as I created peace in my life I realized how necessary yoga is.

~ Colleen Rogers (SSHY student)

Bikram testimonial contest winner - Denis

Denis Marion is the male winner of our Bikram testimonial contest. He scored an unlimited 3 months membership at SSHY. Congrats Denis on your incredible progress. We appreciate you sharing your journey!

Bikram yoga testimonial - Denis Marion

I’m guessing you have all heard the saying, “Never judge a book by its cover.” Not that I like comparing myself to a book; however, this saying is very accurate when it comes to my physical story. On the outside the story looks pretty darn good; however, once you get past the cover, the inside tells you a very different story. All the abuse my body had been through over the past three decades; bodybuilding for over 30 years and employed as a Winnipeg Firefighter for 20 plus years, had finally taken its toll on me.

In October, 2009 on my way back home from a chiropractor’s appointment, for some reason I decided to drive down Stafford Street. Sitting in traffic, I happened to look over to my right and I saw the sign for Stafford Street Hot Yoga. Living with daily, chronic pain can leave a person feeling beaten, tired and frustrated and that is exactly how I felt when I made the decision to turn into the parking lot to check this yoga place out. I had tried just about everything else, so why not Bikram yoga?

I was greeted at the front desk by two gentlemen, Todd and Kevin, who took the time to explain what SSHY was about and what I could expect by attending classes. After Kevin gave me a tour of the facility, I immediately made the decision to try it out for a week before committing to anything long term. The next day, I showed up and as a matter of fact, I ended up going 5 days out of 7 in that very first week.
It was very difficult in the beginning, but at the same time something inside of me was telling me this was the right thing to do. I decided to start buying 10 and 20 visit packages, only because I was not sure how many days per month I could commit to attending regular classes. I started to arrive early before my class, read the books in the lounge area and would often get tips from Amanda and all the Bikram instructors to help me with areas I was struggling with.

When I started taking classes my body was like a board. No flexibility and barely any range of motion. I was in a lot of pain from head to toe. Past injuries included dislocated shoulders, broken bones, torn ligaments and tendons everywhere in my body. Doctors have said that had it not been for all the muscles I had built up over the years, I should have been seriously injured or dead by now.  To heal both mind and body I have tried everything from therapies, massage, reading, chiropractors, and herbalists. With trying all of these different methods I would only receive temporary relief; however, since doing hot yoga my visits to these practitioners have become less and less.

My overall health, just like for most us, is very important to me. There are many other things I do to ensure I live a healthy lifestyle, but since introducing yoga into my routine I have a new lease on life. When I think back to how I felt physically and emotionally when I first walked through the doors of SSHY the transformation has been unbelievable. I can proudly say for the first time in over 20 years, I’m living a pain-free life. I feel younger, energized and ALIVE!

I have been with SSHY for over two years and the journey has not been easy. I had to endure a lot of pain in order to heal my old injuries just like Amanda said I would experience. She kept my hope alive by encouraging me to work and push past the pain in order to heal the deep-rooted injuries. I know there are other yoga studios throughout our city, but making that decision to drive down Stafford was the best decision I could have ever made for myself and for my overall well-being. Why would I want to go anywhere else? The staff and studio are first rate. The people who attend are great. The location is ideal. Yoga is not only great for your body, but it does wonders for your mind and soul. To be able to release the stress from our everyday lives, I believe that if more people gave yoga an honest and committed effort there would be a lot less people dealing with serious health issues. Take it from me. I’m living proof of that.

Namaste ~ Denis Marion

Testimonial contest winner

Giselle Aviles is the grand prize winner of the testimonial contest, taking home a 3 months unlimited Bikram pass. Giselle just completed our latest 30 day challenge - her 3rd challenge at SSHY! Way to go!

My Bikram journey of healing and growth began when my physician asked me if I had heard of hot yoga.  I had been having challenges maintaining my blood pressure.  In fact, I had been diagnosed with anemia as a child.  I had been practicing other types of yoga for a few months, had been a runner, and did light weights at the gym, but I had always felt that "something" was missing.  I pondered his idea for a few months, not only challenged by my fear of heat, but also my fear of being in a smaller room full of people.  Finally, with a few deep breaths, I entered the hot room for the first time in 2007.

I began to practice at Stafford Street Hot Yoga in 2009, and entered my first 30-day Bikram challenge.  I didn’t know if I could really survive, but I did!  I felt amazing support and determination from my fellow challengers. There was such an array of emotions – we laughed, we cried, we suffered, and we conquered.  And following the challenge, I took my practice to a new level; doing the hot yoga so consistently had helped me let go of the anxiety and shyness that had plagued me.  My practice was no longer defined by how others perceived me, but by how I saw myself.  In the hot room, it was my time.

In February 2010, I had stumbled on a rock along my Bikram hot yoga path when I severly injured my right hamstring.  I went through a month of intense physiotherapy on crutches before returning to the hot room.  I was reluctant, but I knew that I needed to. 

My first class back was the most difficult class that I had ever taken.  I was thinking about how I was starting all over when I heard one of Bikram’s mantras called out by the instructor: "You're never too old, never too bad, never too late and never too sick to start from the scratch once again."  My injury had created an opportunity to change my focus in my practice – to really listen to my body and mind!  I realized that depth wasn't the key, but my energy towards the postures!  And despite the setback, I became stronger than before, completed my second 30-day challenge that year, and a third in 2011!    

~ Giselle

Testimonial contest - honourable mention for creativity!

This is a testimonial from Paul who won an honourable mention for his creativity (a dozen love buns from Ume's Kitchen)...

A farmer parked his combine behind his barn after the fall harvest.  However, he quit farming and moved away that winter, renting out the land to another farmer.  The combine was left there and forgotten. 
 
The machine sat there unnoticed for a very long time.
 
The farmer came back to the land to farm again after many years later and found the combine exactly where he had left it.  It was in bad shape.  The machine had sat through many dry, hot summers and cold, harsh winters without being used or maintained.  It had been pelted by rain and hail and had endured gale force winds.  Most of the gears and sprockets on the machine had become rusted and would not turn.  The motor would start but the machine struggled to move even an inch.  In fact, none of the parts seemed to move at all.
 
It seemed hopeless that the combine would ever work or run properly. The farmer wondered if he should even bother trying to fix it.  But the machine had worked well before so he decided to give it a shot.

The farmer set to work on combine.  Everyday, he added oil and grease all the gears and sprockets that would not move.  He used a wrench with as much force as he could muster to try and turn them, but they would not loosen.  The farmer was dismayed but kept at it.
 
One week went by and the farmer went out to add oil and grease to the gears and sprockets.  He used a wrench to turn one of the sprockets and lo and behold it began to move, ever so slightly.  He tried the same thing with one of the gears and it too turned, just a tiny bit.  The same thing happened with all the other the gears and sprockets.
 
The next day, the farmer added oil and grease and all the gears and sprockets and again, they all turned a little bit more.
 
After a few months, most of the gears and sprockets were turning.  Mind you, they were all not working at full capacity, so the farmer kept oiling and greasing the parts everyday.  

Finally, fall arrived and it was time to harvest the grain. The farmer oiled and greased the machine.  He started the motor and slowly put the combine into action.  Sure enough, the gears and sprockets began to turn and the combine moved through the field, harvesting the grain with ease.  The combine never broke down again and  farmer was able to use it for harvest every year after that. Of course, he kept oiling and greasing all the moving parts everyday (almost)!
 
Definitions: 
Farmer - mind
Combine - body
Gears and sprockets – arms, legs, neck, spine, ankles, knees, toes, arms, elbows, fingers, calves, thighs, skin, back, front, bottom, top, side and all other parts of the body
Wrench, Oil and Grease - Bikram's Hot Yoga
Harvest the Grain – Being able to move body parts with ease and live a healthy life

~ Paul