High Fiving Myself

You know that sweet, sweet high that you get from doing what you promised yourself you would do, from accomplishing what you thought would be difficult to accomplish? Well, I got that high. I made it through the past two weeks of practice without a day off, not even for a Saturday (I practiced Bikram on the Saturday of this week), and in the past week, I not only did my Mysore practice, but I also spent roughly seven and a half hours learning the Standing Series, breath for breath.

I also went to the Russian and Turkish Baths today, by myself. I challenged myself to do it, and I did it. And it was wonderful. It was so quiet there. Only about 20 people there in total. About 17 of them were men. Lots of chatter, most people talking about why they were there, the overwhelming majority doing it for "stress relief". In the Radiant Heat Russian Sauna, which is hotter than hell, literally (well, actually, I can only guess), I tried to stay calm for as long as I could despite feeling like my eyeballs were on fire and my nose hairs had burned to a crisp. At any rate, I stayed in way longer than I had the first time I went.

Tomorrow I am Steamboat bound! After all those standing poses and double practices, I should be all set for skiing. Now, if only it weren't 10,000 feet above sea level. I LIKE sea level. This is always a slight problem for me. But maybe this will be the year that I don't feel like throwing up the first time I walk up a flight of stairs.

YC