Yes, please. Sign me up. I’ve been continuing my yoga for the last six months, although not with the same frequency or fervor as before. Between the pregnancy and the Seattle summer (80 degrees and sunny every day) I get quite a bit hotter than I used to. Before, I had gotten so used to the heat that I would barely break a sweat in class. Now I kind of dribble out of there. Other obstacles include tight outfits, acid reflux and a list of positions I can’t take, but other than that… class has been quite rewarding.

I read in one pregnancy book to avoid working out. In a book with plenty of good advice, that suggestion was just ridiculous. I’m supposed to get 30 minutes of exercise a day (I’m lucky if I get that every day), and it can help with all of the crummy symptoms. Research suggests that the yoga will help with labor and all sorts of other things. As usual, I find it to be the perfect well-rounded activity for me, before and now. (And hopefully will help me get my girlish figure back after, if Mike has time to watch the baby.)

No, the baby doesn’t really react to the classes. I think he gets lulled into a coma with the movement. I have to skip some stuff, so I give myself some built-in rest periods, and I modify lots of poses. It’s been pretty intuitive to figure out how to change my practice, although I’m really just kind of making it up aside from a few modifications I had been taught. If it doesn’t feel good or is too hard I just don’t do it. A special thank-you goes out to the Zantac I’m taking.

We don’t have a prenatal class, and I probably won’t venture out to one. I’ve talked to a couple of other women at the studio who have tried it elsewhere and said they were so bored they wanted to cry. (We Baptiste folk are used to a little more action in our classes, it’s FAR from stretching and breathing.) I don’t think those classes are for me! I’ll stick to my regular ones, especially Mike’s weekly class… I can only go to that class for another couple of months! I have some DVDs, including one made by two of my teachers, that I can use if going to 90-minute classes at the studio gets too hard… or too sweaty.

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Lately it’s been a whole lotta yoga.

During 40 days — while I was high on endorphins, apparently — I signed up for the Teacher Assisting Program at our studio. It’s a 2 weekend program (24 hours of training total) where you learn how to assist all the basic poses in our style of yoga. It’s super tough, because you also have to do all the poses and get pulled and pushed into all the tough places the poses can go. Exhausting but illuminating. I attended it to grow and learn, I like making my practice better. It was yet another indicator that I still don’t really care to teach yoga (but I already knew that)  – but what I want is to be awesome at it ;) These trainings just help me get better. Plus, as usual with all my yogadvetures, I met some super great people. Plus, when you’re touching people in that way, it just helps you let go a little and relax around other people — you can even translate that into how you interact with anyone.

Right now I’m sore and exhausted! The downside to the extreme yoga is that it throws me off of my regular schedule. I haven’t been to my normal amount of classes due to just needing extra time and needing some recovery time. But, it was good.

Secondly, Mike is in the process of getting on the sub teaching list at our studio. It’s a huge big deal, and a really tough process, but he’s just checking off the requirements one by one. You have to go through the teacher assistant program, go through the mentorship program (which he’s doing now by assisting the intro yoga series two nights a week), go to Level I training, some other stuff, and go through a series of practice classes. His first class was last week and his second class was today. I attended both. I hate giving feedback in general, and it’s tough to give feedback (we call them “gems and opportunities,” by the way) to someone I know so very well. Today someone called it “wife-back.” And yet, I’m so good at nagging him about other things… ;)

He’s doing great. He’ll have another class scheduled soon — I’m glad he has a couple of weeks to marinate on it. I thought his class was excellent today — he thought it could have gone better, but it’s all just part of the experience. He’s like my dad in that he has a gift for teaching for sure. (My grandpa once said you either are a teacher or you aren’t.) Mike is, for sure. I’m glad he has a teaching outlet right now. He’s still just finding his feet. His bare feet, I guess… At least he has his wife to give him man pedicures if needed.

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Have you noticed it’s been about 40 days since I updated the blog for real? Well, yesterday was my 40th day of my 40 days program. Here’s what I did:

- Attended 6 yoga classes a week for 40 days. I did not miss one class, even when traveling. This comes to almost 54 hours of yoga! (Our three Cincy classes were a little shorter than our usual 90 minutes.)

- Attended 5 (out of 6) weekly meetings, plus last night’s party and closing meeting.

- Completed a weekly face-to-face buddy check-in with my 40 days buddy and new friend — I probably never would have gotten to know him without this process.

- Gave up caffeine for 40 days. (This means no decaf or chocolate!) We also chose to give up meat. (This was harder than 54 hours of yoga… I’m drinking a latte right now. :) ) We could give up one or more of the four CATS: Caffeine, Alcohol, Tobacco and Sugar. While I only committed to the caffeine, I had extremely low amounts of Alcohol and Sugar as well. And, no tobacco of course, ever.

- Did meditation for 40 straight days, starting with 5 minutes twice daily and going up to 30 minutes twice daily.

- Successful ate only fruit for three straight days. Only fruit.

- Completed readings and journal questions each week.

Wow, it’s been quite a six weeks! I have also been on a project at the book producer’s during the whole 40 days, so it was a real lesson in budgeting my time and staying organized, as well as will power being around people drinking coffee all day ;). I had to drive an hour each way to work, get home in time for class, eat a healthy diet — I didn’t really have any fast food thanks to the no meat. (Just french fries a couple of times ;) ) It would have been really easy to skip something. Especially since we had to miss a meeting for our trip to Cincy and couldn’t get our certificate of completion anyway. Even though I came close and had weak moments, (very weak moments!) I kept my commitment. With the exception of my husband, I’ve probably never committed to anything that successfully before! It’s a great feeling!

Meanwhile, the last week was a little tough. Mike’s been in Mexico completing Level II teacher training (the next step after our December training.) Not only was it tough having him gone since we went through 40 days together, but it was a little bit of a bubble burst hearing about his amazing experience at level II. Thinking, my level I was nothing like that, and neither was 40 days. But it is what it is, and I’m happy with it.

I look at all the time put in to my health and well-being and am greatful I did that for myself. I’ve really tried to focus the last few years on being really healthy as I get older so I can have a high quality of life. I’m certainly going to go back to eating meat and drinking coffee and having cupcakes, but I’ve also learned a lot of good habits.

Also, after going to the studio for two years, I all of the sudden know a lot of people. Now that Mike’s assisting there, I know the names of all the managers and can chat with them, and I know a ton of other yogis now. Not only the people in my group, but as they acknowledge the 40 days people in class a lot, people just come up to you and talk to you about it. It’s amazing how once you open yourself up to being a part of a group, the group kind of comes to you. I also have been making more acquaintances at the book company, after being in and out of there for two years also. (It doesn’t hurt that I was working on a design project with other people instead of doing paste up, but 40 days has still been inspiring in that way.)

Right now I have things I want to get done before Mike gets home from Mexico. He may have stories to share about his experience, although I remember how difficult it was to put our Level I experience into words. (I am a little jealous that he got to hang out with so many of our Level I friends :) ) Congratulations, Mikey — he finished 40 days too, in addition to Level II.

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