30 Days of Heat

Hi y’all,

My last 30 day experience went well, until my parents got here and I was more or less forced (oh well, you know, forcing meaning: put a nice bottle of wine infront of my face) me off the vagon. But I did 14 consecutive days of yoga, that counts for something. I’m only a little ashamed. 

I recently started working in Hollywood. Yes yes, I know quelle terrible but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. So, here we are, trying out the Hollywood studios one by one. So far the results has been less then good. But yesterday I stumbled over something called Moksha yoga. 

It’s also heated. But not the same type of heat as bikram. And the “original” form is pretty close to a bikram practice in regards to the fact that theres a series of set poses gone through in a static manner. But thats where the similarities end. I feel that this practice is a little “happy go lucky” fitness. The class I took yesterday last one hour, in heat and I wasn’t even tired when I walked out. And the teacher didn’t go through ANY alignment. 

Today I tried a flowing Moksha class. This was at least straining but I didn’t particularly care for the flows and ended up sitting some of them out. The teacher was good, and I saw him making corrections through out the class.

So right now I’m unsure on how I feel about this Moksha thing. I think it’s a good switchup for a fitness class. As far as yoga goes I’m unconvinced. they have a great deal though, 40 dollarz for one month of unlimited yoga (newcomer students). Can’t really argue with 40 bucks. And it’s close to work.

Speaking of, jetting off to go home and eat cheese. Just because it’s wednesday. 

Heat overdose. Yesterday I did the hot fusion class with Layna. I know better than to take her class when I’m not really feeling it. I do. And now I learned the same lesson once again. No matter how good she is, there’s no point in taking her classes because she turns up the heat to a point where I feel so nauseous I can’t breath. Hence I can’t stand up, I can’t get air into my lunges and I can’t practice anything but childs pose. I even had to step out once.

This morning when I woke up I was still exhausted and decided to declare this a yoga free day. Halfway through the day I started regretting it. But now there’s no turning back, because tonight is BFF quality time. I haven’t seen Samm in what seems like forever, so I’m making a weeknight trek to Hollywood, Jones and some wine.

I can’t wait. Just wish I’d gone to class this morning. On the other side, if I had I’d probably have been to tired for dinner. Oh the hardships of a privileged life.

9 down, 21 to go. 

We dream in yoga, we dance in short shorts. Working, yogaing and living takes it’s toll. I have to say I’ve had one of the more eventful weeks of my life. Everything from managing to run out of gas in the middle of the street outside of Harvelles, to saying au revoir to a dear friend, to near death bike experiences, to Yin yoga and missing cats. I feel like I barely have time to breathe. Yesterday I almost fell asleep in the car on my way TO work. Which led me to the conclusionthat this whole 6am thing everyday isn’t working out. So starting yesterday I’ve started dabbling with evening classes. Today I “slept in” til 7.20 and went on a on a walk in the morning instead.

All things aside, I’m on track for the challenge, even one practice ahead of time. I did two classes both saturday and monday. Skipped friday morning practice since I had a big night thursday (so much for a week free of wine).   

I’ve also fallen in love with Yin Yoga since last time I updated. It’s a class that basically lets you stretch for 75 minutes. I know it sounds unbarebly boring but it feels just about amazing. It’s a whole new level of relaxation. The goal is to not only get into your ligaments but your muscles. For some muscle groups I feel like I do, others not. Anyhow I feel like a bundle of love and understanding for myself and the world around me every time I walk out. And that has to be good.

XXO (only 22 more classes to go, woop)

30 day challenge May edition. It’s time to do a 30 day challenge again. I did one last fall (together with the birth of this blog) at a pure Bikram studio. This time it’s at my hot yoga studio (hot8yoga), not actual bikram. The studio is a little bit of a drive from my place but it’s the cleanest least smelly heated studio I’ve ever been to. 

Because of the non bikram part this challenge will be a little bit less intense. But that’s a good thing since I just started a new job two weeks ago. I’m on day two of the challenge and so far I’m just energized, but I know it will get harder somewhere around day 10. And I’d rather not be a complete idiot at work if I can avoid it. 

Yesterday I took the 630am yoga barre class together with my roommate Ashley. She does barre and didn’t really like it because it wasn’t barre enough. And Im a yogi and I dont really like them because they aren’t yoga enough. A fail for both of us. So today I opted for the “bikram style” 630 class. 

I really liked the teacher, I’ve never had her before so I can’t remember her name to save my life, but I do remember that she’ll be teaching the same class tomorrow (yay, not so yay getting up at 6 three days in a row) tomorrow. It still kind of annoys me that they don’t really correct or instruct even on the basic alignments. Like locking your knees properly or keeping the weight on your heels. Anyway, I do know alignments so it just means I have to be more disciplined. Not my strong suit at 630 in the morning. Or at any other time for that matter. All in all good class, only sat out two poses. Left a little early to be able to go home and eat breakfast before work, and honestly to pace myself a little bit. So far it’s feeling pretty good. But hellishly sleepy. Might have to pick up a coffee habit if I’m gonna stick to these verdamnten 6am mornings.

P.S. I’m also not drinking this week to give my body a fighting chance D.S.
P.S. 1. It’s only wednesday and I’d kill for a glass of good white wine at le zinque right now, AND I DON’T EVEN LIKE LE ZINQUE #firstworldproblems D.S. 1.

So, long story short. I’m doing well on my challenge, just been to busy to actually blog about it. As I’m sure you all remember a certain birthday karaoke birthday celebration turned into my hand being more or less maimed. 

Together with that I managed to procure a nasty cut on my foot and as a result hopping around, twisting my ankle. I’ve been a tragic figure to watch limpin around Venice. This has made it kind of impossible for me to do any running (even if I’ve tried to. I’m stubborn as a fucking cow sometimes). As a result of that the foot is VERY SLOWLY getting better. Even the yoga is tough, since well, sweating with an open wound both on your foot and your hand isn’t really pleasurable nor does it help the healing process.

I’ve been sticking to my practice to the fullest of my abilities. Limping in and out of the studio. Like a boss. Also I bought a car and I finally have a social security number. As the very akward Swedish saying goes: “It goes well now”. 

Living on a prayer. I went out on thursday night to check out the the art crawl. We decided going for one drink. As we all know there’s not really such a thing as one drink. Fell into bed exhausted and really happy after 5 rounds of Jamie. So I gave myself friday off. That also ment staying in Friday night cooking and watching movies. And getting up at 8 to go do the hot power yoga with Bianca. I almost chickened out and went for the hot fusion class. Because Biancas classes are so flipping painful. But I went.

When I got to the studio all of Santa Monica was having a blackout. Which ment no lights and no heat. Class cancelled and I was on my way to march over to the Brian Kest studio. Then Kemi stopped me and said Bianca was coming in to teach a cold class. 30 minutes later we were on the mat. We got a 60 minute cold power yoga session. It was one of the most complicated and straining classes I’ve ever taken. She promised to bust our asses and she did. For my second workout of the day I did a 1hr run on the boardwalk. Today my whole body is sore. Bianca is a tough teacher and very very good.

After my work out regime I met up with Erin. There were sparkling wine and girl talk that escalated to dinner and jamie and from there to birthday karaoke. We performed living on a prayer like real professionals and then the bday boy himself landed on my hand, shattering the glass I was holding cutting up my finger and we called it a night.

I finally got our scale to work. Apparently my current weight is 122.1 lbs (ca 55 kg). Good to know. Even though weight is a crappy measurement. 

I haven’t really figured out how I’m going to get around working out with one hand one and one foot (messed up my ankle this week and the running hasn’t helped, can barely walk today) out of play. So today we’re not working out. I’m going to the barre class tomorrow morning to check out if I can at least do some good. I have 3 classes that are going to expire if I don’t use them so I might as well go just for the heat.

Phu. Now I have tons of work to prepare for the upcoming week. Injured hand or not. The napkin photos are from my current instagram tag project #napkinart. Feel free to join in! 

6:05. I’d set my alarm to 6:05 because it somehow looks better than 6:00. Which resulted in me running in to the studio at a 6:31. They still let me in the class thank god. That’s what I adore about this studio, they’re so easy to deal with pretty much regarding everything. 

Today’s class was easier. But the heat still got to me really bad at some point. I don’t know what’s up with me right now. It’s even hard for me to tire myself out because the heat makes me so nauseous. I asked around a bit and one theory is that the carbs I’ve been putting in to my body lately is not sitting well with me. Anyway since we’re back to a close to zero carb intake that should rapidly improve. And kudos to me that I done did it. 6:30 hot yoga barre day 2.

Probably because I passed up the strawberry infused tequila and went straight to Whole Foods instead of straight to other room (my local bar, it’s right across the street from the office. Fucking deadly) and then straight to my bed.

Body feeling well so far. My throat is feeling sore (but then again the heat always does that), and my triceps hurt a bit. In this barre class they use weights. I tend to put them down half way through the exercises because it get’s super arm heavy in the beginning and I just loose so much motivation when my muscles start hurting. It’s gonna be interesting to see if my muscles are over the hump by tomorrow morning or if they’ll be hurting even more. It’s gonna be another set of barre since I don’t fancy doing evening classes on Fridays. Fridays are for happy hour. 

I’m doing well on the food, I’m feeling the carb detox. My head is hurting and I’m slow and sluggish. But I haven’t cheated. Passed up all the cocktail snacks (the tortilla chips were torture) and had a hail merry macaroon and a diet coke when I got home instead. Winning so far.

Good job day 2. 

You call me bitch for short. I call you motherfucker for long. So in hindsight restarting the project like the day before I got my visa wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve barely had time to go to yoga, let alone blog about it. 

But then it happened. The realization that bikini season isn’t to far away. Not only am I going to Coachella in april, I’m also going to Palm Springs for presidents weekend. Which means I have approximately 29 days to get back into pre fulltime working shape again.

The fastest way for me to get on my workout regime (which for me means getting up at 6 every morning and driving to the studio before work). Is to tell so many people about it that there’s some serious shame involved if I don’t. 
So here goes the rules of operation getting unreasonably fit in 29 days. Listed in order of importance:

1. One type of exercise every day. Even if I don’t have time for yoga there will be running or at least walking. It’s acceptable to skip one day if I double up on the exercise another day.

2. There will be a close to zero carb intake. Aiming to stay under 20 grams per day.

3. I’m allowed to drink hard liquor, dry wine and diet soda.

4. There will be no cheating


I’ve already got Miss Charli over at surfandsmilebig to join me. Any other takers?

P.S I’m disclosing the “day1” picture I took in the Hot8Yoga changing room mirror this morning. Always makes me feel like a weird creep taking pictures in dressing rooms. D.S.

P.S 2. Last week we did office yoga, non heated but still. Some pictures of me actually doing yoga and not just taking posy pictures in the bathroom D.S 2