Nynn

… Out of curiosity, which juices/combination did you find stimulated your digestive system? I am aware different bodies respond differently, but it would still be useful to know.

LOL, organic prune juice :ahhh:

I know, I KNOW, there are about a million prune jokes out there, so WHY would I decide to pour myself a nice tall glass of prune juice? 😆

Look, in spite of everything, it tasted amazing – absolutely nothing like those dried prune things that show up in trail mix. And it didn’t give me awful stomach cramps or nausea or anything… in fact, I will probably drink it again in my next fast. With caution – in all seriousness, for the next several hours after I drank it, even letting a teeny tiny fart escape in public would NOT have ended well.

(sorry if that was a bit graphic, but hey, it’s one of those need-to-know things)

Would you please go and get full blood work up? I think it’s important to investigate what’s going on regarding your essential components…
If you’re willing please come back and share what happens

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂
Hi again,

So I did get a complete blood workup, and overall (thankfully!) I am healthy as a horse.
Two things did come up, though I’m not sure if they have anything to do with anything:

1) My Vitamin D is low, doc suggested a supplement.

2) 2 viruses: a past infection of HHV-4 (Epstein-Barr/mononucleosis, which I remember getting when I was a teenager); and HHV-6, which my doc says can come and go throughout my lifetime and is associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I’m doing home practice every few days for the time being (we’re moving and I need to find a new studio), and the nosebleeds have stopped and overall I’m feeling much better. I’m guessing that either I was just sick, or maybe I was just wearing myself out too much???

Update: I have officially dropped out of the challenge… I was on something like Day 17 :long:

During the second week, I started getting headaches, which I assumed were signs of detoxing, dehydration, or both. They soon became migraines which lasted for days at a time. My doc gave me a prescription for migraines which I took twice and I felt better… though I missed a few classes and was struggling to make them up.

… then there were these nosebleeds. Starting last week, I was getting them almost every morning and assumed it was from spending so much time in a hot room, or maybe another sign of detoxing. Thinking I was lacking nutrients or not detoxing quickly enough, I went on a 5-day juice fast (organic fruit/veggie juices including a liquid amino acid supplement). I was feeling absolutely AMAZING – like Superwoman!

Then, this past Monday night after class, I got a major nosebleed while taking a shower – and it really scared me and my husband, because the blood was spurting right through my hands and wouldn’t stop for almost 30min’s. I was wiped out the next day and missed another class.

This morning’s class… I felt about 90 years old. I had horrible body aches all over (not muscle pains – but the body aches you get when you have the flu) and literally could not get into any postures – I ended up lying out for several poses; and at the end of class my instructor was really concerned. I stayed home from work, and asked my husband to bring me lunch this afternoon because I didn’t have enough energy to stand long enough to make something. But no headaches, no fever, no stomach upset – just shakiness/body aches that are subsiding (it is evening now).

Is any of this *normal* to experience during a challenge??? I keep trying to figure out where I went wrong. I have a healthy diet and take supplements, and I drink a ton of water… but maybe I needed to tweak something else? Did the juice fast make the nosebleed thing worse? Why these awful body aches? I am so full of questions, and more than anything, terribly disappointed in myself.

Still hanging in there with the yoga challenge!!

The studio actually ended up postponing the start date so more people could do it.
They also turned it into a “40-class” challenge, with doubles on some days that are offset with days off – and you have the option of whether or not to practice at home for some or all of those “days off.” And if you practice at home, you only get “credit” for some of your hours.

It’s complicated 😆 Between the 2 classes I missed and the extra days I have from when I started and my home practice, I actually have no idea what “Day” I’m on :red:

Already, my need to meticulously track and quantify my progress in the projects I undertake has gone completely out the window. Hooray, Yoga Challenge!!! 🙂

… I don’t worry about what to wear. I gear each practice to my needs. I can do a shorter practice or a longer practice. I can add time to areas that need a little more attention. I typically add maybe three or four non Bikram poses to my practice.
Although I do the Bikram series my practice is not like a Bikram studio class. It is My practice and I love it.
Namaste
Kathy
🙂

Your post made me smile – I’m on Day 3 (30-day challenge) practicing at home and I’m amazed at how different my home practice is from what we do at the studio. I’ve just been kind of doing whatever: I threw out the whole idea of timing myself and I’ve just been holding poses for however long I feel like doing in that moment; I’ve been switching up the order, changing what part of my mat I’m facing, throwing in some old dance stretches, and taking extra time if I need it to refocus. Oh yeah, and everything happens in pajamas :coolsmile:

I think it’s fantastic and inspiring that you’ve maintained a successful home practice for so long by truly becoming your own guide. I don’t think it gets any more “yoga” than that 🙂

….. but I would like everyones opinions!

Hi Gummisteph!

Sorry for the long post, but you hit a soft spot 😆

I went through hell on birth control pills… started taking them at age 15 for endometriosis. After a year or two, started getting side effects. Was switched to a different pill. This went on – no joke – for something like 10 years. And in that 10 years, I had 8 diffrent OBGYN’s :smirk:
I had every side effect imaginable as I went from pill to pill: mood swings, depression, anxiety/panic attacks, fits of rage, weight gain, weight loss, hair growth, hair loss, receeding gums, bad skin, beautiful skin, PMS to where the bloating left me unable to leave the house b/c my abdomen would swell so many pants sizes overnight that there was literally nothing to wear. Meanwhile, the condition we were supposed to be treating never went away. Periods were excruciating, I had migraines, bled ridiculously, and days would go by where I would throw up any food I ate. Ovulation was so painful, there were times I couldn’t walk. I remember one incident where I found myself doubled over on the floor in a retail store and had to call to be taken home (read: carried out).

I’ve had 3 laproscopic surgeries for endometriosis/ovarian cysts and one tubal reconstruction due to endometriosis scarring – and I’m only 30 years old. The last surgery – 2 years ago, I went to an out-of-state specialist and paid out of pocket to the tune of $7k… and finally, there was a marked improvement in my symptoms. That doctor told me to never, ever, under any circumstances, use birth control pills again, b/c (in his opinion) there is the possibility that in some cases hormone imbalances can be aggravated instead of helped by the pill :vampire:

The doc also mentioned that, in cases like mine where there is a hormone imbalance, the pill can’t provide that 98.5%ish protection level I was assuming it was – because it is formulated based on “normal” hormones. He said it was probably more like a 70% effectiveness rate :bug:

So I stopped taking them. After 2 years, I still get PMS, but nowhere near as badly – mostly mood swings. My period no longer stops me from getting dressed, going out, and even exercising. Migraines are rare. AND – HUGELY IMPORTANT – ALL OF THESE SYMPTOMS WERE GREATLY REDUCED AFTER I STARTED YOGA. In fact, I stopped classes for a few weeks (sprained ankle), and the period that followed was the worst I’ve had in years.

Again, so sorry for a long rambling post from someone you don’t even know. 😆 Feel better soon!

….If you can get up on your foot and weight it, then do it. Carrying a heavy pack meant I couldn’t favor my healing leg. The amazing thing is it healed incredibly quickly. I had no choice but to be mobile and scar tissue did not form. Other times in my life when I have babied a sprain (on 2 separate occasions) the swelling has not completely disappeared for up to a whole year…

Hi again,

Today is Tuesday. I sprained my left ankle this past Sunday- slipped on a frost patch and fell off a front porch… I missed the steps entirely, just slipped and flew forward for a few feet before hitting the ground. Luckily I was wearing a pair of stiff boots, which my doc says prevented my ankle from breaking – the boot heel broke instead.

My doc said not to put any weight on it until Friday, so today I kept off it entirely. It actually looks/hurts worse today than it did yesterday and the day before – though my gut feeling insists that it is actually getting better instead of worse, if that makes any sense at all 🙄
My doc didn’t directly answer my “When-can-I-go-back-to-yoga” question; though he said that if I am dancing at any Christmas parties that I should wear this ankle compression stretchy/elastic sock thing (sorry, I really don’t know what to call it LOL). Christmas is almost A MONTH away :bug:

Am I being unreasonable if I plan to go to yoga on Monday (i.e. one week after sprain)? And should I wear this elastic sock thing during class, or not?

Any ankle-breakers out there with some Do’s or Don’t’s?

Thanks!

Hi Gabrielle,

I have trouble keeping my balance in any poses that require balancing on one leg. I think the problem originates in that I turn out from my hips….

….. after 13+ years of ballet, standing with my hips turned out and my toes slightly pointing to either side instead of forward has become my body’s default posture. I look like a duck 😆 LOL, I spent years forcing my body to act this way, and now I want a do-over.

I have GREAT balance with my hips/feet turned out — and to be honest, there are quite a few poses (e.g. Balancing Stick) where I “fudge” by letting my foot point slightly to the side — but as soon as I try to rotate my hips/feet inward, I fall right out of whatever I’m doing. Of all the poses, I’ve made almost zero progress with Standing Bow: more often than not I fall out of the setup way before I get to the kicking part.

Any thoughts on how to fix this?

Thanks.

Hi lulu’s!

Tea tree oil is awesome – my medicine cabinet is never without it. It is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, super strong, and you can use it pretty much everywhere except in your eyes. The smell can be a bit overpowering if you use it straight; but there are lots of good soaps and shampoos that are more bearable…

Kelzalulu – Have you tried moisturizing *before* swimming? If you have fair or sensitive skin, chlorine can do more than dry out your skin, it can cause teeny abrasions… which can also make your skin more susceptible to bacterial/fungal infections. (<- this, BTW, was the cause of about 6 bouts of swimmer's ear for me as a kid – and why I quit lessons and never learned to swim LOL!)

Effective Breathing In Hot Yoga.

OMG. I tried this in my last class and it made a HUGE difference!!! For the first time ever, I didn’t get shaky legs and fall out of Awkward and my arms didn’t collapse in Balancing Stick. And the floor series was waaay better. All this time I’ve been attributing the problem to low blood sugar (I’m hypoglycemic), when really it must have been my breathing.

I noticed I have a tendency to clasp my hands in prayer in front of me and then lift them over my head – and it doesn’t let my shoulders turn out as well. But if I lift my arms to the sides and clasp my hands over my head, my shoulders go back much further behind my ears and my arms don’t tire out as much.

Thanks Gabrielle!

…I feel as though the teacher is directing her comments to me without specifically stating my name. That causes me to wonder if I’m just not doing it right or that something is wrong????

LOL, My instructor does that too – I think it’s to make sure my inner critic stops at, “My _____ really sucks today,” versus, “My _____ really sucks today AND NOW EVERYONE ELSE HERE KNOWS IT AND THEY’RE ALL WATCHING ME STRUGGLE.” 😉 She did tell us that it is her job to push us, but she has no way of knowing what our limits are on any particular day – and so no matter what she says, we need to be able to tune her out and tune in to what our bodies are telling us.

Re: the breathing, I get like that too sometimes – and if I start gulping air, I get too much oxygen and end up feeling just as woozy. And I haven’t figured out how to stop the feeling once it starts… so I’m going to watch Gabrielle’s video (Thanks!) 🙂

In any case, breathing is something I started practicing in my car as I drive to work – that way I can make as many weird breathing noises as I have to and I’m not worried if my stomach is sticking out. I also add some soothing yoga-type music – and by the time I get to work, I’m able to start the day on a positive note.