I planned to start my 10-day hot yoga challenge on Thursday but I was completely fucked from travelling at the start of the week. Like totally fucking exhausted.
I slept really heavily on Wednesday night, could barely get out of bed on Thursday morning and spent the whole day feeling like I was dragging myself through treacle.
It feels so odd to me that for my whole life I have had days like this where I would feel shit, have no energy, and it would feel like I couldn’t wake up or get a grip of myself. Now I realise that it’s actually a symptom of dyspraxia. I’m physically knackered from a really busy few days of work and travel. So I have to rest.
Rest equals recovery.
Normally I would keep pushing through, frustrated with myself and I would get worse and then pushing myself would begin to effect my mental health, so I would crash.
Learning I am dyspraxic gives me a new self awareness that allows me to take rest when I need it. I always tried to be kind to my mental health needs, but this is more to do with the physical exhaustion I couldn’t explain.
So on Thursday I rested. This was due to be the first day of my 10-day yoga challenge, but I decided to hold it off a day, or more if I needed it.
On Friday I still felt like my head was quite disconnected, like I had a terrible brain fog. But physically I felt a little better.
I had a massage which left me with a really dull ache in my back and I felt like yoga might help so I started the challenge with a 90 minute Bikram class. I had to be really mindful of my back, making sure my alignment took priority over depth. Despite how I felt at the start, by the end I felt pretty good.
The first class back is always the hardest. Taking on a 10-day challenge somewhat forces me to overcome the difficulty of getting back into Bikram & hot yoga. My practice has been quite sporadic over the last few months and I just want to get back in the thick of it, so a challenge helps me to do that.
On Saturday I went to a 75 minute hot flow class which I really enjoyed. My vinyasa practice has improved so much, and although I have to sometimes put down my knees in chataranga, I am nearly always doing the full version which is something that felt very out of reach a couple of years ago. By Saturday evening my back was beginning to feel so much better. The yoga was really helping which is amazing, and I think it may be the lack of yoga in my routine that made it hurt in the first place.
I had intended on doing a long run on the weekend but was pretty busy and with yoga and visiting friends I didn’t have time. I mean, I could have made time if I had got up at 5 or hadn’t had wine on Sunday lunch, but you know…..life and that.
So before meeting friends for Sunday lunch I went to a 60 minute Bikram class, the earliest one in the day. It was tough, it’s definitely a very different sort of practice when you go first thing, but it did free me up to enjoy my day knowing the class was complete.
This week I am working from home but have started to develop a sore throat and the beginning of a cold. I need to yoga and run and work and, and, and; so just need to ease up enough so I don’t run myself down.
On Monday I did a 60 minute Bikram class, and I am already beginning to feel better from daily practice. That was my 4th consecutive day and so today I’ll be meeting the halfway point. However today my throat is properly sore! I am aware I now haven’t run for a week and I have a half marathon in just over 2 weeks, so I have to do some training for that as well.
I should plan my week, but I’m also aware I don’t want to put too much pressure on if I’m getting sick. So, today I am going to work and see how I feel later on, but the plan is to persist with the yoga challenge if I can, take lots of nutritious food and vitamins and otherwise rest.
