Day 29: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Day 29 of my yoga challenge was spent taking Ryan's Hot B class with Nica. I felt incredibly bad that my sudden change of schedule has messed up my challenge.

Chee's 12 Things

Chee is one of my many beautiful, talented friends. We go way back, starting as frosh in high school, both as outsiders who grew up in the Middle East, and bonded instantly over our lack of knowledge of everything Filipino, and both learned how to adapt along the way.

She has relocated to Singapore now, and works as a Med Rep for Far East Drug. You can probably find her I hopping from clinic to clinic on Mondays to Fridays, bugging doctors to use our infamous Filipino pharma products (and loving it, apparently). According to her, if work weren't frustrating, tiring, and stressful - it wouldn't be fun. Meh, to each his own on that front.

When off the clock, you can find her bending and twisting her spine in different directions at Bikram Yoga Harbourfront. She is deeply in love with the studio and the people in it, it is her happy place.

Check out her 12 Things here:

Day 26: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I had to skip yoga today, since work took over and consumed most of my day and I just couldn't get out of it. It seems that I'm in for a long week, work-wise, I still have two days of yoga to make up for! Drat.

Day 25: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

It's the last week of the Yoga+ challenge!

Day 24: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I had to skip yoga class today for a food feature I couldn't move. I was gung ho on taking a class at 6:30 in the morning, but overslept. I know it isn't much of an excuse, but I'm really not a morning person.

Day 23: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I joined a special class with Jericho at Yoga+ and tried something totally different: Kirtan yoga. We really had no idea what we were in for, and found out when we got there there that it involved a lot of chanting and singing, totally different from the very physical yoga I had gotten used to.

Day 22: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

The Yoga+ guys were busy opening the Ortigas branch, and they had Kim take over to teach flow for the evening classes. I was quite apprehensive at first, being that I haven't built up my stamina for Vinyasa yoga yet, and all those poses meant to increase core and upper body strength just kill me.

Day 21: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I took Ryan's Hot B class at 8pm today. I guess I can say I'm improving in my postures, and have been learning a lot from each yoga instructor. My breathing has improved as well, I've noticed. Ryan did mention that the fact that people only use 5% of their brain is also true for their lung capacity. Yoga teaches you how to maximize your lung capacity and make each breath last longer. Deeper breaths also mean more oxygen being pumped to your brain.

Day 20: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

10 more days left before the end of the 30-day challenge! And 10 more days until the end of June. Wow, where did time go?

Day 19: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Finally, I am back on the mat! I was feeling up to take a class, finally, so after a client meeting, I headed over to Yoga+ to take the 6pm class, which was Flow with Marc. I laid down and ended up totally zoning out in savasana. I felt like I was floating, half of me was present in the moment, another part of me was someplace else. I stayed like that through most of the meditation as well, until the other asanas sort of pulled me back down to concentrating on the postures.

Day 18: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

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This is the third day I've missed yoga. Bad, bad, bad. I couldn't help it though, I felt terrible the whole day. I had planned on taking the early morning Ashtanga class but woke up feeling very warm. I couldn't really work until after lunch and had Nix accompany me to the grocery store to buy my much needed supplies of food for the rest of the week. I think the fresh air did me a world of good, as I felt a lot better when I came back.

Day 17: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I've been feeling under the weather lately and have come down with something it seems like. I tried sleeping it off for the most of my Saturday, but by today it had just gotten worse. So yeah, I opted to skip yoga today and just rest up.

Day 16: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Ok, I admit that today was an especially lazy day and I didn't go to a yoga class. Gasp! I feel really guilty, but Jericho had stayed over and we got a late lunch, so going to the feature class at 1pm was out of the question (going the the Hot C class at 4pm is not an option for me... at least for now). I'm going to have to pay for it in the next 15 days by doing one day of doubles, something I'm not particularly looking forward to.

Day 15: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Took Ryan's Hot B class earlier tonight and had a blast! I'm really starting to enjoy the classes, even though sometimes I just don't feel like trudging over to Yoga+ because it's drizzling outside, I'm busy, I want to spend my two hours watching a movie, or some other excuse.

Day 14: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I took a 6pm Hot C class with Neil Salang at Yoga+ earlier tonight. That is definitely something I won't be doing again for a while! Holy shiz, I almost died! Hot C is an intense marriage between the bikram and vinyasa yoga styles - think vinyasa yoga in a heated room. I like how Neil's voice is calming, as he guides everyone through the postures. I feel a bit cheated really, since his soothing voice makes you want to actually attempt the crazy posture, because he sounds "nice".

Day 13: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

The little yogini, Aisa, is back at Yoga+! I hadn't seen her all week last week, so it was good to take her Hot A class. I had a pretty strong practice today, and was feeling pretty good about myself, although I purposefully sat out some of the inversions. I had a pretty good class overall, and am pretty surprised at my improvement since the first day I stepped on the mat.

Day 12: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Wow! Has it already been two weeks? I took a Hot A class with Dinah this morning and dragged Jericho with me for him to check it out, too! Well, he was there to take photographs of the place for my feature, but I was half hoping he would take the class with me as well. He chickened out and stuck to snapping pictures. I guess bikram just isn't his thing.

Day 11: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I took my very first Led Ashtanga class with Eunice Cu bright and early at Yoga+! I was a bit apprehensive and had no clue what I'd be in for, but I like Ashtanga for the meditation and breathing that goes with each posture. Eunice is a very hands on instructor, and I like that she really takes the time out of her class to instruct and correct everyone, gently pushing you to your limit. Om, shanti, shanti, shanti...

Day 10: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I opted to spoil myself a bit and sleep in on a Sunday. Took a Hot B class with Emma Sheridan, which consists of 26 hatha yoga postures in a heated room. A bit less than the 50 postures for Hot A,  I find Hot B to be a lot more challenging, because there are more sets to this class than Hot A. I just wasn't feeling it today, and was distracted and irritable, trying hard to concentrate on my breathing, pissing myself off during the balancing poses, and just hating it. Oh well, I guess it was just an off day.

Day 9: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Had a better time at Hot A with Dinah early on a Saturday morning. It's another one of those days when I just don't want to get out of bed, as it's a weekend, but nevertheless hauled myself out and made my way over to Yoga+ for class. I have a new way of tricking myself to commit to class nowadays, and that's by making online reservations. You need to cancel at least two hours before or pay a hefty cancellation fee before you can use the system again, so waking up 45 minutes before class doesn't leave me with much time to back out.

Day 8: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Yoga class today was so bad! Not the class itself, just my practice for the day. I took the 8pm class yesterday and then the 6:30am class today, because I had a client meeting at 7pm. I fell asleep right after I took a shower, wasn't able to hydrate at all, and of course, couldn't eat anything before class since I had to come on an empty stomach.

Day 7: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Yoga+'s challenge Day 7 is over. One whole week of yoga! Took Ryan's Hot B class, which was quite the workout!

Day 6: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Day 6 of my Yoga+ challenge! One more day until I've been doing this for a whole week! I took the 6 o'clock class, which was Hot A, with Dinah substituting for Aisa once again as she was still feeling under the weather. I hope the little yogini gets better soon.

Day 5: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Day 5 of my Yoga+ challenge! Has it really only been five days? It feels like I've been doing this for over a month already. Took Dinah Salonga's Hot A class at 8 o'clock in the evening. The class was pretty small compared to the other ones I had gone to and it looked like most of us had just begun our practice, so Dinah went slow, showing us the proper way of doing the postures and not turning the heat up too much. I liked that her class was very educational, even taking the newbies aside and sitting them down to talk about their experience on the mat after class.

Day 4: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

It's Day 4 and I thought I'd join an evening class at Yoga+, Ryan Chester's Hot B class, to be exact. Hot B consists of 26 postures and is a pretty intense workout with a lot of controlled breathing. I like how Ryan is really hands on and takes the time to get to know his students, taking us newbies aside to teach us some breathing exercises we'd be doing in class so we don't get weirded out.

Day 3: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

I had to haul my ass up and drag my feet to Marc Carlos' class at Yoga+ this morning (I usually sleep in on Sundays), but my body is so happy I did! Marc teaches Flow, which is Vinyasa-style flow yoga, that makes use of breath synchronized with each  movement, characterized by rhythmic pacing and dynamic flow. Emphasis is on building strength and stamina, as well as increasing endurance and testing the edges of your balance and flexibility.

Day 2: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

Day 2 of the 30-day yoga challenge at Yoga+! I took Aisa Locsin's Hot A class again, since it was the earliest class to go to and I had an bloggers event to co-host at Kuppa right after. I did way better than yesterday, and thankfully my body is adjusting quickly to the heat. I got in a bit early and just spent most of the extra time in Siddhasana, or sage pose, emptying my mind and psyching myself up for the hour and a half class.

Day 1: Yoga+ 30-Day Challenge

It's the first of the month and Day 1 of the 30-Day Yoga Challenge at Yoga+! I was so excited and nervous at the same time that I got the class schedules messed up and thought I was in for a 90-minute Flow session, turns out the 6:30am class was for Hot A Class, with was 90-minutes of hatha yoga postures practiced in a room that is heated to 37 degrees Celsius with Aisa Locsin. I was a bit overdressed.