"homework" projects

i just watched a video of dwight's testimony. i forgot how similar our stories are... at least the part about how God worked through prayer to draw us into a relationship with Him. it was again a reminder of how powerful prayer is and how we can/should lift others up in prayer too. both dwight and i were "homework" projects for our friends who were going through an outreach study. so little did we know at the time, but we each had groups of people praying for us throughout the study while our friends took steps in faith and with courage to ask us questions about God, church and life. God used these steps of faith to make us curious, and He softened our hearts to say "yes" to the invitations, and eventually we fell in love with our God who pursues us with unconditional love. after i became a believer, i too found out that i was a "homework" project and i was blown away that people i barely knew cared enough to pray for me during that time... and i was happy they did too. it's a good reminder that i need to not give up hope and to keep praying too!

A Full and Abundant Life

Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10b)

this is the verse that i think of when i think about dwight's life. over the past week since his accident, i've gone through many emotions and thoughts about the events that took place. there was the amazing way no one was hurt after dwight passed out at the wheel, to the timely cpr and care of the nearby construction workers, to the encouraging note that one of these workers and his whole family had just become new believers, to the way God's family came together to provide prayer and support, to the amazing miracles of his mom and uncle accepting Christ and then there were the hard times when they said his brain activity showed signs of damage and the MRI tests that showed evidence of lack of oxygen to his brain.

as i reflected and prayed over the past week, i became more and more amazed at what a faithful and FULL life dwight has had even though he's not that much older than me! i first got to really know dwight when we went on a 6 week missions trip to brazil. we were on the same team and i got to see his heart for serving others and his heart for following and glorifying God in all he did. on the trip, he hurt his foot (above pic) but didn't allow that to stop him from serving others. i saw his gentle spirit and his big heart....and his funny side too! i also got to serve with him on the mission board and saw his passion for expanding God's kingdom. then i saw him faithfully follow God to kazakhstan and loved hearing how he even used some of the english lessons we did in brazil over there too. he also followed God's guidance in organizing perspectives classes here in seattle so that fellow believers like myself could learn about what God is doing all over the world and get excited about joining God in kingdom work. dwight had such a servant heart that when my front door lock broke one morning on my way to work, i didn't know who to call and i ended up contacting dwight who came over that very day and spent several hours fixing it for me. it was always a blessing to chat and catch up with dwight b/c he had such a caring heart and just being around him encouraged me to live more for God. dwight has touched and blessed the lives of so many people here in seattle and all over the world, and though i am sad he is gone i'm amazed at how FULL a life he has had and now i know he is enjoying eternity with Jesus. how awesome is that!

for me, reflecting on dwight's life has encouraged me to renew my pursuit of a life of knowing and following hard after God (a line from a popular praise song the year we went to brazil... we sang it a lot that year). my favorite verse, the words of the apostle paul, truly applies to dwight's life and i hope they may apply one day to my life as well, "(you) have fought the good fight, (you) have finished the race, (you) have kept the faith." (2 tim 4:7)

i'll miss you dwight, and i can't wait until we meet again so i can thank you for encouraging me to live a FULL life no matter how long or short it may be.

things i hate: cleaning!

the 'rents are coming into town this week and i've been procrastinating for the past 2 months to start cleaning my place and getting it in shape to have my mom, dad, gma and aunt stay with me. over the past couple of years i've been slowly letting my downstairs rooms... especially my bedroom... get filled up with "stuff" and the more it piled on the less i wanted to deal with it. i slowly stopped letting anyone go downstairs when i have friends over.

since my parents are going to be staying in my room while they're here it was inevitable that i finally start the cleaning process. you'd think that tackling a project this big would be best done in small manageable chunks, but since i'm a professional procrastinator, my tactic was just to do a deep dive and don't come out until it's all done. and so i spent 7 hours and got it done this past sunday. yes, that's SEVEN HOURS of pretty much non-stop cleaning/purging/recycling!!! and that's JUST my bedroom, nothing else.

however, i do love my almost perfectly clean room now and am glad i had the "motivation" to get it done. BUT it will not make me like cleaning any more than before. the reason i absolutely hate cleaning is b/c it always leads to a ton of sneezing and blowing of my nose. in fact, i usually get sick after a do a round of cleaning b/c my sinuses never really recover from it (yes, i've even tried the neti pot and wearing face masks while cleaning). now, most people would think well if you just clean more often then you wouldn't have to do massive clean-ups or maybe it won't be so dusty in places, but i seriously think i'm just allergic to the activity of cleaning. i vacuum my upstairs pretty frequently and yet every time i pull our the vacuum and start going, my nose starts running and i start sneezing.

ok my whine session is done now, just one more day of cleaning to go!

food poisoning & meeting jesus

yes, you read that title right...."food poisoning" AND "meeting jesus". what do those 2 things have in common? well let me tell you!

this week, i had my very first and hopefully last experience with food poisoning. i went to a nice dine around seattle meal on monday night, had some crab cakes and ate way too much and went to bed early. then at 2am i woke up, not really knowing why, and i couldn't go back to sleep. by 4am i was feeling even worse, still couldn't go to sleep and finally threw up. after that i think i threw up almost once every hour for the next 6 hrs. it was horrible!

see i'm not the type of person that gets sick like that... in fact i've often thought i must have a super iron stomach b/c i never throw up. but that tuesday, it was like having the flu plus the added "bleh" factor of puking. i had literally no energy, i could barely walk upstairs to try to get more water or something to settle my stomach. a friend was nice enough to come over to deliver me some "safe" foods to eat and i could barely talk/hang out with her before wanting to just lie down and go to sleep. never again do i want to experience that!

now where is the "meeting jesus" part of this story? well, it's kinda funny because throwing up like i did this week will always remind of me of when i first met Jesus. see when i first started my journey into figuring out what i believed about God, Jesus and everything it was around my birthday, and that year i drank a bit too much and ended up throwing up a lot the next day. which is why it reminded me of when i first met jesus... or at least when i began that journey.

it's also quite ironic that today is also Good Friday and as i sat in service and reflected on my life with Christ i was again reminded of that birthday many years ago where i threw up a bunch and was introduced to Him... the 2 things will always go hand in hand in my memory. it's truly amazing how much my life has changed since that day and i'm SO grateful for the life i have with Him. how AWESOME is our God and how AMAZING it is that He loves us so much that He laid down His life for us!

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

Romans 5:8

work: why do i do the thing i do?

work has been on my mind a lot lately, maybe b/c there's been a lot of changes regarding it over the past month or so. my project at ms ended and i had some bench time... time where i wasn't on a project, but was kind of "on call" until i was assigned a new one. i realize many of my friends and family don't really understand my line of work b/c it's constantly changing, there's always uncertainty, there's sometimes a lot of flexibility and well it's just hard to comprehend. but i was reminded a few weeks ago when i was talking to a friend about how and why i ended up in the job i'm in.

when i finished college, i was a young believer and i was blessed to have multiple job offers due to the booming economy. one offer was at the company i did my internship during my last year of college, another was at a large and stable company and i also had a couple of offers from 2 of the big "five" consulting companies. i remember talking through my options with many of my family and friends, but my final decision came down to which job would lead me to grow more in my faith, and that made my choice easy! b/c to me that would be the job that would make me have to depend on Him more often and more fully, and that's how i entered the consulting world.

Turkey - Food and Fun

since my last flashback post of turkey was more about how the trip impacted me, i thought it would also be good to have a post on what i did and what i ate while i was over there. anyone who knows me knows that one of the best parts of traveling is the eating and my friend definitely helped me to try all the local foods! the best summary would be to view my FB photo album of turkey, but if you want a written summary here it is:

Izmir
went bowling, had dinner and games at a friend's house, road the ferry across the bay, saw the konak tower (famous Izmir landmark), went to Kameralti (Izmir's mini grand bazaar), had the best cup of Turkish coffee at a cafe in Kameralti, spent a day visiting Ephesus, went to Sirince (quaint countryside village), had an amazing Turkish breakfast at a hilltop restaurant that overlooked all of Izmir

Istanbul
stayed with a family on the Asia side of Istanbul and caught the ferry over to the Europe side every morning (great way to start the day on the ferry with a cup of chai), saw the Sultan Ahmet Cami (Blue Mosque), went to the Yerebatan Sarnıcı (ancient underground cistern and aqueducts), Kapalı Çarsı (Grand Bazaar), Mısır Kapalı (Spice Market), the Aya Sofya, ate a grilled fish sandwich near the water at the Galata bridge, walked thru Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Ave), got a personal escort to a hard to find and AMAZING restaurant called Ciya, drank hot cups of Sahlep while walking around at night (love this stuff!)

Food in Turkey!

Left to Right, Top to Bottom:

• kunefe (ku-neh-fey) - cheese coated with really fine, little rice noodles that is then deep fried, and then covered with a honey-like sauce with pistachios spinkled on top
•  cay (chai) - strong tea served in small glasses like this and need to add 1-2 sugar cubes b/c of how strong it is
• van kahvaltisi (vahn kah-vahl-tah-suh) - turkish breakfast consisting of assortment of cheeses, tomato, cucumber, olives, honey, sour cherry jam and bread
• sac kavurma (sa-ch kah-vuhr-mah) - roasted pieces of lamb w/veggies on a sizzling large iron plate
• sevket-i bostan (shi-ev-keh-ti boh-s-tahn) - local plant root cooked with lamb meat and a special sauce
• many types of baklava
• eggplant & lamb pide (pee-deh) with yogurt
• Köfte (Kohf-tey) - turkish meatballs and Piyaz salad - white bean salad
• dessert plate at Çiya (Chi-ya) - candied eggplant, tomato, olives, walnut, pumpkin, orange and others (I can't remember)
• assorted local dishes at Çiya (Chi-ya) (from closest, clockwise): 1) flax seed with a local root in a lemony sauce, 2) apricot, plum, nuts with meat in a sweet sauce (my fave), 3) bulgar pilaf, 4) garlic shoots and meat in a minty cream sauce, 5) ckickpea and meatballs in a tomato-lentil type sauce
• like a quesidilla with spinach and feta inside baked on a hot iron half dome
• iskender (is-ken-dair) - cubed bread on the bottom with doner meat on top with tomato sauce and drizzled with butter and a dallop of yogurt on the side
• meze (may-zey) plate at Çiya - cold appetizers, usually olive oil type dishes, some dishes had a nice kick to it too
• Mantiı (mahn-tah) - Turkish style ravioli with ground meat inside and covered with a tomato, butter and garlic sauce and yogurt
• lahmacun (lah-ma-jun) - flat bread with minced meat on it with sauce and spices

Turkey...not just a normal vacation

this is my first flashback post, so i'm going to go back and write about my trip to Turkey which started off 2010 for me. sadly i can't seem to remember what happened in 2009...again a reminder why i need to blog more!

i traveled to turkey on 12/29/2009 and kicked off the new year there! i spent 5 days in izmir and about 5 days in istanbul. i decided to go to turkey b/c a really close friend of mine had moved there a year before to pursue God's calling as an m worker. i was really intrigued by turkey b/c i knew so little about the country and the people/culture there, but had slowly learned more as my friend would share about her time there. i was also curious about the life of an m worker and wanted to see/meet/experience a little bit of what it's like living over there. so while this was a vacation trip for me, i would have to say that it unexpectedly became a lot more than that for me.

viva las vegas (again)

vegas...many people refer to this place as sin city and would not envision this as a family vacation spot, but to me vegas is where my family spends the most amount of time together so it has a different type of feeling to it.

growing up I would always hear the adults talk about their Vegas stories at all the family parties. it seemed like every family would go there at least once a year...THAT was the norm...at least in hawaii. after moving to the mainland for college, I found out that Vegas wasn't a commonplace destination for all families, in fact it was common for me to get a crazy look when I said I went there every year! when I tell them my fam would meet there for thanksgiving every year I would at least get an understanding nod b/c at least our family was together for the holiday. little did they know that my family actually meets there 2-3 times per year!

I guess the way this all started is b/c of my grandparents. after they retired they started going almost every other month. I honestly was never concerned that they had a gambling problem b/c they were very practical people...setting aside a set amount of money to play with and turning in early when they weren't doing well. i think they just enjoyed going on vacation and playing the games which I think is where I get my love for games and sports of all kinds. it's the thrill of winning coupled with the humbling of losing that I love. as for the money side of it, well to me, that's just the cost of doing it in Vegas and for spending time with my family. it's the same reason I'll pay crazy airfares to go home every Christmas... money is nothing if I can't spend time with the people I love.

after my grandpa passed away, my mom decided that she would go with my grandma so that she could still go to Vegas. obviously my mom couldn't go 6 times a year since she still worked, so they compromised and now they go 3 times a year. the rest of my fam (sis, dad and aunty) decided it was a good a time as any to get together so now we all meet up there (almost) every time they go. my other grandma also comes with them now so it really is a reunion of sorts.

while I wish at times my family wasn't SO into vegas and we could go elsewhere together (and we still do), I am grateful that we can at least enjoy doing something together. i recognize it is a little strange to some people, but in my opinion sitting on a table playing let it ride together beats being at home with everyone doing their own thing.

so that's why I say "viva las vegas!"

note: I know this post was a little repetitive to my earlier one, but I wrote it before I remembered I wrote a similar one 7 years ago. but I guess this just shows how its kept its significance in my life.

flashback

everyday i'm reminded that even though i'm "young at heart", my memory is definitely not as good as it used to be. it's got me a little worried (maybe i've been watching too much grey's anatomy this season...if you know what i mean you must be a fan too!), but it also has me thinking that i should really make blogging a higher priority even though it does take some time for me to do.

i first started blogging b/c i saw it as a way i could share my life and hopefully, indirectly, bless others (esp the youth i was serving at the time) by sharing what God's been teaching me, showing me or walking with me through. that's still my hope, but a new reason for me to blog is simply to help me remember major events, ideas, thought processes so that i may hopefully learn from them and also remember God's faithfulness, provision and direction in my life.

so with that said...i'm making it my goal to blog more regularly this year! i was also inspired by a project a friend did last year, but i think that's way too ambitious for me right now....gotta take baby steps. i will definitely have some flashback posts, though, so that i can try to capture some of the events that happened over the past year or so that is missing from this blog (i know there's more than a year missing, but i think a year is about as far back as i can remember). hope you enjoy flashing back with me!

Best Church History Class Ever!

i knew that title would grab you! haha, or make you skip over this post entirely, but if you read my previous post on the class i took back in October then maybe you've been waiting for me to update this blog so that you too could hear the best church history lecture ever (cliff notes style)! :)

sorry it took me so long to update, i kept forgetting to look to see if they posted it online. here's a link to the lighthouse podcast and message page. look under the category "2010 MFC Class Presentations" and you can download the powerpoint slides for the class called "Uniting Piety and Mercy" by Dr. Doug Strong. You then need to use some podcast software like iTunes to download the recording of the class. Here's the url for the podcast: http://www.lighthouse2001.org/podcast.cfm  Oh yeah and the podcast is in 2 parts so make sure you get both parts.

the entire class series was great stuff...feel free to listen to all of it!

a blog upgrade

ok i just realized that this blog has been up for 8 years!!! wow, that's crazy to think about! i bet back then no one would have thought blogging would have taken off like it has over the past few years. and to think...this blog was on the cutting edge when it started. some may say that just shows how "old" i am, but i like to think it shows how "cool" and "wise" i am since i adopted it early :)

anyways, i decided since this blog is 8 years old, it's time for a face lift! there have been many improvements and changes since i started it and it's time for it to get upgraded. not sure if this template is the one i'm going to stick with, but it did seem to reflect the city and place i love and live in. hope you enjoy the upgrade!

My "Weekend" Trip to Singapore

i know it sounds a little crazy...and yes, it was a little crazy, but i do not regret one bit of my decision to go to singapore for the weekend. it was one of those decisions that you just had to make and not think about how impractical it sounded.

my sister has emailed me numerous times over the past couple of years whenever she's going to be traveling to a fun city for work and wanted me to know just in case i wanted to join her. i LOVE to travel, but for one reason or another every time it just wasn't a good time for me to leave. but when she emailed me this january that she was going to be going to be in turkey and singapore in february for work, i just knew i had to make it happen!

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

our cg chose to read this book for our new study: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I learned while editing my life by Donald Miller. i had been wanting to read this book ever since i visited a friend back in january and she was just finishing reading it and kept talking about it.

i didn't know what to expect since i had heard mixed things about his other popular book, Blue Like Jazz. we've only read through part 1 so far, but i think i'm liking it. his writing style definitely takes getting used to, but i enjoy his stream of thoughts b/c it's kind of similar to how i think about things. he also poses a lot of questions or talks about things he reacted to and i find myself wondering how i would've reacted had i been in that situation.

i also think that being able to discuss the book with the other gals in my cg helps me to find the main thoughts or thought process of the book....granted this first section didn't have a ton of deep stuff to talk about. i'm definitely looking forward to reading deeper into the book and excited to see what God might show me through it.

oh one thing that i found interesting is that the author talks about how "the saddest thing about life is you don't remember half of it." which made me think of this blog and why i wanted to start blogging again.....so i don't forget or have something to help me remember different events of my life (big or small). which is why i'm here writing this post. i love it when you read something and it "intersects" with something else going on in your life.

i finally bought it!

well, i finally did it. after a lot of "thinking about it" i finally moved forward and bought a new car. when i think back on the whole process, it's kinda funny (kinda sad) how i really do "think" about things a long time before i actually "do" something about it. but for those that i don't see or talk to very often, it seems like it's an impulsive thing.

the truth is....i actually take a long time to make decisions like this, but when given the right motivation (i.e. God pushes me or i get fed up with "thinking" about it) i can go out and "get it done"!

so i've been actually thinking about buying an impreza since the beginning of 2010. i got kinda serious when i finally test drove it back in early sept, but then i sat back and thought about it again for another month and a half! then finally when the rain started and fall really began to set in, i realized that i better get a new car or at least some new tires b/c i began feeling really unsafe driving my jetta. in fact, i would often pray as i drove my jetta b/c i was afraid a tire would blow or i would skid out of control. and THAT was the motivation i needed to get going.

It's time to say goodbye...

yes, it's finally time to say goodbye to my beloved jetta. it's been a great car and i loved it very much. it was my first "big" purchase after entering the working world (also, my first real loan). i loved the color, i loved the moonroof, i loved how the lights inside were neon blue and red (one valet guy said it was like a dance club inside my car), i loved how comfortable and smooth it is to drive in.

but i feel it's time for me to move on....my jetta is slowly breaking down. i've already gone through an expensive round of replacing things (water pump, brakes, timing belts, etc) a couple of years ago. now it needs more work again (tires, windshield, maybe more). i feel less and less safe and secure driving it and with winter around the corner...well i just think it's time.

so i've done my research, i've submitted my request to dealerships for quotes and i'm praying that this new car buying process goes smoothly and quickly. i REALLY hate this process, but i'm hoping that by going with the online/email route it will save me some stress from dealing with the salespeople. so far so good....i've got quotes from 4 different people and i feel pretty good about being clear with what i want. hopefully within a week i'll have a new car! i can't wait!

but then again, i also feel that tinge of sadness as i realize i'm that much closer to having to say goodbye to my jetta *sniff*

Restless

i've become more and more restless lately...restless in my sleep, restless in my work, restless in just my life in general. i'm not sure what it is, but i don't like the feeling. i don't know if i can explain it really....i don't feel it all the time, there are times where i'm truly enjoying doing the things i do. but as soon as i'm done with that, i start to feel restless again and then there are also times i'm "doing" something and i feel like i'm just "getting by" in life instead of really living it.

anyways, this is NOT a good feeling...i hope i'll figure out why i'm feeling this way so i can get out of this funk.

Hot Yoga Report #2

so i went to my 2nd session of hot yoga today, and the class i went to was a different type of yoga than my first session. the first session was hatha and today's one was power yoga. the way it was explained to me is that hatha has a lot of poses/positions that you go thru and is more about balance and breathing while power yoga is a lot of movement and works on your core.

this time we started with breathing again but instead of having us inhale through our nose and out through our mouths they emphasized trying to only breathe through your nose b/c it helps to keep your heartbeat slow. i liked this better b/c i feel like breathing either in or out through my mouth causes me to feel like i'm not getting enough air.

and then we started doing these various movements and poses and the 2nd half of the class had a lot of pilate type of moves that worked your abs and core. i could tell why they called it "power" yoga, you really feel like it's working on strengthening your body. there were also more guys in this class....i could totally see how nfl football players could dig this. it was definitely challenging and i think i'll feel it in my muscles a lot more after this class.

overall, i didn't have any dizzy or nauseous feelings this time. i don't know if it's b/c i was getting used to the heat or b/c all of the movements make me focus less on the heat and more with trying to keep up and do it all. i think i'll give hatha another chance to see if it's better now that i'm adjusting to the heat. and i will definitely try to go to more power yoga classes.

on a funny note, one thought that did cross my mind during the class was that i think my face sweats a lot more than the rest of my body. i swear i was the only one that was constantly wiping sweat away from my eyes and mouth. kinda gross but good for my pores :)

one other note to self, after hot yoga i feel really good cause i got a good workout but my brain is kinda scattered and it's hard to remember that i have everything (2 towels, mat, water bottle, bag, keys). tonight i lost one of my towels, i think i dropped it somewhere. *sigh* there goes my "good deal" if i keep losing things.

Church History as a Witness of God's Mission in the World

so the title of this post is the title of the class lesson i just went to tonight. i know, it does not sound very interesting nor exciting. but surprisingly, it was the best talk about church history that i've ever heard! (not that i've heard a lot of talks about this subject since i'm not really interested in it and can never stay focused on the topic)

the speaker was the guy who is in charge of spu's school of theology and he basically gave a cliff notes version of church history with the emphasis on how the gospel was spread to "the ends of the earth". it was very impressive as he showed us how this actually came to be and very exciting to see how Jesus predicted this in Acts 1:8 when He said "You will be my witnesses....to the ends of the earth".

then the speaker gave highlights of each of the centuries starting in the 16th century. he highlighted what the major schools of thought and movements were in those times but he made it interesting by showing how it tied into how/why the church is where it is today. it was seriously the best cliff notes version i've ever seen and it made sense too...i didn't get lost in all of the heady, philosophical stuff. he even threw in some interesting notes about women's rights and the prohibition.

and at the end of it all, it wasn't just history for the sake of knowing history, but i learned about why there's a division amongst churches and how our mission needs to change so that people may see the "evidence of the grace of God" (Acts 11:23) through His people. and i also loved how he brought it all back to Jesus' prayer for his disciples (John 17:15-18). that we are called to live in the constant tension of living in the world (being relevant and not kept apart from it) and yet not a part of the world (we should not be consumed by the world so that we blend in). i loved the "constant tension" part b/c it's so true that it's difficult to live in that and not to give in and go to one side or the other which is what causes division between churches and christians.

great stuff....if you're interested in hearing this talk i think it will be posted online sometime...i'll put a link to it once it comes out.

Hot Yoga Report #1

YOUR MISSION (if you choose to accept it):
Take a Hot Yoga class and make it all the way through and decide to go again 9 more times in 1 month

MISSION PREP:
drink lots of water before going to the class; make the many trips to the bathroom due to the increased water intake

MISSION GEAR/EQUIPMENT:
yoga mat, 2 beach towels, water bottle and $10

MISSION TEAM: vw, hw and kk

MISSION STATUS: 1st session - completed

MISSION LOG:
when i got to the yoga studio, i was excited but also pretty nervous b/c i didn’t know what to expect. in fact, that was the biggest reason i wanted to try hot yoga...b/c i just couldn’t imagine the intense heat that people talk about. i debated whether or not to bring both beach towels into the room w/me. it seemed like overkill and a lot of stuff to carry (2 beach towels, my yoga mat and water bottle), but vw suggested that i bring it all...so i did. and i was VERY HAPPY i did.

when we first walked in, it was definitely HOT, but i was surprised that it wasn’t as bad as i had imagined. i had imagined feeling like fainting or throwing up the minute i walked inside. instead, it was a nice toasty warm...kinda like getting into your car that has been sitting outside all day in the sun in hawaii. we got situated and i lay down to take it all in...it felt good.

then the instructor came in and the class started, it still wasn’t too bad. i realized i really suck at breathing. i can only inhale for about 2 seconds when we were supposed to inhale for 6. guess that means i don’t know how to breathe right. then we moved on to balancing poses. i started to struggle not b/c of the heat but b/c the balancing was hurting my arches. sweat was beginning to also trickle down my face and into my eyes and mouth...pretty gross feeling. starting to feel really glad i had another towel.

then we moved to the ground and that’s when the heat really began to get intense for me. maybe it was b/c i was lying still a lot and could only think about how hot it was and i could also hear my heart pounding too. that really shocked me! all we were doing was stretching and holding some poses, how come my heart was pounding so hard?!?! i took frequent breaks during that last session when we were on the ground. there was one point where we had to kneel and reach to the ceiling and i suddenly understood why people sometimes puke in hot yoga. i had to immediately sit down and lie down and focus on breathing which i again realized i suck at. but it passed and i kept doing as much as i could before taking a break.

towards the end i also began to understand why the instructor had told all the new people that the goal for your 1st class should be to stay in the room for the whole class. i thought she was joking when she said that you may feel like getting up and leaving but just sit or lie there and get through it...mind over body. i now understand why that should be your goal b/c it is hard to make yourself stay there when you feel like you’ve had enough for your first time.

but we made it through and the absolute best feeling was stepping out of that room and into the cooler air and drinking some of the cold water they have outside. sooooo GOOD! it was after the class that i realized how relaxed i felt and how good it will feel to go to sleep tonight.

SESSION 1 COMPLETED: it’s a good thing vw and hw signed up with me b/c we’ll need each other to keep accountable and to make sure we get our use out of this deal. plus, i want to see if it really does get easier and better with each time after. i totally give props to all my friends who do hot yoga on a regular basis...it is definitely a workout! i’m sorry i doubted it...my only impression of yoga before this was a 24hr class i took and i hated it b/c i didn’t feel like i got a workout and it made me yawn a lot.

NEXT MISSION DATE? tbd (maybe friday, anyone want to join us?)

POST-MISSION NOTE: i drank so much water after the class that i peed 4 times in 1 hr. crazy! but i feel so healthy!

hot yoga

i'm super excited for my 1st hot yoga experience tomorrow! i've been so curious for years and i finally decided to try it out and experience it for myself. i've heard so much about the heat, and while i'm not particularly fond of heat (i actually hate it) i just can't imagine heat like that and feel like i need to experience it to know.

i'll report back after....