Week One: Bikram, Bibs and Bobs, and the Bottomless Pit that is My Stomach

Wow.  Just...wow.  Where do I begin?  The few times I've caught up with people outside BYTT land they say "so how is it!?" and it's impossible to adequately describe this incredible experience in a way that doesn't result in bafflement, shocked dismay, or eyes glazed over (or all three).

So I'll try not to go on and on but if you feel like I've left something critical out (for example, "but Danielle...you love food so much! how do you feed yourself living in a hotel room?!"  Answer:  Sandwiches, miso soup, and eating like a fat kid at a buffet.  In the first week I went through an entire giant box of Shredded Oats, an entire mason jar full of trail mix, an ENTIRE BUCKET OF TRADER JOES GINGER SNAPS, and that's just breakfast and snacks) just let me know.  Okay, here goes, feel like I should start by giving context via...

CAR TRIPS AND GRATITUDE: Training is About to Start!

These three lovely ladies have ARRIVED!  We're settled into the hotel, unpacked, set up our tea kettles, had our first bite of Sunday In and Out burger (can Kelly and I eat cheeseburgers every Sunday? Time will tell), ate our first hotel room dinner sandwiches, and sat through a brief orientation (favorite quote from Jim, who attended the first very teacher training (this is the 39th!) and now runs a studio in San Diego: "Teacher training is a combination of finishing military boot camp and completing a masters thesis").  Tomorrow we meet the man himself...and have our very first yoga class!

TALES FROM A CAR TRIP

The weekend has gone by so quickly, I can barely believe I'm here. As many of you know, I'm a new driver (got my license for the first time in early 2009, at the ripe ol' age of 27) so the thought of a long car trip on my own was a little daunting.  But I learned a lot over those eight hours.  For example:

Happy Birthday to ME!

A quick post to share the hilarious song my family wrote for me today (my 30th birthday!).

I would share the accompanying video, in which my sister and mom sing while my 17-year-old brother gamely performs yogi dance moves in a long purple wig, but apparently he doesn't want that particular video to go public...can't imagine why!

Feeling incredibly lucky today for such wonderful friends and family - on the East Coast, on the West Coast, and everywhere in between! 

Hoarders and Hotels and Hogs: Two Weeks to Teacher Training!

Hoarder Me vs. Practical Me

So once again I find myself going through everything I own and selling what I can, giving away what I can’t, and (most frequently) tossing whatever is junk.  Somehow my roommates managed to find a replacement me(!), so I need to whittle all my junk down to what I’m bringing to training + what I can fit in two big boxes that will sit in my friend’s basement for the next two months.

Getting rid of stuff is simultaneously freeing and really, really hard.  I seem to attach emotional significance to things – so that ugly little stuffed mouse from the dollar store that sits in a box in my closet isn’t just an ugly little stuffed mouse from the dollar store, it was in a play! That I wrote!  That won a competition!  NINE YEARS AGO.  Oof.

I’m glad I’ve started this process two weeks in advance and not the night before the drive to LA.  There’s the hoarder side of me and the practical side, and they have to argue over everything and it takes forever.  Sample conversation: