Lauren Karp 11/11/2010
 Hey Lauren from Massachusetts! Where do you practice and how long have you been there? I stumbled upon Diane Ducharme's Bikram Yoga for You studio in West Roxbury, MA and have been practicing there on and off since 1999. It was 4 months after I had given birth to my second child and I was 60 lbs overweight. Then I moved to Baltimore and studied a bit there when the first studio opened in 2004. When I returned to the Boston area I went back to Yoga for You once in a while until I resumed my practice last spring. Tell me about your first class. My first class was long ago!!! I remember being scared because I was in so much pain and the thought of bending backwards was terrifying. What made you come back? I came back because I thought it was worth a try and it was a challenge. I lost lots of weight, got out of pain and continued until we moved to Baltimore 2 years later. The city we moved to did not have a Bikram studio for 2 1/2 of the 3 years that we lived there. When the studio opened I went back until we moved back to Boston in 2004. I did not pick up my practice again until February of this year. I really love that there are studios opening up all over the place. It's a testament to the yoga, how it works, and how its helping so many people around the world. Bikram tells us often how by having created this sequence, he was able to help more people at a time, thus fulfilling his promise to his guru to bring yoga to as many people as possible. But tell me, what do you find to be the most challenging thing about this practice? The hardest part of the class for me is making the commitment to get myself there. Once I'm in the room, I am swept away! Yup, I have to agree with you on that one. Are you working with any injuries? My injuries include a spine compression injury and arthritis in my knees from competitive figure skating when I was young. I can understand why the backbends would have seem terrifying. But those are precisely what will help heal your spine. And of course, each time you lock your knee, you strengthen the muscles around the knee. I bet you know this already, but you are totally in the right place. What made you want to do the 30DC? I wanted to do the 30 day challenge because I finally had the life circumstances where I could try it! My intentions were to see if it would change my body and my practice. Since my 30 day challenge I have attended class between 4-6 days/week. As long as I continue with my yoga practice, my knees and back remain pain-free. I can enjoy restful sleep and can walk up and down steps without pain. It is amazing! Practice continues to be wonderful! I feel so fortunate to have found this yoga that works for my body and mind. You're totally right. As long as you continue your practice you will be pain-free. And it's just like brushing your teeth. Aligning the body and getting it healthy may be challenging, but it's waaaay harder to maintain it. Thank you for sharing your story! 2 Comments Curtis Dixon 09/14/2008
 It was a weekday afternoon, and i had just finished teaching class at the UES. I sat outside on one of the benches, watching as one drenched person after another came out of the room. Curtis, hanging on to his mat and panoply of drinks, came and sat down next to me. We started talking; mostly about the practice, and what it has done for him. I inquired about the 30DC. That’s when I learned that he had in fact done a 60DC, of the lifechanging effects it had had on him, and on the fact that he was in the middle of yet another “challenge”. I lauded him, and all he said in response was “I wish someone had told me about this 20 years ago.” |
