Overheard at the Yoga Studio – Second Installment

That’s right kiddos, over a year later, I am happy to bring you another installment of the ever popular Overheard at the Yoga Studio.  And yes, this does in fact mean that I am back in the yoga studio. It’s a great place to be, let me tell you. Tonight I tried Bikram Yoga for the very first time. Bikram yoga is the kind of yoga a lot of people know as Hot Yoga.  You perform the same 26 poses during a class in a room that’s heated to about 105 F. Aka really really hot.  Pretty much I walked into the room and instantly started sweating, so I knew it was going to be an interesting experience.  I don’t think I’ve ever sweat that much in my entire life.  I mean, I had beads of sweat coming off my shins. So much sweat. I guess in a way it’s cleansing, right?  I am rehydrating in a major way right now.

The class was led by an excellent teacher named Kazim, who had a small build, fwoopy hair, killer beard, and thick rimmed glasses. Very hipster.  At the beginning of the class and throughout the poses, he would often repeat a little mantra that I would like to share for this installment of Overheard at the Yoga Studio.

It is not lost on me how fortunate I am to be here in this moment.

It really struck me as such a great sentiment, and something that I really want to channel.  Because it really is not lost on me how fortunate I am to be here.  Last semester was probably the best semester I’ve had yet.  Now, if you talked to me at all last semester, you may be sitting here now looking at me like I’m insane. You may be saying, “Hilary, you spent a good chunk of our phone conversations last semester in tears.”

source

And to you my friends I say, yes this is true.  My personal life for the past six to eight months has been a little bit of a… challenge shall we say?  Complete with break ups, break ins, break downs, huge gains, and significant losses.  So from that angle, no perhaps I wasn’t on Cloud 9 last semester.  But when it comes to school, last semester was the bomb diggity.  Quite simply, I love my program.  I am learning from some of the greatest experts in my field.  My professors are not only incredibly smart and talented clinicians, researchers, and educators, but they are also hilarious, and incredibly compassionate, and every day I am blown away by them.  It is not lost on me the incredible opportunity I have to study and pursue a degree for the second time in my life at one of the great academic institutions of our country and the world. But this time it’s different. I’ve finally found my place.  This time it’s not as much a struggle.  Sure, it’s still hard, and studying can be super lonely and isolating and frustrating, but I don’t know. I don’t know when it was, but at some point last semester, I feel like a switch got flipped.  It’s like magic.  And I love it.  And I get to have the lifestyle of a student for a little while longer, which, to be quite honest, despite the drawbacks, like having no income and not a ton of time or energy, is kind of awesome.

Two more semesters before clinicals.  I seriously can’t believe it. I guess time flies when you’re having fun?  Last semester flew by like I don’t even know. Part of me never wants it to end.  I don’t want to leave my professors and my friends and my school and my apartment and the safety of the classroom.  And the other part of me can’t wait to be out there working with patients every single day, learning from other talented clinical instructors. So for now, I’ll just keep trying to channel today’s mantra – “It is not lost on me how fortunate I am to be here in this moment.”

PT school is giving me narcolepsy

This past Monday we had our second Body and Brain exam, so studying pretty much consumed my entire weekend, and I didn’t spend much time on work for any of my other classes.  We had three video lectures we had to watch by Wednesday for our Movement Science class, and I finally got around to watching them Monday evening.  I wanted to try to watch them on Monday just in case I didn’t get through them all, and then I’d still have Tuesday night to take the quiz before class on Wednesday.

I was pretty drained from the exam, and class all day, so I decided it would be an okay idea to watch my lectures while sitting on my bed. Mistake #1.  I got through about half an hour of one lecture before I FELL ASLEEP.  Now, I don’t mean, I fell asleep like, I slowly began to stop paying attention and started to do the head bob, I mean I PASSED OUT.  Lights still on, fully clothed, computer on my lap, PEN IN HAND, FELL ALSEEP AT 10:30.

I must not have moved much, because I woke up at 2:45 in the morning, pen STILL IN HAND, and I have never been so confused.  It probably took me a full minute to figure out where I was, and what was going on, and what time it was, and what was supposed to be happening.  Needless to say, I put my computer away, put on my pajamas and was asleep again by 3 am, but it was a very, very weird night, and I ended up doing the lectures and quiz on Tuesday.

Ah well, these are the memories of PT school we’ll look back on and laugh, right?

Advice for Running, Advice for Life

Well, we’re just over one week away from our second Brain and Body exam, so really it’s time to buckle down and hit the books. Unfortunately we’re also almost halfway through the semester meaning that by this point, everyone is pretty much exhausted and could really use a break. The University had Fall Break the past few days, but this is PT school, and we like to march to the beat of our own drum. So there’s no rest for the weary, and we press forward!

I was looking for some motivation the other day, and I stumbled upon this little gem in a Runner’s World article.

“The race always hurts. Expect it to hurt. You don’t train so that it doesn’t hurt. You train so you can tolerate it.” – Mark Rowland, Lauren Fleshman’s coach

(source)

And goodness isn’t that the truth! Even when trained, a half marathon is no easy feat. I assume the same is true for a marathon, though I can’t speak from experience. But as accurate as this quote is about running, I think it’s also very true of life. (I love running because I’ve found that most of the lessons I learn are directly applicable to my life.) We have to challenge ourselves, we must continue to push ourselves – physically, academically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually – not so that one day the race suddenly becomes easy, but so that we know how to tolerate it and cope. It still hurts, it is still a battle, but we’re more prepared.

Every day we are being prepared.