I started doing Bikram yoga in August 2010, so it has been a half a year since. It was an interesting experience. It was not always a joy, sometimes it was tears, anger, thoughts of giving it up for good, but never disappointment – I was grateful for what I had achieved.

During this six months period a lot has changed in my body and my mind. I will mention a few of the most significant changes that helped me to discover the awareness of my body and taught me how to listen to it.

1. I have finally achieved my goal weight. I lost 8 kg!!! I was always a “normal” person, never overweight, but in my mind I was carrying a bit too much excess weight, and as a result I was always on a diet of some kind. I am now where I want to be. My height is 165 cm, and my weight is now 55 kg. This is the weight I’ve been trying to slim down to since last year, and I will do my best to maintain it in the future.
2. I was never an alcohol drinker, however I didn’t mind a glass of wine or beer every now and then. This is totally gone now, and I am proud of it, as I never thought of alcohol being of a benefit to anybody even in small quantities.
3. I eat less. I have heard before that doing yoga has an impact on your appetite, and I can confirm that it certainly has. I now eat about a half of what I used to eat before and I feel full. Maybe this has resulted in weight loss, or that I have changed my eating habits, so my diet mostly consists of fruits, veggies and whole grains, but most likely it is the combination of all these factors together.
4. I have developed a muscle tone. For a girl that never used to exercise a lot this is an achievement. To get a well-toned body was always my dream, and believe me, I am still too far away from achieving it, but I like what I see.
5. Flexibility. Before I couldn’t touch my toes without bending my knees. Almost there.
6. My back pain is gone. It used to be so bad, that at some stage it got to the point that I couldn’t sleep at night, so I had to take painkillers.
7. I have become a much calmer person, and I feel like a flow of positive energy is growing inside me. A lot of people have noticed that I look much more positive and that I simply look happy. I have finally got “inner peace” :).

All this and much more in just a half a year period. I am really looking forward to the future, I can only imagine what years of practice can do a human’s body and human’s spirit. This is yet to be discovered, but I so far I have enjoyed my journey.

I would like to say a big “thank you” to Byron Bay Bikram Yoga Studio and especially to its director Norma Strang-Smith for being so passionate about what she does and for sharing her passion with us. Thanks to her what was supposed to be a one-time visit has changed my body, my mind and my life.

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