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Judy Kwong
Studio: Grapevine

Yoga is my "Windex"
Ref: "Windex" from My Big Fat Greek Wedding

"Yoga…it's her Windex", my husband, Pete, laughingly
says after I recommend yoga for a friend's ailments. I have given so much yogi advice to friends and family who have aches and pains that one would think that I was the doctor in the family! (Pete is an orthopedist.)

From the very first class, just over a year ago, I intuitively knew that Bikram Yoga was what I needed in my life. Even though, at that first class, I felt as though I had run a marathon with zero training, then it took me 20 minutes to get up off the floor after class, never mind the blacking out feelings I was dealing with, but all that finally improved after a couple months. Then after a few more months, I was able to stop going home to crawl in bed after class to sleep for 1-3 hours. And after about 6 months, the initial detoxification process seemed to have finally been complete. I was cleaned out. Yoga is my Windex.

With more than 640 skeletal muscles in my body, (There are three categories of muscle: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac. The skeletal muscles move the various parts of the body. Skeletal muscles are considered "voluntary" muscles because the person controls their use… Courtesy of enotes.com.) I came to Bikram needing strengthening in most of those 640 muscles and needing to work through a load of scar tissue, resulting from previous injuries, surgeries and other conditions to many of those muscles. Well, after that 6 month initiation I went through, I really started to feel my new strength all over my body. The experience has given me an absolutely ageless feeling whereas a few years ago in the throws of my painful period, I had felt and moved about like a weak and fragile elderly woman. Practicing Bikram yoga has provided strength, agility and flexibility back into my life. Yoga is my Windex!

The results, from strengthening and stretching, has enabled me to once again wear regular shoes when I choose, and wear clothes that fit so much better. My body is transforming from flopping flab to firm form. From the initial class, it took quite a few months to be conditioned enough to get back on my bicycle and ride after my morning ritual of yoga, but once I got to that point, I was already conditioned enough to improve from 10 miles to 20 plus miles in no time at all. The biggest issue was the saddle soreness. And thanks also to massage by T.C. and Jenn, I have worked through enough scar tissue in my lower back and increased my core strength enough to switch from a hybrid (upright) to a road bike (leaning over). And I have not been able to do that in about 20 years. The whole Yoga experience is my Windex.

Now that I am getting stronger, and am getting conditioned, I am really working on the endurance to stay in pose in the balancing series. I am gaining awareness not just in the largest of those 640 plus muscles, but in the smaller muscles that allow me to keep those larger muscles engaged. I am still improving on my balance while standing, but I can tell that the smaller and less used muscles are gaining strength as I am able to stay engaged on one leg longer and longer without falling half way across the room when my legs fatigue. (Yes, it is ok to laugh) Yoga is my Windex.

So I am laughing again, riding my bike again, being a yogi, and going to lunch with friends, and enjoying life and good relationships with family and friends. And now I can even do all this immediately after a yoga class instead of going home to sleep first! I am very grateful for such wonderful instructors and for the coaching and support given, enabling such accomplishments... and all those Smiling Happy Faces! I am honored to have been chosen student of the month….. Yoga is my Windex!.....Ohmm…