A 30 Day Challenge is never easy for anyone that has tried it. It takes 21 days to make or break a habit, so after your 21 days, you are good to go!
Week 4 of my Bikram Yoga 30 Day Challenge was the best part of the challenge. 
By now all pains and aches were gone. I was completely in love with Bikram Yoga. 
It was official: "Hi, my name is Leda and I am addicted to Bikram Yoga!"

At this stage of the game I loved having Bikram Yoga as part of my daily routine and I especially love the Bikram Yoga NYC studio. Everyone is friendly and all of us Yogis have the same goal: honoring ourselves with 'me' time while releasing everyday stress and toxins. 

My last week of the 30 Day Challenge I had some amazing teachers that I always loved seeing. 
I was excited to end my last few classes with Pamela Herron, Olivia Anselmo and Justine Gartner. 

Pamela Herron is a gifted teacher. I love the way she truly has passion for what she does and how she leads the class in such perfect sequence of poses as if it were the perfect dance choreography. She is truly special and her energy shines in class. Pamela always pushed me to do better and cheered me when I did great.
I always left feeling a bit taller and skinnier after her class! Thank you Pamela! :)
You can read more about Pamela at: www.bikramyogales.com/Pamela 

Justine Gartner has an amazing inspiring story. She started Bikram Yoga on a 30 Day Challenge due to her ongoing battle with Sciatica. After a year of practice she no longer needed a chiropractor or acupuncture. 
She even competed in the USA Yoga Regional Asana Championship in NYC. Needless to say, she loved Bikram Yoga so much she completed her Bikram Yoga teacher training program. Justine saw me grow from week 1 where I was a hot mess up until week 4 where I felt like a true professional! 
You can see more of Justine and her photography work at: JustineBethGartner.com

Olivia Anselmo who I have written about before, was my teacher on my 30th day. I was so happy about that since she truly inspired me back in week 2, to keep going. Glad I did! Olivia has a special way of encouraging you to handle your poses in such a powerful way. You can tell she's totally in tuned to her higher self and is a healer in her own right. 
I truly adore the way she handles all the first timers in class especially the ones that think they are about to pass out! Loved being inspired by her! Olivia had everyone in class give me a round of applause for completing my 30 Day Challenge. You can find out more about Olivia and her magical retreats at: corinneandolivia.com

I have to say I truly feel that my body has completely changed since I started Bikram Yoga. I feel my body's alignment is no longer the same! I can't describe the feeling but it's a powerful experience to be able to feel so connected to your own body physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. 

If anyone is curious about Bikram Yoga and changing their lives, I highly recommend the Bikram Yoga NYC studio. My favorite of course is the Upper East Side location since that is where I started my new journey. Make sure to say Hi to Yelena the night manager as she is the best! Feel free to take a peek at the studio here: BikramYogaNYC.com
 And if you live outside of NYC, check your local town for the nearest Bikram Yoga studio.

I also want to thank my Bikram Yogi partner in crime Louise for hanging in there and happy we pushed each other everyday! 

Namaste!!! 

And remember: 
GirlieVegans Do It Better!!! 

Love and light,
Leda xxx


Photo Courtesy: Bikramyogacapalaba.com.au

Week 3 of a 30 Day Challenge is far from easy! At this point you feel like you love what you are doing but challenges arise. You ask yourself "Why I am doing this?!" and then you let it go because you realize you're shifting something inside your body, mind and spirit...

By week 3 I was already loving my new routine! After a day of doing meditations, working with clients doing distance & in person energy healing/coachings and meetings, I would run off to the Bikram Yoga studio in the Upper East Side with my friend Louise. By the time we were done we would run home and eat. Then it's all about answering emails, texts, calls, playing with the fur babies and then sleep. I had no time for social life outside of healing and yoga!!! Yoga is everything!!!

Doing the Bikram Yoga 30 Day Challenge in week 3 definitely made me happy that I was more than half way there but I started having a few issues. The week before my shoulders and neck were tense but this week my knees started hurting! My knees were hurting so bad during class the entire week BUT I didn't give up. 
I spoke to a couple of teachers that explained to me what a great sign that was. Meant my body was changing! 

Kathryn Leary being one of the teachers to bring me comfort and ease regarding my knees. OMG that rhymes! haha
She explained that Bikram Yoga is designed to help you change the alignment of your body so therefore I was creating change within my body. So that was exciting to hear! 
I enjoyed Kathryn's soft and gentle way of teaching while adding complete humor making us forget we were all in a heated room of 104 degrees. I also loved her Buddha quotes at the end of the class while we are all in Shavasana pose (laying flat on our mats). 

Natalia Maldonado is another teacher who poised such great love for yoga. Her style of teaching was so inspiring because she never seemed tired. Natalia has such a bubbly-hyped-up type of personality. She was upbeat every step of the way. She also kept the perfect pace so you never even realized you were in the room for an hour and a half! By the time she was done I couldn't believe class was over. I loved the fact that she took time to correct each of us and showed us how to do it better. Her energy was definitely gracious, kind and loving. I vote for Natalia! 

By the ending of week 3 I realized I may have a little issue going on. I was sleeping and dreaming about yoga poses and phrases like "Lock your knees, lock your knees, and change", I think I am obsessed much! 
All I talk about is yoga and the poses and demonstrate them to friends anytime, anywhere. It's insane!!!! 
I am hoping the yoga fever will some how calm down a bit because it's a little over the top in my world right now! 
I mean I am turning down date night because I don't want to miss a day of yoga! Hellooo! Help! haha

I will end this week's yoga blog with a wonderful quote that Kathryn Leary always shares in class and now it's one of my fave quotes: 
"Swim with the current, swim against the current, float down stream or give up and drown? It is you who makes the choice. The river just is." 

If you are thinking of starting yoga I highly recommend it! If you are in NYC I highly recommend the Upper East Side Bikram Yoga NYC studio. 

And remember: 
GirlieVegans Do It Better!!! 

Love and light,
Leda xxx


Photo Courtesy: Bikramyogacapalaba.com.au

Doing a 30 Day Challenge is definitely a challenge but it can also be so rewarding everyday you are doing it. 
It takes 21 days to make or break a habit. So having wrapped up week 2, I feel awesome! 
By the beginning of week two, I had learned that I had caused a bit of a ruckus (of course!) at the studio without even knowing. The wonderful evening manager Yelena finally told me that they had been looking for me all week because I wasn't signing in at the front desk everyday. I thought you only did so on your first day and since I signed up every day online I didn't know. Oppsie!!! 

By now I have totally fallen in love with yoga. There is so much to it then just doing a pose. You receive so many health benefits from each pose, it's amazing. Not to mention you open all your chakras and release negativity! 
Before I share with you some of the health benefits, I want to quickly thank some of the amazing teachers I have had some classes with that have truly shared their light with me in a special way. Their patience and love towards teaching the class completely inspired me to keep going! 

John Mabry being one of them. His energy is just so calming and kind. I love how he gives compliments to each of the students completely uplifting and encouraging us to keep going. When I see his name on the schedule my face lights up :) Plus he's completely handsome! 

Olivia Anselmo is another amazing special teacher who takes the craft of yoga to a place of love. Her energy is so special as well. She took the time to guide me after class due to some tension I had around my neck. She showed me a trick to do at home in order to release all the knots I have in the back of my shoulders. I think it's time for a massage! 
Olivia also hosts these wonderful retreats to Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica which is one of the planet Earth's 5 Blue Zones. On these retreats you get to meditate, practice Yoga, have fun and do other yogi spiritual things. 
I will definitely be adding that to my list of places I plan to visit soon! 
For more info on the trip visit: www.corinneandolivia.com/retreats

Health benefits you receive from Bikram Yoga: 

• Helps with lower back pain, hip and back pain, chemical imbalances in the system
• Constipation, colitis constipation, small and large intestines, exercise the colon, pancreas and kidney
• Helps abdominal obesity, diabetes, thyroid, blood and sugar balance
• Strengthens weak joints
• Helps with arthritis, knee problems and gout pain 

And of course the list goes on, but at least you can have an overall idea! 
This is week 2 but I already feel my body taking a different form. I feel a whole lot lighter and I now enjoy the sense of sweat dripping off my body. I know, sounds insane, but it's a great sign that toxins are leaving my system! 

Thinking of doing Bikram Yoga? Go for it!! Check your local town for the nearest Bikram Yoga studio. 
If you're in NYC I highly recommend Bikram Yoga NYC www.bikramyoganyc.com

And remember:
GirlieVegans Do It Better!!!

Love and light,
Leda xxx


Photo Courtesy: Bikramyogacapalaba.com.au

In the middle of January I had such a strong pull to start something new. No coincidence since it was near the New Moon in Aquarius. So I decided to team up with Louise and give Bikram Yoga a try. My darling Starseed family I can't even begin to tell you what my first week was like, especially the first day!
If you are unfamiliar with Bikram Yoga, let me give you a quick explanation. 

It all started with Bikram Choudhury who is the founder of the Bikram Yoga system and the Yoga College of India. 
Bikram began practicing yoga at the age of four. He practiced 4-6 hours every day. At age thirteen he won the National India Yoga Championship. 
He later created Bikram Yoga. A system of yoga where he used 26 postures from the traditional Hatha Yoga and revised it in a certain order. All Bikram Yoga classes consist of 26 postures in a heated room of 104°F (40°C) with a humidity of 40% for 90 minutes.  
Bikram Choudhury has at least 1,650 yoga studios around the world. 

Years ago I attended a week worth of Bikram Yoga classes at the Bikram Yoga NYC studio on 72nd Street on Broadway. I remember being sooo excited about it and feeling so great after each class.
However, years later of course you forget certain things, like how hot it is inside that room!!!
So when I suggested to Louise that we start Bikram Yoga, she was delighted especially because this was completely new to her.
We signed up for the 30 Day Challenge on the Upper East Side on 83rd Street; and then my life changed! 

When you first walk into the Bikram Yoga NYC studio, you quickly take off your shoes and sign in at the front desk and then head over to the dressing room where you change and leave your belongings in the locker room. 

I was sooo excited my first day, I couldn't even handle it! However when you walk into the room you feel the heat so strongly but since I love the heat this was great for me especially with the crazy brutal winter in NYC. 
I placed my mat and towel on the floor and class began. After a while I was ready to pass out but realized this wasn't too bad since class was ending! Ummm correction! When I checked the clock, we were only 20 minutes in!!!!!! I almost cried my eyes out! I couldn't believe we still had 70 minutes more to go!!! WHY WHY WHY did I sign up for this??? I quickly started thinking how I was going to cancel my membership ASAP and that would be the end of it. I mean this was insane! 20 mins and I felt a whole hour had already passed by! GRRRR! 

But once we got to the Shavasana pose I was in heaven. You are basically laying on the floor looking dead. My favorite part on my first day! 
After we left the studio I realized it wasn't sooo bad after all. The bliss feeling I felt was incredible! 
90 minutes all to myself where I love and honor my body. What a feeling that was! All your problems, emotions or whatever challenge you have stays outside the room. Amazing feeling :)

On my second day I met a great teacher, Regina, who was so encouraging and just what I needed to keep me going and inspired in the teachings of Bikram Yoga! 

By the fifth day I had already fell in love with certain poses and felt my body reaching a new point. 
I was thinking clearer and was just in a state of bliss! 

If you are thinking of taking a Bikram Yoga class in your town I highly recommend it. 

And here are a few tips I picked up my first week: 

• Always bring a 20oz bottle of water inside the class.
• You can add electrolytes to your water. Because you sweat so much in class you are losing electrically charged alkaline minerals, such as Sodium, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium. If you are feeling dizzy, nauseous and even numbness in your body this is a sign you are low in sodium. 
• Adding fresh organic lemons to your water also helps keep you hydrated. 
• Organic coconut water is also ideal to add electrolytes to your body.
• Change your diet to where you add more foods with Potassium and Magnesium: Beans, Sweet Potato, Banana, Tomato, Spinach, Beets, Peanut Butter, Chickpeas, Broccoli, Swiss Chard, Beet Greens, Pumpkin Seeds, Almonds, Cashews, Avocado, Quinoa and any leafy green vegetable. 
• You can also purchase a vegan Calcium, Magnesium & Zinc Supplement and make sure the intake is at least 400mg a day in Magnesium. That's what your body needs in order to stay hydrated during Bikram Yoga class. Trader Joe's sells a all-in-one vegan Magnesium supplement that also has Zinc and Calcium. 
• Always stare at the mirror and keep your focus on yourself during class. Focus is key to really pushing your self past your comfort zone.

By day 7 I felt like a pro and could feel my body completely different. I felt different over all! What a great feeling that is!!! I encourage everyone to take a step towards a healthier lifestyle and truly honor yourself by loving yourself. 
We have four bodies that make us who we are: Emotional, Spiritual, Mental and Physical. 
Just like with energy healing, with Bikram Yoga you truly use all four bodies! 
Namaste ~

And remember: 
GirlieVegans Do It Better!!! 

Love and light,
Leda xxx


Photo Courtesy: Bikramyogacapalaba.com.au