The nose knows.

OK so this is strange. Yoga has really started to balance things in my body. When I started this Journey I had started to experience some menopause symptoms. Hot flashes started about a year before. My period went crazy, some times skipping months other times lasting for weeks. Being only 42 it seemed early. Yet my mother had the longest menopause of anyone I had ever seen. So I guess I was not too surprised.

When I started hot yoga the hot flashes seemed to happen less often and less deep. A drink of alcohol used to spark one right off. Now just four months into this journey I can't remember my last hot flash. My period has also come back to some sort of normalcy.

Yesterday, on day 7 of my thirty day challenge, I noticed that I was smelling things that usually would have passed me by. I would not have considered myself as having a good sense of smell. In fact I was kind of on the dull side of smelling. Yet for the last couple of days I have felt like I am smelling all sorts of things. Just a scent here and a wave of smell there. Strawberries, body order, urine, mold, shampoo, smoke, dog, etc... The last time my sense of smell did this I was pregnant. I know I am not pregnant now. I guess the detox is working.

My hip had started to really bug me. I felt like it is inflamed from all the consecutive days of yoga and the extra labor I did in the yard recently. Several people I know, that have done 30 days challenges, told me there was a point that they experienced some major pain but they pushed through it and it got better. This could be that point but not sure.

Day 8: I had a hard time sleeping last night, I kept tossing and turning because my hips were too sore to lay for a long time on either side. This is what my nights used to be like before hot yoga, but actually worse.

I went to Sumits Hot Yoga and talked to the wonderful instructors about it. They were so knowledgeable it is wonderful. They made some really good suggestions including not going as deep into the warrior positions, working hard on the pigeon positions and adjusting the child poss to give the hips a break. I made these adjustments and was easy on myself. It helped a bunch. Just being in that hot room and doing most of the routine really got my hips going. I was scared it would tighten up during the day, especially because I had to spend hours at my desk grading in front of a computer screen. Yet, so far so good, it has been much better than yesterday.