All it takes for a new me is 378 classes....

Today I went to 530 pm yoga with an instructor named Mark.  I have never had this Mark before, and was told he is the new studio manager.  He had some sort of accent (english?) looked 35ish and has run studios overseas.  I really liked his class.  He is one of those "stickler for form" guys.  I love that.  It took me back to a class months and months ago.....it was in the small hot room, it was HOT, packed and an instructor named Sharon was practicing behind me.  I was DYING that day.  But after class, Sharon came up to me and said something to the effect of this:  "it was nice to practice behind you because you pay such great attention to form...it encouraged me to do the same".  I was blown away.  But in that moment, I absorbed that compliment and thought, wow....I do...pay attention to form that is.  I may not be the best person in the room, I cannot go the deepest, hold the longest, I don't look gorgeous in standing bow (my dream), but I do try my hardest to work on the form, knowing that the rest will work itself out.  As I type this, I am 18 pounds away from my ultimate goal weight, I have gone from a size 16 to a 12 throughout this Bikram yoga journey and I have a very nice man in my life right now who really cares about me.  I sit here, in awe.  How did all of these wonderful things come about?  378 Bikram yoga classes since April of 2007....that's how.