You know how a week flies by but it feels like Monday was one month ago when it was really a few days ago? That's how Week One went.
It is Friday night and I finally have my internet squared away with help from my roomie. I guess we don't have lectures on Friday nights. Here are the highlights from this week:
Monday - First 8:30am yoga class taught by Rajashree (Bikram's wife). The "studio" is a tent that they've pumped hot air into. I think it fits close to 500 people. There are 320 students and we don't have to sit or sweat on each other, which is nice. Check out the pic (it's a lot bigger and more filled than it looks). It was neat to practice w/hundreds of people. In the beginning, I was irked because I couldn't even see my eyeball in the mirror. But now I like practicing w/o a mirror because it allows you to be more in tune with your body. The heat was good. Not too hot. In fact, there were lots of breezes. Rajashree teaches with a meditative like style. It's nice and different. We didn't have evening class.
Tuesday - Started dialogue for half moon, which is where each student recites the dialogue and teaches students in front of Bikram and all of us. I went to stand in line but they cut it off at a certain number for the day. It's really interesting to see and meet people from all over the world! There are people that travelled all the way from Russia, Ireland, Germany, Japan, Phillipines, Australia, England, etc. Bikram is very well traveled so when a student introduces him/herself, he will usually have a story about his travels there. It reminds me of my dad when he does the whole, "Back in 1967..." and goes on and on. All afternoon and evening we did half moon pose. I was ready to shoot myself after hearing it 100 times (or it could've been because it was midnight by the time class ended!). The AM yoga class was taught by Rajashree and evening class taught by Bikram. I wish I could snap a pic (but am afraid he'll single me out and call me names) but it's funny because he teaches in a black spandex bikini and ties his hair up samurai style (I learned that he's part Japanese! He'll break out in Japanese songs). Bikram is an amazing instructor. He pushes you. I thought my quads were going to pop off in standing head to knee because he has us hold it for what feels like 2 minutes! Man, is he entertaining too! I've never laughed so much in a yoga class. He will pick on people if they aren't doing the postures correctly. I can't recite examples on this blog but yeah...it's pretty hilarious. Oh, and the heat was good. Not too hot...yet.
Wednesday - Morning yoga is great coffee. There's a starbucks in the lobby but I've only gone there once (vs daily). I enter the tent half asleep and leave bright and awake!
After yoga and a lunch break, the afternoon lecture was a continuation of half moon. I didn't have a chance in line. You pretty much line up first come, first served. Typically you wait 2-3 hours sitting on the floor if you get to go up. Again, I wanted to shoot myself after hearing the dialog over and over and over and over (imagine listening to what will be 320 students reciting the dialogue. it takes hours and hours and hours. my butt is screaming at me for sitting for so long.
Evening yoga was great! I think my favorite part of training so far is the practice. I typically will do a double maybe once every two weeks. Not every day. I'm surprised I have the mental and physical energy to go through 3 hours of class.
Bikram had an interesting lecture in the evening. He touched on mind, body, spirit connection and talked about history (he's a huge history buff) and the human anatomy. He gets off into so many tangents, he forgets where he started from. He also forgets whether we do one or two sets for a posture when he's distracted by the students. This one time, someone picked their nose right in the middle of awkward pose and he went off about how you shouldn't be picking anything while you're in a posture. He demonstrated by scraching his you-know-what while in the posture. It was hilarious. I guess you just have to be there. So.....after evening lecture, we started a Bollywood flick at 11:30pm! I don't know the title of it but it was one of the cheesiest movies I've ever seen. It was an Indian love story. I'll have to rent it one day and have a chick flick night! That was a late night, as I got to bed around 3am.
Thursday - Needless to say, morning yoga was a blur. I was asleep for 110% of it. But I still did all of the postures and was surprised at how my body cooperated (I promised to feed it a good meal later).
For the afternoon lecture, I finally mustered up the guts to stand in line for two hours to do half moon! WOW. I never thought I'd be that nervous. In the lecture room, there is a stage so there are four students that do the half moon pose while you teach them on stage. Bikram is below watching you. As I was waiting in line for my turn, I was so nervous that my entire tee was soaked w/sweat! It's so cute to be pitting in front of hundreds of people. Thank god I remembered to put on deodorant. On stage, I could feel sweat dripping down my face and my knees were shaking. I threw all of that nervous energy into the dialogue and finished without forgetting a word. All those hours practicing with Heidi, Grant and Linda really paid off! It was weird. It was like I was saying it on auto pilot. When I finished, Bikram asked me where I was from again. He asked a few questions about the studio and didn't have any corrections. Whew! I wanted to celebrate after that was done!!! I celebrated during the evening yoga class. :)
Evening lecture was a continuation from the previous night. Then it was Day two of late night Indian movies!!! Bodies were all over the floor. I couldn't find any real estate to throw mine on so I squirmed around in the room chairs. The movie didn't end until wee hours (3 ish?) so I groggily threw out my contacts and threw myself into bed.
Friday - After 8 hrs of sleep (total) for the past two days, I'm beginning to know what this Indian boot camp is all about...morning class was tough but I got through it. Afternoon lecture was...guess? More half moon! This time I occupied myself w/my journal, pics, etc. It helped make the hours go by faster. Evening yoga practice was....HOT. Tonight was the first time the heat really kicked in. I saw bodies laying down, people saying they were dizzy, some got escorted out to release their lunch. Even Bikram said he was sweating from doing nothing and asked doors to be opened. Afterwards, while in savasana, we got to listen to his latest techno song (yep, he sings too). He told us we'd love it so much that we'd spring off of our wet towels like live shrimp and start dancing (or something like that). He is a hilarious man. There was no lectures tonight so I spent my time going grocery shopping and getting the internet thing squared away. Yipee! Gotta hit the sack for Sat yoga class at 8am! Thanks for tuning in!!! :)
