66 Classes in 6 Weeks

Week six nearly done!  66 classes in 6 weeks.  Wow!  

Bikram was out at West Point for a few days this week lecturing and teaching a class or two.  He says the military needs the yoga the most – both physically and mentally.  I believe it.  We all can’t wait to hear about it, hopefully we will.  He popped into each of our posture clinic rooms last night after he landed at the airport to say a brief hello.  We’re going to miss him!

In Boss’s absence, during posture clinics we covered Cobra Pose, Locust Pose, Full Locust Pose, Bow Pose, Fixed Firm Pose, and Half Tortoise Pose in just one week!  Can you believe it!  I did both Fixed Firm and Half Tortoise today in our afternoon clinic with Lisa Ingle.  She is just such an inspiration to me, all of my teachers are, but she really helped me find my teaching edge a few postures back and I’m so grateful.  She gave me great feedback but my favorite was 'you're ready for it girl!'.  :)

Tonight, I was ready to rock with Camel Pose but we didn’t finish half tortoise yet.  My homework and new challenge is to add the Sit-up and Pranayama Breathing to my Camel dialogue – the deepest backward bend of the ENTIRE series.  I can’t wait!  I really feel like I’m in a teaching zone and it feels so good.  Each day, I’m getting more and more excited and less nervous to teach my first class.  I can’t wait!

In addition to some intense posture clinics, we had a great two day lecture from Jon Burras.  We learned about Fascia, Emotional Anatomy, Bodywork, Stress, Food, and some wonderful concepts linked to Bikram Yoga.  He shared with us his 12 Keys to Healthy Aging – number one is – can you guess!  Attitude!  He concluded the lecture with a nice quote about remembering to always practice and teach from your heart.  

     

Friday morning class we had Leo from Philadelphia, wow!  He was awesome!  Unfortunately, I was running slightly behind (I'll take every second of sleep possible) and had to setup by the heat blower.  Argh!  Yogi’s, you know what I’m talking about.  So it was a struggle but otherwise a great class.

Friday night class began with a surprise introduction from our teachers for Fashion Week – woah!  Way to pump us up for class!  Judes, Bikram’s assistant, taught and she rocked!  All week, there were quite a few rumors going around that we were going to have the night off after class for a pizza party so the energy in the room was through the roof!  At the end of class, we were all lying perfectly silent on our mats, which isn’t entirely normal, waiting patiently for the announcement.  ‘Check Check’ we hear from Michon on the mic, ‘Posture Clinic, sign in at 8:55.  Posture Clinic, sign in at 8:55’.  Awwww – bummer! 

Even though it wasn't pizza, Friday night posture clinic turned out to be fun.  We always tend to get a little silly at the end of the week.  A few memorable moments:  Alyssa’s singing Half Tortoise Pose with Darlene on the violin, Andrew’s ‘you naughty little turtles’, Ayumi is just the best ever, and of course the whoopie cushion!  

As week six comes to a close, I feel so happy and grateful to be here.  I just don’t want it to end!  Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy, the struggle is hard, but so worth it.  I finally starting to understand why my teachers back home all say they want to come back.  I already want to come back!  It’s such an amazing life experience in addition to learning how to teach a wonderful healing yoga.  I can’t wait to share it with you!

To Learn, Read.  To Know, Write.  To Master, Teach.