Tuesday afternoon we had a great lecture with Kelly Mara, the owner of Bikram Yoga Waltham, Massachusetts! She shared with us the importance of locking of the knee – one of the most important parts of class – and how it heals. Did you know there are 100,000 ACL surgeries a year in our country alone? And, nationwide, there are over 250,000 knee replacements! If only everyone did Bikram Yoga!
After Kelly’s lecture, we went over our graduation, timing, what will happen, and what to expect. I can’t believe its next Friday! I’m ready for it, but I am going to miss everyone here. We had Lisa Johnson from Vegas teach the afternoon class – she rocks!
Tuesday’s nights lecture we first had the staff share with us their experience teaching their first class. Everyone’s story was so different. It was nice to hear! Boss took the stage next and talked about the spine – the most important thing in your body. Adrienne, Dia, and I sat right up front and he kept looking at us. I was sure to be on my best behavior. One night, a yogi fell asleep in the front row during lecture and he called her out, made her get on stage, and danced with her. Yikes!
Anyway, it was really informative to connect anatomy, yoga, and the spine all together. All your life, from birth (being in the womb) to death, you are forward bending. Think about it, driving a car, sitting at a desk, riding a bike, watching TV, typing on a computer, all forward bending. Back bending helps create balance and keep a healthy spine and nervous system – only warmed up systematically in the hot room of course. Boss says ‘spine is everything in human life; healthy spine is the best life in the world’.
We also learned about ‘bones to skin’. We hear this phrase so often in class but I never really stopped to think about what it means. During practice, you work everything bones to skin - Bones(tendons, ligaments, muscles, nerves, veins)Skin. You follow me? Good stuff.
I’ll end with a few of my favorite quotes from Boss this week:
‘Sweat like a shower, glow like a sunshine’
‘Always use English Bulldog Determination to make the Tea’
‘Good thing come in the small packages’
‘Mind hate the body, like the heart hate the lungs’
‘In America, you hate human being. But you love dogs and cats and let them sleep with you in the bed! Animal should be in f* jungle!’
Wednesday
Wednesday, we heard from Brian Tracey, a professor from Colorado State University. He spoke about Aging, Yoga, and Neuromuscular system. Two points for you –Bikram Yoga can improve measures of the neuromuscular control and physical fitness. Bikram yoga is also likely a promising means to improve neuromuscular function in older adults as well, but more controlled research is needed.
After Brian’s lecture, Lisa spoke to us about how to open a studio. It was really informative. I’m not in any rush to open my own studio but like having the option for the future. I want to focus on becoming the best teacher I can be, and then perhaps consider it. There are just so many areas in the US that have no yoga that need it – especially where my family is in Connecticut - can you believe it! The wonderful thing about being a Bikram Yoga Teacher is that there are so many options, you can travel the world teaching, teach part time, teach full time, be a stay at home mom and teach a few times a week, so many options! It’s fantastic!
Wednesday night was more Mahabharat night. Why does it have to be sooooo loud and soooooo long!!!!! I did discover that it’s on Netflix so if anyone is interested to see the excitement (that's sarcastic), you can get all 92 episodes pretty easy.
Thank you for all the love and letters this week! My Aunt Philomena and Uncle Kenny sent me the best edible arrangements for my birthday! Thank you! Eileen sent me an amazing care package full of my favorite treats! Which, by the way Eileen it’s only Thursday and I’ve finished most of it – yikes! Leesan brought me back a beautiful scarf from Yogananda’s Center of Realization. Adrienne made the best yoga goodie bag ever too! I’ve opened some wonderful letters this week and got quite a few birthday cards in the mail and email – thank you Auntie Di, Jennie, my cousin Tara, Uncle Greg my birthday twin, Anna Maria and Bob, Jennie again, Dad, and my Mom. Thank you everyone! I’m going to make a book in the end with all the letters complied. It’s going to be amazing!
Thursday is off to a great start. This morning we had Joel teach, one of the studio owner’s from Philadelphia. It was awesome. Oh, and Boss’s class last night was one of my best. I’m finally getting my strength and full power back and my practice is stronger than ever, even so that we've had two hour classes all week. In my downtime between lectures and class, even if it’s only 10 minutes, I practice dialogue and stringing together the postures. Here at training, you never actually teach a full class. You just learn the right side of the postures and the tools to teach it effectively. When I get back, I am fortunate to be able to teach at four different studios my first week. I just can’t wait! So my goal is to make sure I can teach 90 minutes, both sides, as smooth and flawless as possible before Monday the 20th!
Your job is go around the world and show people what they have ~ Boss
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