Bikram Yoga Teacher Training Spring 2011: There's always Money in the Banana Stand

Friday night posture clinic rocked! We had Lisa Ingle from Texas who taught earlier this week. I delivered my wind removing pose, added two corrections, with perfect dialogue.

‘You have a lovely smile’ she says. Immediately I said with a sad look ‘I know! I have to get rid of that!’ She rolled on the floor laughing. She said I was going back and forth between sweet / nice and serious / commanding. I still need to find my balance. She got up and helped me, it was great. She reminded me I can still kill them, but throw in a smile here and there. For the next posture, she asked me to introduce myself as an Officer of the Bikram Yoga Law and continue to teach the posture like each student is under arrest. Oh boy – this will be fun. I did a few lines for her and the room and she was like ‘Woah! You have it in you!’

Lisa was so compassionate in helping us all find our voice. She had one of the students do jumping jacks while doing the posture. Someone else had to teach the posture like it’s a rap song, another student had to teach the posture doing lunges and grunting down a football field. It may sound silly, but there is a purpose for each one. Ellen and I talked after class, and we kept saying how much we admire her and how we can’t wait to be on the other side as strong as she is. I’m going to have to make a trip to San Antonio just to take her class!

Saturday!

Today, I met up with an old friend from grade school and high school! Dave Curtis you rock! Funny story, we actually went to the same college and lived in the same dorm sophomore year but didn’t really realize it until now. Dave has been living out here for 8 years and absolutely loves it. We had the best day touring the city and catching up!

To start, we went to the famous spot where the Banana Stand was filmed for each episode of Arrested Development! There's always money in the banana stand. It was so cool! I could watch reruns of that show all day. Then we headed over to Venice Beach and walked the strip. Talk about an entertaining beach strip! Did you know medical marijuana is legal in California? It was weird. Dave had to give me a heads up not to be alarmed. The Venice Beach strip is also where a lot of movies and commercials are filmed. The movie Speed with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock was one of them.

We then had lunch in Santa Monica at trendy local spot. I have really come to appreciate a ‘real’ meal after eating all meals from the hotel room. I mean, I’m so happy to have someone even just pour me water! After lunch we drove over to Rodeo Drive. It was the cleanest most pristine street ever! We saw the famous hotel that Pretty Woman was filmed at, and a really expensive million dollar car - Bugatti - parked on the side of the street being filmed.

Next we strolled over to Hollywood! So cool! Stars on the street, handprints in the cement, Kodak Theatre, the Hollywood sign! It was packed and very touristy. Oh, also, on the way we drove by an Irish Boston Themed Bar that Dave stumbled upon once. It had the Patriots, Bruins, and Sox logos on the side and he said the bartenders and staff all speak with the Boston accent. It’s funny to think Boston is a novelty on the West Coast :)

Also, there is a Whole Foods on almost every block it seems! I'm so jealous. Dave said one time he saw Kramer shopping in the spice section :)

On the way back, we had the most amazing Gelato! We strolled through Downtown LA on ‘the 101’. Every highway has ‘the’ in front of it, ‘the 405’ and ‘the 110’ so I’m going to start saying that back home :) We saw Dave’s office building, the Staples Center, AND Bikram Yoga Headquarters!

It was such a great day, I was nervous at first thinking about how much I need to study before Monday, but then my mind relaxed as soon as I saw Dave’s familiar face :) It was so fun to catch up! I realized that my mind needed a break from dialogue and yoga so in addition to the excellent adventure, it was a good mindful rest.

Saturday night Adrienne and I attempted to study dialogue around 8 ish but didn’t get very far. We were trying to think of a way to download it into our brains – if only! Leesann came back from In and Out Burger sometime after 9 pm and kindly delivered us some treats. We ended up hanging out and talking until 1 am instead of learning Cobra Pose –well, we did manage to learn about five lines. We were all feeling a little unmotivated to pack more information into our brains, even though we love doing what we’re doing. So, my mindful yoga break for the day carried on :)

Sunday

Study Study Study for the Spine Strengthening Series! I have the next three postures in my head and will continue onto Floor Bow tonight. I’m finding my best study method is to get each posture 95% memorized, then each day go back, review it a million more times out loud, polish it up and then work with a study buddy / demonstrator back and forth and back and forth. Everyone works and learns differently though. We all kind of have an anxious feeling that they are going to kill us this week with double posture clinics. I guess we’ll see, at least I feel good about starting week six strong.

Week Six wow here we go! In the next few weeks, there is so much to look forward to! Laura and Sara come to visit, Stacey’s Wedding – even though I can’t be there I will celebrate in my own way here - my birthday (31 how did that happen?) Eileen’s Birthday, Graduation, the Championship, coming home on the 19th, teaching my first class, it’s going to fly by so fast! I’m starting to wonder if all the dialogue in my head is going to stick – ‘stay there, don’t move’ so I can teach a successful class. The staff and teachers say it will, I sure hope so :)

Sleep deprived and silly before an Anatomy Lecture

aNNatomy

Still Sleep deprived and silly - Excuse me, I have a question: at party time is it better to drink ice water or room temp water? Or milk? Or chocolate milk? Or should I just bring a sandwich? Or a burrito?