Sunday, June 5, 2011

Week Seven---Did someone turn on the heat????

Let's talk about the heat. So a lot of times, I tell people, " I do Bikram yoga?" and they respond, "Oh yea, I do yoga too...what's Bikram?" I start my little shpeel, and when I get to the part about, 105 degrees, they always respond the same way. "Why does it have to be so hot, isn't that dangerous?"

Well, guys no, it's not dangerous, and 105 is just a number, a Bikram Yoga room is hot and humid and it's soooo good for you. You learn to love the heat, you get addicted to the heat and you dread the cold. There is nothing like warming up in the hot room on a cold Philadelphia day or walking out of the hot room in California and jumping right into a crisp pool. The heat has so many benefits, go take a class and then come see me! I'll tell you about all the wonderful things you just did for your self, and who knows maybe you'll turn around and do a double.

But any way, yoga's good for you, we all know that. This blog isn't about that. I could go on and on. This blog is about Bikram Yoga Teacher Training, and let me tell you, this is not a typical yoga class. Teacher training is, to put it mildly, INTENSE!

This week the 430 yogis who practice regularly in the hot room welcomed another 130 already certified teachers to join us on the line. 2 of which, Kristin and Fiona, flew in from Berwyn Pa, with care packages and hugs for the Philadelphia/mainline ladies, it's so good to have home in California, it makes the days so much brighter! With open arms and hearts we moved our mats closer to one another and began Pranayama (good for the lungs and respiratory system). The hum of 600 (give or take) yogis was mind blowing. As we expanded our chest and rib cage filled up our lungs the sweat began to pour. By the second set of Awkward pose (gives you a great ass pose) we knew we were in for it. The ball room where once people joined hand in hand in holy matrimony, was now a hostile marriage of mind and body. Our minds screamed "Get out Get out, it's way to hot in here" as our bodies fought through "make it through this posture, you'll be ok, remember Dr. P, you have all the O2 you will ever need," I don't know if any one will ever understand how hot it was in there, but let me try to explain to you...These things were witnessed and not as "weird" as you make think.

THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED...

Visualize it....hot room , 600 people, who knows what temp, who knows what percentage humidity, lone ice cube on the carpet, empty water bottle. The man looked deep into his water bottle, tried to suck out one last drop, but to his dismay dry as the Sahara. His hand ventured off the mat, onto the carpet, picked up the ice cube AND ATE IT!!!!!

Imagine how this man must have felt. After 2 hours and 30 minutes. It's line number 6, in the middle of the hot room. His mat is drenched, my chihuahua could take a dip in his puddles. He turns to the sweaty girl next to me and says, " I'm so glad that is over, I was moments away from licking my foot" You know it's hot when your foot looks thirst quenching!

As I walked out of of the hot room after 2 and a half hours, amazingly I still had an entire bottle of water. A loyal member of group 8 turned to me with desperate eyes, " Do .... you.... have....eh eh eh....waaaatttteeeerrrrr?" I couldn't talk I had to get out but I tried my best to smile as I handed her 1.5 liters of a smart water. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure I saw tears of joy in here eyes, it's the small things that make us happy here.

I could go on but the bottom line is this. This week, week seven yoga was hard. The average class was two hours, taught be senior teachers who knew how to hold postures, push us to our maximums and kill us so that we could wake up the next day a better and stronger person. I won't lie to you, there were moments when I thought I would die, that I couldn't go on. I hyperventilated, I cried, but you know what? I survived and I turned around and took t all 11 classes, and tried my best to hold all 286 postures and at the end of the week, Sunday night, I am itching for another class! I can't wait to get back in the room.

But Mom, Dad, those of you who worry about me, don't worry, no "danger danger" I'm having an amazing time, loving every moment and in reflection even the moments I'm hating are pretty spectacular, and it's not all work either. There is time for play.

So real quick, before I say good night, let me tell you about Manhattan beach. Today Kelly and I woke up with a terrible itch. An itch that can only be scratched by one thing...SHOPPING, so we declared it roomie bonding day and jumped on the Trolley down to Manhattan beach. We bounced in and out of boutique after boutique falling in love with almost every thing we tried on. It was a yoga free day, almost no studying ( I may regret this in the morning) and we had a blast, got to know each other a little better, got a shopping high, which isn't so different from a yoga high and are now both coming down hard as we settle into our designated sleep number beds.

There was more to this week, but this was just a taste, some of the special stuff I'll save for my self, for phone calls and for stories for home. So good night all, I'm off to bed! I have yoga in the morning! Week 8!


Namaste

Much love to you all

Molly

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