Class 5

Picking up where I left off on Monday was no easy task, especially when I sandwiched a trip back home to NYC in between. I left the Hamptons for the first time since I arrived June 30th. I spent a total of 32 hours back in the city and used every single minute to take care of business and get things done. I got a quick glimpse of what my future job (starting in the fall) would entail, ran errands, took Ish's class and got a much needed night's rest. 

I spent my car rides to and from the city working on my dialogue. What did we do before iPhones? I have the entire dialogue on voice notes, so I can hear myself and practice along rather than mindlessly singing along with Nicki Minaj for the 100th time. I am still in the process of mastering the skeleton of all the poses, which is the mandatory component of each pose that you absolutely cannot afford to skip, especially when you have new people in your class like I did in the last two classes.

I also worked on general corrections and additional dialogue where I could. I've been learning the same 90-minutes of prose now for almost 4 full months and there are days when I can't look at or hear another word of it, but when you have the right people supporting you and driving you to be better, the motivation comes automatically.

Tonight I taught what I thought was my best class thus far. My nerves were beaten by my confidence in knowing the dialogue a little bit better than the last time. I had a very strong group of students today, which always helps, including a studio owner from DC, Rasa (a teacher from NYC), Lienette (my studio owner) and a ton of other regulars. And of course, I had one first-timer who inspired me with his ability to just be and not need me as much as I was expecting he would. 

One of the things I was told to work on for this class is not to spend too much time with any first-timer. It draws the energy and focus away from the rest of the class; not to mention I lose my pace and spot in the dialogue. Check! My newbie didn't really need me anyway. He was so strong, but sometimes when you least expect it the first-timers can hang and surpass expectations. It was total luck of the draw in this instance.

I regulated the heat "perfectly," tonight said Lienette, which is always half the battle. You need to consider the outside temperature just as much as the indoor temperature when working the heat in a hot yoga room. If more than three people are down on the floor, you've lost the class. These are just some of the details I did not learn in training. 

Bikram did say that the real yoga would begin after training and he was right! Beyond getting them to stretch their spines like a pearl necklace, There are so many other pearls of wisdom that I'm dying to share with my students, but I am not ready for that yet. One of the reasons I started this blog was so I could remember all "the gifts" Bikram gave us over the course of 9 weeks. You would think I would have already gone back to read every last juicy detail contained herein, but I haven't. I cannot overload my plate right now. Most days, I feel like the busiest unemployed person in town.