Productivity

I manged to drag my ass to four 6:30am classes since my last post. You know, you can get a lot done between the hours of 8am and 10am. No one's up yet. News cycle hasn't started.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

(CUT TO: 2 weeks from now and me swearing to never go near a studio at 6:30 in the morning EVER AGAIN, but for now, it's a beautiful friendship)

Also....kudos to people who teach early early morning classes, especially where I'm practicing. A) They get up even earlier than I do and B) They handle a rough situation very well. Let me splain:

That early in the morning, I'm just not mentally ready to go THERE right away. I try to be awake and present but it's definitely not an easy feat. I appreciate that teachers respect that and still push you to do the pose right. They know you can't just pop back into a back bend (after the second one, though, I'm pretty much awake as I'll ever be in my life) but they also know you didn't drag your ass there to stand and do nothing. I still sweat, I still push, I still feel all sorts of pain sensations in the back of my thigh, and my heart rate is elevated (just like it's supposed to be). I appreciate that a lot. I don't know if I could ever do it.

Although I did like it when the teacher this morning slipped up and told us to bring the forehead to the knee during final spine twist. Nobody made any big deal about it, but it definitely led me to contemplate what the hell that would look like.

On my Own Schedule

I think most people have a sort of "I'm committing to this!" moment about a month ago. As one year winds down and a new one begins and resolutions! and all that. I made mine this week, which feels perfectly suitable to me. I'm going to give it my God's honest try to get to yoga every day. Even if it means waking up early. Which I can do. There is nothing physically stopping me. I just whine and don't do it.

Writing that is oddly foreboding, but I think it's a good idea to actually type it out for myself. We'll take it week by week and catch as catch can!

Men and Bikram

I've noticed a trend.

In a Bikram yoga class, there are either enough men for someone to remark, "Wow, a lot of men practice here!" or one token man (often me) standing among the scantily clad females. We've all heard that yoga attracts more females and all that, so that's no surprise. I think I find it more surprising that when men show up, they seem to naturally show up together. If I were an anthropologist, I would actually research this.

Oh one other thing, they seem to show up for certain teacher's classes too. At both studios I know fairly well, if there's going to be a lot of men, they're probably showing up to this teacher's class. I just don't get why. Maybe it's all happy coincidence-I just enjoy seeing it.

Riding High Tide

I think I read it in someone else's blog somewhere, but the writer made a point that the practice of yoga is not just the 60-90 minutes spent in the room with the asanas. Your yoga practice is a lifelong, day to day commitment. And, like the 60-90 minute practice, your practice has its heights and its falls.

I've come out of a valley for a bit, and I'm riding high. Classes have felt great. My body feels good. I'm making progress. For a while, I was basically dying every class without fail, so it's sort of exciting to reach a high point after that.

I wonder if this is something I'm experiencing more drastically as a newbie or if it continues on. This shift has felt super extreme, from puddle on the floor of anger and tears to feeling like I could conquer anything. Even the latter, though, has days and moments that feel impossible. I'm curious to keep exploring and see if one day, it becomes a more gentle tide instead of tide pool to tidal wave every couple of months.

Oh! And now I have a picture. Of me. Doing something. My sister and I did a big yoga photo shoot after I took class yesterday. Maybe it was my ego feeling needy, but I'll always defend it as curiosity (and Bridget needed practice with her camera!). Can't lie, it made me proud of myself. I never thought of myself as particularly bendy. And yeah, I can't do this yet:

And maybe I never will, but everyone's gotta start somewhere.

Gotta wonder if that's what spoils Bikram yogis. We keep coming back because if you keep doing the same 26 poses long enough, they will look better over time. Not that any of us come to yoga to look good, how dare me to even say so....but yeah, it's nice to see progress.

 

I Blog, I Swear I Do

Yeah, so about this thing. I guess once school started, I stopped writing in it.

So, to those people who have missed not reading it or need something to roll their eyes at, it's back. I really need more yogi friends, because I'm sure this all just sounds like pure insanity. Which, I mean, it is. Those rooms get really hot. And make me nauseous. And then I come back for more and write about it. (As in, I thought I was going to throw up in today's class, but I didn't...)

I guess some of my goals for 2012 would be to try some new studios and new practices. I love Bikram, and it's a great home base. But I miss vinyassa classes. And I'd love to get deeper into yin yoga. Just a question of keeping an eye out and paying for classes and all that. Also, love to explore more of the NYC Bikram community. There are something like 10 studios on the island, might as well get to a couple of them.

Deal for myself: once a week. Maybe every Sunday or Monday? About what? God knows. We'll see where this goes. 

I feel like by the end of this year I'll know if a teacher training of some kind is right for me. It feels like it is and that teaching would bring me a lot of joy (if nothing else). I think a good training would also help me answer some questions and understand more of the yoga. However, I know I'm going to have to wait until after the spring of next year. I don't foresee fitting in a training during my time at NYU, but who knows?

Yoga Exorcism

I think I had some kind of exorcism in yoga today. Again. These happen with some frequency.

I've decided they're good, but they definitely feel like hell. This one was brief, not a full on crying jag like I've had. But, the teacher tonight was very much on pushing my hips forward. They do tend to live behind me due to whatevah whatevah. But, I pushed them pretty far forward in Camel. First set, I was in for about three seconds, then out. Got up for second. Pushed those hips, fell out, came back in at teacher's request, and literally came up gasping. I don't know if it was mental or physical or some odd combination of the two, but it was pretty nutso.

So that was my afternoon. We'll see what happens tomorrow...

3 Months

3 month-versary last Tuesday (I refuse to use "anniversary" because "anni"=annual)

Never really thought I'd reach three months after my first class. I remember walking out and just sort of feeling like, "No, I don't want to, there's no point." But, clearly, something got me coming up and keeps me coming back. If anything, now, I find that without a regular practice I start to notice aches and pains. I had to miss 10 days due to shows/scheduling/etc. My knees, my upper back...no bueno.

September (and all it entails) has ended. Hoping now I can return to a more regular practice. Going to make it a thing to be there Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Saturday mornings, and whenever I can Sunday. May even be really crazy and try for the 6:30 class tomorrow morning...we'll see.

And now: FUN WORK STUDY STORIES!

So, last night's 6pm class ended up being the fun one. We had a French guy and his girlfriend come in. When we asked if he had done Bikram: "I've done hot yoga" which could mean a million things. But that's all we could get. As my manager observed later, when he refused towels, we should have known there would be a problem. Apparently, he raised a fuss about 5 minutes into class because the teacher wasn't letting him separate his feet and out he marched to me.

Had to deal with the lovely "This isn't yoga. This is bullshit" for a good 5-10 minutes. Assured him he would get his money refunded and he finally left. It's whatever, I get it, it's not for you...but did you have to make such a big deal about it? People come to this place because they want to. People teach this yoga because they love it.

So I go back to vacuuming and folding towels. Right around triangle, poor girl comes out white as a sheet. Couldn't get her to focus or really speak coherently. She ended up sitting on the floor of the bathroom, but didn't actually throw up. Got her senses back and finished the class. Honestly, I don't think I could have. I was legit impressed.

Here's the fun karma part: Frenchmen left behind a SmartWater that he had bought but never opened. Came in handy after all!