Today we met the Boss. He entered the room without fanfare and interrupted Jim who was finishing running through some rules and regulations in our morning lecture.
Bikram was even better than I expected. Anyone who has been to teacher training will tell you – he is full of stories, catch phrases and Indian sayings. Of course he has amazing experience and information to share, but I was not expecting him to be so funny.
He did have a film crew from NBC following him, filming a story for the Today show – so the entertainment dial was probably turned up to the max.
When it hit 5pm and it was time for our first class he gave us a very warm welcome to ‘Bikram’s Torture Chamber’. Man, was it hot in there.
The team here have done an amazing job setting up the ballroom of the hotel for classes. I have never practiced under crystal chandeliers before. And I have never seen so many people leaving class. Witnessing the aftermath of bodies lying in recovery outside was a pretty good reminder of the importance of hydration. Particularly as the weeks progress and we are out of the honeymoon phase. For the time being we are told “take it easy honey – don’t kill yourself. Save that for next week.”
I have revised my initial goal of never taking a knee in class – to never leaving the room. That might be more realistic given what I have seen today!
Things are working out really well with my roommate, Connie. She is from Argentina and has a fantastic energy about her. We have some great systems in place for water preparation, sharing meals and resources, washing and hanging mats to dry. It all sounds so basic but these are things that can cause great stress as our schedule gets busier. We are sharing the limited space really well and will make this work together. We even practiced the dialogue together while we walked to the supermarket. We would pass other yogis on the way and they’d chime in!
The fun starts again tomorrow with class at 8.30am.
Yay! I'm so happy for you that you've got a good roommate - and those basic survival systems are VITAL as time goes on and you get more stressed and tired and strung out. And I think it's good to revise your goals - I never thought I'd sit out a posture but I had two classes at training where I was just defeated. And that's ok. That's part of the process as well. Sooooo looking forward to seeing you! xx
ReplyDeleteWow, Olivia your blog just took me back to training. Sounds like you are taking it all in your stride. It is such an amazing, truly life changing experience. I taught my first class back today at 6am, it felt odd to teach a 6am without you or Julie there. (Jules where were you??) Trust the process is right, after not teaching for a while the dialogue is there somewhere deep in your subconscious. Enjoy week one.
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