Week Two - Check

There were many times when a moment seemed forever, yet the week went by so, so quickly! I would like to create several in-depth posts, but my friends Time and Energy say to lump things together:

Muscles: They got a little tighter this past week, but are over all nice and relaxed. Many people are tightening up and tightening up. I'm drinking an exercise recovery drink after each class, perhaps that is helping.

You in the blue: Each class I make sure I know what color I'm wearing as Bikram yells out corrections to the person in the blue, red stripes, etc. Most times, you don't really want to be corrected by Bikram. Bikram: "You in the blue, what posture are you doing?" It took a while for yoga brain to remember what posture he indeed was doing, me: "Cobra." Bikram: "What the hell do you think your doing?" I didn't know what to say. A moment later - huge sigh of relief. He was talking to the guy in front of me who was also wearing blue.

Energy in the room: With 300 people doing yoga together, I thought I'd feel all sorts of energy bouncing around. Somehow I feel it within me, going into a posture a bit more, sometimes feeling a bit stronger. Feels great. Met someone this week who experiences the same thing.

Smell: Sense of smell is definitely heightened, even with a cold.

Emmy: Bikram's senior teacher, Emmy, taught most of the morning classes this week. She's amazing! She's 81 and has been teaching Bikram Yoga for over 30 years. I have heard that when she's teaching the advanced class, she does the postures along with the class for the heck of it.

Quitting: We got out very, very late most nights this week (read 1 am - I'm back at the Ilikai by 7:30 am) After I got home and started prepping for the next day, or maybe I should say the same day, the thought of saying aloha to Bikram certainly crossed my mind. But I'm still with the program!

Posture Clinic: We have moved to smaller groups for the posture clinic now, about 50 to 60 people per group. They have a really good way of rotating us, so that we are always with some of the same people, and some different people too. So far I have completed three postures (reciting the dialogue) and have done quite well. We are critiqued by Bikram staff and/or visiting senior teachers who, thus far, have had absolutely excellent and helpful comments.

Zombie: Some day this past week (Wednesday?) I felt like a total zombie. It didn't stop at feeling like one. At lunch, someone asked me what was wrong with my eye. My eye lid was swollen and started to turn a lovely shade of blue. It wasn't that way when I got up in the morning. Bug bite? Burst blood vessel? Who knows? It didn't hurt or itch, just looked colorful.

Posting: As mentioned above time and energy are at an ultimate premium, so posting will happen on Sundays.

At one with Jack Lord: Uncle Al, a friend through Wesley, has a condominium at the Ilikai. He needs to be in the hospital right now, but insists that I use and stay in his condo. Hmmm extra sleep - I think I'll take him up on his offer!

Psychologist: I wish I knew more about psychology. This whole experience would be so fascinating to watch. At this point people are more on edge, some a bit angry or aggressive. Nothing overly bad at this point, but certainly noticeable. What will the next phase be? Week three is supposed to be a rough one. Will I break, or continue with the flow?? May the force and flow of energy be with me. LOL! (maybe I shouldn't laugh...)

Tour guide: I had access to a car this weekend and so played tour guide to a couple of the people I study with, a woman from Hamburg Germany and a woman from South Florida. We had lunch at a funky Japanese restaurant, went to a couple of look-outs, hit a bakery or two (Leonard's for malasadas and Liliha Bakery for cocoa puffs - not the cereal!), and of course went to Costco and the health food store.

Week One in review

It has been a good week. When I got home after those 1:00 am days, I seriously considered dropping out of the training, but kept plugging along. I'm meeting many, many wonderful people. The yoga classes are good, and very hard with a variety of teacher. My quadriceps are definitely building - they better be anyway. One teacher loves to kill us with a pose, Awkward Pose, that really utilizes them. In the photo of the pose, I need to sit down more, arms down a bit, hips a bit forward, and spine back more. It's definitely an interesting experience!

Posture Clinic

What took up most of the time this week was posture clinic. For the first pose, Bikram wants to see each person deliver the dialogue and critique the performance. It takes a bit of time to get through 285 people. Next week we will split up into smaller groups for the next posture.

Friday afternoon we had a really good lecture by Dr. Lillian Glass, a voice specialist and psychologist. She's very vibrant and can, in a very few seconds, connect with a person and get them to change how they speak, present themselves and project their voice. According to Dr. Glass, you should not look people in the eye, instead look at the entire face for 2 seconds, the nose for 2 seconds, the mouth for 2 seconds, and then keep repeating.

International

This should be a pretty accurate list of the countries represented for Teacher Training: Hungary, Brazil, Romania, Thailand, Norway, India, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Philippines, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Australia, England, Ireland, Hong Kong, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Peru, Russia, Taiwan, and of course the U S of A. Very interesting group!

Late Night

I'm at the Ilikai each morning around 7:30 to setup for the morning yoga class, which starts promptly at 8:00. (By the time everyone is in the room and setup, there's only a few inches between each yoga mat.) After Monday's relatively 'easy' day, Tuesday it was time for reality! I left the Ilikai a little after 1:00 in the morning. Wednesday at 11:15 pm, Thursday at 1:15 am, and Friday, thank goodness at 7:45 pm. Once I get home, I wish I could flop into bed, but there's recovery drinks to concoct, smoothies to blend, food to head, fruit to peel, stinky shorts to soak, and whatever else I can remember to do. I'm proud of my body and my mind! I was smiling and functioning during the entire week. That's not true for all. I've already seen people cry, be carried out of the yoga class, get sick and also fall asleep during posture clinic. On the flip side, for me, the yoga helps immensely to combat the sleep deprivation.

Excellent Day

Today was a remarkably short day, from 10 am till 7 pm, with an hour and a half worth of breaks. But the best part is I did my first section of dialogue in front of Bikram.

The setup of the room: in the front facing the interior of the room are five people who will actually do the posture, a few feet in front, facing them, with a microphone is the person delivering the diagloue. Bikram is on the side, and the remaining 280 plus people are watching it all (and giving wonderful support). I volunteered to do it - get it out of the way, so I can breath easily and work on future dialogue. I was about number 20 or so, the third to the last of the day. There were some good people in front of me. I was amazed, while waiting in line, I didn't get nervous. I guess it was because I was concentrating on the dialogues being delivered, and truth be known, picking them apart. Oh, today's dialogue is only about 2 or so minutes long, depending on how fast or slow the delivery is.

Well, my turn came, still wasn't nervous when I was handed the mike, but then started to shake a bit as I started. It went quite well. I botched one line a bit, but manage to salvage it. And wonderfully, Bikram's only comment was that my voice was too low! Apparently if I teach a lot of classes, I could blow my voice out -- ? There's a professional voice coach coming to speak to us on Friday, so we'll see what she has to say.

Only one yoga class today, which was tough, but went well.

All in all quite an excellent day!

Hawaii Five - O connection

Time for one more quick post. The yoga room, for holding 300 people, where the training is being held is at the Ilikai Hotel in Waikiki. If you remember the intro to Hawaii Five - O, Jack Lord is standing on a balcony at the top of a building. Yep, the Ilikai Hotel.

BT and AT

BT = Before Training
AT = After Training

Just a couple of hours and the BT period will be ending. Orientation is today and classes start tomorrow. November 17th is the graduation date. My apartment is spotless - a nice clean sanctuary to come home to and very quickly sleep. Just one or two more things to do on the way to orientation and I should be set. This past week has been quite busy doing countless things. One of which was going to Costco to buy all sorts of items for snacks - a 6 pound bag of pretzels among them!! I've memorized a little over have of the dialogue so far, and feel quite good about that.

I don't have too much set aside for AT, but I know that will change as the training progresses.

It's time to go!!

Advanced Seminar

In August Bikram held an advanced seminar for a week here in Honolulu. I signed up as I thought it would be good practice for teacher training and some of the advanced poses are fun - most are very challenging...very, very challenging. On the first day, 170 of my new friends and I were in this hot, I mean really hot, huge yoga studio. First everyone does the beginning class (what I do five or more days per week), which lasts 1-1/2 to 2 hours long. Then the advanced class, about 2 hours long. The second posture in the beginning class is called hands to feet pose (pada hastasana). You are basically doubled over, jackknifed, with your legs straight. I was pushing my head into my legs as much as possible so the steady stream of sweat would fall on my chin and not go up my nose. I have to admit thoughts of, "What am I doing here?" went through my brain, and of course, "Do I really think I'll survive teacher training?" Fortunately those thoughts have fallen by the wayside. The whole advanced seminar week was very, very good preparation for what will be coming.

Molly to the rescue

Sometime in June I was sitting outside the yoga studio waiting to go in. A woman I had not met before sat down next to me. We started talking. I eventually told her I was going to the fall teacher training. She told me she had just finished the teacher training. Then she, Molly, asked me if I would like some help learning the dialogue? YES and thank you! Since then we have met twice a week. Molly is a wonderful coach full of encouragement and many, many helpful hints about teacher training. She says the student is doing well...

Craig's Big Adventure

The decision was made this past April, only a few weeks after I restarted a regular yoga practice. Go to teacher training! Everything fell very quickly into place. This is something I have wanted to do for five years. In June I received a printed copy of the 90 minutes of dialogue that has to be memorized. Memorized?? For the first few weeks I avoided the task. If I did make an attempt, I would get extremely nervous and very tense. In the past, memorization work has not been my thing.

Now why is this a big adventure? The training is a huge endurance exercise for anyone, throw in a fatigue issue or two and... The training lasts for 9 weeks running Monday through Friday 8:30 in the morning until 11:00 or later at night. Oh and another yoga class on Saturday morning.

My day will comprise of:
2 - 1-1/2 to 2 hour long hot (105 degrees or more) yoga classes
2 - 1/1/2 hour breaks - yippee, hope I can get a nap in!
Posture clinics, which is where everyone regurgitates the dialogue for that particular posture
Lectures and more lectures about yoga history, yoga medical benefits, anatomy, and I don't know what else. There are many lecturers, but when Bikram is giving the lecture, it can last a very long time.
And don't forget that memorizing!