It seems like the only time I can stick to a regular yoga schedule is when I am on a challenge. I am not entirely sure if he was making reference to this sad fact, but the director of my studio joked that this challenge is for me especially. Well, I'm on Day 6! Woohoo!
It isn't that I don't go to class otherwise, as I do, but my practice tends to get erratic. Christmas certainly didn't help. I let almost two weeks go without a single class, and believe me, I paid for it! (I went to class since the challenge began, but only a couple times). I read somewhere that this woman suffering various ailments said Bikram yoga works like a pill, ie, daily class keeps any and all negative symptoms at bay, but as soon as practice stops or gets disrupted, slowly all the bad stuff creeps back. I agree with this almost 100%. The difference for me is that an extended break feels a bit less detrimental than it used to, perhaps because I get in better shape (on the whole) as time passes. For instance, I remember a break of two weeks during the summer really taking its toll. Physically, I didn't start to feel all that shitty this time around - mind you I didn't feel too shitty to begin with (although I did get a really bad cold for the first time in two years) - however, mentally, I *really* felt a negative impact. I felt that something was truly missing. It sounds silly.
Anyway, it's only Day 6 and I am already almost back to normal (thank God, I couldn't handle it over Christmas), but was I ever sore AND I had just made huge breakthroughs in my flexibility around mid-December, especially in my spine, and unfortunately I seem to have lost some of that. Still I am not back where I was a few weeks ago! I can't see this (relative) inflexibility lasting forever, though! Can it?
I have to be honest: I am getting frustrated with my progress in Standing Head-to-Knee and Standing Bow. Why don't I have the strength that other people seem to have? I can lock my knee now, but I cannot hold either of these poses for the full sixty seconds on either side for about 90% of classes. My goal this challenge is to build up my determination in these postures and to stop telling myself "I can't". I feel like I say "I can" but I just don't listen. Is this tantamount to "I can't"? I don't know!
There is another issue: I am going away for a few months to a city where there is no Bikram Yoga studio. There is "hot yoga", and the routine is very similar, (26 postures with slight variations), but at the same time it feels very, very different. It used to be a Bikram Yoga College of India, but apparently the director(s) wanted to teach another style of yoga introduced by one of Bikram's first students and as we all know, this is forbidden. For copyright reasons, the series had to be altered slightly. It's just about the same, but as I said, it can feel worlds different. Almost...wrong.
I may give a vinyasa-based yoga a second chance instead, as that's what I began with in 2003. I will miss the heat and the series, but it's not forever and I would almost prefer to be practicing a style of yoga that isn't an inherent deviation. However, I'm just not convinced that anything else will have the same therapeutic effects. A lot of people would disagree. Some yogis think that yoga without the sun salutation sequence can be harmful. Some yogis think that Bikram is a money-grubbing pervert! In some ways, Bikram method is quite controversial, (mind you, all the major schools in NA are considered controversial by *some* group), but I for one believe in it. I believe that every time a person goes into that hot room and tries their best, something utterly amazing happens.
This is not to say that I don't have my issues, and I think about switching styles more than probably many other people that practice Bikram method regularly. Why? A few reasons.
For one thing, I haven't been overly impressed with the latest influx of new teachers fresh from Fall 2006 teacher training. The nine-week teacher training is very expensive, (I would say approximately $10,000 CA dollars including accommodation), and I don't believe that the students with the financial means to attend are always going to be the best candidates. $10,000 is a hell of a lot of money for a period of nine weeks. I would say that it takes more than the usual will and determination to save up to get to go to this, especially considering I can't imagine that Bikram Yoga teachers are exactly rolling in the dough! So, who's going? A person must meet other minimum requirements, such as a steady practice of at least six months and recommendation from a certified instructor, but it would seem that having money at one's disposal seals the deal in the end. Anyway, I am worried that once a (reasonably well off) student reaches a certain point on their Bikram Yoga path, teacher training is the natural next step, even if that person is utterly ill-suited to instruction. For instance, having a terrible speaking voice or poor command of the English language.
I'm not going to lie: I have had some great teachers, but I have also experienced some really irritating teachers. Teachers that seem peculiarly distracted and flaky when you attempt to ask them a question or make light conversation after class. Teachers that, while taking class, TALK mindlessly before and after class within the hot room. Also, I find that Bikram teachers don't seem to have the well of kindness within them that I honestly would just expect. I sense an air of conceit more than I would care to admit, an air of eliteness, if you will, and it actually turns me off. I also don't find that the teachers are as helpful as I feel they should be. These things come with time, of course, and I appreciate the fact that there is always room for improvement, but straight off the bat these people should have razor-sharp vision for what's going on. I do! Sometimes teachers just stand there doing nothing but barking the dialogue all class long while people flail all over the place - I myself will spot students WILDLY "out-of-pose" (if that's a term) being utterly ignored. This worries me. At the same time, more advanced students that know the routine and dialogue so well there is very little chance of them sustaining injury get absolutely honed in on to make minor improvements, or even just receive compliments, sometimes to the detriment of everyone else that deserves a little attention as well. Don't get me wrong, I think that everyone that tries their best and comes to class regularly deserves some special attention, but sometimes things get silly.
That being said, I must point out that Judy from Australia is an awesome, wonderful teacher! I don't want to sound overly negative. I'm sure that there are many, many good teachers, and I have been impressed on lots of different occasions. I just hope that people are becoming teachers for the right reasons, or at least continually keep themselves in check once they become certified.
Moving along, I also find the "gym" atmosphere at my studio very off-putting. I have been complaining about this since second one. I know it's not like this at other studios and maybe I just need to find a different one, but talk about "no dogma"!! No dogma and no respect! Oh oh, here comes my venting session!
Note to practitioners: please don't talk on your cell phone in an outside voice for extended periods in the change-room, or worse, in the hot room before and after class! Are you kidding me? Don't just turn off the ringer. Turn it the F off.
Please don't chat mindlessly with your friend(s) before and after class in the hot room. This is outrageously inappropriate. Some people are trying to rest in Savasana here, for instance, ME.
Please don't make a big noisy production of rolling down/up your mat, and try not to let your towel hit me in the face when you walk by as I rest in Savasana. I mean, how rude!
Please don't lug all of your stuff into class and then place it directly beside my mat. This is an invasion of personal space. And please don't act annoyed when I gently request that you remove it.
When the teacher says "stagger yourself" during separate leg series or "make sure that everyone behind you can see themselves in the mirror" please LISTEN and ACT.
Please don't hang out taking up space and eat in the change-room when it's packed to the gills.
Well, that's all for now. I just wish that people would be a bit mindful of their fellow students, that this was VALUED at Bikram Yoga! Is it just my studio? Seriously, people, I am trying to be open and accepting here but it's hard. I'm certainly not the first to have these kinds of complaints...am I???
Until next time...
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